Children traumatized by Morocco ‘nightmare’ quake

A girl washes dishes outside their tent on Friday at a camp for earthquake victims in Amizmiz, Morocco. The magnitude 6.8 earthquake — Morocco’s strongest ever — has killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 5,600 since it hit on Sept. 8 in Al-Haouz province, south of tourist hub Marrakesh. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 15 September 2023
Follow

Children traumatized by Morocco ‘nightmare’ quake

  • The magnitude 6.8 earthquake — Morocco’s strongest ever — flattened entire villages like Ibtissam’s hometown of Imi N’Tala and left tens of thousands of people homeless

RABAT: Nine-year-old Moroccan girl Ibtissam Ait Iddar was fortunate to have been rescued from under the rubble, but like other children she remains traumatized by the earthquake that devastated her village.
“My father called me and I cried back ‘I’m here, I’m here’,” Ibtissam recalled five days after the disaster that left nearly 3,000 people dead and more than 5,600 injured.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake — Morocco’s strongest ever — flattened entire villages like Ibtissam’s hometown of Imi N’Tala and left tens of thousands of people homeless.
A week after it struck on Sept. 8, Ibtissam and her family have sought refuge nearby with dozens of other families, living out of a tent.
But two of Ibtissam’s friends, Mouna and Zineb, are not among the survivors.
“We used to go to school together even though we were not in the same class,” she said.

BACKGROUND

The UN’s cultural organization UNESCO has expressed concern over the immediate future of education in Morocco following the devastating quake.

Ibtissam’s 4-year-old sister and both her grandmothers were also killed in the quake, and now her mother, Naima Benhamou, says she is now “worried” about her daughter.
The girl wakes up often at night crying and shouts “Get me out, I’ve fallen,” said Benhamou, expressing concern about her daughter’s psychological state.
Ibtissam was pulled out from the rubble by her father and her uncle after their home was crushed by huge rocks that the quake caused to roll down the mountainside.
Imi N’Tala is located at an altitude of more than 1,400 meters near Mount Toubkal in the High Atlas Mountains.
The village’s houses are built on a narrow and winding road that runs the length of the mountain range, about 75 km south of Marrakech.
Survivors in the village, once home to 400 people, have said the quake killed 84 residents, including 20 children.
The stench of death fills the air, they have said.
On Wednesday, rescuers pulled a body from under rubble and struggled to search for five more.
Youssef Ait Raiss, 11, remembers how his family home “crumbled.”
“We were stuck under the rubble,” said the boy whose parents were away when the quake struck.
“We were with our grandmother. It was like a nightmare,” added his brother Zakaria, 13.
The grandmother has since died while an older brother aged 16 is fighting for his life in a Marrakech hospital. Two of Youssef’s classmates, Taoufik and Khaled, were also killed.
“We went to school together. We played together,” he said.
His school near the village was badly damaged and classes have been suspended, a measure that has been taken in around 40 communities in the nearby provinces of Al Haouz, Chichaoua and Taroudant.
The UN’s cultural organization UNESCO has expressed concern over the immediate future of education in Morocco following the devastating quake.
“The earthquake affected a particularly rural and isolated area, encompassing a school population of around 1 million pupils and a teaching staff of more than 42,000 professionals,” it said in a statement.
Ibtissam has said she was “shocked” to see her school damaged, according to her mother.
“She told me that if she cannot go back to school then we must leave here as soon as possible,” Benhamou added.
But Ibtissam’s uncle Mohammed Ait Toulkine vowed to make sure she goes to school.
“I’ll do everything possible to send her to Marrakech. It is important that she continues to study,” he said.
Nearby a team of rescuers dug through the rubble to retrieve the body of Khadija Ouhssine’s father-in-law.
Ouhssine, 32, also lost two of her children and her mother-in-law, all killed by the quake.
“Losing one’s children is a feeling that no word can describe,” she said, standing outside her flattened house.

 


How many hostages are left in Gaza?

Updated 22 June 2025
Follow

How many hostages are left in Gaza?

  • 50 hostages remain in captivity
  • PM Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran

Israel said Sunday that it has recovered the bodies of three more hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that ignited the ongoing 20-month war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military identified them as Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. All three were killed during the initial attack and their bodies were taken into Gaza. Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son’s remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan’s 23rd birthday.
The military did not provide details about the operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. More than 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Here are details on the hostages:
Total hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023: 251
Hostages taken before the Oct. 7 attack: 4, including 2 who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of 2 soldiers killed in the 2014 war
Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 148, of whom 8 were dead
Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli forces: 49
Hostages rescued alive: 8
Hostages still in captivity: 50, of whom Israel believes 27 are dead. Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several more.
The hostages in captivity include four non-Israelis: 2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian who have been confirmed dead, and a Nepalese captive.


US, Israel crossed ‘big red line’, Iran FM says as heads to Moscow

Updated 22 June 2025
Follow

US, Israel crossed ‘big red line’, Iran FM says as heads to Moscow

  • ‘Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security’
  • Iran’s top envoy says any demand to return to negotiations was ‘irrelevant’

ISTANBUL: The United States and Israel crossed a major red line in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday, saying he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

“They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran’s) nuclear facilities,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

He was speaking just hours after President Donald Trump said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days into an Israeli bombing campaign targeting its nuclear facilities.

“The most dangerous one happened only last night,” Araghchi said, while acknowledging he did not know the full extent of the damage done in the strikes, including one at the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

“I still do not have exact information about the level of damages, but I don’t think it matters... Last night’s attack was a grave crime,” he said.

“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression.”

Araghchi said he would head to Moscow on Sunday and hold talks with Putin on Monday morning.

“I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow,” he said.

After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war.”

But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was “irrelevant.”

“The world must not forget that it was the United States which — in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome — betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” he said.

“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”

Turkiye, which was hosting the weekend OIC summit, warned that the strikes risked escalating the Iran-Israel conflict to a global level that could have “catastrophic” consequences.

“The ongoing developments could cause the regional conflict to escalate to a global level. We do not want this catastrophic scenario to come to life,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.


Iran missile barrage hits three areas in Israel, 23 hurt

Updated 22 June 2025
Follow

Iran missile barrage hits three areas in Israel, 23 hurt

  • Public broadcaster KAN 11 showed images of a devastated building surrounded by mounds of rubble

JERUSALEM: Three areas of Israel including coastal hub Tel Aviv were hit Sunday morning during waves of Iranian missile attacks, with at least 23 people injured, according to rescue services and police.

Several buildings were heavily damaged in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv, with holes torn in the facades of apartment blocks.

“Houses here were hit very, very badly,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai told reporters at the scene. “Fortunately, one of them was slated for demolition and reconstruction, so there were no residents inside.

“Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well. The damage is very, very extensive, but in terms of human life, we are okay.”

0 seconds of 30 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:30
00:30
 

The Israeli police said in a statement that they had been deployed to at least two other impact sites, one in Haifa in the north and another in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv.

A public square in a residential area of Haifa was left strewn with rubble and surrounding shops and homes have been heavily damaged, AFP photos showed.

Eli Bin, the head of Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, told reporters that a total of 23 people had been wounded nationwide in the attacks, with “two in moderate condition and the rest lightly injured.”

Two waves of missiles were launched at Israel from around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), the Israeli military said.

Sirens rang across the country, with air defenses activated shortly afterwards, causing loud explosions heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israeli police reported “the fall of weapon fragments” in a northern area encompassing the port of Haifa, where local authorities said emergency services were heading to an “accident site.”

Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, but at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nation-wide and 25 people have been killed since the war began with Iran on June 13, according to official figures.

Tel Aviv, the southern city of Beersheba and the northern port of Haifa have been the three areas most frequently targeted by Iran.

Israel’s sophisticated air defenses have intercepted more than 450 missiles along with around 1,000 drones, according to the latest figures from the Israeli military.


Additional US embassy staff left Iraq due to ‘regional tensions’: US official

Updated 22 June 2025
Follow

Additional US embassy staff left Iraq due to ‘regional tensions’: US official

  • The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week
  • The embassy and the consulate remain operational

BAGHDAD: More personnel from the United States diplomatic mission departed Iraq over the weekend as part of ongoing efforts to reduce embassy staffing amid “regional tensions,” a US official said Sunday after Washington attacked Iranian nuclear sites.
“As part of our ongoing effort to streamline operations, additional personnel departed Iraq on June 21 and 22,” the US official told AFP.
The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week “out of an abundance of caution and due to heightened regional tensions,” he added.
The embassy and the consulate remain operational.
Earlier on Sunday, Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran as President Donald Trump announced US strikes on Iran’s main nuclear sites.
Iran had threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out.
Fears are growing in Iraq over a possible intervention by Iran-backed armed factions, who have threatened Washington’s interests in the region if it were to join Israel in its war against Iran.
Iraq, which has for years been navigating a delicate balancing act between Tehran and Washington, has long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.


Airlines keep avoiding Middle East airspace after US operation in Iran

Updated 22 June 2025
Follow

Airlines keep avoiding Middle East airspace after US operation in Iran

  • Choose other routings such as north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia
  • New flight paths result in higher fuel and crew costs and longer flight times

Airlines continued to avoid large parts of the Middle East on Sunday after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, with traffic already skirting airspace in the region due to recent missile exchanges.

“Following US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, commercial traffic in the region is operating as it has since new airspace restrictions were put into place last week,” FlightRadar24 said on social media platform X.

Its website showed airlines were not flying in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel. They have chosen other routings such as north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, even if it results in higher fuel and crew costs and longer flight times.

READ: Trump tells Iran ‘peace or tragedy’ in special address after main nuclear sites bombed

Missile and drone barrages in an expanding number of conflict zones globally represent a high risk to airline traffic.

Since Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13, carriers have suspended flights to destinations in the affected countries, though there have been some evacuation flights from neighboring nations and some bringing stranded Israelis home.

Israel’s two largest carriers, El Al Israel Airlines and Arkia, said on Sunday they were suspending rescue flights that allowed people to return to Israel until further notice. El Al said it would also extend its cancelation of scheduled flights through June 27.

Israel’s airports authority said the country’s airspace was closed for all flights, but land crossings with Egypt and Jordan remained open.

Japan’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it had evacuated 21 people, including 16 Japanese nationals, from Iran overland to Azerbaijan. It said it was the second such evacuation since Thursday and that it would conduct further evacuations if necessary.

New Zealand’s government said on Sunday it would send a Hercules military transport plane to the Middle East on standby to evacuate New Zealanders from the region.

It said in a statement that government personnel and a C-130J Hercules aircraft would leave Auckland on Monday. The plane would take some days to reach the region, it said.

The government was also in talks with commercial airlines to assess how they may be able to assist, it added.