Iraq appeals to foreign diplomats to take home their ‘Daesh children’

Displaced Syrian children from the eastern Deir Ezzor province, queue for water inside Al-Hol camp for displaced people in Al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria on May 28. (AFP)
Updated 03 June 2019
Follow

Iraq appeals to foreign diplomats to take home their ‘Daesh children’

  • Thousands of foreigners traveled through Turkey and Syria to join the declared state

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has asked embassies and consulates operating in Iraq to look after the children of convicted mothers from their countries who were involved with Daesh and arrested in Iraq, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.
Daesh is one of the most bloody radical organizations in modern history and gained control over almost one-third of Iraqi territory, in the Sunni-dominated northern and western parts of the country, in summer 2014 when the Iraqi army had dramatically collapsed due to the financial and administrative corruption rampant in the security establishment.
Seizing vast areas extending across the Iraqi-Syrian border and gaining tremendous financial and oil resources, the organization was encouraged to declare a 7th century state-style Islamic caliphate and called on its supporters around the world to join the “State of Caliphate.” Thousands of foreigners traveled through Turkey and Syria to join the declared state, either to fight “the unbelievers” or to provide the required support.
Iraqi security forces, backed by the Shiite-dominated paramilitary troops and US-led military coalition, had launched wide military campaigns late in 2014 to liberate the areas-seized by Daesh inside Iraq. The military liberation operations ended in December 2017 when Mosul, the capital of the State of Caliphate and the last stronghold of the organization in Iraq, was liberated.
Thousands of Daesh fighters, including foreigners, were either killed or arrested by the Iraqi security forces during these operations. The families of local fighters who have no direct link to Daesh were relocated in camps settled on the edges of the liberated cities, especially in Anbar and Mosul, while the families of the foreign fighters were arrested and sent to Baghdad to be investigated and tried.
The Baghdad’s Central Criminal Court is trying to extradite more than 1,000 foreign children, mostly from Eastern Europe, whose parents had joined Daesh and were arrested in Iraq during the past years, Iraqi officials told Arab News.
The children, who are held with their convicted mothers, are aged between several months and 15 years old. Not all of them have identity documents, so the Iraqi authorities get blood samples from their mothers to do a DNA test.

FASTFACT

• Thousands of Daesh fighters, including foreigners, were either killed or arrested by the Iraqi security forces during these operations.

• Some of those children’s mothers have been sentenced to death or life imprisonment for their involvement in terrorism activities.

Some of those children’s mothers have been sentenced to death or life imprisonment for their involvement in Daesh terrorism activities. Iraqi laws do not allow convicted mothers to retain their children above the age of 3 with them inside the jail, so they have to be handed to their families at home, officials said.
“The Supreme Judicial Council deals with this in accordance with international laws and agreements, as embassies were told to send their representatives to attend the trials conducted for their nationals by the Iraqi courts,” the Higher Judiciary System press office said, quoting an Iraqi judge involved in reviewing the cases of the Daesh children.
“All embassies and consulates of the countries that those convicted belong to have been reached to take over the children after completing the DNA verification procedures.”
Officials said that many embassies have already received children belonging to their nations.
On Saturday, the Turkish Embassy received 122 children under the supervision of the Iraqi prosecutor and the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, a statement issued by the ministry of Justice read. Earlier, Tajikistan government received 90 of their convicted citizens’ children, Russia 77, German 10, France 5 and Sweden 3, officials said.

SPEEDREAD

The Baghdad’s Central Criminal Court is trying to extradite more than 1,000 foreign children, mostly from Eastern Europe, whose parents had joined Daesh.

The return of foreign Daesh fighters and their children represents a big problem for some governments, which have refused to deal with it.
Iraqi officials told Arab News that many European and Arab governments refuse to attend the hearings of their nationals and they refuse to accept their children and do not want to have any connection with them.
“Some countries reject to receive the children of their citizens. They do not want to deal with them or hear anything about them,” a senior Iraqi security official told Arab News.
“Some Arabic countries are in front of these countries especially Jordan, Syria and Egypt.”


Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes

Updated 28 June 2025
Follow

Thousands mourn top Iranian military commanders and scientists killed in Israeli strikes

  • Caskets of Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital
  • Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefir

DUBAI: Thousands of mourners lined the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel.

The caskets of Guard’s chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street.

Salami and Hajjizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities.

Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group.

Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people.

Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.

Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.

Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel views it as an existential threat and said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon.


Yemen missile launched toward Israel ‘most likely’ intercepted, Israeli army says

Updated 28 June 2025
Follow

Yemen missile launched toward Israel ‘most likely’ intercepted, Israeli army says

  • Houthis have been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza
  • Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted

The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted.”
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement — which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza — with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.


Sudan’s military accepts UN proposal of a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher for aid distribution

Updated 28 June 2025
Follow

Sudan’s military accepts UN proposal of a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher for aid distribution

  • Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles
  • The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine

CAIRO: Sudan’s military agreed to a proposal from the United Nations for a weeklong ceasefire in El Fasher to facilitate UN aid efforts to the area, the army said Friday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Sudanese military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and asked him for the humanitarian truce in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, to allow aid delivery.

Burhan agreed to the proposal and stressed the importance of implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but it’s unknown whether the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces would agree and comply with the ceasefire.

“We are making contacts with both sides with that objective, and that was the fundamental reason for that phone contact. We have a dramatic situation in El Fasher,” Guterres told reporters on Friday.

No further details were revealed about the specifics of the ceasefire, including when it could go into effect.

Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into battles in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing more than 20,000 people.

The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. UNICEF said earlier this year that an estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began.

Guterres said on Friday that a humanitarian truce is needed for effective aid distribution, and it must be agreed upon several days in advance to prepare for a large-scale delivery in the El Fasher area, which has seen repeated waves of violence recently.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers southwest of Khartoum, is under the control of the military. The RSF has been trying to capture El Fasher for a year to solidify its control over the entire Darfur region. The paramilitary’s attempts included launching repeated attacks on the city and two major famine-stricken displacement camps on its outskirts.


Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’

Updated 28 June 2025
Follow

Trump hopeful for Gaza ceasefire, possibly ‘next week’

  • United Nations officials on Friday said the GHF system was leading to mass killings of people seeking aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump voiced optimism Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza, as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory.
Asked by reporters how close a ceasefire was between Israel and Hamas, Trump said: “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a ceasefire.”
The United States brokered a ceasefire in the devastating conflict in the waning days of former president Joe Biden’s administration, with support from Trump’s incoming team.
Israel broke the ceasefire in March, launching new devastating attacks on Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israel also stopped all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for more than two months, drawing warnings of famine.
Israel has since allowed a resumption of food through the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which involves US security contractors with Israeli troops at the periphery.
United Nations officials on Friday said the GHF system was leading to mass killings of people seeking aid, drawing accusations from Israel that the UN was “aligning itself with Hamas.”
Eyewitnesses and local officials have reported repeated killings of Palestinians at distribution centers over recent weeks in the war-stricken territory, where Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants.
The Israeli military has denied targeting people and GHF has denied any deadly incidents were linked to its sites.
But following weeks of reports, UN officials and other aid providers on Friday denounced what they said was a wave of killings of hungry people seeking aid.
“The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” with people “shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian affairs (UNWRA).
“This abomination must end through a return to humanitarian deliveries from the UN including @UNRWA,” he wrote on X.
The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
The country’s civil defense agency has also repeatedly reported people being killed while seeking aid.
“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The search for food must never be a death sentence.”
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) branded the GHF relief effort “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”

That drew an angry response from Israel, which said GHF had provided 46 million meals in Gaza.
“The UN is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the foreign ministry said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz that military commanders had ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid distribution sites to disperse them even when they posed no threat.
Haaretz said the military advocate general, the army’s top legal authority, had instructed the military to investigate “suspected war crimes” at aid sites.
The Israeli military declined to comment to AFP on the claim.
Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz that their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the Haaretz article.

Gaza’s civil defense agency told AFP 80 Palestinians had been killed on Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory, including 10 who were waiting for aid.
The Israeli military told AFP it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by GHF, and one more in a separate incident in the center of the territory, where the army denied shooting “at all.”
Another three people were killed by a strike while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, Bassal said.
Elsewhere, eight people were killed “after an Israeli air strike hit Osama Bin Zaid School, which was housing displaced persons” in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza on Friday.
The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas-ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they attacked Israeli soldiers in at least two other locations near Khan Yunis in coordination with the Al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
 

 


Child laborers among 19 dead in Egypt road accident: state media

Updated 28 June 2025
Follow

Child laborers among 19 dead in Egypt road accident: state media

  • Most of the victims were teenage girls working as day laborers

CAIRO: A road accident in northern Egypt killed 19 people on Friday, most of them teenage girls working as day laborers, state media reported.

A truck collided with the minibus carrying the laborers to their place of work from their home village of Kafr Al-Sanabsa in the Nile Delta, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Cairo, state-owned newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm reported.

According to a list of the names and ages of the dead published by another state-owned daily, Al-Ahram, most of the workers were teenagers — two of them just 14.

Egyptian media dubbed the girls “martyrs for their daily bread.”

Road accidents are common in Egypt, where traffic rules are unevenly enforced and many roads are in poor repair.

Accidents often involve underage laborers traveling to work in overcrowded minibuses in rural areas.

At least 1.3 million minors are engaged in some form of child labor in Egypt, according to official figures.