Tunisia's UGTT Warns of Public Sector Strike

People walk in the center of Tunis, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Tunisia, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
People walk in the center of Tunis, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Tunisia, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisia's UGTT Warns of Public Sector Strike

People walk in the center of Tunis, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Tunisia, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
People walk in the center of Tunis, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Tunisia, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

Tunisia's powerful UGTT union warned on Wednesday that public sector workers may go on strike to reject a package of economic reforms proposed by the government that it said included privatizations, wage freezes and cuts to subsidies.

"The Department of Public Sector and Public Service (within the UGTT) approved the principle of a general strike", UGTT head Nourredine Taboubi told a union meeting in Bizerte, adding that the union's high command would meet soon.

Tunisia in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package to avert a crisis in its public finances.



After Israeli Attack, Source Denies Hamas Presence in Syria

The police headquarters in the Quneitra province. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The police headquarters in the Quneitra province. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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After Israeli Attack, Source Denies Hamas Presence in Syria

The police headquarters in the Quneitra province. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The police headquarters in the Quneitra province. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Israeli forces carried out early on Sunday an incursion inside Quneitra in southern Syria towards a position previously held by the ousted regime.

Syrian media said the forces approached the outskirts of the village of Ain al-Nourieh and destroyed a military position used by the regime.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces withdrew from buildings they had held in Quneitra after holding them for over 40 days.

Sources said the troops had destroyed furniture, vehicles and computers, as well as official documents and files related to the residents of Quneitra.

On Saturday, the Israeli army announced that it had destroyed a Hamas arms depot in the Dier al-Ali area in Syria’s Kiswa region in the Damascus countryside.

The military said the weapons were being stored to be used in terrorist attacks against Israel.

“Palestinian organizations, led by Hamas, were using Syrian territories to carry out terrorist acts at Iran’s orders,” it claimed.

A source close to Hamas denied to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian movement had any military presence in Syria.

Hamas left Syria in the early days of the Syria conflict, which erupted in 2011, it clarified.

Hamas officials may have visited members of the ousted regime since then, but the movement has no presence there “in any way shape or form.”

“Israel is lying and its attacks targeted former regime positions,” it stressed.

A local source told Suwayda 24 that the Israeli strike on Saturday targeted a depot the Military Operations Command had used to store weapons collected from the former regime.