A million more Afghans could be sent back from Iran, Red Cross warns
Over 1.2 million people have been returned to Afghanistan from Iran since the start of this year, according to data from the U.N. refugee agency, with the number of returns surging since Iran and Israel launched strikes on each other last month.
Sami Fakhouri, Head of Delegation for Afghanistan at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he witnessed bus loads of people returning to a border crossing at the Islam Qala border in Herat province in recent days.
"(We) are anticipating that an additional one million people, possibly more, may return from Iran to Afghanistan by the end of this year," he told reporters at a Geneva press briefing, voicing concern about their futures with many having left their home country years ago and were now homeless.
"The majority didn't have a say in coming back. They were put on buses and driven to the border," he said.
Afghanistan is already battling a humanitarian crisis and aid groups worry that the new arrivals from Iran - on top of hundreds of thousands pressured to return from Pakistan - risks further destabilising the country.
Fakhouri said the IFRC appeal for 25 million Swiss francs ($31.40 million) to help returning Afghans at the border and in transit camps is only 10% funded, voicing concerns about whether it could maintain support for people.
Babar Baloch, a spokesperson at the U.N. refugee agency, said tens of thousands were arriving from Iran daily with over 50,000 crossing on July 4.
He also voiced concerns about family separations.
"The psychological scars are going to stay with Afghans who have been made to come back to the country in this way,' he said at the same press briefing.
($1 = 0.7963 Swiss francs)
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The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Starving Palestinians trade gold for flour and risk death for aid as Gaza food crisis spirals
Starving Palestinians have described the unfolding horror in Gaza as catastrophic levels of hunger forces them to risk death for aid and trade their personal gold for flour. Growing levels of starvation in the Gaza Strip have tipped over the edge in recent days. Most of the 111 hunger-related deaths have come in recent weeks, and 80 were children, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has imposed heavy restrictions on the amount of food and aid allowed to enter Gaza, limiting aid to a handful of trucks each day following a total 11-week blockade earlier this year. UN officials say the aid delivered into the strip is a drop in the ocean of what is needed. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians as they rushed to secure food from the limited number of aid trucks, according to those on the ground, drawing widespread condemnation, including from many of its own allies. As more than 100 human rights groups and charities demanded more aid in a letter on Wednesday, The Independent has spoken to Palestinians suffering daily as they look to provide for their starving families. 'We are living in hunger and daily suffering, as prices have risen in an insane way that no Gazan citizen, whether employed or unemployed, can bear, in a way that is beyond comprehension,' said Wajih Al-Najjar, 70, from Gaza City, the breadwinner for a family of 13. 'People are forced to go to death in search of some aid,' he said, lamenting the 'insane' price spiral of flour, which he says has shot up from 35 shekels (£7.74) to up to 180 shekels (£39.80) per kilo. Mr Najjar, who has lost one quarter of his bodyweight - dropping from 85kg to 62kg - says he can not get a full meal for himself. 'So what about children who need food more than three times a day?' he told The Independent. The 70-year-old recalled his grandchildren asking him to buy flour, which he could not afford. He divided the family's remaining bread among them, but it was not enough to satisfy their desperate hunger. 'We have all become hungry and can barely eat one meal a day if we can afford it. We no longer even talk about sugar, as its market price has reached nearly $100 per kilo,' Mr Najjar said. He explained that vegetables and fruits are also at exorbitant prices. 'We are the poorest geographical area and we have the most expensive food commodities in the world.' 'We appeal to the entire world to work to bring in aid as soon as possible so that our children do not die. We want the world to pressure the occupation to allow the entry of humanitarian aid,' Mr Najjar appealed to the international community. 'The food we eat is not suitable for our bodies. We are all suffering from [being] underweight.' Hanaa Almadhoun, 40, told the BBC that Gazans are trading their personal possessions, including their gold, to pay for flour. Flour is the 'basis of everything', she said, but it is 'expensive and difficult to secure'. Prices continue to rise beyond control and food scarcity has soared to an unprecedented level in the Gaza Strip, in the 21st month of a destructive Israeli invasion and bombardment which Palestinian health officials say has killed more than 60,000 people. The war and invasion began on October 7, in response to attacks on Israel by the Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and captured at least 250 hostages in October 2023. Ihab Abdullah, a 43-year-old university lecturer who is the breadwinner for nine family members, said every night before he goes to sleep, he asks: 'How will I provide for my children today? I can bear the hunger, but what about my children?' 'We have become unable to buy or find food in the markets. We live in daily hunger because the most needed commodity, flour, is not available in sufficient quantities. We are in a situation where we can not buy food even if we have money. Those who have money and those who do not have money are the same. Purchasing value has disappeared. 'I have to walk long distances to find one kilo of lentils and beans. I work as a university lecturer and need at least $100 a day to buy lentils, which have reached $30 per kilo, in addition to firewood.' Younis Abu Odeh, a 32-year-old who is displaced in Gaza, says he feels as if Gazans have been 'put on a chicken farm and starved'. 'We are living through a war of extermination, famine, and psychological warfare," Mr Odeh told The Independent. 'A war of displacement, a war of tents, a war of heat and sun.' On Wednesday, more than 100 organisations signed a letter calling for more aid to Gaza as it faces 'mass starvation'. The Israeli government insists it is not causing a famine, and that the 'man-made shortage' of food is 'engineered by Hamas', according to spokesman David Mencer. Mr Mencer said on Wednesday that more than 4,400 aid trucks entered Gaza from 19 July until Tuesday, containing food, flour and baby food. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - the controversial US-backed organisation leading aid deliveries in Gaza - delivered two million meals to Gazans in one day on Tuesday, he added. "Hamas is trying to prevent the distribution of food. Where there is hunger in Gaza, it is hunger orchestrated by Hamas,' he added.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
With no access to education beyond the 6th grade, girls in Afghanistan turn to religious schools
For six hours every day after school, Nahideh works in a cemetery, collecting water from a nearby shrine to sell to mourners visiting loved ones' graves. She dreams of becoming a doctor — but knows it is a futile dream. When the next school year starts, she will be enrolling in a madrassa, a religious school, to learn about the Quran and Islam — and little else. 'I prefer to go to school, but I can't, so I will go to a madrassa,' she said, dark brown eyes peering out from beneath her tightly wrapped black headscarf. 'If I could go to school then I could learn and become a doctor. But I can't.' At the age of 13, Nahideh is in the last grade of primary school, the limit of education allowed for girls in Afghanistan. The country's Taliban government banned girls from secondary school and university three years ago — the only country in the world to do so. The ban is part of myriad restrictions on women and girls, dictating everything from what they can wear to where they can go and who they can go with. With no option for higher education, many girls and women are turning to madrassas instead. The only learning allowed 'Since the schools are closed to girls, they see this as an opportunity,' said Zahid-ur-Rehman Sahibi, director of the Tasnim Nasrat Islamic Sciences Educational Center in Kabul. 'So, they come here to stay engaged in learning and studying religious sciences.' The center's roughly 400 students range in ages from about 3 to 60, and 90% are female. They study the Quran, Islamic jurisprudence, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic, the language of the Quran. Most Afghans, Sahibi noted, are religious. 'Even before the schools were closed, many used to attend madrassas,' he said. 'But after the closure of schools, the interest has increased significantly, because the doors of the madrassas remain open to them.' No recent official figures are available on the number of girls enrolled in madrassas, but officials say the popularity of religious schools overall has been growing. Last September, Deputy Minister of Education Karamatullah Akhundzada said at least 1 million students had enrolled in madrassas over the past year alone, bringing the total to over 3 million. Studying the Quran Sheltered from the heat of an early summer's day in a basement room at the Tasnim Nasrat center, Sahibi's students knelt at small plastic tables on the carpeted floor, their pencils tracing lines of Arabic script in their Qurans. All 10 young women wore black niqabs, the all-encompassing garment that includes a veil, leaving only the eyes visible. 'It is very good for girls and women to study at a madrassa, because … the Quran is the word of Allah, and we are Muslims,' said 25-year-old Faiza, who had enrolled at the center five months earlier. 'Therefore, it is our duty to know what is in the book that Allah has revealed to us, to understand its interpretation and translation.' Given a choice, she would have studied medicine. While she knows that is now impossible, she still harbors hope that if she shows she is a pious student dedicated to her religion, she will be eventually allowed to. The medical profession is one of the very few still open to women in Afghanistan. 'When my family sees that I am learning Quranic sciences and that I am practicing all the teachings of the Quran in my life, and they are assured of this, they will definitely allow me to continue my studies,' she said. Her teacher said he'd prefer if women were not strictly limited to religious studies. 'In my opinion, it is very important for a sister or a woman to learn both religious sciences and other subjects, because modern knowledge is also an important part of society,' Sahibi said. 'Islam also recommends that modern sciences should be learned because they are necessary, and religious sciences are important alongside them. Both should be learned simultaneously.' A controversial ban The female secondary and higher education ban has been controversial in Afghanistan, even within the ranks of the Taliban itself. In a rare sign of open dissent, Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai said in a public speech in January that there was no justification for denying education to girls and women. His remarks were reportedly not well tolerated by the Taliban leadership; Stanikzai is now officially on leave and is believed to have left the country. But they were a clear indication that many in Afghanistan recognize the long-term impact of denying education to girls. 'If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school,' UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement at the start of Afghanistan's new school year in March. 'The consequences for these girls — and for Afghanistan — are catastrophic. The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.' The importance of religious education For some in this deeply conservative society, the teachings of Islam are hard to overstate. 'Learning the Holy Quran is the foundation of all other sciences, whether it's medicine, engineering, or other fields of knowledge,' said Mullah Mohammed Jan Mukhtar, 35, who runs a boys' madrassa north of Kabul. 'If someone first learns the Quran, they will then be able to learn these other sciences much better.' His madrassa first opened five years ago with 35 students. Now it has 160 boys aged 5-21, half of whom are boarders. Beyond religious studies, it offers a limited number of other classes such as English and math. There is also an affiliated girls' madrassa, which currently has 90 students, he said. 'In my opinion, there should be more madrassas for women,' said Mukhtar, who has been a mullah for 14 years. He stressed the importance of religious education for women. 'When they are aware of religious verdicts, they better understand the rights of their husbands, in-laws and other family members.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Mass starvation spreading across Gaza, aid agencies warn, as pressure on Israel grows – Middle East crisis live
Update: Date: 2025-07-23T08:18:57.000Z Title: More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading in', 'Gaza', ', Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Content: More than 100 aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam, say 'our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away' Joe Coughlan Wed 23 Jul 2025 09.18 BST First published on Wed 23 Jul 2025 07.45 BST From 7.45am BST 07:45 More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading in Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than 2 million people face severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict, triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel. The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May – in effect sidelining the existing UN-led system. A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that 'our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away'. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods. The signatories said: Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions. It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access. Updated at 7.49am BST 9.18am BST 09:18 The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that forces were operating in Gaza City, as well as in northern Gaza, the Associated Press (AP) reports. It said without elaborating that in Jabaliya, an area hard-hit in multiple rounds of fighting, an airstrike killed 'a number of' Hamas struck roughly 120 targets throughout Gaza over the past day, including militant cells, tunnels and booby-trapped structures, among others, the military said. 9.04am BST 09:04 Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 21 people late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the Associated Press (AP) reports. More than half of those killed were women and children, health authorities said. One Israeli strike hit a house on Tuesday in the north-western side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to the Gaza health ministry's casualty list. Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said. A third strike hit a tent in the Naser neighbourhood in Gaza City late Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa hospital said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas. 8.50am BST 08:50 Palestine Red Crescent says the situation in Gaza is 'only getting worse', with spokesperson Nebal Farsakh calling it an 'unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe'. Farsakh said in a video posted to X on Tuesday that there has been no food, clean water or medicine entering the Gaza Strip for more than four months. This has resulted in a catastrophe where people are literally starving to death. More people are being admitted to hospitals with malnutrition especially among children, pregnant women and the elderly. Up to this moment, almost 101 people died because of starvation, and including 80 children. The situation is only getting worse. 8.36am BST 08:36 Pippa Crerar Keir Starmer is under pressure from cabinet ministers for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, as global outcry grows over Israel's killing of starving civilians in Gaza. The prime minister is understood to have been urged by a number of senior ministers in different cabinet meetings over recent months that the UK should take a leading role in issuing recognition. The UK plans to formally acknowledge Palestine as part of a peace process, but only in conjunction with other western countries and 'at the point of maximum impact' – without saying what that would be. However, there has been a growing sense of desperation and horror inside the Labour cabinet in recent weeks over Israel's killing of starving Palestinian civilians in Gaza and its attacks on humanitarian agencies. 'We say that recognising Palestinian statehood is a really important symbol that you can only do once. But if not now, then when?' one cabinet minister said. Earlier this month, nearly 60 Labour MPs demanded that the UK immediately recognise Palestine as a state, after Israel's defence minister announced plans to force all residents of Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah. 8.23am BST 08:23 The US said on Tuesday that a top envoy will travel to Europe for talks on a ceasefire and finalising an aid 'corridor' for war-ravaged Gaza, where authorities said people are dying of starvation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Steve Witkoff, president Donald Trump's globe-trotting negotiator, will head this week to a European destination for talks on Gaza, according to US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. Clarifying an earlier statement, officials said Witkoff may travel after Europe to the Middle East to continue diplomacy. Witkoff comes with 'a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to,' state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. Bruce declined to give further details on the corridor. She did not say how the diplomacy would relate to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a logistics group backed by Israel and the US that has seen chaotic scenes of troops firing on hungry Palestinians racing for food. The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the GHF began its operations in late May, with most near the foundation's sites. 8.09am BST 08:09 Peter Beaumont Israel is facing intensifying international condemnation for its killing of starving Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and its attacks on humanitarian efforts, as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the 'last lifelines keeping people alive [in the strip] are collapsing'. Speaking to the UN security council on Tuesday, Guterres described the situation in Gaza as a 'horror show' condemning the Israeli attacks on UN offices. Guterres said: Malnourishment is soaring and starvation is knocking on every door in Gaza. And now we are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles. That system is being denied the conditions to function. Denied the space to deliver. Denied the safety to save lives. Guterres' comments came hours after a hard-hitting joint statement on Monday by 27 western countries including the UK, France, Australia and Canada harshly criticising Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid and calling for an immediate end to the war. Guterres said he 'deplored the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition' as health officials in Gaza reported a further 33 deaths, including 12 children, in the past 48 hours. 7.57am BST 07:57 Sally Weale Sally Weale is the Guardian's education correspondent. Pressure is mounting on ministers to intervene on behalf of 40 students in Gaza who have been offered full scholarships to study at UK universities, but are unable to take up their places this September because of government red tape. A high-level meeting is understood to have taken place at the Home Office on Tuesday after MPs and campaigners highlighted the students' plight, calling on ministers to take action to help secure their safe passage to the UK. Some students are reported to have been killed while waiting, while others are said to be in constant danger. Campaigners say students are unable to travel and begin their studies because of a Home Office requirement for biometric data for a visa application. The UK-authorised biometrics registration centre in Gaza closed in October 2023 and it has been impossible for them to travel to other centres in neighbouring countries. They are calling on the government to grant the students a biometrics deferral, and to help them find a safe route to a third country where they can complete their visa application and travel on to the UK. Dr Nora Parr, a researcher at Birmingham University who is supporting the students in Gaza, said Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy had already helped evacuate students with university places in their countries. The students who studied, took TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) tests, wrote admissions essays and did virtual campus interviews under the most horrendous conditions imaginable – many from tent homes and makeshift wifi hubs – now must wait for a government decision. To not act is to decide to leave them without these hard-earned educational opportunities. You can read more of Sally Weale's piece here: Ministers urged to help students trapped in Gaza with places at UK universities 7.45am BST 07:45 More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading in Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than 2 million people face severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict, triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel. The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May – in effect sidelining the existing UN-led system. A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that 'our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away'. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods. The signatories said: Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions. It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access. Updated at 7.49am BST 7.45am BST 07:45 Hello and welcome back to the Guardian's coverage of the Middle East. More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading in Gaza ahead of the US top envoy's visit to Europe for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than 2 million people face severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict, triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel. The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May – in effect sidelining the existing UN-led system. A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that 'our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away'. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms. It came a day after the US said its envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on Gaza and may then visit the Middle East. Witkoff comes with 'a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to,' state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. In other developments: The head of Gaza's largest hospital on Tuesday said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, while Israel pressed a devastating assault. Gaza's population of more than 2 million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points. News agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has called on Israel to allow the immediate evacuation of its freelance contributors and their families from the Gaza Strip, a day after they warned that they were struggling to work due to starvation. In a statement, the French news agency said its freelancers faced an 'appalling situation' in Gaza. A 21-month war with Israel has devastated the territory, a conflict triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on Israel in October 2023. The head of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (Unrwa) said on Tuesday that its staff members as well as doctors and humanitarian workers are fainting on duty due to hunger and exhaustion, describing the situation in Gaza as 'hell on earth'. Unrwa commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini also called the Israeli-backed logistics group run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a 'sadistic death trap'. He said snipers opened fire randomly on crowds at aid sites as if they are given a 'licence to kill'. The GHF responded by claiming the UN was 'refusing' to deliver aid in Gaza that could help end the desperation in the region. Israel's government is pursuing an 'unacceptable and morally unjustifiable' policy in Gaza, the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem has said after visiting a church in the territory that was attacked by Israeli forces last week and meeting survivors. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said he had witnessed extreme hunger on the brief trip, his first into Gaza this year, and described Israeli blocks on food and medical shipments as a 'sentence' for starving Palestinians. The Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday at least 72 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes in the past 24 hours, including 16 people living in tents in Gaza City. The Israeli military said it wasn't aware of any incident or artillery in the area at that time. A cruise liner carrying Israeli tourists has been forced to reroute to Cyprus after being turned away from the Greek island of Syros after a quayside protest over the Gaza war. About 1,600 Israeli passengers on board the Crown Iris were prevented from disembarking amid safety concerns when more than 300 demonstrators on the Cycladic isle made clear they were unwelcome over Israel's conduct of the war and treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. A large banner emblazoned with the words Stop the Genocide was held aloft alongside Palestinian flags. Columbia University said on Tuesday it has issued various punishments, including expulsions and degree revocations, against various students involved in anti-Israel protests on campus. The sanctions, which a student group said targeted nearly 80 people, come as the New York institution negotiates with President Donald Trump's administration to restore $400m in cut federal funding. Some Israeli far-right leaders held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss redeveloping the Gaza Strip into a tourist-friendly 'riviera', as Palestinians face a worsening humanitarian crisis in the devastated territory. The meeting, titled 'The Riviera in Gaza: From Vision to Reality', was held in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, under the auspices of some of its most hardline members. Syria said on Tuesday that it had launched investigations into reported extrajudicial killings in the country's Druze heartland, promising to punish perpetrators including any government-affiliated personnel after a week of sectarian bloodshed. The violence, which began on 13 July and ended with a weekend ceasefire, started with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes but soon escalated, killing more than 1,300 people, mostly Druze, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. The US state department on Tuesday confirmed the death of a US citizen last week in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida, where hundreds of people have been reported killed in clashes. State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Hosam Saraya, adding that the US was providing consular assistance to the family. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday there is a possibility of a renewed campaign against Iran, according to a statement from his office. He stressed the necessity of formulating an effective enforcement plan for the future to ensure that Iran does not restore its nuclear programme.
