Russia Raids Camps on Syrian-Turkish Border

Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Russia Raids Camps on Syrian-Turkish Border

Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Displaced citizens during the Russian raids north of Syria, near the Turkish border (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Russian jets raided areas in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, including Syrian displacements camps and former military headquarters of the armed Syrian opposition.

Anas Kaddour, an official at the Idlib News Center, reported that the Russian warplanes carried out on Saturday eight airstrikes, with high-explosive missiles on Salwa and Qah, north of Idlib, which are about six kilometers from the Turkish border.

He indicated that the area contains more than 14 camps for displaced persons, noting that shrapnel from one of the missiles fell on a tent, injuring a child.

Kaddour also announced that the Russian fighters raided a mountain hill near the Salwa area, hosting the former headquarters of the Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions without causing any casualties.

Russia has expanded its bombing targets to include camp areas, housing thousands of displaced people from different regions of Syria who left their homes due to military operations by Russia and the regime.

Opposition activist Samer al-Amin said that the Russian airstrikes over areas in northern Syria near the Turkish border aim to provoke Ankara, forcing it to make concessions.

He also noted that these attacks against the military headquarters of Turkey-backed factions, vital centers in cities within the de-escalation zone, and refugee camps on the border show that Ankara is incapable of preventing attacks against civilians within its areas of influence.

He pointed out that 45 air raids were executed over the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria during October.

Amin also reported that the regime forces and Iranian-backed militias carried out over 190 ground attacks in various areas of the Idlib governorate, killing 21 civilians, including seven children, six during the Jericho massacre, and a child in the attack over the “widows’ camp,” north of Idlib.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the regime forces and Iranian militias exchanged shelling with the opposition factions at the axes of the al-Ruwaiha area, south of Idlib, accompanied by Russian reconnaissance.

SOHR reported an exchange of shelling in the Idlib countryside with heavy weaponry, where Turkish artillery units stationed in the east of Sermin city shot regime positions in Saraqib.

Regime forces responded by shelling the perimeter of a Turkish post in Saan village in western Saraqib city.

Furthermore, ISIS carried out three sudden attacks targeting members of the Iraqi Hezbollah, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and groups affiliated with the regime forces in the eastern countryside of Hama. The attack resulted in the death of nine members and the injury of several others.

A source told Asharq Al-Awsat that a sudden attack by groups affiliated with ISIS on Friday evening targeted a military site of the Iraqi Hezbollah militia near the Uqayribat and Hammadi el-Omr area, killing four of its members and wounding others.

He also indicated that two other separate ISIS attacks targeted military vehicles belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah and other vehicles belonging to the regime forces near Palmyra, east of Homs.

Violent clashes erupted between the two, during which five were killed, and two cars were destroyed.

He pointed out that Lebanese Hezbollah's military vehicles were targeted while transporting a number of its members, vehicles, and ammunition from the Sukhna area, east of Palmyra, towards Jabal al-Qalamoun on the Syrian-Lebanese border.



Iraq Launches Its First National Census in Nearly Four Decades

Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
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Iraq Launches Its First National Census in Nearly Four Decades

Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)

Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades Wednesday, a step aimed at modernizing data collection and planning in a country long impacted by conflict and political divisions.

The act of counting the population is also contentious. The census is expected to have profound implications for Iraq’s resource distribution, budget allocations and development planning.

Minority groups fear that a documented decline in their numbers will bring decreased political influence and fewer economic benefits in the country’s sectarian power-sharing system.

The count in territories such as Kirkuk, Diyala and Mosul -- where control is disputed between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in the north -- has drawn intense scrutiny.

Ali Arian Saleh, the executive director of the census at the Ministry of Planning, said agreements on how to conduct the count in the disputed areas were reached in meetings involving Iraq’s prime minister, president and senior officials from the Kurdish region.

“Researchers from all major ethnic groups — Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and Christians — will conduct the census in these areas to ensure fairness,” he said.

The last nationwide census in Iraq was held in 1987. Another one held in 1997 excluded the Kurdish region.

The new census “charts a developmental map for the future and sends a message of stability,” Planning Minister Mohammed Tamim said in a televised address.

The census will be the first to employ advanced technologies for gathering and analyzing data, providing a comprehensive picture of Iraq’s demographic, social, and economic landscape, officials say. Some 120,000 census workers will survey households across the country, covering approximately 160 housing units each over two days.

The Interior Ministry announced a nationwide curfew during the census period, restricting movement of citizens, vehicles and trains between cities, districts and rural areas, with exceptions for humanitarian cases.

The count will be carried out using the “de jure” method, in which people are counted in their usual area of residence, Saleh said.

That means that people internally displaced by years of war will be counted in the areas where they have since settled, not in their original communities. The census will not include Iraqis residing abroad or those forcibly displaced to other countries.

Saleh estimated Iraq’s population at 44.5 million and said the Kurdish region’s share of the national budget — currently 12% — is based on an estimated population of 6 million. The census will also clarify the number of public employees in the region.

By order of Iraq’s federal court, the census excluded questions about ethnicity and sectarian affiliation, focusing solely on broad religious categories such as Muslim and Christian.

“This approach is intended to prevent tensions and ensure the census serves developmental rather than divisive goals,” Saleh said. The census will be monitored by international observers who will travel across Iraq’s provinces to assess the data quality, he said.

Hogr Chato, director of the Irbil-based Public Aid Organization, said the census will reshape the map of political thinking and future decision making.

“Even though some leaders deny it, the data will inevitably have political and economic implications,” he said. “It’s also fair to allocate budgets based on population numbers, as areas with larger populations or those impacted by war need more resources.”

Chato said he believes the delays in conducting the census were not only due to security concerns but also political considerations. “There was data they didn’t want to make public, such as poverty levels in each governorate,” he said.

Ahead of the census, leaders in Iraq’s various communities urged people to be counted.

In Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, Abdul Wahhab al-Samarrai, preacher at Imam Abu Hanifa Mosque, urged citizens to cooperate with the census.

“This is a duty for every Muslim to ensure the rights of future generations,” he said in a Friday sermon the week before the count.