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Syria, Libya resume direct flights after 10-year halt due to political turmoil

Syria, Libya resume direct flights after 10-year halt due to political turmoil
The Syrian Airlines will operate direct flights starting next week from Damascus and Aleppo to the Libyan cities. (SANA)
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Updated 6 min 24 sec ago

Syria, Libya resume direct flights after 10-year halt due to political turmoil

Syria, Libya resume direct flights after 10-year halt due to political turmoil
  • Syrian Civil Aviation Authority says Syrian Airlines will operate direct flights from next week
  • Move will help Syrians return home following collapse of Assad regime late last year, authority says

LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic announced the resumption of direct flights to Libya after a pause of more than 10 years due to security and political turmoil in both countries.

The head of the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, Ashhad Al-Sulaibi, said that Syrian Airlines will operate direct flights starting next week from Damascus and Aleppo to the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi.

He added that the move will help to reconnect Syria with its communities abroad and help Syrians to return to their homes following the collapse of the Assad regime last December.

Commercial flights between Syria and Libya were halted over 10 years ago due to political turmoil and civil armed conflicts that engulfed both countries in 2011.


Israel grabs Palestinian land near Ramallah to expand settler outpost

Israel grabs Palestinian land near Ramallah to expand settler outpost
Updated 07 July 2025

Israel grabs Palestinian land near Ramallah to expand settler outpost

Israel grabs Palestinian land near Ramallah to expand settler outpost
  • The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission says Israeli authorities have incorporated the newly seized area into the Malakhi HaShalom outpost
  • More than 700,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank, where the Israelis have maintained a military occupation since June 1967

LONDON: The Palestinian Authority’s settlement activity watchdog reported that Israeli authorities on Monday seized 77.4 hectares of land in northeastern Ramallah, the administrative capital in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said that the land in the villages of Al-Mughayir and Jabait was declared “state land” to justify its seizure on Monday.

The commission added that Israeli authorities have incorporated the newly captured area into the Malakhi HaShalom outpost, an illegal Israeli settlement established in 2015 on land belonging to the village of Al-Mughayir. The Israeli far-right government in 2023 announced a plan to legalize Malakhi HaShalom and expand its territory.

The commission reported that the total Israeli land grab, designated as “state land” since early 2023, is estimated at 6,381 hectares, or 25,824 dunams, a measurement used by Palestinians since the Ottoman era.

More than 700,000 settlers live in the West Bank, where the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation since June 1967. The expansion of settlements has long been viewed as an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Houthis claim attack on bulk carrier Magic Seas, which is sinking in Red Sea

The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas is seen in Ambelakia Bay, Salamis Island, Greece, Aug. 9, 2022. (AP)
The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas is seen in Ambelakia Bay, Salamis Island, Greece, Aug. 9, 2022. (AP)
Updated 52 min 38 sec ago

Houthis claim attack on bulk carrier Magic Seas, which is sinking in Red Sea

The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas is seen in Ambelakia Bay, Salamis Island, Greece, Aug. 9, 2022. (AP)
  • Magic Seas attack raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces to the area

DUBAI: Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by the Houthis, who responded with missile fire targeting Israel.
The strikes came after the Houthis attacked a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel. On Monday afternoon, they claimed the attack, which saw missiles and explosive-carrying drone boats set the vessel ablaze in the Red Sea.
The Magic Seas attack raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after US President Donald Trump’s administration targeted the militia in a major airstrike campaign.
The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also was traveling to Washington to meet with Trump.
Israeli strikes target Houthi-held ports
The Israeli military said that it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant. It released footage showing an F-16 launching from Israel for the strike, which came after the Israeli military issued a warning for the area.
“These ports are used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are employed to carry out terrorist operations against the state of Israel and its allies,” the Israeli military said.
The Israeli military also said it struck the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.
“Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said.
The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire. It said that no Israelis were on board. The ship had been operated by a Japanese firm, NYK Line.
The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces “effectively confronted” the Israelis without offering evidence.
Israel has repeatedly attacked Houthi areas in Yemen, including a naval strike in June. Both Israel and the United States have struck ports in the area in the past — including an American attack that killed 74 people in April — but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the Houthis as they continue to fire missiles at Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to launch further strikes.
“What’s true for Iran is true for Yemen,” Katz said in a statement. “Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have it cut off. The Houthis will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions.”
The Houthis then responded with an apparent missile attack on Israel. The Israeli military said that it attempted to intercept the two missiles launched by the Houthis, but they appeared to make impact, though no injuries have been reported. Sirens sounded in the West Bank and along the Dead Sea.
Saree on Monday claimed to launch missiles and drones targeting Israel in its attack.
“We are fully prepared for a sustained and prolonged confrontation, to confront hostile warplanes and to counter attempts to break the naval blockade imposed by our armed forces on the enemy,” Saree said.
Ship attack forces crew to abandon vessel
The attack on the Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, center first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.
Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, said that the Magic Seas also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said that two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.
UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.
A European Union anti-piracy patrol in the region, called Operation Atalanta, said that 22 mariners had been on board the Magic Seas.
Saree, the Houthi spokesman, claimed the attack and said the militia used missiles and bomb-carrying drone boats to attack the ship.
“Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Palestine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas ... until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege on it is lifted,” Saree said.
The Magic Seas’ owners didn’t respond to a request for comment.


UN airdrops food aid in S.Sudan to people hit by conflict

UN airdrops food aid in S.Sudan to people hit by conflict
Updated 07 July 2025

UN airdrops food aid in S.Sudan to people hit by conflict

UN airdrops food aid in S.Sudan to people hit by conflict
  • Across South Sudan, 7.7 million people, or 57 percent of the population, face “crisis, emergency or catastrophic” levels of hunger

NAIROBI: The World Food Programme said Monday it had airdropped food aid to help tens of thousands of people in remote parts of South Sudan where surging conflict has pushed some communities “to the brink of famine.”
The unstable east African nation has seen a drastic uptick in violence since simmering rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his vice president Riek Machar boiled over into open hostilities in March.
The tensions raised fears of a return to full-scale war in the impoverished country, the world’s youngest, where a civil war killed some 400,000 people in 2013-2018.
“These distributions mark WFP’s first access in over four months to deliver life-saving food and nutrition assistance to more than 40,000 people... in the most remote parts of Nasir and Ulang counties, areas only accessible by air,” the United Nations agency said in a statement.
More than one million people across Upper Nile state — which borders war-torn Sudan — face acute hunger, including over 32,000 people already experiencing “catastrophic” levels of hunger, the WFP warned, adding the figure had tripled since conflict flared, triggering mass displacement.
Fighting has blocked main river routes, which are the most cost-effective way to reach large swathes of Upper Nile and northern Jonglei state to deliver assistance, the UN agency added.
Across South Sudan, 7.7 million people, or 57 percent of the population, face “crisis, emergency or catastrophic” levels of hunger, it said.
A funding shortfall has forced the WFP to prioritize assistance with reduced rations for only the most vulnerable 2.5 million people.
The agency has appealed for $274 million to continue life-saving operations through December.


Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces

Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces
Updated 07 July 2025

Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces

Gaza civil defense says 12 killed by Israeli forces
  • The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF aid distribution points

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing Palestinians displaced after 21 months of war.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the Palestinian territory’s population of more than two million.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli air strike that hit the Al-Rimal clinic, “which houses hundreds of displaced people, in the Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City.”
AFP footage showed Palestinians, including groups of young children, combing through the bombed-out interior of the clinic, where mattresses lay alongside wood, metal and concrete broken apart in the blast.
“We were surprised by missiles and explosions inside the building,” eyewitness Salman Qudum told AFP.
“We did not know where to go because of the dust and destruction.”
In the south of the territory, Bassal said two people were killed and 20 others injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire while waiting for aid near a distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A US- and Israel-backed group, the GHF took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, but its operations have had a chaotic rollout with repeated reports of aid seekers killed near its facilities.


The UN human rights office said last week that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday placed that toll higher, at 751 killed.
In Khan Yunis in the south, Bassal reported two people killed in an air strike on a house and another killed by Israeli gunfire.
An air strike on a house in Gaza City killed one and injured several others, he added.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
In a separate statement, it said it had struck “dozens of terrorists, weapons depots, observation posts, military buildings, and other terror infrastructures” over the past 24 hours.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.


32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye
Updated 07 July 2025

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye

32 go on trial over fatal hotel fire in Turkiye
  • Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel
  • Survivors and experts have said the hotel’s fire alarm system did not work

ISTANBUL: Thirty-two people went on trial in Turkiye on Monday over a fire at a luxury ski resort hotel in January that killed 78 people, including 36 children, local media reported.

Entire families perished when the huge blaze swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya in the early hours of January 21.

Questions have multiplied about fire safety measures at the hotel and victims’ families allege that negligence contributed to the high death toll.

More than 130 people were injured and the 12-story building was destroyed.

Thirteen of the defendants – including senior officials at the hotel, the fire department and the city council – face up to 1,998 years in prison each on 78 charges, including “manslaughter with possible intent” to kill.

Survivors and experts have said the hotel’s fire alarm system did not work.

According to the indictment, the suspects facing manslaughter charges include the hotel’s owner, managers and members of the board, the deputy mayor of town of Bolu and two fire department officials.

Before the hearing, victims’ families gathered outside Bolu high school, where the trial is taking place, carrying portraits of the deceased.

They read out a statement, alleging countless breaches of safety and attempts to conceal evidence.

“During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system.

“They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones were suffocating in the smoke,” they alleged.

“An inspection report drawn up just one month before the fire clearly showed a lack of fire safety measures but the hotel owners ignored it on the grounds that the measures would be too costly,” they continued.

“We know that the authorities turned a blind eye to this negligence, that evidence was concealed and that the camera recordings were deleted.”

At the time of the fire, the tourism ministry and Bolu city council blamed each other for the disaster.

Due to the large number of defendants and plaintiffs – 210 civil parties, the Bolu High Criminal Court is sitting at the high school’s sports hall.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, would attend the hearing, the social-democratic party said.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.