DAMASCUS: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Jordan and Syria late on Monday, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), with residents across both countries and in Lebanon feeling its impacts.
The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), GFZ said. It had earlier reported the magnitude at 5.46 but revised it down minutes later.
At least 25 people sustained minor to moderate injuries due to stampeding following the earthquake, the Syrian city of Hama’s Health Director Maher Younis said early on Tuesday.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said it had registered the earthquake’s epicenter east Hama.
In Salamiya, a town approximately 30 km (18.5 miles) east of Hama city, residents rushed out into the dark streets out of fear, said Nasser Duyub, a state employee living there.
“My son was sleeping, I don’t know how I grabbed him and got out of the house,” Duyub told Reuters.
Residents said they saw a balcony collapse and ambulances treating people who had fainted.
Others in Syria said they had immediate flashbacks to 2023, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 50,000 — mostly in Turkiye but with thousands also perishing in northern Syria. The quake also left widespread destruction in both countries.
“It was the same sound, as if it was coming out of the earth,” said Umm Hamzah, a resident of the Syrian capital Damascus. “I got dizzy just like last time, but the scare was worse because I knew what happened the previous quake.”
The Syrian civil defense operating in the northern opposition-held areas of the war-torn country said they had deployed to several areas to respond to any prospective emergency, but had not received reports of any damage thus far.
Residents across Lebanon also felt the quake. Both Lebanon and Syria have been hit by Israeli air strikes over the last 10 months as regional hostilities play out in parallel with the Gaza war, and several residents said they initially thought the quake was an air strike.
Jordan’s state news agency reported a 3.9 magnitude aftershock less than an hour after the initial quake.
Earthquake of magnitude 4.8 strikes Jordan-Syria region, GFZ reports
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Earthquake of magnitude 4.8 strikes Jordan-Syria region, GFZ reports
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Russian, Egyptian ministers reiterate need to establish Palestinian state
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- Badr Abdelatty and Sergey Lavrov exchanged views on the Israeli aggression against the occupied Palestinian territories
- Two ministers discussed the Dabaa nuclear power plant and the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone
CAIRO: The foreign ministers of Egypt and Russia reiterated the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state on the entire Palestinian territory, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
They also agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and unconditional humanitarian aid access.
Badr Abdelatty, who was in Moscow on Monday, and Sergey Lavrov exchanged views on the Israeli aggression against the occupied Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The two men held an expanded consultation session, followed by a joint press conference.
Abdelatty emphasized the need for bilateral cooperation in various fields, especially in the sectors of energy, food security, tourism, transport and logistics, “which contribute to advancing economic and trade relations between the two countries … especially with Egypt’s accession to the BRICS membership.”
The two ministers discussed the developments of important projects being implemented, most notably the Dabaa nuclear power plant and the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.
Abdelatty and Lavrov also touched on the situations in Syria, Sudan and Libya, in addition to the need to achieve security in the Red Sea and ensure freedom of maritime navigation in this vital region of the world.
He emphasized the importance of Somali sovereignty over its territories, and condemned any action that undermines its unity.
Regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Abdelatty emphasized the importance of Egypt’s water security and the need to reach a binding legal agreement on filling and operating the dam, and rejecting any unilateral measures.
The dam is on the Blue Nile tributary in the northern Ethiopia highlands, from where 85 percent of the Nile’s waters flow. Egypt, with a population of about 107 million people, relies on the River Nile for nearly all its fresh water, which is vital for household and agricultural use.
Netanyahu’s approval rating deteriorates at home and abroad
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- Netanyahu has failed to negotiate a ceasefire and many Israelis now accuse him of sabotaging talks
- 74 percent of Jews in the UK view Israel’s overall situation in a negative light
LONDON: Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval rating has fallen — in Israel and abroad — with British Jews showing “significant disapproval” of the current Israeli leadership.
More than 11 months into the war in Gaza, the death toll among Palestinians is more than 41,000. Farther north, there has been almost daily cross-border fire between Israeli forces and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out Middle East war.
Meanwhile, there are 101 people still being held hostage by Hamas. At least six others are believed to have been killed by airstrikes on the besieged enclave.
Netanyahu has failed to negotiate a ceasefire and many Israelis now accuse him of sabotaging talks.
A new report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research determined it is failures like these that have contributed to British Jews’ disapproval of the Israeli leadership.
Based on the most recent data, 80 percent either strongly or somewhat disapprove of Netanyahu, while only 12 percent strongly or somewhat approve.
In addition, 74 percent of Jews in the UK view Israel’s overall situation in a negative light, a figure nearly 10 percent higher than Israelis’ view of their country.
This is significantly worse than a year previously, reflecting the crisis of Oct. 7, the extended captivity of the hostages, and the ongoing war in Gaza.
The strictly orthodox, men, and people who voted for right-wing parties in the previous UK election were the most likely groups to view Israeli government policies more positively.
JPR’s executive director, Dr. Jonathan Boyd, said: ‘The Jewish community in the UK holds strong ties and attachments to Israel, and the events of the past year have affected British Jews very deeply.
“In many respects, we can see that they feel closer to Israel now than they did before October 7.
“Still, as this report demonstrates, we are also seeing high levels of disapproval for Netanyahu and even higher levels for the hard-right members of his coalition, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“As much as Israel matters to British Jews, many are expressing clear concern about its current political leadership.”
14,000 Gaza amputees will get rapid prosthetic limbs using UK tech
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- Program involves UK-based companies Koalaa and Amparo, both of which have developed easy-to-fit sockets for upper and lower limb prosthetics
LONDON: A Jordanian-led initiative to equip thousands of victims of the war in Gaza with prosthetic limbs has started, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
Two mobile clinics entered the war-ravaged territory on Monday with the aim of helping 14,000 amputees. The estimated cost of each fitting is around £1,000 ($1,321).
The program involves UK-based companies Koalaa and Amparo, both of which have developed easy-to-fit sockets for upper and lower limb prosthetics.
Using advanced British-designed technology, the doctors aim to fit a functioning prosthesis every hour.
Each fitting will be registered digitally, allowing for remote follow-up procedures with specialist doctors based in Amman or around the world.
“Medical estimates indicate that over 14,000 people have been injured and lost one or more limbs,” Jordanian Brig. Gen. Mustafa Al-Hiyari told Sky News.
“Our project is distinguished not only by the large number (of prosthetics provided) but also by its speed; as specialists will declare, a prosthetic limb would be installed in less than an hour.
“Those who cannot reach the hospital, the equipped vans will go to them,” the Jordanian Armed Forces member said.
Most of the amputees from the war cannot leave Gaza for treatment elsewhere, and the conflict has displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
The top UN humanitarian official for Gaza told the UN Security Council on Monday that more must be done to protect civilians.
“Time is slipping away as a man-made humanitarian crisis has turned Gaza into the abyss,” Sigrid Kaag, the UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said.
Kaag said humanitarian operations are impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting, and operating conditions for aid workers. She cited Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and “poor logistical infrastructure.”
Hundreds of Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon when pagers explode, security source says
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- Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by the explosion, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported
- Hezbollah official said detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel
BEIRUT: Hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, a security source told Reuters.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured by the explosion, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
The explosions took place amid heightened violence between Israel and Hezbollah, who have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza war erupted last October in the worst such escalation in years.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military to Reuters enquiries about the detonations.
A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut amid widespread panic. Residents said explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts. The security source added that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.
Groups of people huddled at the entrance of buildings to check on people they knew who may have been wounded, the Reuters journalist said.
Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding. In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out someone standing at a fruit stand at a market area.
Lebanon’s crisis operations center, which is run by the health ministry, asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of wounded coming into for urgent care. It said health care workers should not use pagers.
Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel immediately after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen on Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire constantly ever since, while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from towns and villages on both sides of the border by the hostilties.
Qatar says Gaza truce mediation efforts ‘ongoing’
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- Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting
- Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden
DOHA: Qatar’s foreign ministry said Tuesday efforts to forge a Gaza truce were “ongoing,” after several rounds of talks aimed at ending the now 11-month war ended without a breakthrough.
“The efforts are still ongoing and channels of communication remain open... the goals and visits and meetings are ongoing,” ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters.
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting between Hamas and Israel, apart from a one-week truce beginning in late November.
Recent mediation in Doha and Cairo has been based on a framework laid out in May by US President Joe Biden and a “bridging proposal” presented to the warring parties in August.
The US State Department said Monday Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit Egypt this week to “discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire,” his tenth trip to the region since the Gaza Strip war began on October 7.
After in-person talks last month in Egypt and Qatar broke up without a final agreement, Washington indicated that mediators were preparing to present another adapted framework for a ceasefire.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday Washington was working “expeditiously” on a new proposal.
Ansari declined to comment Tuesday on whether any further proposal had been relayed to Israel or Hamas.
“When it comes to the possibility of a deal taking place anytime soon, of course we remain hopeful at every juncture,” he said.
“I can’t comment on the prospects of a deal taking place right now but I can tell you that we remain hopeful and we continue with our efforts.”
Hamas said its delegation met Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha last week to discuss a truce and potential hostage and prisoner exchange, again without indicating that any breakthrough had been reached.
Pressure inside Israel for a deal has intensified after authorities announced the deaths of six hostages at the start of September after their bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
But in the face of the external calls for an agreement, both Israel and Hamas have publicly signalled deeper entrenchment in their negotiating positions.
On Tuesday Israel announced an expansion of its war aims, widening its fight against Hamas in Gaza to focus on Hezbollah along its northern border with Lebanon.
The October 7 attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,252 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.