Syrian refugee dies after swallowing gasoline 

A Syrian refugee in Minieh, north Lebanon, died on Saturday after accidentally swallowing a large quantity of gasoline while siphoning it from his car in a black market fuel operation. (File/AFP)
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Updated 25 September 2021
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Syrian refugee dies after swallowing gasoline 

  • Queues outside gas stations persist, along with disputes that often descend into physical violence
  • Some people provide “waiting” services, staying in the car instead of the vehicle owner to fill the tank up and earning up to LBP100,000 for doing so

BEIRUT: A Syrian refugee in Minieh, north Lebanon, died on Saturday after accidentally swallowing a large quantity of gasoline while siphoning it from his car in a black market fuel operation. He was taken to hospital but could not be saved.

Abdulrahman Darwish, the representative for the Relief Associations’ Federation in Danniye, said the man used to make deals on the black market.

Lebanon has been suffering from an acute fuel crisis during the past few months.

“He went to gas stations every day, where he waited in the queue for hours to get 40 liters of gasoline to later withdraw this quantity from his car and sell it on the black market at a higher price to those who do not want to wait in queues,” he told Arab News. “The black market's activities have thrived during the crisis. The youth, Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees have found themselves unemployed amid the harsh economic crisis of Lebanon. They are looking to earn money at all costs to secure food, medicines and milk for their families, and have found a golden opportunity on the black market.”

A security source told Arab News that authorities had observed a decline in the north’s robbery rate in the past few weeks, where “thugs had focused on the black market” instead of theft because it was very profitable.

“Every day, tens of them gather outside gas stations forming gangs to get gasoline and later sell it on the black market. The unemployed youth has found an opportunity to earn money by resorting to illegal means,” the source said.

According to the price list issued by the Economy Ministry on Wednesday, fuel will be sold according to the dollar exchange rate, with $1 worth LBP14,000.

Queues outside gas stations persist, along with disputes that often descend into physical violence and even shooting.

Some people had expected a decline in black market activities after the availability of fuel in the market and the gasoline price being liberalized.

However, job opportunities have emerged amid this mess. Some people provide “waiting” services, staying in the car instead of the vehicle owner to fill the tank up and earning up to LBP100,000 for doing so.

Some reserve a place outside gas stations during the night and sell the spot in the morning for those waiting at the back.

Fadi Abu Shakra, a representative of the Fuel Distributors’ Union, said the queues seemed shorter on Monday as fuel had become available and imports were ongoing.

“The activities of the black market traders who have exhausted us are likely to drop down,” he told Arab News.

The economic crisis in Lebanon that peaked in 2019 after the depletion of its financial resources has led to a complete economic collapse, where hundreds of businesses shut down and thousands of employees were laid off.

The latest report from the Central Administration of Statistics said the unemployment rate in 2020 increased to 55 percent for those in informal employment and 45 percent for workers in the formal economy.

The unemployment rate among college students reached 35.7 percent, and the highest rates of unemployment were noted in Akkar, Central Bekaa and Aley.

The International Labor Organization noted the extent of “informal employment and vulnerability among the most deprived Lebanese citizens, as well as Syrian refugees in 2021.”

According to Labor Ministry estimates, unemployment in 2020 increased to about 36 percent and is estimated to reach 41.4 percent by the end of 2021.

Statistics from the National Social Security Fund from the start of 2020 until Feb. 2021 indicated that 40,000 people who were registered with the fund had exited the labor market.

Darwish said: “Syrian refugees in Lebanon were severely affected by the economic crisis. Some refugees are selling their food rations to buy medicine or visit a doctor.”


Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region

Updated 38 min 59 sec ago
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Israel army issues new evacuation call for Lebanon’s Baalbek region

  • The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border
  • Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900

Jerusalem: The Israeli military on Sunday called for the evacuation of the Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon, warning that it was ready to strike Hezbollah targets there and in nearby Douris.
The latest evacuation call came as the military’s Home Front Command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border as dozens of projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory since Sunday morning.
“You are currently located near the facilities and assets associated with Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will be targeting in the near future,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X addressed to residents of Baalbek and Douris.
The Israeli air force intercepted several projectiles that were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, while some fell in open areas, the military said in a statement.
On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon killed seven people in the town of Metula in northern Israel, including four Thai farmers.
Israel and the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since September 23 that has killed more than 1,900 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on September 30.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants first erupted on October 8 last year when the Lebanese group began firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Hamas, a day after the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s sweeping military response against Hamas has led to the deaths of 43,314 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations consider to be reliable.


Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit

Updated 03 November 2024
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Turkiye seeks deeper Africa ties at summit

  • Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti
  • Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year

Nairobi: Turkiye on Sunday said it was committed to deepening relations with Africa, which it and called on to back diplomatic support for Palestinians, as it held its latest African summit in Djibouti.
Turkiye has invested heavily across Africa in recent years, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carrying out 50 visits to 31 countries during his two decades in power.
Fourteen African countries attended the latest ministerial meeting in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti this weekend.
They included Angola, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who presided over the summit, said trade with the continent surpassed $35 billion last year and Turkiye’s direct investments now totalled $7 billion.
“Turkiye is employing a comprehensive and holistic approach in terms of enhancing our trade and economic partnership with the continent,” Fidan said in a speech.
Turkiye has become the fourth largest arms supplier to sub-Saharan Africa and helped train armed forces in many countries.
In recent months, it has attempted to mediate a feud between Ethiopia and Somalia, and struck a mining deal with Niger.
Fidan reiterated support for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20, and for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
“We should continue our efforts to make the UN more relevant and capable of confronting the complex challenges of the century. Security Council reform is critical in this sense,” he said.
Fidan also called for greater African involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe that Africa can play an instrumental role in supporting the Palestinian cause and in stopping Israel,” he said.
“We appreciate the African countries that stand with Palestine,” he added, highlighting South Africa’s recent move to file evidence of “genocide” committed by Israel to the International Criminal Court.
The next Turkiye-Africa Summit is due to be held in 2026.


Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it

Updated 03 November 2024
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Palestinians say Israel struck a Gaza clinic during a polio campaign. The army denies it

  • The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year
  • Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands

CAIRO: Palestinian officials say an Israeli drone strike on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated for polio wounded six people, including four children. The Israeli military denied responsibility.
The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands.
It was not possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza over the course of the war, saying Hamas uses them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.
Dr. Munir Al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes after a United Nations delegation left the facility.
The World Health Organization and the UN children’s agency, known as UNICEF, which are jointly carrying out the polio vaccination campaign, expressed concern over the reported strike.
“The reports of this attack are even more disturbing as the Sheikh Radwan Clinic is one of the health points where parents can get their children vaccinated,” said Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
“Today’s attack occurred while the humanitarian pause was still in effect, despite assurances given that the pause would be respected from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.”
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that “contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the (Israeli military) did not strike in the area at the specified time.”
A scaled-down campaign to administer a second dose of the polio vaccine began Saturday in parts of northern Gaza. It had been postponed from Oct. 23 due to lack of access, Israeli bombings and mass evacuation orders, and the lack of assurances for humanitarian pauses, a UN statement said.
The administration of the first dose was carried out in September across the Gaza Strip, including areas of northern Gaza that are now completely sealed off. Health officials said the campaign’s first round, and the administration of the second dose across central and southern Gaza, were successful.
At least 100,000 people have been forced to evacuate from areas of north Gaza toward Gaza City in the past few weeks, but around 15,000 children under the age of 10 remain in northern towns, including Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are inaccessible, according to the UN
The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children in the north with a second dose of oral polio vaccine, the agencies said, but “achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints.”
They say 90 percent of children in every community must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The campaign was launched after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization said the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, who do not say how many were combatants but say more than half were women and children.


Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt

Updated 03 November 2024
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Bangladeshi killed in air strike in Lebanon: govt

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi worker died in a air strike in Lebanon, Dhaka’s foreign ministry said Sunday, as the Israeli bombardment hampered efforts to repatriate citizens.
The foreign ministry estimates that between 70,000 and 100,000 of its nationals are working in Lebanon, many as laborers or domestic workers.
The first flights, organized by Dhaka’s government with the UN’s International Organization for Migration, brought home scores of Bangladeshis from Beirut last month.
Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon in a reported strike as he stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work in Beirut, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan said in a statement.
Mohmmad Jalaluddin said his younger brother Nizam had lived in Beirut for more than a decade, and had not been among the estimated 1,800 Bangladeshis who had registered for an evacuation flight home.
“We want to bury him in our ancestral home, and are now waiting for the government’s response,” Jalaluddin told AFP.
But senior Bangladeshi foreign ministry official Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur said it was challenging to arrange a flight into Beirut.
“With the ongoing war, there are hardly any flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh,” Monsur said.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to repatriate our citizens who have registered to return home.”
Israel drastically escalated its air campaign against Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in September, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
It has since launched a ground offensive intended to push the group back from its northern border.
Hezbollah has been firing thousands of projectiles into Israel over the last year, displacing tens of thousands of Israelis.
The war has killed at least 1,930 people in Lebanon, since it began on September 23, according to an AFP tally of health ministry figures, though the real number is likely higher due to data gaps.
Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on September 30.


UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments

Updated 03 November 2024
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UAE, Qatari leaders discuss ties, regional developments

DUBAI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Saturday had a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to review ties between the two nations and the latest regional developments.

They also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation to advance the shared ambitions of both countries and their peoples, WAM news agency reported.

The two leaders exchanged views on regional and international issues, and underscored the need for concerted efforts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East and avoid additional crises.