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Stampede Kills Four People, Injures 16 in Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

A crowd gathers outside the Umayyad Mosque as they await updates following a stampede that occurred during Friday prayers in Damascus, Syria, Friday Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
A crowd gathers outside the Umayyad Mosque as they await updates following a stampede that occurred during Friday prayers in Damascus, Syria, Friday Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
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Stampede Kills Four People, Injures 16 in Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

A crowd gathers outside the Umayyad Mosque as they await updates following a stampede that occurred during Friday prayers in Damascus, Syria, Friday Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
A crowd gathers outside the Umayyad Mosque as they await updates following a stampede that occurred during Friday prayers in Damascus, Syria, Friday Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)

Four people were killed and 16 injured in a stampede in the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Friday, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) said.

Five children suffered fractures, severe bruises and fainting, the civil defense said in a statement.

Authorities were trying to determine the causes of the incident and will hold those responsible accountable, Damascus Governor Maher Marwan told SANA.

"We are working to take urgent measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in public places in the future," SANA quoted him as saying.

Syria's new rulers seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing President Bashar al-Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family's decades-long rule.

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Cyprus Leader Becomes First Foreign Dignitary to Visit Lebanon’s New President

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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Cyprus Leader Becomes First Foreign Dignitary to Visit Lebanon’s New President

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides (L), at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has become the foreign head of state and first foreign dignitary to pay an official visit to Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun.

Aoun, the former commander of the Lebanese army, was elected Thursday by the Lebanese parliament to fill a more than two-year vacuum in the presidency.

“I wanted to be the first to visit President Aoun and show, not in words but in actions that Cyprus stands by Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Christodoulides told reporters afterward.

They discussed energy, security, trade and shipping, his office said in a written statement.

Cyprus and Lebanon have had close relations for decades. In recent years the two countries have been involved in intense discussions over border control, as many Syrian refugees living in Lebanon — and an increasing number of Lebanese since the country's major economic crisis began in 2019 — sought to reach Cyprus by sea in smuggler boats.

Cyprus is less than 200 kilometers (130 miles) from the Lebanese capital Beirut and they share maritime borders in waters where undersea natural gas deposits are believed to lie.