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Scores of Casualties in Egypt Road Accidents 

A general view of El Fauquier (The Poor), a crash damaged vehicles and second-hand car shop, is pictured in Cairo, Egypt November 14, 2017. Reuters
A general view of El Fauquier (The Poor), a crash damaged vehicles and second-hand car shop, is pictured in Cairo, Egypt November 14, 2017. Reuters
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Scores of Casualties in Egypt Road Accidents 

A general view of El Fauquier (The Poor), a crash damaged vehicles and second-hand car shop, is pictured in Cairo, Egypt November 14, 2017. Reuters
A general view of El Fauquier (The Poor), a crash damaged vehicles and second-hand car shop, is pictured in Cairo, Egypt November 14, 2017. Reuters

Two accidents on Egypt's roads have killed at least 26 people in three days, authorities said.

A collision Saturday involving a minibus on a desert road 145 kilometers south of Cairo left 13 dead, the health ministry said.

The small bus crashed into a truck on the main road connecting the southern city of Beni Suef to Cairo, it said. All those killed were on the bus, which was carrying 17 people.

That came just days after a crash on the same road also claimed 13 lives.

Road accidents are common in Egypt due to badly maintained roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws.

The country's official statistics agency says 14,700 road accidents took place in 2016, leaving more than 5,000 people dead.

But authorities have moved to strengthen enforcement of traffic laws.

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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.

Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.

SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria's new ruling authorities after crossing the border.

The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.

Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.

Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.

Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.

Earlier this month, Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.