Moroccan rescuers search for bodies after at least 17 people were killed when flood waters overturned their bus in the country's southeast. (AFP)
At least 17 people were killed in Morocco when flood waters overturned their bus in the kingdom's southeast, authorities said Monday.
Rescuers have been searching for bodies since the accident Sunday, when the bus flipped on a bridge in a valley near the city of Errachidia, authorities said.
They said a further 29 passengers, with various injuries but in "stable" condition, had been transferred to a hospital in Errachidia.
Rescue workers were continuing their search, after six dead passengers were initially found at the site and another 11 in the relief operation.
The bus driver, who had at first had been counted among the missing, turned up Monday at the hospital and was being treated under police guard ahead of questioning, local officials said.
Wounded passengers, interviewed by Medi1TV from their hospital beds, told of their ordeal.
"We were on the road when, all of a sudden, we were surrounded by water," a woman said, while another said: "The bus couldn't go forwards or backwards anymore, it just toppled over."
Morocco has been hit by violent storms this summer, sparking flash flooding in its mountainous interior.
At the end of August, a flood hit a football pitch killing eight people in the southern region of Taroudant.
And in July, 15 people were killed in a landslide caused by flash floods on a road south of Marrakesh.
Floods are common in the North African country. In 2014, they killed around 50 people and caused considerable damage.
As the Last US Troops Pack Up in Iraq, Factions Signal Their Weapons Will Stayhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5318454-last-us-troops-pack-iraq-factions-signal-their-weapons-will-stay
Fighters from the Badr Brigades clash with the ISIS group at the front line on the outskirts of Fallujah in the Anbar province of Iraq, June 1, 2015. (AP)
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As the Last US Troops Pack Up in Iraq, Factions Signal Their Weapons Will Stay
Fighters from the Badr Brigades clash with the ISIS group at the front line on the outskirts of Fallujah in the Anbar province of Iraq, June 1, 2015. (AP)
Two deadlines are looming for Iraq at the end of the month: the end of a decades-long US military presence and the disarmament of non-state armed groups.
The US withdrawal is underway, and officials say the hundreds of troops remaining in northern Iraq will be out by the Sept. 30 deadline.
The Iraqi government has linked the US withdrawal to an ultimatum for factions to lay down their weapons. But most have indicated they have no plans to do so.
That leaves major questions about what the day after will look like in Iraq.
Iranian-backed Iraqi factions have struck US-linked targets both inside and outside of Iraq since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. They also have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthis to attack Saudi Arabia.
With the war between the US and Iran raging, Tehran is unlikely to give up the leverage it has in neighboring Iraq. US officials are concerned about the factions' ability to continue carrying out attacks, but not enough to delay their withdrawal.
A US army soldier flashes a V for victory sign as he begins his journey home, at the al-Asad Air Base west of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 1 , 2011. (AP)
The end of the US mission
US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller US-led mission to fight the ISIS group, which had rampaged across Iraq and Syria, seizing large swaths of territory.
With the extremist group now reduced to scattered sleeper cells — a result of the intervention of Iran-backed factions, as well as the US-led coalition -- Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down.
US troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a presence in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran.
A US military official said the withdrawal would be completed by Sept. 30, and the hundreds of troops still present in northern Iraq would mostly be redeployed to other countries in the region. Military equipment, including air defense systems, will also be removed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
A “normal bilateral security cooperation” agreement could then be negotiated with the central government in Baghdad, he said, but it remains unclear what form that would take.
The official said that the counterterrorism base in Erbil had lost its importance for US troops with the ISIS threat receding.
During the war with Iran, northern Iraq for the most part did not serve as an “offensive platform,” but US forces there were frequently targeted by Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi factions, so pulling troops out “will reduce our risk,” he said.
But the US military remains concerned about the ability of the Iraqi factions to launch attacks on targets elsewhere in the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, and about the presence of Houthi militants in Iraq, he said.
In the past, the US has sometimes struck faction sites in Iraq in retaliation for attacks. Washington has slapped sanctions on some of the groups and could impose more.
Factions take a hard line on disarmament
Iraqi government officials have waffled over whether Sept. 30 is a hard deadline for disarmament of factions or merely the starting point for negotiations.
“There will be no disarming of any groups by the 30th of September,” said Iraqi analyst Sajad Jiyad, speaking at a panel convened by the Atlantic Center think tank last week. “I think that’s probably clear to anybody who watches Iraqi politics.”
While a handful of less-influential factions have agreed to turn over their weapons, the most powerful groups — and closest to Iran — Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected the prospect or set conditions for disarming that they know the government is unlikely to meet in the near future.
Those include bringing the Kurdish peshmerga security forces in northern Iraq under control of the central government’s military and expelling Iranian Kurdish dissident groups and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, that have bases in the region.
“After establishing these parameters, discussions will focus on regulating weapons, not surrendering them,” an official with one of the Iran-backed Iraqi factions said. “There is absolutely no decision among the factions to surrender weapons, and we have not surrendered any weapons.”
A government official said the government’s strategy currently focuses on bringing armed factions under the control of the Iraqi military. Already many of the factions are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of armed groups that is officially part of the Iraqi armed forces, although the individual factions often act on their own.
The official said the government wants the armed factions to hand over “dynamic weapons” including missiles and long-range aircraft, to the central leadership of the PMF and for the individual factions to be dissolved and placed under the command of the PMF and the Iraqi army.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Iraqi government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said last week that “discussions and dialogues are ongoing, and the file will be resolved after the withdrawal of the international coalition forces."
While a handful of less-influential factions have agreed to turn over their weapons, the most powerful groups and closest to Iran have not. (Reuters file)
Kurds are anxious about the day after Sept. 30
While the withdrawal of US troops removes one target from the Kurdish region, it may not halt the attacks.
Mohammed A. Salih, a non-resident senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, and an expert on Kurdish and Iraqi affairs, noted that Iran and affiliated groups “have targeted other locations in the Kurdistan region that have not been related to the US troops’ presence.”
Those include the bases of exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, energy facilities, and even the office of the Kurdish region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
“The withdrawal will expose the Kurdistan region even further and make it an even easier target,” Salih said.
Regional government officials declined to comment, but Barzani has publicly expressed anxiety that the removal of US air defenses would leave the area more vulnerable.
Numan said last week that the Iraqi government was close to procuring new air defense systems from South Korea, Türkiye and the US
He told The Associated Press that the new systems “will be deployed according to carefully devised military plans to ensure the complete protection of Iraqi airspace, including the Kurdistan region.”
Suspension of General Amnesty Outrages Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison Inmateshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5318426-suspension-general-amnesty-outrages-lebanon%E2%80%99s-roumieh-prison-inmates
Suspension of General Amnesty Outrages Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison Inmates
A view of Roumieh Prison, east of Beirut, in October 2020. (Reuters file)
Islamist prisoners in Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison have launched an open-ended hunger and strike, including a total refusal to take medications, even by those with chronic illnesses, before being joined by all inmates of Building B.
The protest comes in response to the Constitutional Council's decision to suspend the general amnesty law pending a ruling on the appeal filed by the Strong Lebanon Bloc, headed by MP Gebran Bassil.
The inmates have held the political factions obstructing the general amnesty file fully responsible for their lives.
The hunger strike has thrust the prison file back to the forefront and placed an additional responsibility on the state, particularly the Internal Security Forces tasked with managing the facilities, raising fears of a return to unrest and riots.
Kicking off the hunger strike overnight on Monday, the prisoners issued a statement addressed to Lebanese public, saying they were taking their "escalatory step after seeing their humanitarian issues turned into a bargaining chip for political gains and partisan quota calculations."
They spoke of "long years of detention extending over many years, during which they were deprived of raising their children and caring for their families, while some of them passed away in captivity."
They expressed their gratitude to all officials and concerned parties who sought to grant them an opportunity for release and lashed out at those obstructing the general amnesty law.
They underlined their "complete refusal to be used as a scapegoat or pretext to execute political agendas at the expense of their suffering and the lives of their children."
They called for mass protests in Beirut and across Lebanon to support their cause. They also called on the Syrian people to join.
The prisoners reject the use of the amnesty law as a bargaining chip in political disputes and electoral grandstanding.
The spokesperson for the "Prisoners of Lebanon," Sheikh Omar Al-Atrash, said: "The hunger strike is a peaceful protest through which we seek to deliver a message to all officials."
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: "It is unacceptable for the general amnesty file to transform from a humanitarian issue addressing overcrowding in prisons and slow trials, into an issue used in a populist, sectarian manner."
He noted that this law "had achieved Sunni consensus, agreement from various Lebanese political forces, and the signatures of the three presidents, and it is entirely unacceptable for the Constitutional Council to be used to challenge it."
He viewed this as "a challenge to the political consensus and the Sunni consensus above anything else."
The strike is not limited to Islamist detainees, but includes other prisoners as well.
A security source explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that "all inmates of Building B in Roumieh Prison entered a hunger strike on Sunday evening."
The source pointed out that "the primary reason for the strike is the Constitutional Council's decision to suspend the general amnesty law, based on the appeal submitted by the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by Gebran Bassil," noting that the building houses around 420 prisoners, including 156 Islamists.
The strike did not extend to other buildings and sections at Roumieh, nor did the remaining prisons witness any similar movement.
The security source said that "the inmates of Building B are the primary beneficiaries of the general amnesty law, as the majority of them face death sentences or life imprisonment."
The security source revealed that prison officials are monitoring inmates with chronic illnesses, ensuring that they take their medications. They are prepared to handle any medical emergency.
Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
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Syrians Protest Fuel Price Hikes
Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes to fuel prices in al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria, on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Syrians on Monday held demonstrations in various parts of the country for the second consecutive day over the government's decision to increase fuel prices due to the Middle East war.
They mark the first such protest since the authorities seized power after ousting in December 2024 longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, under whom demonstrations were strictly prohibited.
An AFP correspondent saw protesters gather in the city of Maarat al-Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib, briefly cutting off the main road with burning tires.
"We want them to bring fuel prices back to their previous level. Winter is coming, how are the poor going to live and keep warm?" said taxi driver Fateh Hamsho, 67.
Other protests took place in Hasakeh in the northeast, in Atarib and Azaz in the north and in Khan Sheikhoun in the west, according to AFP correspondents.
Syrian authorities on Sunday announced a hike on fuel prices amid global surges due to the Middle East war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February and quickly engulfed other countries in the region.
The war has seen oil infrastructure damaged in Gulf countries, with key waterways choking imports.
The price of diesel in Syria went from 125 Syrian pounds ($1) per liter to 175, a 40 percent increase, while petrol prices saw a 26 percent increase.
The UN said 90 percent of Syrians lived below the poverty line by the end of 2024, with the minimum wage in the country standing at around 12,560 pounds ($103).
The Syrian parliament on Thursday will hold a hearing for Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir to explain the reasons behind the hike.
Protests were previously banned under Assad, whose violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations against his rule in 2011 led to a 13-year civil war.
Speaking to state television, Abdul Hamid Salat, head of the energy ministry's media department, said on Sunday that the price hikes were "temporary" and linked to global markets and the Iran war.
He said Syria currently relies heavily on imports to meet its fuel needs, making these products more costly as prices rise on global markets.
Syria currently produces around 100,000 barrels of oil per day, well below domestic demand of between 300,000 and 325,000 barrels per day, Salat said.
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