Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria

Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria
Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011. (AFP)
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Updated 26 May 2023

Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria

Turkiye begins work on 240,000 homes to repatriate refugees in northern Syria
  • Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hardened his stance toward people displaced by war as he fights for reelection

ANKARA: Turkiye has begun building 240,000 homes to resettle refugees in opposition-held northern Syria as the repatriation issue takes center stage in Sunday’s presidential election runoff.

“Syrian refugees living in Turkiye will settle in the houses ... as part of a dignified, voluntary, safe return,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at the launch of the project on a disused airstrip on the outskirts of Al-Ghandura, a town in the Jarabulus area near the Turkish border.

Builders with heavy machinery have already started work, and the project is expected to be complete in three years, Soylu said.

Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011. Most have “temporary protection” status, leaving them vulnerable to forced return.

“To date, there have been 554,000 voluntary returns,” Soylu said. “There is a serious demand for a voluntary and dignified return to this safe area.”

Anti-refugee sentiments are running high in Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hardened his stance toward people displaced by war as he fights for reelection.

BACKGROUND

Turkiye has offered refuge to more than 3 million people fleeing violence in Syria since war broke out there in 2011.

He pledged this month to build 200,000 homes in Syria to resettle a million refugees.

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has pledged to “send all the refugees home” if he wins on Sunday.

Erdogan supported early rebel efforts to topple Bashar Assad, and Ankara maintains a military presence in swaths of northern Syria that angers Damascus.

Since 2016, Turkiye has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from border areas of northern Syria.

Its troops and their Syrian proxies control sections of the border, and Erdogan has long sought to establish a “safe zone” 30 km deep the whole length of the frontier.


Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing
Updated 43 min 10 sec ago

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says not linked to accused in UNIFIL peacekeeper killing

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday denied that five men accused by a military tribunal of killing an Irish UN peacekeeper in 2022 were linked to the armed Shiite group.
A court document filed on Thursday had identified some of the five as members of Hezbollah and allied movement Amal, according to a senior Lebanese judicial source.
Hezbollah media official Mohammad Afif said the five accused were not members of the group, which controls the part of southern Lebanon where last year’s attack took place, and also denied that the indictment had described them as Hezbollah members.
Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed on Dec. 15 in the first fatal attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015.
Afif said Hezbollah had played a big role after the killing in reducing tensions and in local people’s cooperation with the army and judicial investigation.
His comments are the first by a Hezbollah official since Thursday’s reported indictment. The Amal Movement, which is headed by Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, has so far declined to comment.
The judicial source had said evidence was drawn from camera recordings in which the accused refer to themselves as members of Hezbollah. A second judicial source confirmed that camera evidence was mentioned in the 30-page court document.
Hezbollah has previously denied involvement in the killing, calling it an “unintentional incident” that took place solely between the town’s residents and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force.


UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15
Updated 02 June 2023

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15

UAE’s mandatory midday work break starts June 15
  • Working in open spaces and under direct sunlight is not allowed from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
  • Companies are also required to provide shaded areas where workers can rest during the midday break

DUBAI: The UAE’s mandatory midday break for all outdoor workers will start on June 15, the 19th consecutive year the ban has been enforced to protect employees from the intense summer heat.

Working in open spaces and under direct sunlight is not allowed from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. until Sept 15 this year, with daily working hours in both morning and evening shifts restricted to eight hours.

Any employee made to work more than eight hours in a 24-hour period will be considered to have worked overtime and must be compensated for it.

Companies are also required to provide shaded areas where workers can rest during the midday break.

Employers found flouting the regulations will be fined approximately $1,360 for each worker they require to work during required midday break, with a maximum of $13,614 penalty in case multiple workers are involved.

The implementation of the midday break is in line with Ministerial Resolution No. (44) of 2022 on Occupational Health and Safety and Labor Accommodation, which aims to provide adequate working environments that protect workers from occupational hazards and prevents work-related injuries or illnesses, a report from state news agency WAM said.

“We are confident that employers across the country will comply with the provisions of the ban. Over the past years, we have seen impressive compliance rates, which confirms the level of awareness in the market about the importance of this decision and its effective role in protecting workers from the hazards of direct exposure to sunlight or working in open spaces around naloon,” according to Mohsen Al-Nassi, assistant undersecretary for inspection affairs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.

There are however exemptions to the midday break, particularly jobs that “require work to continue uninterrupted and they are exempted from implementing the midday work ban for technical reasons,” WAM reported.

These include laying asphalt or pouring concrete – when it is impractical to postpone these tasks – as well as works needed to contain hazards or repair damage that affects the community, such as interruptions to water supply or electricity, cutting off traffic, and other major issues.

“The exemptions also include works that require a permit from a relevant government authority to be implemented, given their impact on the flow of traffic and services. These tasks require non-stop work, including cutting or diverting main traffic routes, power lines, and communications,” WAM said.

Employers are also required to provide sufficient cold drinking water for workers exempted from the midday ban, as well as provide hydrating food, such as salts and/or other food items approved for use by the local authorities.


Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites

Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites
Updated 02 June 2023

Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites

Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites
  • Many sites were damaged by the war and more recently by the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck a wide area of neighboring Turkiye and also Syria in February.
  • Before the war, Palmyra — one of Syria’s six UNESCO world heritage sites — was the country’s archaeological crown jewel, a tourist attraction that drew tens of thousands of visitors each year

PALMYRA: At the height of the Daesh group’s rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country’s famed Roman ruins in Palmyra.
Eight years later, Daesh has lost its hold but restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover IS land mines and lack of funding.
Other archaeological sites throughout Syria face similar problems, both in areas held by the government and by the opposition. They were damaged by the war or, more recently, by the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck a wide area of neighboring Turkiye and also Syria in February.
Youssef Kanjou, a former director of Syria’s Aleppo National Museum, said the situation of heritage sites in his country is a “disaster.”


Without a coordinated preservation and restoration effort, said Kanjou, now a researcher at Tübingen University in Germany, “We will lose what was not destroyed by the war or the earthquake.”
Before the war, Palmyra — one of Syria’s six UNESCO world heritage sites — was the country’s archaeological crown jewel, a tourist attraction that drew tens of thousands of visitors each year. The ancient city was the capital of an Arab client state of the Roman Empire that briefly rebelled and carved out its own kingdom in the third century, led by Queen Zenobia.
In more recent times, the area had darker associations. It was home to the Tadmur prison, where thousands of opponents of the Assad family’s rule in Syria were reportedly tortured. IS demolished the prison after capturing the town.
The militants later destroyed Palmyra’s historic temples of Bel and Baalshamin and the Arch of Triumph, viewing them as monuments to idolatry, and beheaded an elderly antiquities scholar who had dedicated his life to overseeing the ruins.
Today, the road through the desert from Homs to Palmyra is dotted with Syrian army checkpoints. In the town adjacent to the ancient site, some shops have reopened, but signs of war remain in the form of charred vehicles and burned-out or boarded-up stores and houses.
The Palmyra Museum is closed, and the much-loved lion statue that used to stand in front of it has been moved to Damascus for restoration and safekeeping.
Nevertheless, Syrian and foreign tourists have begun to trickle back.


“We thought it was impossible that foreigners would return to Palmyra,” said Qais Fathallah, who used to run a hotel there but fled to Homs when IS took over. Now he is back in Palmyra, operating a restaurant, where he said he serves tourists regularly.
On a recent day, a group of tourists from countries including the United Kingdom, Canada and China, and another, with Syrian university students, were wandering through the ruins.
Some of the Syrian tourists had visited in better days. For communication engineering student Fares Mardini, it was the first time.
“Now I’ve finally come, and I see so much destruction. It’s something really upsetting,” he said. “I hope it can be restored and return to what it was.”
In 2019, international experts convened by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, said detailed studies would need to be done before starting major restorations.
Youmna Tabet, program specialist at the Arab states unit of UNESCO’s World Heritage Center, said restoration work often involves difficult choices, particularly if there isn’t enough original material for rebuilding.
“Is it worth it to rebuild it with very little authenticity or should we rather focus on having 3D documentation of how it was?” she said.
Missions to the site were held up at first by security issues, including land mines that had to be cleared. IS cells still occasionally carry out attacks in the area.
Money is also a problem.
“There is a big lack of funding so far, for all the sites in Syria,” Tabet said, noting that international donors have been wary of breaching sanctions on Syria, which have been imposed by the United States, the European Union and others.
US sanctions exempt activities related to preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites, but sanctions-related obstacles remain, such as a ban on exporting US-made items to Syria.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, has begun restoring Palmyra’s triumphal arch, the largest-scale project underway to date at the site.


“We have some funding from some friends in some places, but it is not sufficient in relation to the disaster that occurred,” said Mohammad Nazir Awad, director general of Syria’s department of Antiquities and Museums.
It doesn’t have to be this way, said Maamoun Abdulkarim, who headed the antiquities department at the time of the IS incursion. Abdulkarim pointed to the international push to recover damaged heritage sites in the city of Mosul in neighboring Iraq, also controlled by the militants for some time, as an example of a successful restoration.
“We need to make some separation between political affairs and cultural heritage affairs,” said Abdulkarim, now a professor at the University of Sharjah. He warned that damaged structures are in danger of deteriorating further or collapsing as the rehabilitation work is delayed.
The deadly Feb. 6 earthquake caused further destruction at some sites already damaged by the war. This includes the old city of Aleppo, which is under the control of the government, and the Byzantine-era church of Saint Simeon in the Aleppo countryside, in an area controlled by Turkish-backed opposition forces.
About one-fifth of the church was damaged in the earthquake, including the basilica arch, said Hassan Al-Ismail, a researcher with Syrians for Heritage a non-governmental organization. He said the earthquake compounded earlier damage caused by bombings and vandalism.
The group tried to stabilize the structure with wooden and metal supports and to preserve the stones that fell from it for later use in restoration.
Ayman Al-Nabo, head of antiquities in the opposition-held city of Idlib, appealed for international assistance in stabilizing and restoring sites damaged by the earthquake.
Antiquities should be seen as “neutral to the political reality,” he said. “This is global human heritage, which belongs to the whole world, not just the Syrians.”


Palestinian toddler critically wounded in West Bank, Israeli military says shooting unintentional

Palestinian toddler critically wounded in West Bank, Israeli military says shooting unintentional
Updated 02 June 2023

Palestinian toddler critically wounded in West Bank, Israeli military says shooting unintentional

Palestinian toddler critically wounded in West Bank, Israeli military says shooting unintentional
  • Latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem
  • Fighting has picked up since Israel’s new far-right government took office in late December

JERUSALEM: A 3-year-old Palestinian boy was in a critical condition at an Israeli hospital Friday morning after being shot by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank. The army opened an investigation into what it said was an unintentional shooting.
In a statement, the military said that gunmen opened fire late Thursday toward the West Bank settlement of Nevez Tzuf. It said soldiers at a guard post returned fire.
Moments later, Israeli medics received reports that a Palestinian man and the child had been badly wounded. The man was rushed to a Palestinian hospital, while the baby, after being resuscitated by Israeli medics, was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital. The hospital said the boy was in critical condition.
The military released a grainy video showing what it said were the gunmen firing toward the settlement and said that it was searching for them.
But it said the incident was being reviewed, saying “it regrets harm to noncombatants” and that it does “everything in its power to prevent such incidents.”
The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. That fighting has picked up since Israel’s new far-right government took office in late December.
Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed in the two areas this year, with nearly half of them members of armed militant groups, according to an Associated Press tally. The military says the number of militants is much higher. But stone-throwing youths and people uninvolved in violence have also been killed.
Meanwhile, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis in those areas have killed at least 21 people.
Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, along with the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state.
Some 700,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Most of the international community considers these settlements illegal or obstacles to peace.


US sanctions Iranian operatives accused of overseas plots

US sanctions Iranian operatives accused of overseas plots
Updated 01 June 2023

US sanctions Iranian operatives accused of overseas plots

US sanctions Iranian operatives accused of overseas plots

WASHINGTON: The US has imposed sanctions on members and affiliates of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and its external operations arm whom Washington accused of participating in terrorist plots targeting former US government officials, dual US and Iranian nationals and Iranian dissidents.

The US Treasury Department said the move targeted three Iran- and Turkiye-based individuals and a company affiliated with the IRGC-Quds Force and two senior officials of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization involved in plotting external lethal operations against civilians, including journalists.

In a statement, the Treasury said the five included Mohammed Reza Ansari, a Quds Force member whom it said has supported its operations in Syria, and Iranian citizen Shahram Poursafi, whom it said had planned and attempted to assassinate two former US government officials.

It also put sanctions on Hossein Hafez Amini, a dual Iranian and Turkish national based in Turkiye, whom it accused of using his Turkish-based airline, Rey Havacilik Ithalat Ihracat Sanayi Ve, to assist the Quds Force’s covert operations, including kidnapping and assassination plots targeting Iranian dissidents.

The airline was also placed under sanctions. The Treasury Department also said it had imposed penalties on two people linked to the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, which it described as a domestic and international unit focused on targeting journalists, activists, dual Iranian nationals, and others who oppose Iranian abuses and human rights violations.

It named these as Rouhallah Bazghandi, the former chief of the Intelligence Organization’s counterespionage department, and the Intelligence Organization’s chief, Reza Seraj.

As a result of the Treasury sanctions, all property of the five individuals and the company subject to US jurisdiction are blocked. In addition, carrying out some transactions with them can expose actors to “secondary sanctions” under which the US can penalize non-US individuals and entities.    

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