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Armed tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community’s Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.The United Nations called for an end to the “bloodshed” and demanded an “independent” investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The renewed fighting raised questions over the authority of interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose interim government also has difficult relations with the Kurdish and Alawite minorities. It was Sharaa who ordered government forces to pull out, saying that mediation by the United States and others had helped avert a “large-scale escalation” with Israel.However his office on Friday evening pledged to deploy fresh forces to the region to break up further clashes in the south, urging “all parties to exercise restraint and prioritise reason”.Renewed fighting erupted Friday between Bedouin tribal factions and the Druze at the entrance to Sweida, an AFP correspondent said.About 200 tribal fighters clashed with armed Druze men from the city using machine guns and shells, the AFP correspondent said, while the Observatory also reported fighting and “shelling on neighbourhoods in Sweida city”.In the corridors of the Sweida National Hospital, a foul odour emanated from the swollen and disfigured bodies piled up in refrigerated storage units, an AFP correspondent reported.A small number of doctors and nurses at the hospital worked to treat the wounded arriving from the ongoing clashes, some in the hallways.Omar Obeid, a doctor at the government hospital, told AFP that the facility has received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning.”There is no more room in the morgue, the bodies are in the street” in front of the hospital, added Obeid, president of the Sweida branch of the Order of Physicians.The UN’s International Organization for Migration on Friday said that “79,339 people have been displaced since 13 July, including 20,019 on 17 July”.- Tribal back-up -After the clashes broke out, the Syrian presidency said late on Friday that “the relevant authorities are working on dispatching a specialised force to break up the clashes and resolve the conflict on the ground” in the Druze heartland.Tribal reinforcements from across Syria gathered in villages around Sweida on Friday to reinforce local Bedouin, whose longstanding enmity towards the Druze erupted into violence last weekend.Anas al-Enad, a tribal chief from the central city of Hama, said he and his men had made the journey to the village of Walgha, northwest of Sweida, because “the Bedouin called for our help and we came to support them”.An AFP correspondent saw burning homes and shops in the village, now under the control of the Bedouin and their allies.The Britain-based Observatory said “the deployment of tribal fighters to Sweida province was facilitated by government forces, because government forces are unable to deploy to Sweida under the terms of the security agreement with Israel”.Israel, which bombed the Syrian military in Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to put pressure on the government to withdraw, said Friday that it was sending aid to the Druze community in Sweida.The two-million-shekel (nearly $600,000) package includes food parcels and medical supplies, the ministry said.A ceasefire was supposed to take effect on Thursday, but Sharaa’s office accused Druze fighters of violating it.Sweida has been heavily damaged in the fighting and its mainly Druze inhabitants have been deprived of water and electricity, while communication lines have been cut.- UN demands independent probe -Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of local news outlet Suwayda 24, said the humanitarian situation was “catastrophic”.”We cannot find milk for children,” he told AFP.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an end to the bloodshed, saying “the protection of all people must be the utmost priority”.He demanded “independent, prompt and transparent investigations into all violations” adding that “those responsible must be held to account”.The International Committee for the Red Cross warned that “health facilities are overwhelmed, medical supplies are dwindling and power cuts are impeding the preservation of human remains in overflowing morgues”.”The humanitarian situation in Sweida is critical. People are running out of everything,” said Stephan Sakalian, the head of ICRC’s delegation in Syria.”Hospitals are increasingly struggling to treat the wounded and the sick, and families are unable to bury their loved ones in dignity.”The latest violence erupted on Sunday after the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant by local Bedouin triggered tit-for-tat abductions, the Britain-based Observatory said.The Islamist-led government sent in the army, promising to put a halt to the fighting, but witnesses and the Observatory said the troops sided with the Bedouin and committed many abuses against Druze civilians as well as fighters.The interim government has had strained relations with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities since it toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.This week’s fighting marks the most serious outbreak of violence since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and around Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.burs-sbk/jj

Hundreds of Argentines gathered Friday to commemorate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed dozens, demanding justice for a crime for which there has not yet been a trial.In the worst such attack in Argentina’s history, a car bomb on July 18, 1994, killed 85 people and injured more than 300 at the seven-story Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires.Two years earlier, an explosion at the Israeli embassy killed 29 and wounded 200.”Impunity persists, terrorism too” was the slogan for Friday’s 31st commemoration of the AMIA attack — the second such event attended by President Javier Milei, a staunch defender of Israel.Survivors and victims’ relatives hope there will be movement under Catholic-born Milei, who has already visited Israel twice since taking office in December 2023, and has professed a deep interest in Judaism.In April 2024, an Argentine court found Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for what it called a crime against humanity.It ruled the likely motive for the attacks was the cancellation by the Argentine government under then-president Carlos Menem of three contracts with Iran for the supply of nuclear equipment and technology.In June, a judge authorized a trial in absentia against ten Iranian and Lebanese defendants — former ministers and diplomats. No date has been set.Iran has always denied any involvement and has refused to hand over any suspects.- Cover-up? -The Memoria Activa organization, which represents victims’ families, rejects a trial in absentia as it believes it “essential for the accused to participate” for the whole truth to come out.The AMIA itself is in favor, but has cautioned that “holding a trial only for it to end… in some sort of nullity or a declaration of unconstitutionality would once again be very painful for everyone.”Both organizations have been highly critical of the Argentine state’s handling of the case. Last year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, found the state responsible for not preventing, or properly investigating, the AMIA attack.It also blamed the state for efforts to “cover up and obstruct the investigation.”Prosecutor Alberto Nisman, investigating accusations of a cover-up against former president Cristina Kirchner, was later found murdered.No one was ever charged over his death.Argentina is host to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with nearly 300,000 people living mostly in Buenos Aires. 

In the last barely-functional hospital in Sweida, bodies are overflowing from the morgue, staff said, amid violence that has wracked the Druze-majority southern Syrian city for nearly a week.”It’s not a hospital anymore, it’s a mass grave,” said Rouba, a member of the medical staff at the city’s sole government hospital, weeping as she appealed for aid.Dr Omar Obeid, who heads the Sweida division at Syria’s Order of Physicians, said the facility has received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning”, including women, children and the elderly.”There’s no more space in the morgue, the bodies are out on the street” in front of the hospital, he continued.Fighting erupted Sunday night between Druze fighters and local Bedouin tribes before Syrian government forces intervened on Tuesday with the stated intention of quelling the violence.But in the subsequent events, those government forces were accused of grave abuses against the minority, according to rights organisations, witnesses and Druze groups.The government forces withdrew from the city on Thursday following threats from Israel, which has vowed to protect the Druze.In the hospital on Friday, corridors were engulfed by the stench of the dead bodies, which had bloated beyond recognition, an AFP correspondent said.Visibly overwhelmed, the handful of medical personnel remaining at the facility nonetheless rushed to do their best to offer care to the seemingly endless stream of wounded, many of them waiting in the hallways.”There are only nine doctors and medical staff left, and they are working nonstop,” said Rouba, who preferred not to give her full name.- ‘No water, no electricity’ -“The situation is very bad, we have no water and no electricity, medicines are starting to run out,” Rouba continued.”There are people who have been at home for three days and we can’t manage to rescue them,” she said. “The bodies are on the streets and no one can go out to get them. Yesterday, five big cars filled with bodies arrived at the hospital.”There are women, children, people whose identities are unknown, cut-off arms or legs.”The United Nations on Friday urged an end to the bloodshed, demanding “independent, prompt and transparent investigations into all violations”.According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the violence has claimed the lives of nearly 600 people since Sunday.Omar Obeid told AFP that three of his colleagues were killed, including one who was “shot dead in his house, in front of his family”.Another was killed at point-blank range in her car as she drove through a security checkpoint, he said.The third, “surgeon Talaat Amer was killed while he was at the hospital on Tuesday in a blue surgical gown to perform his duty”, Obeid said.”They shot him in the head. Then they called his wife and told her: your husband was wearing a surgical cap — it’s red now.”

Two of the most senior Christian leaders in Jerusalem made a rare visit to war-torn Gaza on Friday, a day after Israeli fire killed three at the Palestinian territory’s only Catholic church, provoking international condemnation.The Roman Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, greeted local Christians and toured the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.Both men, in full black clerical robes in the searing heat, arrived in two battered people carriers, one with the yellow, white and cross-keys flag of the Vatican fluttering from the front window, before heading inside.”The Patriarchs met with families who have sought shelter there. They offered condolences, conveyed pastoral encouragement, and personally observed the damage sustained by the church during the recent strike,” the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.At the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, they “offered words of comfort and solidarity” to the displaced, in a visit the Greek Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate called a “powerful expression” of church unity.Israel strictly controls access to Gaza, where the civil defence agency on Friday reported that further Israeli strikes killed more than 30 people, including nine aid seekers near the city of Rafah in the south.The agency said an airstrike killed six members of the same family in Khan Yunis, also in the south, where locals used their bare hands to pick through the rubble in a desperate search for survivors.Louai Abu Sahloul, a relative of the victims, said the relentless wave of strikes was taking its toll. “People are like walking dead, tired of hunger, pain and destruction everywhere in Gaza,” he told AFP.The Israeli military told AFP it “struck a terror infrastructure site belonging to Hamas in the Khan Yunis area” and had taken steps to mitigate the risk to civilians.It was “not aware” of the incident near Rafah, it added.- ‘Stop the needless slaughter’ – The two Jerusalem church leaders said aid agencies helped facilitate the “full pastoral visit”, which also involved the delivery of food supplies and emergency medical equipment, and medical evacuation of the injured.Pope Leo XIV, the leader of the Catholic Church, said he was “deeply saddened” by Thursday’s strike on the church, where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering, including children and those with special needs.His predecessor, Pope Francis, kept in regular contact with parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli and repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war.Romanelli was one of 10 people wounded.The Vatican said the pope called Pizzaballa on Friday morning to ask about the situation in Gaza and the condition of wounded, including Romanelli.”He expressed his support and affection to the entire community gathered around the parish and those suffering from the violence, and reiterated his intention to do everything possible to stop the needless slaughter of innocents,” a statement read.The pontiff also spoke with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed concern about the “dramatic humanitarian situation”, renewing his appeal for negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war.Netanyahu’s office said he voiced Israel’s regret, calling it a “tragic incident” and blaming it on “stray ammunition”.He also updated the pope on Israeli efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal at talks in Qatar, saying their “efforts… have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas”.In a video broadcast on Friday, Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, in turn said Israel was blocking agreement, threatening the initial release of 10 hostages.- Holy sites -Pizzaballa, whose office said he was expected to remain in Gaza until Sunday, and Theophilos III lead congregations across Israel and the Palestinian Territories.Out of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.Israel’s military says it does not deliberately target churches and religious sites. But the Jerusalem Patriarchate said there had been “repeated assaults on Christian holy sites in Gaza”.The war was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 58,667 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. The UN considers these figures to be reliable.burs-phz/dcp

The G20 finance ministers stressed Friday that central banks must remain independent, after months of escalating attacks by US President Donald Trump on Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell.It was the first communique under South Africa’s G20 presidency and marked a rare consensus for a bloc jolted by the drastic trade policies of its richest member, …

G20 nations agree central bank independence ‘crucial’ Read More »

US aviation giant Boeing on Thursday signed a contract worth billions of dollars to sell 12 787 Dreamliners, with options for six more, to Gulf Air, as the Bahrain-based carrier looks to expand its global network.The order comes one month after an Air India Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 260 people on the plane and on the ground.”Once finalized, this order will bring the carrier’s firm order book to 14 of the versatile wide-body jets and will support 30,000 jobs across the US,” the companies said in a joint statement.The official Bahrain News Agency said the kingdom’s national carrier had signed a $4.6 billion agreement for 18 Boeing 787 Dreamliners.The US Commerce Department put the value of the 18 planes at $7 billion.The deal “marks a transformative step in Gulf Air’s strategic growth journey as we expand our global footprint and modernize our fleet with one of the industry’s most advanced and efficient aircraft,” said Gulf Air Group chairman Khalid Taqi.”The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has proven to be an exceptional aircraft for our long-haul operations, and this new order reflects our confidence in its performance, passenger appeal and contribution to our sustainability goals.”Boeing delivered 150 commercial aircraft in the second quarter, its highest number of deliveries in that quarter since 2018. That was just before two 737 MAX crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 — which killed 346 people — plunged the company into crisis.The Air India jet bound for London crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12. A preliminary investigation report revealed that fuel control switches were switched off shortly after takeoff. Boeing has not been asked to take any action as the probe continues.US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a trade pact with Indonesia that limits tariffs on Indonesian products at 19 percent, and said the deal features a pledge from the country to buy 50 Boeing jets, “many of them 777s.”

Armed tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters outside Sweida Friday a day after government troops withdrew from the Druze-majority city, the warring parties and a monitoring group said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “clashes west of Sweida pitting tribal fighters and Bedouin supported by the authorities on one side, against Druze fighters on the other”.Combatants on both sides confirmed the clashes and AFP correspondents reported hearing exchanges of fire.Syrian government forces withdrew from Sweida province on Thursday after coming under heavy bombardment by Israel.The pullout from Syria’s Druze heartland came on the orders of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who said mediation by the United States and others had helped avert a “large-scale escalation” with Israel.Nearly 600 people have been killed in Sweida province since Sunday, according to the Observatory, as Druze fighters clashed with Sunni Bedouin tribes, who were later joined by government forces.A ceasefire took effect on Thursday, but Sharaa’s office accused Druze groups of violating the agreement.Tribal fighters gathered around Sweida on Friday to reinforce the Bedouin, positioning themselves in several villages near the city.AFP correspondents heard intermittent gunfire and explosions and saw smoke rising from the villages.Druze fighters told AFP they were responding to the sources of fire.Anas al-Enad, a tribal chief from the central city of Hama, said he and his men had made the journey to the village of Walgha, northwest of Sweida, because “the Bedouin called for our help and we came to support them”.