Damascus nightclub raid fuels fears despite official condemnation
DAMASCUS - A violent armed raid on a Damascus nightclub last week has fuelled fears of a threat to nightlife in the Syrian capital, despite condemnation by the Islamist-led authorities.
The new rulers have pledged to rule inclusively for all Syria's diverse religious and ethnic groups, but the challenges are becoming more evident, most especially since the killing in March of hundreds of members of the Alawite Muslim sect.
The Interior Ministry said it had arrested "military elements" involved in the assault, partially captured on security camera footage, which shows people being hit with rifle butts outside the club. It was pursuing others.
Under Bashar al-Assad's rule, numerous bars operated in Damascus, though few were officially licensed to sell alcohol, their owners paying bribes to do so.
Since he was toppled as president last December by Islamist insurgents, many bars have continued operating.
But owners have told Reuters they have struggled to secure permission to import alcohol, and some have stopped serving it.
The owner of another Damascus venue, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said last week's incident, and an unexplained one in which a woman was killed at another club at the weekend, had led other bars to close.
"We are certainly afraid to open," he said.
The security camera footage shows around two dozen armed men walking down an alley towards the club, Layali al-Sharq.
People are then seen running away as armed men stand in the alley striking them. A woman in a red dress is shoved violently into a parked motorcycle.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of the footage from the signage, floor and shops, which matched archive images.
Although Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, as an intoxicant, the new Islamist-led authorities have not issued any laws or orders pertaining to it.
Nevertheless, a temporary constitution approved in March upgraded the role of Islamic law in shaping legislation.
Asked in a BBC interview in December about his view on alcohol, interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said there were many issues he did not have the right to talk about because they were of a legal nature.
Bashar Mekki, the bar's lawyer, said government officials had urged it to reopen. He said it would do so once damage was repaired, noting that it has an official licence.
In written answers to Reuters' questions, he thanked government officials for "sparing no effort" to resolve the incident, which he said occurred on April 29, and to recover stolen property.
The Interior Ministry said that "any transgression or assault against citizens or public facilities will be met with strict legal measures". REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
21 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Romanian president could nominate a prime minister this week
Romania's President Nicusor Dan attends a press conference, on the day of the NATO Bucharest Nine (B9) meeting, in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/ File Photo BUCHAREST - Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on Tuesday he could nominate a prime minister this week provided pro-European parties reach an agreement on measures needed to lower the European Union's highest budget deficit and prevent a ratings downgrade. Centrist Dan, who won a divisive presidential vote in May that saw the far right gain ground, must form a ruling majority that has until the end of June to approve deficit cutting measures to avoid a downgrade to below investment grade. The European Commission, ratings agencies and analysts have said Romania cannot reduce its shortfall over seven years to the EU's 3% threshold as agreed without hiking taxes, but Dan and the four pro-European parties have proved reluctant to enforce unpopular measures, focusing instead on cuts to state spending. "There is a hierarchy of priorities, first cutting useless state spending, then merging some institutions, rescheduling some investments to 2026 and lastly possible tax hikes," Dan said during a visit to neighbouring Moldova. "I hope we will reach to the tax side as least as possible." Dan said the parties had identified a list of 60-80 possible measures, but had yet to agree on any. The president, who has a semi-executive role, added that pending the talks he could nominate a PM this week. Two sources told Reuters ratings agencies had told a London panel in May they were ready to downgrade Romania from the last rung of investment grade unless they saw convincing measures including tax hikes. The next rating review is in August. Earlier this month the European Commission opened the possibility of freezing some EU funds for Romania next year. 'SOLID PLAN' NEEDED Brussels, ratings agencies and the IMF have said hikes to value added tax or changes to Romania's flat 10% tax on income would be the most effective. "It needs to be a solid plan, two big measures that everyone can price are better than 50 that nobody can evaluate," one of the London sources said. "How can anyone trust you that you'll do what's needed in the 7-year adjustment plan?" Claudiu Nasui, a lawmaker from the centre-right Save Romania Union, one of four pro-EU parties engaged in talks, is a strong proponent of state spending cuts inspired by Argentinian President Javier Milei. He told Reuters that he had identified 34 billion lei ($7.73 billion) worth of cuts that could be made in the second half of the year without cutting healthcare, education and defence. However, they included cutting state-funded investment schemes that were easier to tap than EU funds with little oversight, a political instrument for mayors that parties were unlikely to approve cutting. "Any measure to cut the deficit will make parties unpopular, spending cuts or tax hikes, you just need political will," Nasui said. "I often look at a street trash bin outside my office, there are always people rummaging in it. Hiking taxes will not hit us, but it will hit those poor people." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
35 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Mass shootings in Europe in the past 40 years
A view shows the school where a deadly shooting took place, in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic MADRID - A gunman killed at least nine people at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history. Here is a timeline of some of the worst shooting incidents in Europe in the past four decades: May 1987 - BELGIUM - Michael Van Wijnendaele kills seven people in Belgium, then shoots himself as police try to get him to surrender. August 1987 - BRITAIN - Michael Ryan, a 27-year-old gun fanatic, rampages through the English town of Hungerford, killing 16 people and wounding 11 before shooting himself. July 1989 - FRANCE - A French farmer shoots and kills 14 people including members of his family in the village of Luxiol, near the Swiss border. He is wounded and captured by police. September 1995 - FRANCE - A 16-year-old youth runs amok with a rifle in the town of Cuers, killing 15 people and then himself after an argument with his parents. March 1996 - BRITAIN - Thomas Hamilton bursts into a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and shoots dead 16 children and their teacher before killing himself. April 2002 - GERMANY - Robert Steinhauser, 19, opens fire in Erfurt after saying he was not going to take a maths test. He kills 12 teachers, a secretary, two pupils and a policeman at the Gutenberg Gymnasium, before killing himself. September 2004 - RUSSIA - More than 300 hostages - half of them children - die at School No.1 in the city of Beslan in North Ossetia after it is seized by rebels demanding Chechen independence and an immediate end to the war there. Many of the dead were killed when the school was stormed. November 2007 - FINLAND - Pekka-Eric Auvinen kills six fellow students, the school nurse, the principal and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki. September 2008 - FINLAND - Student Matti Saari opens fire in a vocational school in Kauhajoki in northwest Finland, killing nine other students and one male staff member before killing himself. March 2009 - GERMANY - A 17-year-old gunman kills nine students and three teachers at a school near Stuttgart and another person at a nearby clinic. He is later killed in a shoot-out with police. Two passers-by are also killed, bringing the death toll to 16, including the gunman. June 2010 - BRITAIN - Derrick Bird opens fire on people in towns across the rural county of Cumbria. Twelve people are killed and 11 injured. Bird also kills himself. August 2010 - SLOVAKIA - A gunman shoots dead six members of a Roma family and another woman in the Slovak capital Bratislava before killing himself. Fourteen more people are wounded. April 2011 - NETHERLANDS - Tristan van der Vlis opens fire in the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, south of Amsterdam, killing six before turning the gun on himself. July 2011 - NORWAY - Anders Behring Breivik kills 77 people when he plants a car bomb that kills eight people at an Oslo government building, then shoots dead 69 more, most of them teenagers, at an island summer camp of the ruling Labour Party's youth wing. November 2015 - FRANCE - Islamist attackers in Paris armed with guns and bombs target the Bataclan music hall, six bars and restaurants, and the perimeter of the Stade de France sports stadium just outside the French capital, killing 130 people - including 90 concertgoers in the Bataclan - and injuring hundreds. July 2016 - GERMANY - An 18-year-old German-Iranian man who is obsessed with mass killings kills at least nine people in Munich. March 2023 - GERMANY - A gunman in Hamburg shoots dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah's Witness worship hall. Eight other people were wounded, including a seven-months pregnant woman, who lost her unborn daughter. May 2023 - SERBIA - A 13-year-old boy guns down eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a Belgrade school. Two days later, a gunman kills eight people and wounds 14 others in a village near the Serbian capital. Both suspects are arrested. December 2023 - CZECH REPUBLIC - A Czech student shoots dead his father then kills 14 people at his Prague university. The gunman, killed at the scene possibly by one of his own bullets, is also suspected in the killings of another man and his two-month-old daughter who were found shot dead in woods in a village outside Prague, the week before. March 2024 - RUSSIA - Armed men burst into the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow on Friday, killing at least 139 people and wounding 182. Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claims responsibility for the attack. July 2024 - CROATIA - A gunman enters a nursing home in northwestern Croatia, shooting dead six people, including his mother, and injuring five others. February 2025 - SWEDEN - A gunman kills 11 people, including himself, at an adult education centre in central Sweden in the country's deadliest mass shooting. June 2025 - AUSTRIA - A lone gunman enters a secondary school in the southern city of Graz and opens fire, killing at least nine people. The attacker also dies, police said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
US agencies tracked foreigners visiting Musk's properties in 2022 and 2023, WSJ reports
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo WASHINGTON - U.S. government agencies tracked foreign nationals' visits to Elon Musk's proprieties amid concerns over possible attempts to influence the tech billionaire, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The investigation, which tracked the foreigners in 2022 and 2023, included the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, according to the report. It focused on people visiting the Musk from countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the Journal said. Musk, who runs five companies and has sensitive government contracts, has had unprecedented access to top government officials from countries around the world. The U.S. investigation focused on possible attempts to influence Musk, the Tesla chief executive, the newspaper said. No charges were filed and the status of the probe was not clear, according to the Journal. The world's richest person, Musk was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead what became a chaotic drive to slash the federal government. He was a top adviser to Trump until the two men had a public rupture last week. Officials at several agencies including the FBI have been briefed on the investigation, which predated the Trump administration, the newspaper reported. The Journal said Musk did not respond to requests for comment and the FBI declined to Comment. The Trump administration has expressed concern about possible foreign influence in the United States. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
