Tag: conflict

War kills over 100,000 babies a year: Save the Children

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) — At least 100,000 babies die every year because of armed conflict and its impact, from hunger to denial of aid, Save the Children International said on Friday. In the 10 worst-hit countries, a conservative estimate of 550,000 infants died as a result of fighting between 2013 and 2017. They succumbed to war and its effects, among them hunger, damage to hospitals and infrastructure, a lack of access to health care and […]

11 injured in ‘governor convoy attack’ in Cameroon

DOUALA, Cameroon (AFP) — At least 11 people have been wounded in an attack on the convoy of the governor of the English-speaking region of southwestern Cameroon, sources said Tuesday. Armed men attacked the convoy of South West governor Bernard Okalia Bilai, who was traveling with a military escort from the regional capital Buea to Kumba, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) north. “There were eleven wounded. Several were seriously injured by bullets,” said a member […]

Acting Pentagon chief makes surprise Baghdad visit

by Sylvie Lanteaume Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued troop presence following withdrawal from neighboring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to keep troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran. The acting defence secretary, […]

Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrives in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit Monday as the United States seeks to support the Kabul government while negotiating peace with the Taliban. Shanahan will meet President Ashraf Ghani, whose government was not part of major talks between US and Taliban officials last month that negotiators hope could bring a breakthrough in the grinding 17-year conflict. The US diplomat leading the talks has expressed hope […]

Displaced Syrian children sift through trash to buy bread

by Aaref Watad Agence France Presse KAFR LUSIN, Syria (AFP) — Outside a camp for the displaced in northwest Syria, 15-year-old Sabaa al-Jassim hacked away at a mountain of trash hoping to find scraps to sell for food. Using a hooked metal rod, he stabbed at acrid household waste in the village of Kafr Lusin, looking for plastic to trade for a few dollars to feed his 11-member family. “I go to the dump to […]

Bomb blast kills 7 Yemeni civilians in market

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — A bomb attack in a market killed seven Yemeni civilians including a photographer for a UAE television channel in the government-controlled town of Mokha, medics and military sources said Tuesday. At least 20 people were wounded in the overnight blast in the Red Sea town, where pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthi rebels are based. The improvised explosive device was planted on a motorcycle parked […]

Around 65 killed in Taliban attack on Afghan intel base: local official

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — Around 65 people were killed in a Taliban-claimed attack on an Afghan intelligence base, a local official said Tuesday, raising the toll substantially from 12 announced previously. “We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday,” Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the provincial council in Wardak province, where the attack occurred on Monday in the latest blow to beleaguered security forces. A senior security official who spoke on condition […]

Israeli bombardment in Syria kills 11: monitor

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Israeli strikes that hit several targets in Syria overnight to Monday killed at least 11 pro-regime fighters including two Syrians, a war monitor said. Israel’s military said it had targeted a number of Iranian installations in the country early on Monday, hours after intercepting a rocket fired from Syrian territory. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said they were the deadliest Israeli strikes in Syria since May last […]

Deadly IS-claimed suicide attack hits US forces in north Syria

by Delil Souleiman with Tony Gamal-Gabriel in Beirut Agence France Presse QAMISHLI, Syria (AFP) — A suicide attack killed four US personnel in northern Syria Wednesday, costing Washington its worst combat losses in the war-torn country since 2014 as it prepares to withdraw. The bombing, claimed by the Islamic State group, comes after US President Donald Trump’s shock announcement last month that he was ordering a full troop withdrawal from Syria because the jihadists had […]

Winter weather killed 15 displaced children in Syria: UN

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Freezing temperatures and the lack of medical care have killed at least 15 displaced Syrian children in recent weeks, the United Nations reported on Tuesday. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said eight of them had died as a result of the cold in the Rukban camp in southeastern Syria and seven others during the displacement from the jihadist bastion of Hajin, further north. “Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban… […]

Winter weather killed 15 displaced children in Syria: UN

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Freezing temperatures and the lack of medical care have killed at least 15 displaced Syrian children in recent weeks, the United Nations reported on Tuesday. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said eight of them had died as a result of the cold in the Rukban camp in southeastern Syria and seven others during the displacement from the jihadist bastion of Hajin, further north. “Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban… […]

UN ‘alarmed’ over renewed Yemen violence after drone attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The UN envoy to Yemen said he was “alarmed” over the escalation of violence after a rebel drone attack on the country’s largest airbase killed six loyalist soldiers. In tweets posted overnight, Thursday Martin Griffiths urged all parties to Yemen’s protracted conflict to exercise restraint. The Shiite Huthi rebels said they carried out the strike which hit a military parade at Al-Anad air base, in government-held Lahij province some […]