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Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Explosion in northern Syria kills at least 6 people and injures dozens
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — At least six people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion in northern Syria's Idlib province, officials said Thursday. There was no official statement on the cause of the blast. The U.K.-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the explosion took place in an ammunition depot. The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, reported that at least six people were killed in the blast, which took place in the town of Maarat Misrin north of the city of Idlib on Thursday. 'This is the death toll only of those recovered by Syrian Civil Defense teams, who continue to search for those trapped under the rubble,' the White Helmets said in a statement. Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh in a post on social media platform X that teams were transporting the wounded and dead despite 'continued recurring explosions in the area, which are hampering response efforts.' The state-run news agency, SANA, reported four people killed and 116 injured, citing health officials, without giving further details. Syria is struggling to recover from a nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive. During the war, which killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million, Idlib was an opposition-held enclave. The country's current interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa formerly led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an insurgent group based in Idlib that spearheaded the offensive that unseated Assad.
Al Bawaba
a day ago
- Al Bawaba
Explosion rocks Syria's Idlib city
Published July 24th, 2025 - 10:06 GMT ALBAWABA - Syrian News Channel revealed that an explosion rocked the city of Idlib in Syria and the surrounding towns. No official sources have yet commented on the explosion in Idlib city, nor has the reason behind it been shared. Some videos were posted on social media showing a huge cloud rising into the sky, and allegedly said that a massive explosion occurred at an "ammunition warehouse" near Maarat Misrin in the Idlib countryside a short while ago.4 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that ambulances rushed to the explosion site, amid reports of deaths and injuries, while the reason behind the explosion remains unknown. © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Syria identifies 298 suspects in Alawite heartland killings
DAMASCUS: A Syrian committee investigating sectarian violence in the country's Alawite heartland said Tuesday it identified 298 suspects implicated in serious violations that left at least 1,426 Alawites dead in March. The violence unfolded over three days in early March on Syria's predominantly Alawite coast, where government forces and allied groups were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly targeting Alawite civilians. 'The committee identified 298 individuals by name, who were involved,' spokesman Yasser Al-Farhan told a press conference in Damascus, describing the figure as provisional. He said two lists of suspects had been referred to the judiciary. The committee documented 'serious violations against civilians on March 7, 8 and 9, including murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture and sectarian insults.' It confirmed the names of 1,426 dead, including 90 women, with most of the rest being civilians from the Alawite community. Authorities have accused gunmen loyal to former president Bashar Assad, an Alawite, of instigating the violence, launching deadly attacks that killed dozens of security forces personnel. Damascus sent military reinforcements to the region after the attacks. The committee said 238 army and security force personnel were killed in the attacks in the provinces of Tartus, Latakia and Hama. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reported the deaths of more than 1,700 people, mostly Alawite civilians. According to human rights and international organizations, entire families were killed in the violence including women, children, and the elderly. Gunmen stormed homes and asked their residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before killing or sparing them, they said. Amnesty International has urged Syria to publish the full results of the investigation and ensure those responsible are held accountable. On Sunday, the presidency said Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa had received the committee's report on July 13, the same day sectarian violence erupted in the Druze heartland of Sweida, killing more than 1,200 people according to the Observatory. The bouts of violence have raised questions over the authorities' ability to manage sectarian tensions and maintain security, more than seven months after Islamists overthrew Assad, who long presented himself as a protector of minorities.
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
In Syria's Sweida, bodies wait to be identified at overwhelmed hospital
The Sweida national hospital has remained open despite a dire situation involving supply shortages and water and power cuts. (EPA Images pic) SWEIDA : At the main hospital in south Syria's Sweida city, dozens of bodies are still waiting to be identified as the death count of days of sectarian clashes continues to rise. 'We have handed 361 bodies over to family members, but we still have 97 unidentified corpses,' a forensic medicine official at facility said on condition of anonymity. Clashes erupted on July 13 in Syria's Druze-majority province of Sweida between local fighters and Sunni Bedouin, spiralling and drawing in government forces, tribal allies of the Bedouin and the military of neighbouring Israel. Witnesses, Druze factions and a monitor have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses including summary executions when they entered Sweida last week. More than 1,100 people, most of them Druze fighters and civilians, have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, whose toll also includes several hundred government security personnel. Health authorities have not released a comprehensive death toll. More than 450 bodies had been taken to Sweida's main hospital by Sunday evening, while bodies were still being collected from streets and homes in the city. 'The dead bodies sent a terrible smell through all the floors of the hospital,' said nurse Hisham Breik, who said he had not left the facility since the violence began. 'The situation has been terrible. We couldn't walk around the hospital without wearing a mask,' he said, his voice trembling, adding that the wounded included women, children and the elderly. Medical personnel have been working in tough conditions at the hospital, which has seen clashes around it and has been flooded with wounded, some of whom were lying in the corridors. Bodies have yet to be removed from villages in Sweida province's north and west, the hospital administration and health workers said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that hospitals and health centres in Sweida province were out of service, with 'reports of unburied bodies raising serious public health concerns'. Humanitarian access to Sweida 'remains highly constrained', it said a statement late Sunday. 'Catastrophe' The Sweida national hospital has remained open despite the dire situation that has also included supply shortages and water and power cuts. A first Syrian Red Crescent convoy entered Sweida on Sunday carrying UN humanitarian assistance including food, water, medical supplies and fuel, OCHA said. A Red Crescent official told AFP the supplies included body bags. Another convoy facilitated by the Red Crescent was to leave Damascus on Monday, OCHA said. But as the supplies were unloaded on Sunday, activist Moatasem Aflak, who works for a body affiliated with the Sweida health department, told AFP that the aid 'doesn't cover everything required'. 'We received water and medical supplies but we need more because we are facing a medical catastrophe,' he said, adding that a list of requirements had been handed to the Red Crescent. 'We haven't yet been able to count the bodies' and some families have been unable to arrive to identify their loved ones, Aflak said. 'We are trying to cooperate with the Red Crescent to put the bodies in bags and establish a mass grave to transfer them to,' he added. According to the UN, the violence has displaced more than 128,000 people, an issue that has also made collecting and identifying bodies more difficult.
France 24
4 days ago
- Health
- France 24
In Syria's Sweida, bodies wait to be identified at overwhelmed hospital
"We have handed 361 bodies over to family members, but we still have 97 unidentified corpses," a forensic medicine official at facility said on condition of anonymity. Clashes erupted on July 13 in Syria's Druze-majority province of Sweida between local fighters and Sunni Bedouin, spiralling and drawing in government forces, tribal allies of the Bedouin and the military of neighbouring Israel. Witnesses, Druze factions and a monitor have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses including summary executions when they entered Sweida last week. More than 1,100 people, most of them Druze fighters and civilians, have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, whose toll also includes several hundred government security personnel. Health authorities have not released a comprehensive death toll. More than 450 bodies had been taken to Sweida's main hospital by Sunday evening, while bodies were still being collected from streets and homes in the city. "The dead bodies sent a terrible smell through all the floors of the hospital," said nurse Hisham Breik, who said he had not left the facility since the violence began. "The situation has been terrible. We couldn't walk around the hospital without wearing a mask," he said, his voice trembling, adding that the wounded included women, children and the elderly. Medical personnel have been working in tough conditions at the hospital, which has seen clashes around it and has been flooded with wounded, some of whom were lying in the corridors. Bodies have yet to be removed from villages in Sweida province's north and west, the hospital administration and health workers said. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that hospitals and health centres in Sweida province were out of service, with "reports of unburied bodies raising serious public health concerns". Humanitarian access to Sweida "remains highly constrained", it said a statement late Sunday. 'Catastrophe' The Sweida national hospital has remained open despite the dire situation that has also included supply shortages and water and power cuts. A first Syrian Red Crescent convoy entered Sweida on Sunday carrying UN humanitarian assistance including food, water, medical supplies and fuel, OCHA said. A Red Crescent official told AFP the supplies included body bags. Another convoy facilitated by the Red Crescent was to leave Damascus on Monday, OCHA said. But as the supplies were unloaded on Sunday, activist Moatasem Aflak, who works for a body affiliated with the Sweida health department, told AFP that the aid "doesn't cover everything required". "We received water and medical supplies but we need more because we are facing a medical catastrophe," he said, adding that a list of requirements had been handed to the Red Crescent. "We haven't yet been able to count the bodies" and some families have been unable to arrive to identify their loved ones, Aflak said. "We are trying to cooperate with the Red Crescent to put the bodies in bags and establish a mass grave to transfer them to," he added. According to the United Nations, the violence has displaced more than 128,000 people, an issue that has also made collecting and identifying bodies more difficult.
