Breaking the fast among the rubble: A sorrowful Ramadan for families in Syria

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The UN’s World Food Program was forced to suspend aid to the Syrian people at the beginning of this year due to lack of funding, which has further eroded living conditions. (AN Photo)
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About 6 million people live in northwestern Syria, of which almost 50 percent are displaced. (AN Photo)
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The UN’s World Food Program was forced to suspend aid to the Syrian people at the beginning of this year due to lack of funding, which has further eroded living conditions. (AN Photo)
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Updated 21 March 2024
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Breaking the fast among the rubble: A sorrowful Ramadan for families in Syria

  • ‘This year is much more difficult because electricity and water are not available … and we cannot provide cooking methods,’ 48-year-old Ibrahim Qaq tells Arab News

DAMASCUS: Families in northwestern Syria are celebrating Ramadan in bomb-ravaged houses against the backdrop of a dire economic crisis, surging rents, and the ongoing 13-year civil war.

During the holy month, Muslims traditionally go without food or drink from dawn to dusk, then break their daily fast with iftar, a meal after sunset. But the challenges faced by people in Syria grow by the year.

“This year is much more difficult because electricity and water are not available in these buildings, and we cannot provide cooking methods,” 48-year-old Ibrahim Qaq told Arab News.

“We are afraid that the house will fall in an instant because all of its walls are cracked due to the air raids it was subjected to previously. When any earthquake or strong bombardment occurs, this house may fall.”




The family was forced to move into an abandoned house that had been damaged by airstrikes. (AN Photo)

Qaq was displaced from the city of Maarat Al-Numan five years ago and moved between refugee camps in northwestern Syria before settling in the city of Jericho, in southern Idlib.

Eight months ago, his rent increased from $25 to $40, forcing him to move his family into an abandoned house close to the front lines of the civil war that had been damaged by airstrikes.

The daily threat of bombs and missiles looms over Qaq and his family. However, he said the alternative, to move back to a camp for internally displaced people, would be even worse, as the tents occupants live in are exposed to harsh weather during the winter and summer months.

His wife, Fatima Umm Zakaria, said: “We became afraid of the arrival of the month of Ramadan because it requires many costs that we cannot afford because we have no fixed source of income and we lost all of the money we had.

“During Ramadan, we love to cook and live in the beautiful atmosphere of Ramadan, but the war has exhausted us.”

The ever-worsening economic and humanitarian crises, coupled with the effects of the ongoing civil war, have also forced young people in northwestern Syria, including Qaq’s children, to set aside their dreams.




The daily threat of bombs and missiles looms over Qaq and his family. (AN Photo)

“I dropped out of school because we were displaced and I started working in the construction industry with my brother in order to cover the expenses of the house,” 20-year-old Omar Qaq told Arab News.

“I was hoping to complete my studies but there is no room for that in light of these circumstances in which we live.”

He said he wishes his family could return to its home in Maarat Al-Numan and celebrate Ramadan in the way they did before the war, rejoicing in its arrival.

The UN’s World Food Program was forced to suspend aid to the Syrian people at the beginning of this year due to lack of funding, which has further eroded living conditions in a country where millions lack sufficient access to food. About 6 million people live in northwestern Syria, of which almost 50 percent are displaced, according to aid agencies.


Nine killed in Iran as bus, fuel truck collide — state media

Updated 6 sec ago
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Nine killed in Iran as bus, fuel truck collide — state media

  • Iran has a poor road safety record, with over 20,000 deaths recorded between March 2023 and March 2024
  • In August, 28 Pakistani Muslim pilgrims en route to Iraq were killed when their bus crashed in central Iran

TEHRAN: At least nine people were killed on Monday when a bus collided with a fuel truck in Iran’s southeast, state media reported, the second mass casualty road accident within days.
Mohammad Mehdi Sajjadi, head of the Red Crescent Society in Sistan-Baluchestan province, told the official IRNA news agency that “nine people lost their lives and 13 others were injured in the accident in which a bus collided with a fuel truck near Zahedan.”
On Saturday, 10 people were killed when a bus plunged into a ravine in Iran’s western Lorestan province.
Iran has a poor road safety record, with more than 20,000 deaths in accidents recorded between March 2023 and March 2024, according to figures from the judiciary’s Forensic Medicine Organization cited by local media.
In August, 28 Pakistani Muslim pilgrims en route to Iraq were killed when their bus crashed in central Iran.
Impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, saw one of Iran’s deadliest accidents in 2004, when a gasoline tanker collided with a bus, sparking a massive fire that killed more than 70 people.


Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’

Updated 23 December 2024
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Gaza official says Israel strikes on hospital ‘terrifying’

  • The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping

Gaza Strip: An official from one of only two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza told AFP on Monday that Israeli forces were continuing to target his facility and urged the international community to intervene before “it is too late.”
Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in the city of Beit Lahia, described the situation at the medical facility as “extremely dangerous and terrifying” owing to shelling by Israeli forces.
An Israeli military spokesman denied that the hospital was being targeted.
“I am unaware of any strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital,” he told AFP.
Safiyeh reported that the hospital, which is currently treating 91 patients, had been targeted on Monday by Israeli drones.
“This morning, drones dropped bombs in the hospital’s courtyards and on its roof,” said Safiyeh in a statement.
“The shelling, which also destroyed nearby houses and buildings, did not stop throughout the night.”
The shelling and bombardment have caused extensive damage to the hospital, Safiyeh added.
“Bullets hit the intensive care unit, the maternity ward, and the specialized surgery department causing fear among patients,” he said, adding that a generator was also targeted.
“The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside.
“We face a constant threat every day. The shelling continues from all directions... The situation is extremely critical and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” he said.
On Sunday, Safiyeh said he received orders to evacuate the hospital, but the military denied issuing such directives.
Located in Beit Lahia, the hospital is one of only two still operational in northern Gaza.
The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Most of the dead and injured from the offensive are brought to Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals.
The United Nations and other organizations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, particularly in the north, since the latest military offensive began.
Rights groups have consistently appealed for hospitals to be protected and for the urgent delivery of medical aid and fuel to keep the facilities running.
Israeli officials have accused Hamas militants of using the hospitals as command and control centers to plan attacks against the military.
The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year after Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,259 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.


Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say

Updated 23 December 2024
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Some gaps have narrowed in elusive Gaza ceasefire deal, sides say

  • Palestinian official familiar with the talks said some sticking points had been resolved
  • But identity of some of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages yet to be agreed

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.
A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said while some sticking points had been resolved, the identity of some of the Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in return for hostages had yet to be agreed, along with the precise deployment of Israeli troops in Gaza.
His remarks corresponded with comments by the Israeli diaspora minister, Amichai Chikli, who said both issues were still being negotiated. Nonetheless, he said, the sides were far closer to reaching agreement than they have been for months.
“This ceasefire can last six months or it can last 10 years, it depends on the dynamics that will form on the ground,” Chikli told Israel’s Kan radio. Much hinged on what powers would be running and rehabilitating Gaza once fighting stopped, he said.
The duration of the ceasefire has been a fundamental sticking point throughout several rounds of failed negotiations. Hamas wants an end to the war, while Israel wants an end to Hamas’ rule of Gaza first.
“The issue of ending the war completely hasn’t yet been resolved,” said the Palestinian official.
Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told Israel’s Army Radio that the aim was to find an agreed framework that would resolve that difference during a second stage of the ceasefire deal.
Chikli said the first stage would be a humanitarian phase that will last 42 days and include a hostage release.
HOSPITAL
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
At least 11 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, medics said.
One of Gaza’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months, sought urgent help after being hit by Israeli fire.
“We are facing a continuous daily threat,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. “The bombing continues from all directions, affecting the building, the departments, and the staff.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment. On Sunday it said it was supplying fuel and food to the hospital and helping evacuate some patients and staff to safer areas.
Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Israel says its operation around the three communities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas militants.
On Monday, the United Nations’ aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said Israeli forces had hampered efforts to deliver much needed aid in northern Gaza.
“North Gaza has been under a near-total siege for more than two months, raising the specter of famine,” he said. “South Gaza is extremely overcrowded, creating horrific living conditions and even greater humanitarian needs as winter sets in.”


Palestinians in Jenin observe a general strike

Updated 23 December 2024
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Palestinians in Jenin observe a general strike

  • The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank

JENIN: Palestinians in the volatile northern West Bank town of Jenin are observing a general strike called by militant groups to protest a rare crackdown by Palestinian security forces.
An Associated Press reporter in Jenin heard gunfire and explosions, apparently from clashes between militants and Palestinian security forces. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded. There was no sign of Israeli troops in the area.
Shops were closed in the city on Monday, the day after militants killed a member of the Palestinian security forces and wounded two others.
Militant groups called for a general strike across the territory, accusing the security forces of trying to disarm them in support of Israel’s half-century occupation of the territory.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized but deeply unpopular among Palestinians, in part because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. Israel accuses the authority of incitement and of failing to act against armed groups.
The Palestinian Authority blamed Sunday’s attack on “outlaws.” It says it is committed to maintaining law and order but will not police the occupation.
The Palestinian Authority exercises limited authority in population centers in the West Bank. Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.
Israel’s current government is opposed to Palestinian statehood and says it will maintain open-ended security control over the territory. Violence has soared in the West Bank following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there.


Qatari minister arrives in Damascus on first Qatar Airways flight since Assad’s fall

Updated 23 December 2024
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Qatari minister arrives in Damascus on first Qatar Airways flight since Assad’s fall

DUBAI: Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs arrived in Damascus on Monday on the first Qatar Airways flight to the Syrian capital since the fall of President Bashar Assad two weeks ago, Doha’s foreign ministry said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Mohammed Al-Khulaifi was the most senior official of the Gulf Arab state to visit Syria since militants toppled the Assad family’s 54-year-long rule.