Is it Even Possible to Protect a Public Transit System from Terror?

Armed policemen stand outside Parsons Green tube station in London, Britain September 15. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Armed policemen stand outside Parsons Green tube station in London, Britain September 15. (photo credit:REUTERS)
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Is it Even Possible to Protect a Public Transit System from Terror?

Armed policemen stand outside Parsons Green tube station in London, Britain September 15. (photo credit:REUTERS)
Armed policemen stand outside Parsons Green tube station in London, Britain September 15. (photo credit:REUTERS)

As Friday's attack on the London Tube reminds us, public transit is a plum target for terrorists.

That's true around the world. In Israel, Hamas routinely calls for suicide bombers to destroy public buses. The Irish Republican Army regularly attacked the London Underground and British trains during the Troubles. In the 1990s, Algerian extremists from the Armed Islamic Group set off a handful of bombs in the Paris subway, killing eight and wounding 100 more. And in 1995, a doomsday cult in Japan released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 and wounding 5,000.

More recently, a 2004 bombing on the London subway killed 52. An attack on a Madrid train in 2005 caused the same number of deaths.

Public transit attracts terrorists because it's hard to secure (unlike airports, most cities can't set up massive checkpoints and bag scans) and easy to access. It's also, quite often, packed, particularly around rush hour.

That might explain why there have been at least 387 attacks on trains, buses and passenger ferries in North America and Europe since 1970. South Asia has faced 1,287 public transit assaults; there have been 801 in the Middle East. Trains and train stations are the most common target; attacks in enclosed environments like subway stations are the deadliest. In Europe, about 75 percent of casualties from terrorist attacks occur in underground train stations, even though these account for just 13 percent of attacks overall.

And assaults on public transportation are on the rise in Europe and the United States.

There is good news though: Those terrorist attacks are also becoming less lethal.

“Today’s terrorists want to run up high body counts,” a recent report on terrorism in public transportation found. “But they rarely succeed.” Researchers say that's thanks in part to increased security. As Next City explained:

Some evidence does suggest that increased television surveillance, “See Something, Say Something” campaigns and quicker authority response times did gradually reduce attacks in London between 1970 and 2000. But those same measures could not prevent the 2005 bombing, in which attackers had no fear of being seen and left no parcels to report, because they themselves were the bombs.

But that doesn’t mean ordinary citizens and transit employees are helpless. Of 300 incidents worldwide in which devices were discovered before they could detonate, transit employees discovered the devices 11 percent of the time, by passengers 17 percent of the time, by police or military 14 percent, and security officials 15 percent.
Other cities employ different strategies.

Beijing boasts the world's busiest subway network, shuttling 10 million passengers each day. After a terrorist attack in western China in 2014, riders were forced to line up for a system that resembled airport check-in. (Police promised it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes.) Riders and their bags went through metal detectors. Additionally, helicopter fleets took surveillance pictures from above, and police patrolled with guns, unusual in the country.

London has pioneered anti-terror infrastructure. For example, the city has mostly done away with metal garbage bins, which could create deadly shrapnel if a bomb was planted inside. Instead, the city offers transparent plastic bags hanging from hoops, which make it easier to spot a bomb and less dangerous if one goes off. (The city has also removed many public garbage bins, particularly in the Underground.)

Israel makes use of metal detectors and X-ray machines at some bus stations. Buses, too, are bullet-resistant. Some also come with GPS tracking systems and video cameras so army officials can hear what's going on in an emergency.

In the United States, cities have tightened security in airports and on public transit.  In New York, for example, extra New York Police Department officers and state troopers patrol crowded transit stops. In Washington, D.C., extra K9 sweeps and patrols are deployed when there's an increased terror risk. Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities use similar techniques. And of course, riders are reminded that “if they see something, say something.”
Five plots against public transportation in New York City were foiled between 2003 and 2009; an American was arrested for plotting a strike against the D.C. Metro in 2010.

But experts warn that it's not nearly enough to stop an attack. As a Council on Foreign Relations report explained:

Many metropolitan transit agencies have increased both undercover and high-profile police patrols and have refined their emergency response plans to consider terrorism. In Washington, D.C., subway trash receptacles are being replaced with bomb-resistant cans. The Washington Metro has also conducted smoke tests to study air flows within the subway system and has installed a chemical detector in one subway station to provide early warning of an attack. In New York, suspicious packages are now regularly investigated and X-rayed and passengers’ bags are subject to random searches. But experts say bringing airline-style security to US subways would be virtually impossible, and the above measures would be useless against suicide bombers.

The Washington Post



Iraq: Al-Hashimi’s Killer Is Released Due to ‘Lack of Evidence’

Prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi. (X platform)
Prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi. (X platform)
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Iraq: Al-Hashimi’s Killer Is Released Due to ‘Lack of Evidence’

Prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi. (X platform)
Prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi. (X platform)

The Iraqi judiciary acquitted and released the murderer of prominent researcher and security expert Hisham al-Hashimi last week.

Spokeswoman for the judiciary Sinan Ghanem told Asharq Al-Awsat that a court had acquitted Ahmed Hamdawi al-Kinani due to a “lack of evidence.”

The court’s decision came after the case was reopened last Wednesday, and al-Kinani was released Sunday, said an official with one of the country's Iran-backed militias.

Al-Kinani, accused of murdering al-Hashimi, was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to death by a criminal court last May, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council reported. The case later moved to an appeals court for further review.

Al-Hashimi, 47, was fatally shot outside his Baghdad home by motorcycle-riding assailants in July 2020, following threats from Iran-backed militias. He was on his way home after conducting a TV interview in which he criticized the armed groups’ attacks on diplomatic missions.

Renowned for his expertise on the ISIS group, al-Hashimi had advised the US-led coalition and became a vocal critic of Iran-backed militias after the defeat of the ISIS group in December 2017. He had reported multiple threats from these groups before his death.

A judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Kinani denied before the appeals judge ever committing the crime.

Iraqi security authorities had released al-Kinani's confessions on July 16, 2020, ten days after the crime took place.

He confessed to having plotted and carried out the crime along with several other people who had monitored al-Hashimi's movements.

Al-Hashimi was parking his car after returning from a television interview when a motorist got off his motorcycle, walked towards him and shot him dead.

In a video confession, al-Kinani said he drew his police-issued gun and killed al-Hashimi in front of his house.

The security authorities released photos of the weapon and its registration number, as well as the bullet that killed al-Hashimi.

Activists questioned how the authorities could have released al-Kinani while they have the murder weapon and his verified confessions.

An Iraqi lawyer told Asharq Al-Awsat that appeals courts do not consider videos as enough evidence for conviction. They need something tangible like a confession and witnesses to confirm a ruling.

Judicial authorities usually release statements to the media about their ruling a week after they are made, but they did not in the case of al-Kinani's acquittal.

Conviction to acquittal

How did we get here? Al-Hashimi was known for his expertise in extremist groups and has helped government authorities dismantle ISIS’ structure during the liberation battles.

Many of his friends believe that his criticism of pro-Iran armed factions in the months ahead of his killing sealed his fate.

Extremist supporters of ISIS and backers of the Shiite factions celebrated his murder.

Al-Kinani's case started with arrest, his death sentence in absentia, an appeal against the ruling, followed by a retrial and culminating in his acquittal.

Legal experts believe that a court decision in summer 2023 to annul a committee formed by former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi that was dedicated to pursuing “extraordinary crimes” was a turning point in al-Kinani's case.

The committee was headed by Ahmed Abou Ragheef and was tasked with carrying out arrests against suspects involved in corruption and “major” cases, including al-Hashimi's.

The committee carried out a wave of arrests against officials accused of corruption, drawing a wave of criticism among political circles.

The committee had referred al-Kinani's case to the central court in al-Rasafa, which then sentenced him to death in absentia in May 2023.

On July 31, the Federal Court of Cassation, headed by Faiq Zeidan, overruled the death sentence and returned the case to the Rasafa court so that it could go ahead with the investigation procedures “according to laws and regulations.”

Following that, al-Kinani did not appear at any of the ensuing trials, revealed trusted sources. Whether he was even held in prison or not was a mystery. Several rumors circulated that he had escaped or was smuggled out. None of the claims could be verified.

Several politicians and journalists have said that al-Kinani had “disappeared completely” since October 2022 which was when the pro-Iran Coordination Framework formed the current government headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The Court of Cassation’s ruling returned al-Kinani's case back to square one, leading to his acquittal due to a lack of evidence.

An Iraqi judicial source said the acquittal does not necessarily mean that the case will be completely shut. The ruling against al-Kinani or others can be appealed within two years if new evidence in the case emerges.

Back to work

Users on Facebook revealed that the al-Kinana tribe celebrated al-Kinani's release. News then emerged that he had returned to his government job “as usual”.

A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Kinani resumed his work at the Interior Ministry. Another source confirmed that he returned to the engineering directorate there.

Officials at the Ministry did not reply to Asharq Al-Awsat when asked about whether al-Kinani had returned to his post. An Iraqi officer said however, that it was normal for an employee to return after being acquitted.

Born in 1985, al-Kinani joined the police in 2007. He graduated from Amman, Jordan where Iraq was sending its security forces recruits as a safety precaution because the Iraqi training centers were targets of attacks at the time.

Al-Hashimi's family

Asharq Al-Awsat attempted to contact al-Hashimi's family after al-Kinani's release. A close associate of the family told Asharq Al-Awsat that it would rather stay away from the spotlight.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the security and judicial authorities had informed the family of the acquittal and asked them if they would want to take a legal position in the case, but they refused out of fear of reprisals.

He denied that the family had agreed to a financial settlement in the case and said it objected to how the case has been handled.

It would now like to dedicate itself to raising al-Hashimi children and avoid a confrontation with the party that plotted and carried out his murder, continued the source.

A member of the State Administration Coalition told Asharq Al-Awsat that the concerned Shiite political forces do not expect the public to react angrily to al-Kinani's release.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he explained that the forces in power have succeeded in recent months in “neutralizing all sources of concern in the Iraqi street.”

Independent MP Sajjad Salem told Asharq Al-Awsat that this is the fourth case in which a killer is acquitted of a crime whose victims have been protesters, activists and researchers.

The forces in power have succeeded in completely defusing these cases, he stressed.

He revealed that he has submitted a draft law to try the killers and bring justice to the families of the victims. He had approached the government over the issue, but he ruled out the possibility of a breakthrough.

He said the Coordination Framework has managed to consolidate its power firmly in state institutions, leaving little room for any breakthrough in the future.


Asharq Al-Awsat Monitors Turkish Cross-Border Violations in Syria

Despite ongoing assaults by Turkish border guards, children still climb to the top of the border wall for recreation (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Despite ongoing assaults by Turkish border guards, children still climb to the top of the border wall for recreation (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Asharq Al-Awsat Monitors Turkish Cross-Border Violations in Syria

Despite ongoing assaults by Turkish border guards, children still climb to the top of the border wall for recreation (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Despite ongoing assaults by Turkish border guards, children still climb to the top of the border wall for recreation (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Near the Syrian-Turkish border in northwest Syria, a soldier approached a child playing by a wall topped with razor wire.

Without reason, he forcefully pulled the child, struck him, then dragged him to the Turkish side where the abuse continued, leaving bruises and lasting psychological trauma.

Asharq Al-Awsat was able to document the recurring assaults on children and farmers, who did not pose any threat deserving the violence of border guards.

Recent video footage shared on social media in February highlighted the ongoing assaults on children and farmers along the border between the “Tal Al-Karama” camps in Syria’s northern Idlib countryside and Türkiye’s Hatay province.

Since Türkiye shut its southern borders to war refugees in 2016, under a deal with the EU, reports have emerged of Syrians facing gunfire and torture while trying to cross the border through smuggling routes.

Now, even those living in northwest Syria face attacks.

Displaced people living near the border wall, built by Türkiye in 2019, are sometimes targeted by Turkish border guards for no clear reason, except perhaps to intimidate, show racism, or even for amusement.

Attacks on Children and the Elderly

“I was asked for a lighter by the soldier,” recalled Abdulrahman, the boy seen in the widely-shared video.

“Then he grabbed me and started hitting. Another soldier joined in. They kept hitting me as they took me to the Turkish military post. I was held overnight,” he added.

The violence ended when a Turkish officer intervened and arranged for Abdulrahman’s return to northwest Syria the next morning.

Weeks later, Abdulrahman still bears visible bruises. He hasn’t received an apology or compensation, but he’s grateful that not all the Turkish people he interacted with mistreated him.

Abdulrahman said he won’t go near the border wall with his friends anymore.

“I'm too scared,” he said, adding that he hopes those Turkish officials who beat him get punished.

International Documentation

In April 2023, Human Rights Watch released a report documenting violations by Turkish border guards against Syrians. It noted that these violations occurred without serious legal consequences from the Turkish side.

According to the report, between May 2016 and early 2023, monitors recorded 11 incidents of Turkish border guards firing on civilians on the Syrian side, resulting in the death of at least six people and injuring six others.

Human Rights Watch urged Türkiye to put an end to impunity and stop routine violations along the Syrian border.

Last year, on March 13, a Turkish soldier shot and killed a 59-year-old Syrian farmer while he was working on his land in the village of Khirbet al-Joz in southern Idlib countryside.

Witnesses stated that the soldier fired at him and then left the scene without offering any help.

In another incident, seven-year-old Jasmine was playing near the border on Jan. 7 with her cousin when a Turkish soldier shot her twice in the leg and left foot.

“She can't play anymore,” said Khalil, Jasmine’s uncle, explaining that her left foot was affected, making it hard for her to walk properly.

Now, Jasmine avoids leaving home after being teased by other kids for her injury.

Khalil, living with his sister’s family in Atmeh town, northern Idlib, says the crowded refugee camps near the safe border area force children to play in open spaces near the border wall.

“Every year, similar incidents happen,” Khalil notes, referring to Turkish border attacks ranging from stone-throwing to gunfire or outright neglect.

“Last year, there was an incident in southern rural areas (Idlib province), and on the same day Jasmine was shot, there was another incident in the Al-Karama camp,” reminded Khalil.

Atmeh Overview

Out of 5.1 million people in northwest Syria, 3.4 million are displaced from areas controlled by Syrian government forces. Two million of them live in camps, as per UN data.

Atmeh, located in northern Idlib countryside, is home to many crowded camps formed since 2012 due to ongoing security tensions. Residents seek refuge near the Turkish border for safety, as Türkiye has intervened politically and militarily in Syria’s conflict.

Türkiye has also taken in around 3.5 million Syrian refugees, who have faced incitement and political exploitation in recent years, leading to rising tensions and racism toward Syrians among Turkish people.

Although Idlib isn’t directly administered by Türkiye like northern Aleppo countryside, Türkiye controls economic access and humanitarian aid, crucial for the 4.2 million people in need, making it a major influencer in the region’s fate.


French Parliament Calls for Commemorating Assassination of Algerians 63 Years Ago in Paris

A number of Algerians were arrested in Puteaux, west of Paris, during the protests of October 17, 1967 (AFP)
A number of Algerians were arrested in Puteaux, west of Paris, during the protests of October 17, 1967 (AFP)
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French Parliament Calls for Commemorating Assassination of Algerians 63 Years Ago in Paris

A number of Algerians were arrested in Puteaux, west of Paris, during the protests of October 17, 1967 (AFP)
A number of Algerians were arrested in Puteaux, west of Paris, during the protests of October 17, 1967 (AFP)

Sixty-three years ago, 30,000 Algerians who came to demonstrate peacefully in Paris were subjected to violent repression, leaving many people dead and injured.

Historians say “at least dozens” of people were killed as a result of police violence. The French Parliament is scheduled to discuss, on Thursday, a draft resolution supported by President Emmanuel Macron’s party, demanding that the government allocate a day to commemorate this massacre.

On Oct. 17, 1967, six months before the Evian Accords established Algeria’s independence from France, the “French-Algerian Muslims,” as they were called at the time, flocked from poor neighborhoods in the suburbs and popular neighborhoods in Paris, where they lived.

At the invitation of the French branch of the National Liberation Front, an Algerian political party, they defied a ban imposed by police director Maurice Papon, who was later convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in the deportation of Jews between 1942 and 1944.

These demonstrators faced the most fatal repression in Western Europe since 1945, according to historian Emmanuel Blanchard. On that day, the police arrested about 12,000 demonstrators. Bodies with multiple bullet wounds or signs of beating were recovered from the Seine River in the following days. In 1988, an advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office during the Algerian War estimated that police “attacks” had killed about 100 people, while a government report in 1998 counted 48 deaths.

In a declassified archive, published by the French website Mediapart in 2022, a memorandum from a high-ranking official, who worked as an advisor to Charles de Gaulle, dated October 28, 1961, states that there were 54 dead. The toll presented by historians over the years ranged between 30 and more than 200 deceased.

Blanchard recalls that as soon as the first demonstrators began arriving at Neuilly Bridge, west of Paris, security forces fatally shot a quiet crowd, which included families. The violence of police officers increased when they heard radio messages published by the police falsely announcing that officers had been shot dead. Shooting operations also occurred in several places in the capital.

These violations were not recognized until 2012, when then-French President François Hollande, commemorated for the first time the “memory of the victims of the bloody repression” to which they were subjected while they were demonstrating for the “right to independence.” In 2021, Emmanuel Macron spoke of “unforgiveable crimes” committed “under the authority of Maurice Papon.”


783 Million People Face Chronic Hunger, While World Wastes 19% Of Its Food, UN Says

A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, April 27, 2022. (AP)
A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, April 27, 2022. (AP)
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783 Million People Face Chronic Hunger, While World Wastes 19% Of Its Food, UN Says

A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, April 27, 2022. (AP)
A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, April 27, 2022. (AP)

The world wasted an estimated 19% of the food produced globally in 2022, or about 1.05 billion metric tons, according to a new United Nations report.

The UN Environment Program's Food Waste Index Report, published Wednesday, tracks the progress of countries to halve food waste by 2030.

The UN said the number of countries reporting for the index nearly doubled from the first report in 2021. The 2021 report estimated that 17% of the food produced globally in 2019, or 931 million metric tons (1.03 billion tons), was wasted, but authors warned against direct comparisons because of the lack of sufficient data from many countries.

The report is co-authored by UNEP and Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP), an international charity.

Researchers analyzed country data on households, food service and retailers. They found that each person wastes about 79 kilograms (about 174 pounds) of food annually, equal to at least 1 billion meals wasted worldwide daily.

Most of the waste — 60% — came in households. About 28% came from food service, or restaurants, with about 12% from retailers.

"It is a travesty," said co-author Clementine O’Connor, the focal point for food waste at UNEP. "It doesn’t make any sense, and it is a complicated problem, but through collaboration and systemic action, it is one that can be tackled."

The report comes at a time when 783 million people around the world face chronic hunger and many places facing deepening food crises. The Israel-Hamas war and violence in Haiti have worsened the crisis, with experts saying that famine is imminent in northern Gaza and approaching in Haiti.

Food waste is also a global concern because of the environmental toll of production, including the land and water required to raise crops and animals and the greenhouse gas emissions it produces, including methane, a powerful gas that has accounted for about 30 percent of global warming since pre-industrial times.

Food loss and waste generates 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If it were a country, it would rank third after China and the US.

Fadila Jumare, a Nigeria-based project associate at Busara Center for Behavioral Economics who has studied prevention of food waste in Kenya and Nigeria, said the problem further disadvantages many people who are already food insecure and cannot afford healthy diets.

"For humanity, food waste means that less food is available to the poorest population," said Jumare, who wasn't involved in the report.

Brian Roe, a food waste researcher at Ohio State University who wasn't involved with the report, said the index is important to tackling food waste.

"The key takeaway is that reducing the amount of food that is wasted is an avenue that can lead to many desirable outcomes — resource conservation, fewer environmental damages, greater food security, and more land for uses other than as landfills and food production," said Roe, who wasn’t involved in the report.

The report showed notable growth in coverage of food waste in low- and middle-income countries, the authors said. But it may fall to wealthier nations to lead in international cooperation and policy development to reduce food waste, they said.

The report said many governments, regional and industry groups are using public-private partnerships to reduce food waste and its contributions to climate and water stress. Governments and municipalities collaborate with businesses in the food supply chain, whereby businesses commit to measure food waste.

The report said food redistribution — including donating surplus food to food banks and charities — is significant in tackling food waste among retailers.

One group doing that is Food Banking Kenya, a nonprofit that gets surplus food from farms, markets, supermarkets and packing houses and redistributes it to schoolchildren and vulnerable populations. Food waste is an increasing concern in Kenya, where an estimated 4.45 million metric tons (about 4.9 million tons) of food is wasted every year.

"We positively impact the society by providing nutritious food and also positively impact the environment by reducing the emission of harmful gases," said John Mukuhi, the group's co-founder and executive director.

The report’s authors said they found that the differences in per capita household food waste between high-income and lower-income countries were surprisingly small.

Richard Swannel, a co-author and director of Impact Growth at WRAP, said that shows food waste "is not a rich world problem. It's a global problem."

"The data is really clear on this point: that here is a problem right around the world and one that we could all tackle tomorrow to save ourselves money and reduce environmental impact," he said.


Struggling for a Can of Food: Starving Gazans Scramble for Aid Drops 

Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP)
Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP)
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Struggling for a Can of Food: Starving Gazans Scramble for Aid Drops 

Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP)
Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP)

A military plane banked over the war-ravaged ruins of Gaza City dropping dozens of black parachutes carrying food aid.

On the ground, where almost no building within sight was still standing, hungry men and boys raced towards the beach where most of the aid seemed to have landed.

Dozens of them jostled intensely to get to the food, with scrums forming up and down the rubble-strewn dunes.

"People are dying just to get a can of tuna," said Mohamad al-Sabaawi, carrying an almost empty bag on his shoulder, a young boy beside him.

"The situation is tragic, as if we are in a famine. What can we do? They mock us by giving us a small can of tuna."

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required to meet basic humanitarian needs have arrived in Gaza since October, while the UN has warned of famine in the north of the territory by May without urgent intervention.

The aid entering the Gaza Strip by land is far below pre-war levels, at around 150 vehicles a day compared to at least 500 before the war, according to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

With Gazans increasingly desperate, foreign governments have turned to airdrops, in particular in the hard-to-reach northern parts of the territory including Gaza City.

The United States, France and Jordan are among several countries conducting airdrops to people living within the ruins of what was the besieged territory's biggest city.

But the aircrews themselves told AFP that the drops were insufficient.

US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Anderson noted earlier this month that what they were able to deliver was only a "drop in the bucket" of what was needed.

The air operation has also been marred by deaths. Five people on the ground were killed by one drop and 10 others injured after parachutes malfunctioned, according to a medic in Gaza.

Calls have mounted for Israel to allow in more aid overland, while Israel has blamed the UN and UNRWA for not distributing aid in Gaza.

"Palestinians in Gaza desperately need what has been promised -- a flood of aid. Not trickles. Not drops," UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Sunday after visiting Gaza's southern border crossing with Egypt at Rafah.

"Looking at Gaza, it almost appears that the four horsemen of war, famine, conquest and death are galloping across it," he added.

The war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel launched a retaliatory bombardment and invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas that has killed at least 32,333 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Returning home in Gaza City with little to keep his family going, another Palestinian man said their situation was miserable.

"We are the people of Gaza, waiting for aid drops, willing to die to get a can of beans -- which we then share among 18 people," he said.


Things to Know about the Turkish Local Elections That Will Gauge Erdogan’s Popularity 

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during a campaign rally ahead of nationwide municipality elections, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP)
Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during a campaign rally ahead of nationwide municipality elections, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP)
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Things to Know about the Turkish Local Elections That Will Gauge Erdogan’s Popularity 

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during a campaign rally ahead of nationwide municipality elections, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP)
Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during a campaign rally ahead of nationwide municipality elections, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, March 24, 2024. (AP)

On Sunday, millions of voters in Türkiye head to the polls to elect mayors and administrators in local elections which will gauge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity as his ruling party tries to win back key cities it lost five years ago.

A victory for Erdogan’s party might spur the Turkish leader into pursuing constitutional changes that could allow him to rule beyond his current term’s limit.

Meanwhile, retaining the key cities’ municipalities would help invigorate Türkiye’s opposition, left fractured and demoralized following a defeat in last year’s presidential election.

Here’s a deeper look at what’s at stake and what the results could hold for Türkiye’s future.

THE BATTLE FOR ISTANBUL In the last local elections held in 2019, a united opposition won the municipalities of the capital Ankara and the commercial hub of Istanbul, ending the ruling party’s 25-year hold over the cities.

The loss of Istanbul especially was a major blow to Erdogan, who began his political career as mayor of the metropolis of nearly 16 million in 1994.

Erdogan has named Murat Kurum, a 47-year-old former urbanization and environment minister, to run against incumbent mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu — a popular politician from the center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Imamoglu has been touted as a possible presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan.

This time around, however, Imamoglu, 52, is running in the local elections without the support of Türkiye’s main pro-Kurdish party or the nationalist IYI Party who are fielding their own candidates.

Meanwhile, a new religious-conservative party, the New Welfare Party, or YRP, has also thrown its hat into the ring. Appealing to conservative and religious voters who have been disillusioned with Erdogan’s handling of the economy, it is expected to steal some votes from Erdogan’s candidates.

Opinion polls point to a neck-and-neck race between Imamoglu and Kurum who have both promised infrastructure projects to render buildings earthquake-proof and to ease the city’s chronic traffic congestion.

The opposition is widely expected to maintain its hold on Ankara where the incumbent mayor Mansur Yavas, who has also been named as a future presidential candidate, remains popular.

ERDOGAN SEEKS TO CONSOLIDATE POWER Leaving nothing to chance, Erdogan, who has been in power as prime minister and then as president for more than two decades, has been holding election rallies across the country, campaigning on behalf of candidates running for mayor.

Analysts say winning back Istanbul and Ankara and achieving a strong showing in the ballots would stiffen Erdogan’s resolve to introduce a new constitution that could allow him to rule beyond 2028 when his current term ends. The current constitution sets a two-term limit on the presidency. Erdogan, 70, ran for a third term last year, citing a technicality, because the country switched to a presidential system in 2018 and his first term was held under the previous system.

Erdogan and his allies don’t currently have sufficient seats in parliament to enact a new constitution, but another electoral triumph may sway some conservative opposition parliamentarians to switch sides, analysts say.

Earlier this month, Erdogan said Sunday’s election would be his last according to the constitution. Critics see his comments as a ploy to win sympathy votes of supporters reeling from a cost-of-living crisis, as well as a strategy to push for the constitutional amendments.

THE OPPOSITION HOPES TO BOUNCE BACK A six-party opposition alliance, led by the CHP, has disintegrated following a devastating election defeat last year. The alliance’s supporters were left demoralized after it failed to unseat Erdogan despite the economic turmoil and the fallout from a catastrophic earthquake.

The CHP’s ability to hold onto the major cities it took five years ago would help revitalize the party and allow it to present itself as an alternative to Erdogan’s ruling party. Losing Ankara and Istanbul to Erdogan’s party could, on the other hand, end Yavas and Imamoglu’s presidential aspirations.

The CHP went for a leadership change soon after the electoral defeat, but it remains to be seen whether the party’s new chairman, 49-year-old pharmacist Ozgur Ozel, can excite supporters.

UNFAIR CAMPAIGNING As in previous elections, Erdogan has been using the advantages of being in office, often availing himself of state resources while campaigning. Some 90% of Türkiye’s media is in the hands of the government or its supporters, according to media watchdog groups, promoting the ruling party and its allies’ campaigns while denying the opposition the same opportunity.

State broadcaster TRT devoted 32 hours of airtime to the ruling party in the first 40 days of campaigning compared with 25 minutes devoted to the challengers, according to the opposition.

During campaigning, Erdogan has issued thinly veiled warnings to voters to support ruling party-backed candidates if they want to receive governmental services. He increased the minimum wage by 49% to bring some relief to households, despite his government’s efforts to control high inflation.

The Turkish leader has also continued to showcase his country’s success in the defense industry during his campaign rallies. A prototype of Türkiye’s homegrown fighter jet, KAAN, performed its maiden flight last month, in what critics believe was timed ahead of the elections.

KURDISH VOTES Kurdish voters make up an estimated 10% of the electorate in Istanbul and the way they cast their vote could be decisive in the mayoral race

Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish party — now known as the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM — opted to support Imamoglu in the 2019 municipal elections, helping him win. This time, however, the party is fielding its own candidates, in a move that could lure votes away from Imamoglu.

Still, some observers say, the party deliberately named two low-profile candidates in tacit support of the current mayor. The Kurdish party traditionally has male and female figures share leadership positions.

Meanwhile, the DEM Party is expected to win many of the municipalities in Türkiye’s predominantly Kurdish-populated southeastern regions. The question remains whether the party would be allowed to retain them. In previous years, Erdogan’s government removed the elected mayors from office for alleged links to Kurdish militants and replaced them with state-appointed trustees.

During a rally in the mostly Kurdish city of Hakkari on March 15, Erdogan urged voters not to vote for individuals he said would transfer municipal funds to the “terrorist organization,” in reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.


10 Years On, Migrants Continue to Lose Lives in Search of a Better One

FILE - This Feb. 27, file photo, 2023 shows part of the debris of a wrecked migrant boat washed ashore after it capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra, File)
FILE - This Feb. 27, file photo, 2023 shows part of the debris of a wrecked migrant boat washed ashore after it capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra, File)
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10 Years On, Migrants Continue to Lose Lives in Search of a Better One

FILE - This Feb. 27, file photo, 2023 shows part of the debris of a wrecked migrant boat washed ashore after it capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra, File)
FILE - This Feb. 27, file photo, 2023 shows part of the debris of a wrecked migrant boat washed ashore after it capsized in the early morning of Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at a short distance from the shore in Steccato di Cutro, in the Italian southern tip, killing at least 94 people. (AP Photo/Luigi Navarra, File)

More than a decade ago, the death of 600 migrants and refugees in two Mediterranean shipwrecks near Italian shores shocked the world and prompted the UN migration agency to start recording the number of people who died or went missing as they fled conflict, persecution or poverty to other countries.
Governments around the world have repeatedly pledged to save migrants' lives and fight smugglers while tightening borders. Yet 10 years on, a report by the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project published Tuesday shows the world is no safer for people on the move.
On the contrary, migrant deaths have soared.
Since tracking began in 2014, more than 63,000 have died or are missing and presumed dead, according to the Missing Migrants Project, with 2023 the deadliest year yet.
“The figures are quite alarming,” Jorge Galindo, a spokesperson at IOM's Global Data Institute, told The Associated Press. "We see that 10 years on, people continue to lose their lives in search of a better one.”
The report says the deaths are "likely only a fraction of the actual number of lives lost worldwide” because of the difficulty in obtaining and verifying information. For example, on the Atlantic route from Africa's west coast to Spain's Canary Islands, entire boats have reportedly vanished in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks.” Similarly, countless deaths in the Sahara desert are believed to go unreported.
Even when deaths are recorded, more than two-thirds of the victims remain unidentified. That can be due to lack of information and resources, or simply because identifying dead migrants is not considered a priority.
Experts have called the growing number of unidentified migrants around the world a crisis comparable to mass casualties seen in wartime.
Behind each nameless death is a family facing “the psychological, social, economic and legal impacts of unresolved disappearances,” a painful phenomenon known as “ambiguous loss,” the report says.
“Governments need to work together with civil society to make sure that the families that are left behind, not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones, can have better access to the remains of people who have died,” Galindo said.
Of the victims whose nationalities were known to IOM, one in three died while fleeing countries in conflict.
Nearly 60% of the deaths recorded by the IOM in the last decade were related to drowning. The Mediterranean Sea is the world's largest migrant grave with more than 28,000 deaths recorded in the last decade. Thousands of drownings have also been recorded on the US-Mexico border, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Aden and increasingly in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea where desperate Rohingya refugees are embarking on overcrowded boats.
“Search and rescue capacities to assist migrants at sea must be strengthened, in line with international law and the principle of humanity,” the report says.
Currently on the Mediterranean "the large majority of search and rescue is done by nongovernmental organizations,” Galindo said.
When the Missing Migrants Project began in 2014, European sentiment was more sympathetic to the plight of migrants, and the Italian government had launched “Mare Nostrum,” a major search-and-rescue mission that saved thousands of lives.
But the solidarity didn't last, and European search and rescue missions were progressively cut back after fears that they would encourage smugglers to launch even more people on cheaper and deadlier boats. That's when NGOs stepped in.
Their help has not always been welcomed. In Italy and Greece, they have faced increasing bureaucratic and legal obstacles.
Following the 2015-2016 migration crisis, the European Union began outsourcing border control and sea rescues to North African countries to “save lives” while also keeping migrants from reaching European shores.
The controversial partnerships have been criticized by human rights advocates, particularly the one with Libya. EU-trained and funded Libyan coast guards have been linked to human traffickers exploiting migrants who are intercepted and brought back to squalid detention centers. A UN-backed group of experts has found that the abuses committed against migrants on the Mediterranean and in Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.
Despite the rise of border walls and heightened surveillance worldwide, smugglers always seem to find lucrative alternatives, leading migrants and refugees on longer and more perilous routes.
“There’s an absence of safe migration options,” Galindo said. "And this needs to change.”


Iran Gives Türkiye Green Light in Iraq without Guarantees 

An Iraqi soldier is seen in Sinjar three years after its liberation from ISIS. (AP file photo)
An Iraqi soldier is seen in Sinjar three years after its liberation from ISIS. (AP file photo)
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Iran Gives Türkiye Green Light in Iraq without Guarantees 

An Iraqi soldier is seen in Sinjar three years after its liberation from ISIS. (AP file photo)
An Iraqi soldier is seen in Sinjar three years after its liberation from ISIS. (AP file photo)

The pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq has become a partner in a crucial deal between Baghdad and Ankara - with Iran’s blessing - to eliminate the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Iraqi and Turkish sources said the recent deal goes beyond military operations against the PKK to cover comprehensive arrangements related to the shape of the Middle East after the war in Gaza is over.

A Turkish official told Asharq Al-Awsat that part of “Ankara’s plan” was to prepare for changes that will happen after the war and its determination to have “zero security problems in the region, especially in Iraq.” The “blood fraternity” between the PKK and Shiite factions in the town of Sinjar may however prove to be an obstacle in Türkiye's new plan.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke last week of an understanding reached between his country and “an official institution funded by the Iraqi state” over Sinjar.

It seems Türkiye is throwing its major political and military weight in Iraq and is seeking broader relations to end the chronic tensions along its southern border. Internal balances in Baghdad and the PKK’s rising power in Sinjar could undermine the plan.

Iraqi sources agreed that the “comprehensive Turkish activity” is part of the post-war arrangements for the region, and this demands the “elimination of sources of tension.”

What happened?

On March 13, Turkish FM Fidan met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Baghdad. Security officials, including PMF leader Faleh al-Fayyad and National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji were present at the meeting.

A government statement said Iraq deems the presence of the PKK on its territory as a “violation of the constitution.” Türkiye praised the statement, speaking of forming a 40-km deep buffer zone to eliminate the PKK, which it deems as terrorist. The zone would stretch from the Sulaymaniyah region, pass through Sinjar and reach the Syrian border.

That night, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler did not return to Ankara with Fidan. He stayed behind and spent the night at the Iraqi border at the headquarters of Turkish forces deployed in Hakkari.

Türkiye’s zero hour

According to two sources in Baghdad and Erbil, Ankara has for years been receiving Iraqi complaints that it has been “too patient” in its fight against the PKK that ultimately has not been successful. It has repeatedly been asked what is holding it back from launching a “final military operation to rid everyone of this headache.” It seems it has finally been convinced to take decisive action.

Iraqi sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that before Fidan traveled to Baghdad, Iraq was informed of the Turkish plan, including Iran’s blessing of the new situation regarding the PKK.

“Everything, including zero hour, was ready” when the official consultations began, revealed another Iraqi source. He described the plan as “unprecedented” between the countries, adding that the PMF will be involved in some regions to provide support.

It remains unclear why Iran has agreed to eliminating the PKK in Iraq, especially since the party’s activity has since 2016 been connected to pro-Iran factions along Tehran’s strategic route that stretches to Damascus and Beirut.

The Iraqi sources said the agreement includes Turkish mediation with the Americans on easing tensions with Tehran in Iraq and securing a greater Iranian role in regional trade with Turkish guarantees. It also includes securing Iran’s assistance to Baghdad in overcoming crises, such as the export of oil and the “flawed” situation in the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk.

Comprehensive changes

An Iraqi diplomat said the political aspects of the deal prepare for the “comprehensive changes that are expected to happen after the war in Gaza is over.” A Turkish aide had confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Ankara had prepared a file about the post-war situation that covers countries in the region.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Turkish official said the Turkish foreign ministry and security agencies had drafted a plan some five months ago, covering Ankara’s options in the post-war phase and how to deal with the expected changes. “Iraq and Syria are part of this picture,” he revealed.

Former Nineveh Governor, Sunni politician Atheel al-Nujayfi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “All countries in the region are aware that the battle in Gaza has a post-war phase. Changes will be made to the strategies of major powers in the region.”

These changes demand preemptive steps that either prepare for a greater role in the future or prevent any plans that could affect the national security of these countries. He said Türkiye is very active in making strategic calculations to develop its interests.

However, a Turkish diplomatic source denied that the Turkish military operations in Iraq are directly tied to the situation in Gaza. He predicted that the operations may kick off in June.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to travel to Baghdad in April. He is set to sign an agreement for the establishment of a joint operations command center and a buffer zone, “which will effectively mean we have reached zero hour,” said Turkish sources.

An Iraqi official from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework said Ankara wants to turn the PKK’s zones of influence into a “zone of secure partnership” with Iraq and Iran. The Turks have shown “clear keenness for the concerned regional players in this file to reach the post-war phase with zero tensions.”

This may explain why Türkiye is throwing such weight in Iraq. “Türkiye needs to prevent the ball of fire from rolling towards it amid such instability in the region,” said al-Nujayfi. This is why it is urging Iraq and Syria to “carry out direct and strong measures with it to prevent the PKK from turning into a greater crisis.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi sources said Tehran has given its blessing to the Turks to act in Iraq. An Iraqi politician said this was reflected with the notable presence of the PMF at the official consultations that took place between the two countries. The possibility of an armed confrontation taking place against the PKK in Sinjar remains unresolved, revealed the sources.

Türkiye’s military plan calls for a broad military operation in mountainous regions in the Kurdistan Region, while Baghdad provides intelligence support, maps and information and monitors the border.

Sulaymaniyah and Sinjar, however, lie on the outskirts of the Turkish buffer zone and intersect with Iranian interests, demanding that Ankara take different political and security arrangements over them.

A Kurdish source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Turks were trying to neutralize the PKK in Sulaymaniyah by forging a new relationship with Bafel Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), including exploring opportunities for partnership with him and resolving differences with the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Erbil.

Al-Nujayfi said it would be difficult for the leaderships of the PUK, including Talabani, to put themselves in a confrontation with agreements reached between major countries in the region. So, there can be no doubt that the agreements were blessed by Iran and approved by Iraq, Türkiye and the official authority in Kurdistan.

Sinjar hurdle

The situation in Sinjar, however, remains an obstacle in the regional plans. The situation there will be handled by the PMF, according to the Turkish agreement.

Al-Nujayfi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Shiite factions’ influence is limited to Sinjar and doesn’t extend to the rest of the Kurdish regions.

The situation in Sinjar is different, however. Located on the Turkish-Syrian border, its population is predominantly Yazidi and it boasts several armed groups. Even the Iraqi army acts like one of the factions there, said a local official in the town.

He compared Sinjar to Beirut during the Lebanese civil war where frontlines are at a close distance from one another and armed groups that represent regional and local interests are always on alert.

An alliance has grown over the years between the PMF and PKK and they formed a “blood fraternity” during the battles against the ISIS extremist group, said a member of a Shiite faction.

It remains unclear how the PMF will neutralize PKK fighters after the recent years of partnership on the ground.

Information about the nature of this alliance has varied. Two leading members of Shiite factions told Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF provides safe locations for PKK leaderships in Sinjar, Nineveh and other regions in return for logistic and military services.

Three sources on the ground, including the leader of a powerful faction in Baghdad, said the situation goes “much more beyond this because the decision to form an alliance between the PMF and PKK was taken by Iran.”

“The PKK is very powerful. All the Iraqi security agencies don’t have an accurate imagining of the power of the party and its weapons,” they revealed, adding that the Iraqi military, during the term of former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, twice confronted the PKK in Sinjar and it came out defeated both times.

Moreover, they claimed that the PKK had set up a network of tunnels in Sinjar, especially the mountainous regions. Local journalists told Asharq Al-Awsat that they had previously spotted trucks transporting diggers from Sinjar to the areas where the tunnels are located.

Locals in Sinjar and members of Shiite factions did not answer question from Asharq Al-Awsat about the tunnels.

Expert force

A prominent politician from Nineveh described the PKK as an “expert force in deployment, mobilization and consolidating control, so it would be difficult to predict how the PMF can eliminate the party or help Türkiye neutralize it.”

Al-Nujayfi said the PKK will become a problem for Iraq that will weigh on local affairs so it will need Türkiye’s help in tackling this “internal crisis.” The PKK will eventually realize that “it is nothing more than a pawn and negotiations card. When it no longer serves a role, everyone will cooperate to eliminate it,” he added.

The question remains: How will the PMF neutralize the PKK fighters?

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a recent television interview that there was a need to “confront the PKK gunmen as long as they were harming the people of Sinjar.” He added, however, that he doesn’t know how the cooperation with Türkiye against this party will take place, referring to whether the fighters will be expelled or contained.

A Shiite politician said: “The Iranian green light is not decisive.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added that Tehran stands before a “good deal with Türkiye, but it won’t sign a blank check and jeopardize its armed influence in Iraq.”

“Iran is observing and everything may change according to how developments unfold. All we know now is that a limited settlement is in place in Sinjar,” he remarked.

Other sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF would deploy local PKK members among Shiite factions, ending the visible presence of the party. Such a move would guarantee total control over Sinjar at the expense of Kurdish forces that are loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

What does this mean? The PMF will view the Turkish agreement as a way to strengthen its influence in a strategic area to Iraq, Iran and Türkiye. In theory, the military operation will lead to the expulsion of the PKK fighters to the mountainous regions of Kurdistan. It will also merge the Turkish buffer zone with the Iranian zone where Iranian factions are deployed near Syria. Political and diplomatic aides in Baghdad said everything should go according to plan “unless Tehran comes up with an unexpected card at a decisive moment.”


Syrians Missing, Dying From Torture in Militant-run Prisons

Accusations of torture have increased since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a crackdown on 'agents' of the Syrian regime - AFP
Accusations of torture have increased since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a crackdown on 'agents' of the Syrian regime - AFP
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Syrians Missing, Dying From Torture in Militant-run Prisons

Accusations of torture have increased since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a crackdown on 'agents' of the Syrian regime - AFP
Accusations of torture have increased since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a crackdown on 'agents' of the Syrian regime - AFP

Ahmed al-Hakim's 27-year-old brother was tortured to death in prison in Syria's militant-run northwest, sparking rare protests amid accusations from residents and activists of rights violations in the opposition bastion.

"We protested and rose up against the Assad regime in order to be rid of injustice," said Hakim, 30, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Now "we find ourselves ruled with the same methods," he told AFP, crouched near his brother Abdel-Kader's grave, flowers and plants placed in the freshly turned soil.

Syria's 13-year-old conflict, sparked by Assad's brutal repression of anti-government protests, has drawn in foreign armies and militants and killed more than 500,000 people.

Around half of Idlib province and parts of neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance of extremist factions led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.

Accusations of torture and other rights violations have increased since last year when HTS launched a crackdown on suspected "agents" for Damascus or foreign governments.

Security forces from the group have detained hundreds of civilians, fighters and even prominent HTS members, providing no information to families, said residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
Abdel-Kader's death triggered rare protests in Idlib province -- home to some three million people, many displaced from government-held areas -- in recent weeks and calls for the release of detainees, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

The war monitor said demonstrations are taking place daily in towns and villages, most recently on Sunday evening, when protesters chanted slogans against HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.

Jolani has said the protesters' demands were "mostly justified", and announced changes including the restructuring of the security force running the prisons.

HTS's media office told AFP the group was "seriously examining" the protesters' demands and would "tighten security bodies' work (and) improve prison infrastructure... to deal with any dysfunction".

Hakim, an accountant originally from Aleppo province, said his brother participated in anti-government protests before becoming a fighter and was part of the small HTS-aligned Jaish al-Ahrar group.

He said the faction told Abdel-Kader to report to HTS, considered a terrorist organization by several Western countries, on suspicions of collaborating with the government.

Abdel-Kader handed himself in on March 16 last year "on the understanding that he would be out... in a week at most", Hakim said.

After detaining him for several months and then saying he was "in good health", HTS stonewalled the family's requests for information, according to Hakim.

Months later, a factional contact and a former fighter told the family Abdel-Kader had died due to torture.

Jaish al-Ahrar only notified them formally on February 22 that Abdel-Kader was dead.

The family found his grave was "new but the date of death written on it was around 20 days after his arrest", a distraught Hakim said.

Former detainees told Hakim his brother was "beaten with piping until he lost consciousness, and tied up by his hands for days without food or water".

Abdel-Kader denied any wrongdoing "so they increased the torture until they killed him", they told Hakim.

One former detainee said Abdel-Kader was tortured so severely that "he couldn't walk because his feet were swollen and filled with pus".

The day he died, the guards "tortured him for six hours" and after he was returned to the cell he "kept vomiting", Hakim was told.

The grim treatment echoes torture that rights groups have reported in Syrian government-run prisons, particularly since 2011, with tens of thousands of people forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained.

Amnesty International in 2017 accused authorities of committing secret mass hangings in the notorious Saydnaya facility.

The Observatory said HTS this month released 420 prisoners in an amnesty aimed at quelling the discontent in the northwest.

But it made no difference for Noha al-Atrash, 30, whose husband Ahmed Majluba has been detained since December 2022, accused alternately of theft and belonging to an extremist group.

"He has been arrested five times... there is no proven reason for his detention," she said from her home in Idlib city as her two young children held photos of their father, 38.

Majluba, a laborer, was shot in the leg "during a previous period" in HTS detention, Atrash said.

"I go to the protests, I make posters with pictures of my husband on them, and I take the kids," said Atrash who was covered head-to-toe in a niqab.

She and her children were themselves detained for around 20 days after she hounded authorities for information.

During one prison visit, she saw her husband's hand was broken and "his face was swollen from beatings", she said.

"They've asked us to pay $3,000 to have him released," Atrash said, but added that she doesn't have the money.

"I have no choice but to protest... I won't give up as long as they have my husband," she said defiantly.
The UN's independent commission of inquiry on Syria said recently it had "reasonable grounds to believe" HTS members had committed "acts that may amount to the war crimes of torture and cruel treatment and unlawful deprivation of liberty".

Bassam Alahmad from the Paris-based Syrians for Truth and Justice said people were "fed up with HTS violations" such as "arbitrary arrests and torture".

He urged families and rights groups to gather independent, credible evidence for potential future investigations.

In a camp near the Turkish border, Amina al-Hamam, 70, said her son Ghazwan Hassun was detained by HTS in 2019 on suspicion of "informing for the regime".

"Some people tell us he's dead, others say he's alive," the distressed elderly woman said, sitting with her son's children, aged five and nine.
Days before being detained, Hassun, a defector from the Syrian police, had published a video criticizing HTS, his family said.

During Hamam's only visit -- eight months after he was detained -- Hassun told her guards used a torture method notorious across Syria where the victim has their hands tied behind their back and is suspended from them for hours.

The family has heard nothing since about the 39-year-old but has vowed to keep fighting.

"I cry for him night and day," said Hamam.

"We fled from injustice, but here we have seen worse."


Gaza’s Hungry Eat Wild Plant with No Aid Relief in Sight

Displaced Palestinian man Wael Al-Attar eats Khobiza, a wild leafy vegetable, with his family as they break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, at a school where they shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, March 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Wael Al-Attar eats Khobiza, a wild leafy vegetable, with his family as they break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, at a school where they shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, March 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Gaza’s Hungry Eat Wild Plant with No Aid Relief in Sight

Displaced Palestinian man Wael Al-Attar eats Khobiza, a wild leafy vegetable, with his family as they break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, at a school where they shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, March 22, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Wael Al-Attar eats Khobiza, a wild leafy vegetable, with his family as they break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, at a school where they shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, March 22, 2024. (Reuters)

As the UN Security Council demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and concerns grow that famine may take hold, the territory's hungry civilians are foraging for a wild green plant called Khobiza for lack of anything else to eat.

It is another reminder of the suffering in the Palestinian enclave during the five months of war that followed the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The assault triggered a fierce response from Israel which launched air strikes and shelling in Gaza that have killed over 32,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health authorities - the worst conflict between Israel and Hamas, an armed group that runs the territory.

"All our lives -- even through (previous) wars -- we have not eaten Khobiza," said Palestinian woman Maryam Al-Attar.

"My daughters tell me, 'We want to eat bread, mother.' My heart breaks for them."

"I can't find a piece of bread for them. I go and gather some Khobiza. We have found Khobiza for now, but in the future, where will we get it from? Khobiza will run out. Where do we turn?"

Palestinians are suffering at a time when they should be observing the fasting holy month of Ramadan, like millions of other Muslims around the world who enjoy large dinners with their extended families and watch special television shows.

"We have been consumed by hunger. We have nothing to eat. We crave vegetables, fish, and meat. We fast with empty stomachs. We can no longer fast. We are dizzy from hunger. There is nothing to help the body resist," said Umm Mohamed.

Famine is imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July, the world's hunger watchdog, known as the Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC), said on March 18.

Fears that Kobiza will only provide temporary relief are growing at a time when uncertainty about aid delivery is deepening, and as mediators seek to narrow gaps between Israel and Hamas over terms for a ceasefire and release of hostages.

On Monday, an Israeli government spokesperson said Israel will stop working with the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip, by far the largest relief body in Gaza, accusing the aid agency of perpetuating conflict.

Israel alleged in January that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7 attack. The Israeli accusations led several donor countries to suspend funding.

UNRWA fired some staff members, saying it acted in order to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, and an independent internal UN investigation was launched.