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Flooding Kills More Than 20 People in Morocco and Algeria 

A desert area is flooded after a heavy rainfall in Tazarine, Zagora, southern Morocco, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP)
A desert area is flooded after a heavy rainfall in Tazarine, Zagora, southern Morocco, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP)
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Flooding Kills More Than 20 People in Morocco and Algeria 

A desert area is flooded after a heavy rainfall in Tazarine, Zagora, southern Morocco, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP)
A desert area is flooded after a heavy rainfall in Tazarine, Zagora, southern Morocco, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP)

Torrential downpours hit North Africa's normally arid mountains and deserts over the weekend, causing flooding that killed nearly two dozen people in Morocco and Algeria and destroyed homes and critical infrastructure.

In Morocco, officials said the two days of storms surpassed historic averages, in some cases exceeding the annual average rainfall. The downpours affected some of the regions that experienced a deadly earthquake one year ago.

Meteorologists had predicted that a rare deluge could strike North Africa’s Sahara Desert, where many areas receive less than an inch of rain a year.

Officials in Morocco said 18 people were killed in rural areas and 56 homes collapsed. Nine people were missing. Drinking water and electrical infrastructure were damaged, along with major roads.

Among the dead in the region, where many tourists go to enjoy desert landscapes, were foreigners from Canada and Peru.

Rachid El Khalfi, Morocco’s Interior Ministry spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday that the government was working to restore communication and access to flooded regions in the “exceptional situation” and urged people to use caution.

In neighboring Algeria, which held a presidential election over the weekend, authorities said at least five died in the country's desert provinces. Interior Minister Brahim Merad called the situation “catastrophic” on state-owned television.

Algeria’s state-run news service APS said the government had sent thousands of civil protection and military officers to help with emergency response efforts and rescue families stuck in their homes. The floods also damaged bridges and trains.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.