Iraq PM Accuses ‘Terrorists’ of Targeting Electricity Poles

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Reuters
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Reuters
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Iraq PM Accuses ‘Terrorists’ of Targeting Electricity Poles

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Reuters
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Reuters

The Iraqi government announced on Thursday the use of drones to protect power towers, which were recently targeted with the onset of rising temperatures.

Over the past two years, drones were used by pro-Iranian armed factions to target US forces, or by unknown parties targeting brigades, headquarters, and figures affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces.

However, with the sharp rise in temperatures in Iraq, terrorists, as described by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, began attacking transmission towers, which led to a sharp decline in power supply.

During a meeting of the national security ministerial council, Kadhimi announced his government’s success in providing power, but he mentioned "a repeated and intentional targeting of electrical towers in a number of provinces that affects the hours of supply.”

In an attempt to limit the targeting of energy towers, the Iraqi government is using drones to protect the towers and identify the parties behind the attacks.

Political observers did not rule out a role by ISIS.

Meanwhile, the Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency in the Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of nine terrorists, including a woman, in Kirkuk.

Those were detained pursuant to arrest warrants against them under the provisions of Article 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, the statement said.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.