Car Bomb in Syrian Opposition-Held Town Kills at Least 3 People, Including Two Children

People gather around an ambulance at the scene of a bomb explosion in the norther Syrian city of Azaz, early on March 31, 2024. (AFP)
People gather around an ambulance at the scene of a bomb explosion in the norther Syrian city of Azaz, early on March 31, 2024. (AFP)
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Car Bomb in Syrian Opposition-Held Town Kills at Least 3 People, Including Two Children

People gather around an ambulance at the scene of a bomb explosion in the norther Syrian city of Azaz, early on March 31, 2024. (AFP)
People gather around an ambulance at the scene of a bomb explosion in the norther Syrian city of Azaz, early on March 31, 2024. (AFP)

A car bomb exploded in a busy market in a northern Syrian town controlled by Türkiye-based Syrian opposition fighters early Sunday, killing at least three people, rescue workers and a war monitor said.

The bomb exploded in the town of Aziz in Aleppo province. Volunteers with the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, said the blast, just after midnight, killed two children and a woman.

The explosion that tore through the busy market also wounded five civilians and destroyed shops and homes in the area, the paramedic group said. First responders struggled to break through the large panicking crowds in the market, searching for casualties, clearing the wreckage, and putting out fires.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people were killed and 23 wounded.

Türkiye has launched three major cross-border operations in Syria since 2016 and controls some Syrian territory in the north.



Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Lebanon Elects Army Chief as New President

The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
The Lebanese Parliament building a day before a session to elect the Lebanese president, in Beirut, Lebanon, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys US approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.
The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement backed him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French envoy shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
Aoun's election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.
Lebanon's system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese military to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the Lebanese army since 2017.