UAE, Oman, Qatar Join Others in Warning against Approaching Unsafe Areas in Lebanon

Empty ammunition casings litter the ground at the Ain el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, on August 4, 2023, following the latest flare-up in the camp for Palestinian refugees. (AFP)
Empty ammunition casings litter the ground at the Ain el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, on August 4, 2023, following the latest flare-up in the camp for Palestinian refugees. (AFP)
TT
20

UAE, Oman, Qatar Join Others in Warning against Approaching Unsafe Areas in Lebanon

Empty ammunition casings litter the ground at the Ain el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, on August 4, 2023, following the latest flare-up in the camp for Palestinian refugees. (AFP)
Empty ammunition casings litter the ground at the Ain el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, on August 4, 2023, following the latest flare-up in the camp for Palestinian refugees. (AFP)

More Arab countries have warned against travel to Lebanon in wake of the clashes that had raged in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in the South.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman joined Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in warning their nationals against travel to Lebanon or approaching areas where the clashes were taking place.

The UAE urged its citizens to abide by the previous travel ban to Lebanon.

Qatar said its nationals who are visiting Lebanon must exercise caution and avoid areas that have witnessed unrest.

It added that Qataris in Lebanon must get in contact with the Qatari embassy in Beirut in case of emergency.

Oman also issued a similar call for caution to its citizens.

Saudi Arabia had on Friday called on its citizens to quickly leave Lebanese territory and to avoid approaching areas where there have been armed clashes.

On Aug. 1, the United Kingdom also updated its travel advice for Lebanon, advising against "all but essential travel" to parts of Lebanon’s south near the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh.

Kuwait also issued an advisory early on Saturday calling on Kuwaitis in Lebanon to stay vigilant and avoid "areas of security disturbances."

The Lebanese government has scrambled to contain the fallout and avoid damage to the country’s most promising tourism season in 13 years.

At least 13 people, most of them gunmen, were killed in fighting that broke out in Ain el-Hilweh on July 29 between mainstream faction Fatah and hardline Islamists, security sources in the camp said.

An uneasy calm has since been restored after Palestinian and Lebanese parties, including Amal and Hezbollah, intervened.

Ain el-Hilweh is the largest of 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon, which host up to 250,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations' agency for refugees from Palestine (UNRWA).

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had delivered a rare rebuke to the Palestinian factions, saying the fighting was a "flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty."

"It is unacceptable for Palestinian groups to view Lebanon as open ground where they can wage their bloody fighting and terrorize the Lebanese people," he added.



New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)

Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing "revolution" flags as Syria saw in the new year with hope following 13 years of civil war.

Gunshots rang out from Mount Qasioun overlooking the capital where hundreds of people gazed up at fireworks, an AFP reporter at the square saw.

It was the first new year's celebration without an Assad in power for more than 50 years after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.

"Long live Syria, Assad has fallen," shouted some children.

"We did not expect such a miracle to happen, today the Syrians have found their smile again," Layane el Hijazi, a 22-year-old agricultural engineering student, told AFP from Umayyad Square.

"We were able to obtain our rights, we can now talk. I am letting off steam these last three weeks and tonight by bringing out everything I had buried," she said.

Despite the revelry, soldiers patrolled the streets of Damascus less than a month after Assad's rapid demise.

The green, white and black revolution flag with its three red stars flies all over the capital.

Such a sight -- the symbol of the Syrian people's uprising against the Assad dynasty's iron-fisted rule -- was unthinkable a month ago.

The fall of Assad brought an end to more than half a century of unchallenged rule by his family's clan over Syria, where dissent was repressed and public freedoms were heavily curtailed.

"Whatever happens, it will be better than before," said Imane Zeidane, 46, a cartoonist, who came to Umayyad Square with her husband and their daughter.

"I am starting the new year with serenity and optimism," she said, adding that she has "confidence" in the new government under de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

She also remembers that new year's celebrations in previous years were "not like this".

"The joy is double now -- you come down to celebrate the new year with your heart, and celebrate the hope it carries," Zeidane said.

- 'Fears have dissipated' -

The revolutionary song "Lift your head, you are a free Syrian" by Syrian singer Assala Nasri rang out loud on Umayyad Square.

"Every year, we aged suddenly by 10 years," taxi driver Qassem al-Qassem, 34, told AFP in reference to the tough living conditions in a country whose economy collapsed under Assad.

"But with the fall of regime, all our fears have dissipated," he said.

"Now I have a lot of hope. But all we want now is peace."

More than half a million people died in the 13-year civil war as the country split into different regions controlled by various warring parties.

Many families are still waiting for news of loved ones who went missing under Assad's rule, during which time tens of thousands of prisoners disappeared.

"I hope that Syria in 2025 will be non-denominational, pluralist, for everyone, without exception," said Havan Mohammad, a Kurdish student from the northeast studying pharmacy in the capital.