SHARYA: Hundreds of Yazidi families driven from their hometown of Sinjar in northern Iraq years ago are now returning as the impact of coronavirus lockdown measures makes their lives in exile even harder.
Many have lost their jobs and aid from donors in Sharya, where they have been living since they fled Sinjar in 2014.
Mahma Khalil, the mayor of Sinjar but now in exile in Dohuk in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, said more than 1,200 displaced families have returned from their temporary homes to Sinjar since June. Most had relatives their who serve in the military or police, he said.
Overrun by Daesh in 2014 and liberated by an array of forces the following year, little has been rebuilt in Sinjar.
Water is scarce and power intermittent in the city, whose former occupiers killed thousands of Yazidis and forced many women in sexual slavery.
Despite the devastation that makes the city still largely unfit for habitation, members of this ancient minority feel they have no other choice.
“The situation has become really bad,” Yazidi community leader Jameel Elias Hassan Al-Hamo said outside his makeshift home in Sharya, just south of Dohuk.
Young men from his community who used to earn up to $17 a day working at restaurants and factories can no longer find work because of the lockdown’s impact on the economy, Al-Hamo said.
As he spoke, men carried pieces of furniture, blankets and bags of food out of his home and piled them onto the back of a pickup truck.
The coronavirus outbreak has worsened Iraq’s economic crisis, pushing oil prices down in a country that depends on crude export for more than 90 percent of its revenue. Restrictions on travel and curfews have driven many out of work.
Al-Hamo’s daughter-in-law Gole Zeblo Ismaeel said that the monthly aid packages they used to depend on became scarcer as the crisis impacted the work of humanitarian organizations.
Another reason for their return was the restriction on internal travel between semi-autonomous Kurdistan and neighboring Iraqi regions, imposed since March to curb the spread of the virus.
Al-Hamo said that most Yazidi families in Sharya have a son enrolled in armed forces stationed in Sinjar, who have been unable to visit for weeks.
“Some haven’t seen their families for over three months now,” he said.
Although their hometown is destroyed, Al-Hamo said they have been promised support by local aid organizations upon their return and he believed soon he will be reunited with the rest of his family soon.
“I registered over 400 names and phone numbers of relatives, members of the tribe and of the community. They said that once we, the sheikhs and tribal leaders, go back, they will follow us,” he added.
Khalil said he has been pleading for funds from the central government to step up reconstruction efforts in Sinjar but he believed it would not happen any time soon.
Displaced Yazidis head back to Sinjar as lockdown bites
https://arab.news/6t94g
Displaced Yazidis head back to Sinjar as lockdown bites
- Young men from my community who used to earn up to $17 a day working at restaurants and factories can no longer find work because of the lockdown’s impact on the economy
Relief, anxiety in Israel after Sinwar’s killing
“To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back,” said Sharon Sborovsky
TEL AVIV: Some Israelis felt relief with the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even as the fate of nearly 100 hostages in Gaza still stirred anxiety.
Israeli authorities long accused Sinwar of masterminding the October 7 attack, the deadliest in the country’s history.
Hamas militants overran portions of southern Israel, shooting people, storming military bases and attacking a music festival where they killed at least 370 people.
It was an unprecedented attack that deeply shook the country.
For some, the killing of the October 7 architect brought some closure following a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s like closing the circle, bringing things full circle,” Dolev, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident, told AFP, asking to use only a single name.
“It feels like we’ve finished what we set out to do, and I hope this will also lead to an end,” he added, though since late September Israel has also been fighting on another front, with intensified air strikes and troops on the ground in Lebanon against Hamas ally Hezbollah.
“I hope it will lead to the end of the war, the return of the hostages, and for quieter days,” Dolev said.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Militants took 251 people hostage during the attack. Ninety-seven remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The war triggered an Israeli military retaliation that has killed at least 42,500 people in Gaza, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has acknowledged as reliable.
As the military targeted Hamas fighters and leaders while searching for any sign of Sinwar, the war reduced large parts of the Palestinian territory to rubble.
Israeli commanders believed Sinwar hid in the maze of tunnels Hamas built beneath Gaza, while Israeli media had reported he was likely to be surrounded by hostages.
But when the Hamas chief was finally cornered and killed by the Israeli army, he was above ground with just two other fighters and no captives in sight, the military said.
Following the announcement of Sinwar’s death, Israelis along with leaders from across the West called on Israel to seize the moment to leverage a deal to release the remaining captives.
“To be honest, I only thought about the hostages, whether this will help move any deal forward, if there will now be a way to bring them back, or if, on the contrary, this is pushing a deal further away,” said Sharon Sborovsky, 31, from Tel Aviv.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met earlier Friday to discuss the aftermath of Sinwar’s death, including the fate of the hostages.
A statement released by the president’s office said that “a significant window of opportunity opened — including the promotion of the return of the hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”
Later in the day, Hamas said it had no plans to release the hostages until Israel ends its “aggression against our people in Gaza,” withdraws from the territory and frees jailed Palestinians.
And while the death of Sinwar marked a milestone in the war, many Israelis were not yet ready to celebrate.
“It is nice to have killed the leader of Hamas,” said Yonatan, a 34-year-old resident of Haifa.
“But we hope that all the hostages will come back, then we can start the party.”
Italian PM says ‘unacceptable’ to target UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
- “I am convinced that UNIFIL must be strengthened. Only by strengthening UNIFIL while maintaining its impartiality, will we be able to turn the page” on the war, Meloni said
- “There must be no other military presence than that of UNIFIL” and the Lebanese army in border areas
BEIRUT: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday slammed attacks on United Nations peacekeepers as “unacceptable” after the UN force accused Israeli troops of firing at their positions in south Lebanon.
Meloni, the first head of state or government to visit Lebanon since an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah started last month, demanded the protection of the UNIFIL force, which includes Italian peacekeepers.
“I consider targeting UNIFIL unacceptable, and I ask once again that all parties strive to ensure at all times that the safety of each of these soldiers is guaranteed,” Meloni said during a press conference with her Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati.
Italy has around 1,000 troops as part of the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon which has come under repeated fire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war in recent days.
Five peacekeepers were injured in a series of incidents last week, with the latest seeing the UN force accuse Israeli troops of breaking through a gate and entering one of their positions.
UNIFIL on Sunday asked for explanations from the Israeli army over what they said were “shocking violations” against their force, including forced entry.
“I am convinced that UNIFIL must be strengthened. Only by strengthening UNIFIL while maintaining its impartiality, will we be able to turn the page” on the war, Meloni said.
UNIFIL, a mission of about 10,000 troops of various nationalities, was set up in 1978 to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon and to help the Lebanese government restore authority over the border region.
It is also tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran.
“I think that we have to come back to the initial mission of UNIFIL, and to do it properly, in coordination with” the Lebanese army, Meloni said.
“There must be no other military presence than that of UNIFIL” and the Lebanese army in border areas, she added.
Meloni — whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year — earlier Friday met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Aqaba.
They discussed the escalating conflict in the region and joint efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, according to Rome.
The Italian premier said Thursday that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar cleared the way for a “new phase” in the Gaza war, which was sparked by the militant group’s deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
States helping Israel’s occupation may be ‘complicit’: UN experts
- “Israel’s internationally wrongful acts give rise to state responsibility, not only for Israel, but for all states,” said Navi Pillay
- Israel has long accused the UN independent commission of “systematic anti-Israel discrimination“
GENEVA: Countries enabling Israel’s “unlawful occupation” of the Palestinian territories and assisting it despite warnings of war crimes and possible “genocide” in Gaza should be deemed “complicit,” UN experts said Friday.
“Israel’s internationally wrongful acts give rise to state responsibility, not only for Israel, but for all states,” said Navi Pillay, head of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry.
The commission has published a new legal position paper spelling out specific actions required following a recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declaring Israel’s occupation since 1967 “unlawful.”
It also examines the implications of last month’s UN General Assembly vote demanding the occupation end within a year.
The three-person commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, pointed first to Israel’s obligations.
The UN General Assembly vote meant “Israel was under an international legal obligation to cease all new settlement activity and dismantle existing settlements as rapidly as possible.”
“Israel must immediately put into place a comprehensive plan of action that will physically evacuate all settlers from occupied territory,” it said, also demanding that Israel “return land, title and natural resources to the Palestinians who have been displaced since 1967.”
Other countries also had a list of obligations to fulfil, according to the commission.
Israel has long accused the UN independent commission of “systematic anti-Israel discrimination.”
Pillay, a former UN rights chief, said all countries are “obligated not to recognize territorial or sovereignty claims made by Israel over the occupied territories.”
States were required to “distinguish in their dealings between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” and no country should “recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or place its diplomatic representatives to Israel in Jerusalem,” she said.
States must also refrain from rendering “aid or assistance in maintaining the unlawful occupation,” she said, adding that this included all “financial, military and political aid or support.”
The commission also insisted that all states must comply with their “obligations under the Genocide Convention” and follow the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
“States may be complicit in failing to prevent genocide if they do not act in compliance with the court orders, and directly aid or assist in the commission of genocide,” it warned.
Israel and its Iran-aligned foes vow more war after Hamas leader’s death
- Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance“
- That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s death offered a chance for negotiations
JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Pledges from Israel and its enemies Hamas and Hezbollah to keep fighting in Gaza and Lebanon dashed hopes on Friday that the death of Palestinian militant leader Yahya Sinwar might hasten an end to more than a year of escalating war in the Middle East.
Israel’s arch-foe and the militants’ main backer Iran also said Sinwar’s death would only fuel “the spirit of resistance.”
Hamas leader Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday.
Video showed him tossing a stick at a drone as he sat dying.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his killing a milestone but vowed to keep up the war, which in recent weeks expanded from fighting Hamas in Gaza into an invasion and pursuit of Hezbollah of Lebanon.
“The war, my dear ones, is not yet over,” Netanyahu told Israelis late on Thursday, saying fighting would continue until hostages held by Hamas are released.
“We have before us a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil,” he added, referring to Iran and its militant allies across the region, also in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas said hostages would only be released with a halt of hostilities in Gaza, an Israeli withdrawal and the release of its prisoners. “The martyrdom of our brother, the leader Yahya Sinwar ... will only increase the strength and resolve of Hamas and our resistance,” it said, confirming his death in combat.
That rhetoric from the warring parties contrasted with Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who said Sinwar’s death offered a chance for negotiations.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Sinwar had been refusing talks. “Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one,” he said.
Israel’s government has rejected several attempts by its main ally the US at brokering ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, pressing on with its wars. Iran has looked largely powerless to match Israel’s military might, including US arms.
One senior diplomat working in Lebanon told Reuters that hopes Sinwar’s death would end the war appeared misplaced.
“We had hoped, really throughout this, that getting rid of Sinwar would be the turning point where the wars would end ... where everyone would be ready to put their weapons down. It appears we were once again mistaken,” the diplomat said.
The conflict has caused the first direct Iranian-Israeli confrontations, including missile attacks on Israel in April and Oct. 1. Netanyahu has vowed to respond to the October attack, which caused little damage. Washington has pressed Israel to limit targets and not strike Iranian energy facilities or nuclear sites.
TRACKED AND KILLED
Sinwar, Hamas’ overall leader following the assassination of political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, was believed to have been hiding in the warren of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza.
He was killed during a gunbattle on Wednesday by Israeli troops initially unaware they had caught their number one enemy, Israeli officials said.
The military released drone video of what it said was Sinwar, sitting on an armchair and covered in dust inside a destroyed building. He was tracked by the drone as he lay dying, the video showed, desperately throwing a stick.
The Oct. 7, 2023 attacks he masterminded in Israel killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has subsequently killed more than 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials. Its offensive has made most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people homeless, maimed tens of thousands, caused widespread hunger and destroyed hospitals and schools.
Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israel in support of its Hamas ally on Oct. 8, is the target of Israel’s intensifying assault on Lebanon, which has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced 1.2 million.
Israel has now killed several of Hamas’ top leaders and in a matter of weeks decapitated the Hezbollah leadership, mainly through air strikes.
The killings have dealt a blow to what anti-Israeli forces call the Axis of Resistance: a group of proxy militant groups that Iran has spent decades supporting across the region.
Iran showed no sign Sinwar’s killing would shift its support. “The spirit of resistance will be strengthened,” its mission to the United Nations said.
Hezbollah was also defiant, announcing “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with Israel.”
The Israeli military said on Friday it had also killed Muhammad Hassin Ramal, Hezbollah’s commander of the Tayibe area in southern Lebanon.
Families of Israeli hostages said that while the killing of Sinwar was an achievement, it would not be complete while captives are still in Gaza.
Avi Marciano, father of Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity by Hamas, told Israeli broadcaster KAN that “the monster, the one who took her from me, who had the blood of all our daughters on his hands, finally met the gates of hell.”
Hezbollah says launched drones at troops in north Israel city
- The group launched “a squadron of attack drones” on gatherings of enemy soldiers in Safed
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it launched attack drones at troops stationed in the north Israeli town of Safed on Friday, in response to Israeli strikes on its strongholds in south Lebanon.
The Iran-backed group said it launched an attack “with a squadron of attack drones on gatherings of enemy soldiers in the occupied city of Safed,” in response to attacks on villages in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway.
