Tag: conflict

Four years of coalition strikes on Syria kill 3,300 civilians: monitor

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — More than 3,000 civilians have been killed in US-led coalition air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria since they began four years ago, a monitor said on Sunday. The Washington-led alliance puts the toll at just over 1,000 civilians in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and says it does all it can to prevent civilian deaths. The coalition began bombing IS targets in Iraq in August 2014 after the […]

5.2 million children at famine risk in Yemen: charity

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — More than five million children are at risk of famine in Yemen as the ongoing war causes food and fuel prices to soar across the country, charity Save the Children warned Wednesday. Disruption to supplies coming through the embattled Red Sea port of Hodeida could “cause starvation on an unprecedented scale,” the British based NGO said in a new report. Save the Children said an extra one million children now […]

Fighting in Tripoli displaces thousands: UN-backed govt

TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Fighting in and around the Libyan capital has displaced thousands of people, the government said Tuesday as the UN prepared to host talks seeking to halt the violence. Clashes since August 27 between rival militias in and around Tripoli have killed at least 50 people and wounded 138 others, most of them civilians, the health ministry said in an updated toll. The fighting has raged mostly in the southern suburbs of […]

38 Yemeni rebels killed in Hodeida: military sources

KHOKHA, Yemen (AFP)–The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen killed 38 rebels in the past 24 hours in air strikes on the strategic port of Hodeida, military and medical sources said on Monday. The latest raids come just days before peace talks in Geneva between the internationally recognised government backed by the coalition and the Shiite Huthi rebels linked to Iran. Pro-government military sources told AFP the coalition targeted Huthi sites, including a roundabout in the […]

Iran’s Zarif in Syria for talks on Idlib offensive

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to ally Syria on Monday for talks on the looming offensive against the country’s last major rebel stronghold, his ministry said. Zarif left early on Monday and “is at the moment in talks with Syrian officials,” spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told reporters in Tehran. The visit comes as Syrian government forces mass around the last rebel bastion in the northwestern province of […]

Saudi-led coalition admits ‘mistakes’ in deadly Yemen bus strike

  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen admitted Saturday that “mistakes” had been made in an August air strike that killed 40 children. The bombing on a crowded market in part of northern Yemen held by Huthi rebels killed a total of 51 people, according to the Red Cross. Fifty-six children were also among the 79 people wounded in the August 9 strike on Saada province, a stronghold of […]

Yemen faces new surge in cholera cases: UN

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Yemen faces a possible third wave of a cholera epidemic, the UN warned Thursday, following a jump in the number of suspected cases over recent weeks. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said current rains were increasing the risk of infection in the war-torn country, which has seen 1.1 million suspected cases since last April. “The number of suspected cholera cases has been increasing over the last two months in Yemen,” he […]

US supplied bomb that killed Yemeni children: report

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The bomb that killed 40 children and 11 others in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen was sold by the United States under a State Department deal with Riyadh, CNN has reported. The numbers on shrapnel, of which images were taken shortly after the attack this month, indicate that it was a laser-guided Mk 82 bomb manufactured by defense contractor Lockheed Martin, CNN […]

40 children killed in Yemen bus strike: new Red Cross toll

SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Forty children were among 51 people killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen, the Red Cross said in a new toll Tuesday. Fifty-six children were also among the 79 people wounded in the Thursday strike on Saada province, a rebel stronghold that borders Saudi Arabia, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. © Agence France-Presse

Protests at funeral for Yemeni children killed in coalition strike

    SAADA, Yemen (AFP) — Thousands of Yemenis vented anger against Riyadh and Washington on Monday as they took part in a mass funeral for children killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition. At least 29 children were among those killed in the air raid Thursday on a bus in a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada province, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The mass funeral was held in Saada […]

Protests at funeral for Yemeni children killed in coalition strike

  SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Thousands of Yemenis vented anger against Riyadh and Washington on Monday as they took part in a mass funeral for children killed in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition. At least 29 children were among those killed in the air raid on Thursday on a bus in a crowded market in Dahyan, Saada province, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The mass funeral was held in […]

Children among 39 civilians dead in Syria arms depot blast: monitor

  BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — An explosion at a weapons depot in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria killed at least 39 civilians including a dozen children on Sunday, a monitor said. An AFP correspondent at the site in Sarmada in Idlib province near the Turkish border said the explosion of unknown origin caused two buildings to collapse. Rescue workers used bulldozers to remove rubble and extract trapped people from the flattened buildings, the correspondent […]