Libyan Authorities Probe Recovery of 65 Unidentified Migrant Bodies

Specialized search teams locate the bodies of the dead migrants (Criminal Investigation Service in Libya's West)
Specialized search teams locate the bodies of the dead migrants (Criminal Investigation Service in Libya's West)
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Libyan Authorities Probe Recovery of 65 Unidentified Migrant Bodies

Specialized search teams locate the bodies of the dead migrants (Criminal Investigation Service in Libya's West)
Specialized search teams locate the bodies of the dead migrants (Criminal Investigation Service in Libya's West)

The Libyan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said it recovered 65 unidentified bodies of migrants in Wadi Al-Jahria, located in the Al-Shuwerf area, southwest of the country.

All the bodies have been examined, and DNA samples have been taken from the recovered remains for investigations, the CID noted.

It also highlighted that the bodies were reburied in a designated cemetery under the supervision of the Attorney General of the Gharyan Court of Appeal, the Chief Prosecutor of Gharyan Primary Prosecution, and official from Al-Shuwerf Prosecution.

A source from the Gharyan Prosecution told Asharq Al-Awsat that the investigations, which kicked off on Tuesday will take tim to reveal the identity of the victims and the circumstances surrounding their death, saying they probably died during the smuggling process through the desert by human trafficking gangs.

Libya is a major launching point for migrants trying to reach the European through dangerous routes across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. However, local authorities assert their vigorous efforts to counter migrant flows.



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.