Lebanon

Day of mourning in Lebanon after deadly Beirut bombings

November 13, 2015 by Nasheman

Twin explosions in the capital kill at least 43 people with ISIL claiming responsibility.

Beirut: A national day of mourning was held Friday after two suicide bombers on motorcycles killed at least 43 people and wounded more than 200 others in a predominantly Shia area of southern Beirut.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for one of the worst attacks in years in Lebanon.

“They targeted this place because they don’t have any other way to fight us,” Fouad Khaddam, an eyewitness at the scene, told Al Jazeera. “They have run out of options… They targeted this area because we are Shias. But let me be clear – we won’t be fazed.”

“Soldiers of the Caliphate” were responsible for the attack, according to a statement allegedly posted by ISIL, which was published a few hours after Thursday’s blasts.

The health ministry and the Lebanese army said the body of a third suicide bomber was found at the scene of the attack.

The explosions took place in the Burj el-Barajneh area, located off a main highway leading to Beirut’s airport. Burj el-Barajneh, a well-known commercial and residential spot, suffered extensive damage from the two blasts.

The bombings came at a busy time in the evening when the streets were full of families gathering after work.

Lebanon’s prime minister held an emergency meeting with ministers and military chiefs on Friday as his country mourned.

One of the suicide bombers blew himself up at the gates of a school, according to the Lebanese minister of education, Elias Bou Saab.

Witnesses said there were only minutes between the two blasts.

“I was standing outside my store with my friend when the first explosion happened,” one resident, who was wounded in the explosion, told Al Jazeera.

“He was martyred in the explosion. As I was trying to move him, the second explosion happened.”

Much of southern Beirut is a Hezbollah stronghold and witnessed a string of deadly suicide explosions in 2014 claimed by al-Qaeda affiliates.

“What happened here is a crime… This battle against terrorists will continue and it is a long war between us,” Hezbollah official Hussein Khalil said from the site of the explosions.

The attack came as Hezbollah steps up its involvement in the Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year.

“Personally, I was against Hezbollah’s decision to get involved in Syria, but right now I am convinced they were right. They are taking proactive action, they are not waiting for ISIL to come,” said area resident Mohammed Alabaman.

Kamel Wazne, a Lebanese political analyst, told Al Jazeera the bombings came at a time when major offensives [backed by Hezbollah] were taking place in Syria against ISIL and the armed group al-Nusra.

“This is probably just to remind Hezbollah there are other [groups] who can take revenge… It might be again the beginning of a circle of violence for Beirut.”

Additional reporting by Nour Samaha

‘You Stink’: Beirut protesters now calling for revolution

August 24, 2015 by Nasheman

Thousands of protesters pour into Lebanese capital’s streets demanding government’s resignation.

Lebanese activists shout ‘Revolution! Revolution!’ as they are sprayed by riot police using water cannons Sunday evening in Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 23, 2015. (AP photo)

by Common Dreams

Tens of thousands anti-government protesters clashed with police in central Beirut on Sunday evening just hours after Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violence triggered by the month-long ‘You Stink‘ trash protests.

Gunfire was heard as government riot police opened fire in an apparent effort to drive protesters away from central Beirut government offices, witnesses said.

Chants of “Revolution! Revolution!” were ringing through the crowds as police attacked Sunday night.

Thousands of protesters had camped overnight Saturday in the capital’s Riad al-Solh square waiting for Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s response to Saturday’s police violence.

Al-Jazeera reports that in a televised address Sunday morning, Salam said members of the security forces will be held accountable for the violence against protesters . Salam also called on an emergency parliament session on Thursday to deal with the country’s ongoing political crisis. “I have been, like many other fellow Lebanese, patient enough, but yesterday’s outcry should not be ignored,” he said. “I was never in this for a position in government, I am one of you. I am with the people. Do not pit this conflict [as] one camp against the other. Target all the politicians.”

Angered by Salam’s speech, the protesters chanted: “The people want the fall of the regime”.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Beirut, said the protests had drawn people from across Lebanon’s political divide.

“This is very much a grassroots movement that has come out on to the streets…there seems to be a very significant movement forming here in Beirut. “(The protests) were triggered by the trash crisis but the people we’ve been speaking to say that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back…they point to power shortages, water shortages, inherent corruption within the state.”

#youstink Tweets

Lebanon's Al-Akhbar shuts down English site

March 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Al-Akhbar editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin speaks during a meeting at the Press Federation in Beirut, Tuesday, May 13, 2014. (The Daily Star/Mohammad A Zakir)

by The Daily Star

Beirut: The English-language website of one of Lebanon’s most outspoken newspapers abruptly ended operations Friday, after a three-and-a-half-year stint, while plans to launch an English print edition were also put in the shredder.

Employees at Al-Akhbar English told The Daily Star that members of the newspaper’s management made the unexpected announcement Friday afternoon.

“We had two options: Either to go forward with a larger and much more expensive [print project], or to shut down,” Amer Mohsen, a senior member of Al-Akhbar’s editorial staff, told The Daily Star.

“And since the first option to publish the full-fledged paper was not possible, we decided to go the other way,” he said.

“Many factors,” including a lack of funds, led to closure of the website and the canceling of a paper launch, Mohsen added.

The closure comes days after three members of the staff were let go in unprecedented layoffs for the English site.

Al-Akhbar English, which was launched as an online-only platform in August 2011, had recently began preparing to transition into a full-fledged print newspaper under a new name, The Beirut Bulletin.

Originally, the management intended to continue running the news site until the launch of the paper, which was scheduled for summer.

But the site, which featured a blend of translations from the Arabic newspaper and original English content, was abruptly canceled when management realized plans for The Beirut Bulletin could no longer move forward.

UN: Turkey hosts largest number of refugees in the world

February 27, 2015 by Nasheman

A Group of Syrian Kurds, who were sheltering in Turkey as a result of ongoing clashes between ISIS and Kurdish armed groups, return to their hometown Kobane from Sanliurfa, Turkey on February 25, 2015. Anadolu/Halil Fidan

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world amid a “staggering” growth in displacement from Syria, the UN high commissioner for refugees said Thursday.

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, the high commissioner, Antonio Guterres, said the Syrian refugee crisis overwhelmed existing response capacities, with 3.8 million refugees registered in neighboring countries.

“Lebanon and Jordan have seen their populations grow, in the space of a few years, to a point they were prepared to reach only in several decades,” said Guterres. “Meanwhile, Turkey has now become the biggest refugee-hosting country in the world.”

According to the UN refugee agency, Turkey is hosting over 1.6 million Syrian refugees, who have fled a war that has paved the way for extremist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to gain a foothold in the region.

Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since peaceful protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 turned into an armed insurgency.

Urging the international community to share the burden, Guterres said the refugee influx had severely damaged the economies of Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

“The nature of the refugee crisis is changing” and called for “massive international support” for countries that have opened their borders to fleeing civilians,” he explained.

“As the level of despair rises, and the available protection space shrinks, we are approaching a dangerous turning point,” he added.

Lebanon’s population has grown by nearly 25 percent since the war in Syria began in 2011, with over 1.5 million Syrian refugees sheltered in a country with a population of 4 million, making it the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world.

The refugee influx has put huge pressure on the country’s already scarce resources and poor infrastructure, education and health systems, and has also contributed to rising tensions in a nation vulnerable to security breaches and instability.

Meanwhile, Guterres warned that almost two million Syrian refugees under the age of 18, many without access to education or jobs, “risk becoming a lost generation” and over 100,000 children born in exile could become stateless.

“If this is not addressed properly, this crisis-in-making will have huge consequences not only for the future of Syria but for the whole region,” he said.

Moreover, Guterres commended a temporary protection decree issued by Turkey last year to provide Syrians with access to the country’s labor market, as well as free education and health care.

“But despite this positive development in Turkey, it is no surprise that growing desperation is forcing more and more Syrian refugees to move further afield,” he said.

He said Syrians accounted for a third of the nearly 220,000 migrants who arrived in boats to European shores last year.

“Since the start of 2015, over 370 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean — that’s one person drowning for every twenty who made it,” he said.

He warned that thousands more could face death unless Europe decides to “step up its capacity to save lives, with a robust search and rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean.”

According to a December report by Amnesty International, wealthy nations have only taken in a “pitiful” 1.7 percent of the millions of refugees uprooted by Syria’s conflict, placing the burden on the country’s ill-equipped neighbors.

At the time, the London-based rights group blasted as shocking the failure of rich nations to host more refugees.

Amnesty said it was calling for the resettlement of five percent of Syria’s refugees by the end of 2015, and another five percent the following year.

In addition to those who fled the war-ravaged country to become refugees, the UN says more than seven million Syrians are internally displaced.

The refugees face poverty, illness and growing tensions with host communities in their already-impoverished temporary homes.

As the conflict rages, there is little prospect that the more than three million Syrians who have fled to neighboring countries and beyond will be able to return home any time soon.

(Anadolu, AFP, Al-Akhbar)

Spain Blames Israel for UN Peacekeeper’s Killing in South Lebanon Clashes

January 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Israeli military vehicles are seen burning in the Shebaa Farms, an Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory near the village of Ghajar, on January 28, 2015, following a Hezbollah missile attack. AFP/Marouf Khatib

Spain on Wednesday said Israeli fire had killed a Spanish UN peacekeeper serving in South Lebanon and called on the United Nations to fully investigate the violence, a day after Israeli prime minister vowed that Hezbollah would “pay the price” an attack in the Israeli-occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms that left at least two Israeli soldiers dead.

The UN Security Council condemned the death of the 36-year-old Spanish corporal who died when Israel shelled Lebanon with a combined aerial and ground strikes after an anti-tank missile was fired at an Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) convoy in the Shebaa Farms, a mountainous, narrow sliver of land illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.

“It is clear that this was because of the escalation of the violence and it came from the Israeli side,” Spanish Ambassador to the UN Roman Oyarzun told reporters.

The Spanish envoy said he had asked for a full investigation of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeper’s death during an emergency meeting of the council called by France to discuss ways to defuse tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

The violence raised fears of another all-out conflict between Lebanon and Israel in a region already wracked by fighting in Syria and Iraq.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for “maximum calm and restraint,” urging all sides to “act responsibly to prevent any escalation in an already tense regional environment,” a UN statement said.

“Our objective is to engage toward de-escalation and to prevent further escalation of the situation,” French Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre told reporters.

France presented a draft statement to council members, but after meeting for over an hour the council issued a terse condemnation of the peacekeeper’s death and made no mention of de-escalation efforts.

Discussions regarding another council statement on the situation were ongoing.

The 10,000-strong UNIFIL mission, which monitors the border between Lebanon and Occupied Palestine, said it had observed six rockets fired towards Occupied Palestine from southern Lebanon and that Israeli forces “returned artillery fire in the same general area.”

Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military convoy “transporting several Zionist soldiers and officers.”

“There were several casualties in the enemy’s ranks,” Hezbollah said.

According to Israeli figures, two soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded.

The Hezbollah brigade which carried out the attack, the Quneitra martyrs of the Islamic Resistance, was named in reference to an illegal Israeli airstrike on the Syrian city of Quneitra on January 18 that killed six fighters of Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah, as well as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general, indicating that Wednesday’s attack was in retaliation for the killing of its members.

Meanwhile, Lebanese security sources told AFP that Israeli forces then hit several Lebanese villages along the border.

Clouds of smoke could be seen rising from al-Majidiyeh village, one of the hardest hit. There were no casualties.

Senior peacekeeping official Edmond Mulet told council members that the attacks were a “serious violation” of ceasefire agreements, which Israel violates on a daily basis.

Israeli warplanes routinely violate Lebanon’s airspace and have launched several attacks against Syrian targets in recent months, some reportedly carried out from over Lebanon. An infographic of the number of Israeli overflights in Lebanon in 2011 showed that Israeli planes breached Lebanese sovereignty roughly five to 10 times a week on average that year.

On Thursday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), said Israeli fighter jets penetrated deep into Lebanese airspace, startling residents as the jets flew over the capital Beirut.

Israeli jets were also seen flying over southern Lebanese towns.

In 2013, Lebanon filed an official complaint to the United Nations over the regular Israeli violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Netanyahu: Hezbollah will “pay the price”

Israel claimed on Thursday it had allegedly received a message from Hezbollah that it was backing away from further violence.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon claimed Israel had received a message from a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon stating that Hezbollah was not interested in further escalation.

“Indeed, a message was received,” he said. “There are lines of coordination between us and Lebanon via UNIFIL and such a message was indeed received from Lebanon.”

In Beirut, Hezbollah officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

“I can’t say whether the events are behind us,” Yaalon added in a separate radio interview. “Until the area completely calms down, the Israel Defense Forces (sic) will remain prepared and ready.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon’s Hezbollah it will pay the “full price.”

“Those behind today’s attack will pay the full price,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying at a meeting with Israel’s top security brass Wednesday evening.

Netanyahu also threatened the government of Lebanon and to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The government of Lebanon and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of attacks originating in their territory against the state of Israel,” he said.

The United States stood by Israel after the exchange of fire and condemned Hezbollah’s shelling of the Israeli military convoy.

“We support Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense and continue to urge all parties to respect the blue line between Israel and Lebanon,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, however, appealed for an “immediate cessation of hostilities.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the Israeli military escalation in south Lebanon and expressed concern regarding the “aggressive intentions expressed by the Israeli officials and the deterioration of the situation it could lead to in Lebanon,” the NNA reported.

“Lebanon deems the international family responsible for repressing any Israeli tendency to gamble with the security and stability in the area.”
Moreover, Hezbollah’s attack was hailed by the Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“We affirm Hezbollah’s right to respond to the Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, while Jihad’s Quds Brigade praised the attack as “heroic.”

On Wednesday, Israeli security sources said at least one house had been hit in the divided village of Ghajar, which straddles the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon.

“Three houses were hit by rockets,” Hussein, 31, said, relaying what he had heard by telephone from relatives in the village of 2,000 inhabitants.

He said a number of villagers had been wounded but that he did not know how badly.

Other frantic family members argued with police to be allowed in to collect their children, who had been locked inside the village school for their own safety.

Building tensions

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had previously warned Israel against any “stupid” moves in Lebanon and Syria, vowing to retaliate and make sure Israel paid the price for any aggression against the neighboring countries.

Israeli airstrikes on Syria “target the whole of the resistance axis,” Nasrallah said in reference to Syria, Iran and his government, who are sworn enemies of Israel.

“The repeated bombings that struck several targets in Syria are a major violation, and we consider that any strike against Syria is a strike against the whole of the resistance axis, not just against Syria,” he said, adding the “axis is capable of responding” anytime.

Since the January 18 airstrike, troops and civilians in northern Israeli-occupied territories of Palestine and the occupied Golan Heights have been on heightened alert and Israel has deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor unit near the Syrian border.

Israel occupied most of southern Lebanon for 22 years until 2000 and the two countries are still technically at war.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said Wednesday’s attack was the “most severe” Israel had faced since 2006, when its war with Hezbollah killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Nasrallah is expected to deliver a speech on January 30 regarding the Israeli strikes.

(AFP, Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

UN: Syrians largest refugee group after Palestinians

January 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Syrian refugee children sit outside their tent near the hills of Ersal. Al-Akhbar/Marwan Tahtah

by Al-Akhbar

Syrians have overtaken Afghans as the largest refugee population aside from Palestinians, fleeing to more than 100 countries to escape war in their homeland, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

At more than 3 million as of mid-2014, Syrians accounted for nearly one in four of the 13 million refugees worldwide being assisted by the UN refugee agency, the highest figure since 1996, it said in a report. Some 5 million Palestinians refugees are cared for by a separate agency, UNRWA.

“As long as the international community continues to fail to find political solutions to existing conflicts and to prevent new ones from starting, we will continue to have to deal with the dramatic humanitarian consequences,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

At least 200,000 people have died and half the Syrian population has been displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with protests that spiraled into violent clashes between extremist groups and the Syrian army.

Worldwide, an estimated 5.5 million people were forcibly uprooted during the first six months of last year, 1.4 million of them fleeing abroad, the UNHCR said.

The Middle East and North Africa has become the main region of origin of refugees, overtaking the Asia and Pacific region that held the top spot for more than a decade.

Afghan refugees, the biggest group for three decades, have fallen to second place, with 2.6 million hosted by Pakistan and Iran at mid-year, it said. Somalis ranked as the third largest refugee group at 1.1 million.

Syria’s neighbors — Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey — continue to bear the brunt of the crisis.

“With 257 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, Lebanon remains the country with the highest refugee density at mid-2014,” UNHCR said, noting that Jordan ranked second.

The refugee influx has put huge pressure on Lebanon’s already scarce resources and poor infrastructure, education and health systems, and has also contributed to rising tensions in a nation vulnerable to security breaches and instability.

Overwhelmed by a massive influx of desperate refugees, Lebanon began imposing unprecedented visa restrictions on Syrians on Monday.

The new rule is the latest in a series of measures taken by Lebanon to stem the influx of Syrians.

In October, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Lebanon was effectively no longer receiving Syrian refugees, with limited exceptions for “humanitarian reasons.”

Meanwhile, Sweden, with 12 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, is the only industrialized country among major hosts, ranking 10th, it said.

Syrians also formed the largest group of asylum-seekers worldwide during the first half of 2014, lodging 59,600 applications, it said. Germany and Sweden together received 40 percent of these claims, it added.

According to a report by Amnesty in December, wealthy nations have only taken in a “pitiful” number of the millions of refugees uprooted by Syria’s conflict, placing the burden on the country’s ill-equipped neighbors.

“Around 3.8 million refugees from Syria are being hosted in five main countries within the region: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt,” said Amnesty.

“Only 1.7 percent of this number have been offered sanctuary by the rest of the world,” the rights group added.

Excluding Germany, the European Union as a whole has pledged to take in only 0.17 percent of the refugees now housed in the main host countries around Syria.

“The shortfall… is truly shocking,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Amnesty’s head of refugee and migrants’ rights.

“The complete absence of resettlement pledges from the Gulf is particularly shameful,” he said, adding, “linguistic and religious ties should place the Gulf states at the forefront of those offering safe shelter.”

Iraqis fleeing conflict were the second largest group of asylum-seekers during the period, at 28,900, the report said.

Last year nearly 3,500 migrants perished while trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, the UNHCR says.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

The silent deaths of refugees in Ersal: 18 perished in 45 days

December 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Syrian refugee children sit outside their tent near the hills of Ersal. Al-Akhbar/Marwan Tahtah

by Eva Shoufi, Al Akhbar

The security situation in Ersal made everyone forget that there are 80,000 refugees living there in a harsh climate and poor medical conditions. In a month and a half, there has been 18 deaths among refugees in Ersal, including 12 children, that we heard nothing of. These same security conditions had led international organizations to abandon the town in August, leaving behind innocent people dying silently one by one.

Fourteen-year-old Kh. F. – let’s call him Khaled – died on December 9. Before him, F. H. – an 18-day-old infant – died because no one could take her to a hospital outside Ersal. We saw another 17-day-old infant dying. We did not ask her name, her face was enough to call her Malak (Angel). Born in a tent, she died from the cold, as did others. Just this week, four Syrian children died in Ersal.

Eleven refugees, including nine children, have died in Ersal since the beginning of December, joining seven others who died in November. We are discussing here 18 deaths, including 12 children, in a span of one month and a half. Twelve children die and people carry on with their lives as usual, this is a tragedy for humanity even before being a tragedy for the refugees themselves. The number of deaths is likely higher because the figure we have is based only on information from al-Hay’a al-Toubia field hospital in Ersal. This means dozens of children are dying without anyone hearing about them.

There is something strange about the death of these children passing without the uproar we’ve gotten used to, an uproar that in actuality never got us anywhere. But still, having someone scream in the face of this death is necessary, it tells us that there is still a pulse beating in this world. The absence of any noise, however, killed this pulse.

These numbers were announced by Dr. Qassem al-Zein, who heads al-Hay’a al-Toubia facility in Ersal. He said the medical situation in the town is catastrophic, pointing out that this is just the number of deaths at al-Hay’a hospital. Three children died this month from pneumonia caused by the cold weather, he added. What is shocking is that all these deaths are in Ersal and not the hills of Ersal, except one person who came from the hills for treatment at the makeshift hospital.

The hospital report refers to Malak who was born in a tent in the hills of Ersal. She was 17-days-old when she came to the hospital on the morning of December 3, ill from the cold. Her tiny body interceded for her at the checkpoint to get to the hospital. There were no empty incubators available, however, “so the hospital sent her inside Lebanon but al-Laboui checkpoint prevented her parents from crossing so she returned to al-Hay’a hospital with its modest capabilities where she passed away at 2:00 pm.” Her tiny body could not take it anymore. Malak died.

Khaled died on December 9 from acute kidney failure. The other five children died due to birth defects in their skulls and limbs, according to Zein. Serious concerns are raised about the reasons behind these birth defects. Zein noticed that at the beginning of the crisis and the influx of refugees, “we used to see one case of congential disease per month. Today, we see four cases per month.” The doctor is not sure about the reason but he said that “a lot of women were in Syria early on in their pregnancy, that’s why I think these congenital diseases are due to substances used in the shelling.”

The medical situation in Ersal is catastrophic, but it has not spurred international organizations to return to the town to save the lives of innocent refugees. Not that long ago, there was a Hepatitis A outbreak in Ersal and more than 150 refugees were infected due to water contamination. Now, Zein said “the mumps is beginning to spread among children as 24 cases of infection were recorded last month. Bad conditions from the cold weather, malnutrition, lack of hygiene and overcrowding in the camps exacerbate health problems leading to testicular, pancreatic and other infections.”

The union of relief and development organizations working in Ersal said the conduct of the Lebanese army varies depending on the security situation but most of the time, it allows drug shipments to pass after inspecting them. Before the clashes that erupted last August (between the Lebanese army on one hand and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and al-Nusra Front on the other), al-Hay’a hospital was able to procure 90 percent of the drugs it needs. Today, it can barely get 40 percent because of the dangerous commute.

A medical source in the hills of Ersal spoke of the tragic health conditions among the refugees living there. “Some children and women are sick and urgently need to go to Ersal. There are a lot of cases of asthma and bronchitis, not to mention flu and common colds.” There is also a severe shortage of medication among the refugees and one death was recorded during the storm, according to the source.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it is in constant contact with field hospitals and clinics in Ersal, providing them with drugs and vaccines through its partners. External Relations Assistant at UNHCR in the Bekaa, Lisa Abu Khaled, said the UNHCR transfers critical cases to hospitals that have signed contracts with them, but sometimes parents do not go because the road is dangerous. She refused to acknowledge any deaths except that of a three-year-old girl whose family could not transfer her to the hospital recommended by the UNHCR. The Commission learned of only two cases of the mumps virus. Abu Khaled said there are vaccines for this virus in the Amel Association Clinic in Ersal, as well as in mobile clinics in the town.

Iraq says woman detained in Lebanon is not Baghdadi's wife

December 3, 2014 by Nasheman

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video.

Baghdad/Reuters: Iraq’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that a woman detained by Lebanese authorities was not the wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but the sister of a man convicted of bombings in southern Iraq.

“The one detained by Lebanese authorities was Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi who is detained by authorities and sentenced to death for his participation in … explosions,” ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan told Reuters.

“The wives of the terrorist al-Baghdadi are Asmaa Fawzi Mohammed al-Dulaimi and Esraa Rajab Mahel al-Qaisi, and there is no wife in the name of Saja al-Dulaimi,” he said.

Maan said Saja Dulaimi had fled to Syria where she was detainees by authorities. She was part of a group of female detainees freed in exchange for the release of a group of nuns captured by Islamist rebels in Syria, he said.

Security officials in Lebanon said on Tuesday the Lebanese army had detained a wife and daughter of Baghdadi’s as they crossed from Syria late last month.

They were detained in northern Lebanon after the woman was found with a fake passport, officials said. Investigators were questioning her at the Lebanese Defence Ministry.

(Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alison Williams)

UNHCR: 13.6 million displaced by conflict in Iraq and Syria

November 12, 2014 by Nasheman

Syrian Kurdish refugees try to get warm around a fire at a refugee camp in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on November 7, 2014. AFP / Aris Messinis

by Al-Akhbar

About 13.6 million people, equivalent to the population of London, have been displaced by conflicts in Syria and Iraq, many without food or shelter as winter starts, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

“The whole humanitarian community is facing shortfalls. People are becoming numb,” said Amin Awad, who heads UNHCR’s Middle East and North Africa bureau.

“Now when we talk about a million people displaced over two months, or 500,000 overnight, the world is just not responding,” he told reporters in Geneva.

The 13.6 million include 7.2 million displaced within Syria – an increase from a long-held UN estimate of 6.5 million, as well as 3.3 million Syrian refugees abroad, 1.9 million displaced in Iraq and 190,000 who have left to seek safety.

The vast majority of Syrian refugees have gone to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, countries which Awad said “are putting us all to shame” with their support for homeless Syrian families.

“Other countries in the world, especially the Europeans and beyond, should open their borders and share the burden.”

UNHCR says it is short of $58.5 million in donations to prepare 990,000 people for winter, money that would cover basic supplies such as plastic sheeting and warm clothing.

Awad said Russia and China, both in the UN Security Council, came in bottom of a list of top donors and should contribute more.

“Politically they cannot really be indifferent, therefore humanitarian is an imperative and it has to be put first and foremost if there is no (political) settlement … They need to contribute one way or the other, like the others do,” he said.

Lack of funds

The UN refugee agency said Tuesday it had been forced to slash the number of people it can help prepare for winter in conflict-ravaged Syria and Iraq for lack of funds.

Awad lamented that his agency was forced to make “tough choices.”

The agency said it was facing a shortfall of $58 million (47 million euros) for its efforts to prepare millions of displaced people in Syria and Iraq for winter.

As a result, as many as one million displaced people desperate for blankets, kerosene, warm clothes and other items needed to keep warm and dry may have to go without assistance, it warned.

“I wish we could support everybody, and I wish that we could keep everybody warm,” Amin told reporters in Geneva, adding however that “the world is not responding.”

“Many fled with nothing,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters.

With winter already on the doorstep, and temperatures falling as low as minus 16 degrees Celsius in some parts of Syria and Iraq, UNHCR has already invested $154 million in winter aid for the devastated countries.

But because of the funding shortfall, it has been forced to revise down the number of people it can help.

The agency had planned to help 1.4 million people in Syria and 600,000 people in Iraq, but now expects to reach only 620,000 in Syria and 240,000 in Iraq.

As a result, UNHCR said it was being forced to make “some very tough choices over who to prioritize.”

“The needs are massive but funding has not kept up apace with the new displacement,” Fleming said.

Those at higher, colder altitudes, as well as vulnerable people such as the sick, the elderly and newborns, are first in line for aid, Amin said.

He noted that 11 young children froze to death in Syria last year.

“The same can happen this year with children, elderly and frail persons,” he warned.

(Reuters, AFP)

Hassan Nasrallah: Conflict in Middle East political, not sectarian

November 6, 2014 by Nasheman

The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah speaks in a rare public appearance addressing thousands of his supporters on November 3, 2014 the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs. (Photo: AFP)

by Al-Akhbar

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that the current turmoil in the Middle East region was a “political,” not “sectarian” conflict.

Addressing thousands of supporters in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital on the religious festival of Ashura in a rare public appearance, Nasrallah repeated that his movement was waging war against radical Islamists and Israel, not against Sunnis.

“Portraying the current conflict as one between Shias and Sunnis is a major mistake,” Nasrallah said in his second appearance among his supporters in a few months.

“I address all Shias in the region: You need to understand that Sunnis are not our enemies. We are not at war with Sunnis.”

“I address Sunnis in the region: Shias are not at war with you. We are both, together, at war with extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),” he added.

Nasrallah said that what happens in the Middle East would decide its future for years to come.

“Our battle is against radicals who want to crush everybody else and against Israel,” Nasrallah said.

“This is not a battle against Sunnis,” he added, going on to call on Sunni Muslims to practice caution in regard to the current developments.

Hezbollah supports Michel Aoun for Lebanon’s presidency

Bringing up the current political stagnation in Lebanon, the Hezbollah chief said his movement would back its main Christian ally, Michel Aoun, in the country’s long-delayed presidential vote.

Lebanese parliament is tasked by the constitution to select a president, a decision that has already been put off 14 times as the war in Syria continues to divide rival political blocs.

Nasrallah blamed the political paralysis on external factors.

“Lebanese political factions are restrained by regional vetoes and these decisions are responsible for Lebanon’s presidential vacuum,” he said on Monday.

He reiterated his call for national dialogue to solve the crisis, adding that Hezbollah was willing to sit down with “any political group.”

While discussing Lebanese internal matters, Nasrallah also praised Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the Future Movement political party for their roles in defusing clashes in the northern city of Tripoli.

Nasrallah calls for Ashura rallies despite threats

Nasrallah called for a large turnout on Tuesday, which sees the peak of Ashura, a commemoration that marks the killing of Imam Hussein, one of the most revered figures of Shia Islam.

Ashura events have increasingly become targets of deadly bombings and attacks over the years.

“Tomorrow we will prove that we are above any threat, any danger, any challenge,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah addressed the crowds again by video link on Tuesday morning, where he condemned recent attacks on Ashura commemorations in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Nigeria.

He also condemned recent Israeli aggressions in Jerusalem and the storming of the al-Aqsa compound by Zionist extremists.

He reiterated comments on ISIS and Islamist extremist.

“The takfiri project will be defeated sooner or later,” he said. “The fall of ISIS is inevitable.”

“These takfiris will be defeated in all areas and countries, and we will feel honored that we played a role in their defeat,” he added.