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Deadly blasts in Lebanon: 42 killed, over 500 wounded
Deadly blasts in Lebanon: 42 killed, over 500 wounded (Reuters) / 24 August 2013 Twin explosions hit two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday, killing at least 42 people and wounding hundreds, intensifying the sectarian strife that has spilled over from the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Rescuers carry a body outside one of two mosque hit by explosions in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday. — Reuters The apparently coordinated blasts — the biggest and deadliest in Tripoli since the end of Lebanon’s own civil war — struck as locals were finishing Juma prayers. Lebanese officials appealed for calm. The explosions in Tripoli, 70km from Beirut came a week after a huge car bomb killed at least 24 people in a part of the capital Beirut that is controlled by militant movement Hezbollah. A recent resurgence of sectarian violence in Lebanon has been stoked by the conflagration in Syria, where President Bashar Al Assad is fighting a rebellion. Both Hezbollah and radical groups in Lebanon have sent fighters over the border to support opposing sides in Syria. Medical and security sources said the death toll from Friday’s blasts in Tripoli had risen to 42 by late afternoon. Hundreds more were wounded, they said. Earlier, the Lebanese Red Cross said more than 500 people were wounded. The first explosion hit the Taqwa Mosque and killed at least 14 people there, according to ac-counts earlier in the day. Further deaths were reported from a second blast outside Al Salam Mosque, which the Interior Ministry said was hit by a car laden with 100kg of explosives. A Reuters reporter at the scene said the crater from the blast was about four metres wide and 2.5 metres deep and the floors of the mosque were covered in blood. A 50-metre stretch of the road was charred black and the twisted remains of cars littered the area. “We were just bowing down to pray for the second time and the bomb went off. The air cleared, and I looked around me and saw bodies,” said Samir Jadool, 39. Lebanon’s Red Cross said more than 500 people were wounded in the two explosions. Television footage showed people running through the streets, some of them carrying bloodied victims. Near the Taqwa Mosque blast site, angry men toting AK-47 assault rifles took to the streets and fired in the air while other men threw rocks at Lebanese soldiers nearby. Video obtained by local news channel LBC showed the moment of the explosion at Al Salam mosque. The blast ripped through a wall of the mosque, showering clouds of dust on people sitting on prayer mats and sending dozens running out of the building. Lebanese officials called for calm as tensions rose in Tripoli, a Mediterranean port that has seen some of the worst Syria crossover violence. Former internal security chief Ashraf Rifi, whose home was damaged by the second blast, warned that Lebanon was facing a gathering storm of violence. “We are still in the beginning of the storm and we must remain aware and try to protect this nation,” he said, speaking outside his home. “This storm has become a huge, grave danger.” Witnesses at the scene of the blasts said anger was rising among locals, who were shouting out accusations that Assad’s government or Hezbollah were behind the attack. Hezbollah released a statement condemning the Tripoli blasts and expressing solidarity with the victims, saying they were targets of efforts to fan more violence in Lebanon. “We consider this the completion of an effort to plunge Lebanon into chaos and destruction,” the statement said. People gather outside the mosque on the site of a powerful explosion in Tripoli. — AFP Hezbollah’s political opponents called on the group to withdraw its forces from Syria in response to Friday’s attack. Lebanese Defence Minister Fayez Ghosn warned against being dragged into deeper sectarian bloodshed. “We are calling for calm and vigilance, because the aim of this (blasts) is to stoke strife between sects,” he told LBC. Continue reading
Hot and hazy weather in UAE today
Hot and hazy weather in UAE today (Wam) / 24 August 2013 The weather in the UAE is expected to be hot and hazy today during peak hours, and some clouds may appear across some eastern and mountainous areas by the afternoon, the National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) has said. Two playful road workers take a short break from their daily duties at the Al Quoz Industrial area in Dubai and use a large water hose to cool off in an attempt to beat the soaring summer heat. — KT by photo Rahul Gajjar Southeasterly and northeasterly winds may blow at speeds between 16–32km/hour in the morning and at night, becoming north, northwesterly during the afternoon and the evening at a speed reaching 40km/hour over open lands, according to the national forecaster’ statement. Sea conditions will be moderate in general, with waves being between one and two feet onshore and between two and four feet offshore. Continue reading
‘How can we continue to fail the children of Syria’
‘How can we continue to fail the children of Syria’ Staff Reporter / 24 August 2013 As the Syrian war enters its third year, the number of Syrian children forced to flee their homeland as refugees has hit one million. The refugee diaspora Syrian refugees are crossing the border into Iraqi Kurdistan in huge numbers, with more than 42,300 passing through the Peshkabour border crossing since it reopened recently. Teams from the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders have set up health posts on both sides of the border, providing medical consultations and distributing water to refugees waiting to be transferred to five transit camps. “The refugees report having fled Syria from a variety of locations after hearing that the border had reopened after being closed for several months,” said MSF’s Dohuk head of mission Paul Yon. On the Iraqi side of the border, MSF teams have provided more than 200 general healthcare consultations to refugees waiting to be transferred. “We haven’t identified any critical health concerns so far. The majority of patients are children, pregnant women and mothers who are suffering from moderate dehydration due to the long distances they’ve had to walk or the long waiting time before crossing the border. We are also seeing a lot of cases of asthma. The number of consultations is increasing daily,” said Yon. MSF teams have been working in the Domiz refugee camp in Dohuk, home to 42,000 Syrian refugees, since last May. It plans to assess the needs of some 70,000 refugees who have settled in the city of Dohuk. news@khaleejtimes.com According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), children make up half of all refugees from the Syria conflict. Latest figures show that some 740,000 Syrian child refugees are under the age of 11, while the organisations estimate that more than two million children have been internally displaced within Syria. The UAE has launched various campaigns to provide aid to the victims of the war. In June, Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Wife of Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs and UNHCR Eminent Advocate for Refugee Children, launched a campaign to help over 1.65 million displaced Syrian refugee children, called “Big Heart for Syrian refugee children”. Shaikha Jawaher has made the Syrian refugee crisis her immediate focus, saying: “It is tragic that many refugee children are marking their second consecutive (year) without proper shelter, food and education. Let us not leave them to face another year alone, and rather help them to overcome their situation as refugees and live a better life.” The government has pledged over Dh1 billion in aid for Syrian refugees, while the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Charity Foundation has almost completed a project to benefit 135,000 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon. Most refugees have arrived in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, but increasingly Syrians are fleeing to North Africa and Europe. “This one millionth child refugee is not just another number. This is a real child ripped from home, maybe even from a family, facing horrors we can only begin to comprehend,” said Unicef executive director Anthony Lake. “We must all share the shame, because while we work to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this crisis, the global community has failed in its responsibility to this child. We should stop and ask ourselves how, in all conscience, we can continue to fail the children of Syria,” he said in a Unicef statement. UNHCR High Commissioner António Guterres said what was at stake was “the survival and wellbeing of a generation of innocents”. “The youth of Syria are losing their homes, their family members and their futures. Even after they have crossed a border to safety, they are traumatised, depressed and in need of a reason for hope.” The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says some 7,000 children have been killed during the conflict. Both agencies also highlight the threats to refugee children from child labour, early marriage and the potential for sexual exploitation and trafficking. More than 3,500 children in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq have crossed Syria’s borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families. The Syria Regional Refugee Response plan, which calls for $3 billion dollars to address the acute needs of refugees until December of this year, has currently only met 38 per cent of the target. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
