عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Attack Kills 10 in Syria, Kurdish Forces Arrest 52 Militants

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand outside a prison in Syria's north-eastern city of Hasakeh on January 26. (AFP)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand outside a prison in Syria's north-eastern city of Hasakeh on January 26. (AFP)
TT
TT

Attack Kills 10 in Syria, Kurdish Forces Arrest 52 Militants

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand outside a prison in Syria's north-eastern city of Hasakeh on January 26. (AFP)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces stand outside a prison in Syria's north-eastern city of Hasakeh on January 26. (AFP)

A militant rocket attack in eastern Syria on Friday targeted a bus with oil industry employees, killing at least 10, the government said. To the north, Syrian Kurdish-led forces announced they arrested 52 militants in an operation against ISIS sleeper cells.

According to Syria’s petroleum ministry, the rocket struck in the Al-Taym gas field in eastern Deir Ezzor province. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group, said ISIS was behind the attack.

The Observatory also reported a higher death toll from the rocket attack, saying at last 12 workers were killed.

Also Friday, the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said their raids had reportedly thwarted an attack planned for New Year’s Eve. The ISIS militants were hiding in residential areas and farms, a statement from the forces said.

The yearslong US-backed campaign had succeeded in crushing the militants’ territorial control in Iraq and Syria, but ISIS fighters maintain sleeper cells and have staged attacks that have killed scores of Iraqis and Syrians in the past months.

On Thursday, the Syrian Kurdish-led forces announced their operation, citing a surge in ISIS attacks and saying that “Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt” aims to target sleeper cells in al-Hol and nearby in Tal Hamis areas.

Since 2011, Syria has been mired in a bloody war that has drawn in regional and global powers. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has mostly regained control of the country, but parts of its north remain under the control of opposition factions, as well as Turkish and Syrian Kurdish forces.

Also, some 900 US troops in Syria support the Kurdish-led forces' fight against ISIS and have frequently targeted the extremists, mostly in parts of northeastern Syria under Kurdish control.

The US Central Command on Thursday reported conducting some 313 operations against ISIS in 2022 in Syria and Iraq, mostly in cooperation with Kurdish-led forces. According to a CENTCOM statement, 215 militants from the ISIS group were arrested and 466 were killed in Syria.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

UN Reveals Famine Pockets in Areas of Northern Yemen

Unprecedented deterioration of living and economic conditions in Yemen (UN)
Unprecedented deterioration of living and economic conditions in Yemen (UN)
TT
TT

UN Reveals Famine Pockets in Areas of Northern Yemen

Unprecedented deterioration of living and economic conditions in Yemen (UN)
Unprecedented deterioration of living and economic conditions in Yemen (UN)

Famine pockets are emerging in Houthi-controlled areas of northern Yemen, amid an unprecedented deterioration of living and economic conditions and severe funding shortfalls, threatening to slide millions of Yemenis into catastrophic levels of food insecurity, recent UN data showed.

In its Yemen Market and Trade Bulletin, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Yemen currently bears the world’s highest burden of populations trapped in the Integrated Food Security Phase 4 (Emergency).

It warned that without immediate multi-year funding and the restoration of humanitarian access, a slide into localized catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) remains imminent.

FAO said the food security outlook for Yemen through the end of 2026 remains highly alarming, with 18.7 million people (53% of the population) projected to face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+).

Its short-term outlook and implications on food security found that Yemen currently bears the world’s highest burden of populations trapped in the “emergency” phase, covering approximately 17% of the population, where the risk of excess mortality (exceeding the expected number of deaths under normal conditions) is real and steadily increasing.

Indicators of Famine

The FAO report said isolated pockets of catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) are already emerging, particularly within Houthi-controlled areas.

It assumed that Yemen's structural food system collapse is driven by a critical convergence of localized instability, severe funding shortfalls (only 13% funded as of May), and regional geopolitical shocks.

Regional escalations and trade disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz are driving up fuel costs, triggering price increases across domestic transport, food, and agricultural inputs, the report added.

It warned that without immediate multi-year funding and the restoration of humanitarian access, a slide into localized catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) remains imminent.

The report noted that the cost of the Minimum Food Basket remained stable, tracking 26% lower year-on-year and 9% below the three-year average. However, actual food access remains heavily restricted across communities by weak consumer purchasing power, irregular public salary payments, and the lingering effects of past inflation shocks, it added.

Economic Pressures

According to the UN agency, fuel prices in government-controlled areas rose, pushing overall costs back to their three-year average—with diesel climbing slightly above it—renewing pressure on domestic fuel affordability.

Concerning food and fuel imports, UN data showed that in April, wheat imports diverged by port, rising through Houthi-controlled ports in the north while collapsing through government-controlled ports.

Also, fuel imports resumed via Ras Isa after none in March, lifting national fuel imports 71% month-on-month.

FAO said that compounded by decades of civil conflict and intensifying climate shocks, macroeconomic and external pressures have affected Yemeni household assets, plunging over 53% of the population into severe food insecurity and forcing millions into deep, systemic destitution and poverty.

In return, it noted that in government-controlled areas, a stronger Yemeni Rial kept staple food prices stable month-on-month and 22% to 30% lower than the previous year.

Still, the UN agency warned that rising domestic fuel prices alongside increasing global food, energy, and shipping costs threaten to renew upward pressure on local food prices.

Concerning casual labor wage rates, FAO revealed that in April 2026, labor markets showed mixed trends: agricultural wages remained constant at 6% higher year-on-year and 18% above the three-year average, whereas casual labor wages fell 11% compared to April 2025 and dropped slightly below their three-year average, highlighting a continuous decline in non-agricultural income opportunities.

Arab World

PM Says Lebanon Facing Dangerous Israeli Escalation

Destroyed buildings are pictured in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon as seen from across the border in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings are pictured in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon as seen from across the border in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

PM Says Lebanon Facing Dangerous Israeli Escalation

Destroyed buildings are pictured in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon as seen from across the border in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)
Destroyed buildings are pictured in the village of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon as seen from across the border in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on May 29, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced on Saturday what he called a dangerous Israeli escalation in the south, urging an immediate ceasefire and insisting that a "scorched-earth policy" would not ensure Israel's security.

In a televised address, Salam also defended his government's direct negotiations with Israel -- which Iran-backed Hezbollah opposes -- saying that the talks were the "least costly path" for Lebanon.

"In light of the dangerous and unprecedented Israeli escalation over the past few days, it is necessary to step up political and diplomatic efforts to achieve a swift and real ceasefire," Salam said.

He accused Israel of "pursuing a scorched-earth policy and collective punishment" by "destroying towns and villages, and forcing their inhabitants into exile".

This will bring "neither security nor stability" to Israel, he said.

Salam's broadcast came after Israel's military issued new evacuation warnings for residents of more south Lebanon villages, and a day after military delegations from both countries held landmark security talks in Washington.

Those talks took place ahead of US-brokered negotiations early next week -- the fourth round since the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict erupted in March.

Salam said the outcome of the direct negotiations with Israel was "not guaranteed", but that they "are the least costly path for our country and our people".

A US statement after Friday's talks made no mention of a ceasefire, and Israel has recently intensified its air and ground operations against Hezbollah.

A truce to halt the fighting officially took effect on April 17, but has never been observed.

Arab World

Kataib Hezbollah Vows to Keep Arms as Iraq Faces US Pressure to Disarm Groups

Fighters carry flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
Fighters carry flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
TT
TT

Kataib Hezbollah Vows to Keep Arms as Iraq Faces US Pressure to Disarm Groups

Fighters carry flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
Fighters carry flags of Iraq and paramilitary groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, during a funeral in Baghdad for five militants killed in a US strike in northern Iraq, on Dec. 4, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)

The influential Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah pledged on Saturday to keep up its "action", as Baghdad faces mounting US pressure to disarm factions backed by Iran.

Following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran at the end of February, groups operating under the banner of the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" carried out repeated drone and rocket attacks on US interests in the country.

Washington, in turn, bombed facilities and bases belonging to the groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, killing dozens of their members.

Since taking office in mid-May, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has pledged to restrict weapons to the hands of the state.

But in a statement on Saturday, Kataib Hezbollah security chief Abu Mujahid al-Assaf said "action is today a collective duty, and we will carry it out on behalf of the brothers who have decided to abandon it".

While some factions have shown willingness to operate under state institutions, others, like Kataib Hezbollah, refuse to discuss disarmament under US pressure.

Assaf suggested that Kataib Hezbollah was willing to work with those other groups, and was "also prepared to pay for" weapons they no longer needed.

He said his group was ready "to cooperate and play a constructive role" by supervising the transfer and storage of weapons, and receiving specialized weapons such as cruise missiles, for which "there are no experts within state agencies".

Kataib Hezbollah insists it will not discuss its weapons so long as foreign forces remain deployed in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region as part of a US-led international coalition formed in 2014 to fight the extremist ISIS group.

The coalition is scheduled to end its mission in the Kurdistan region by September.

Earlier this month, a senior US State Department official had demanded Iraq take "concrete actions" on pro-Iran armed groups, preconditioning renewed support on "expelling terrorist militias from any state institution" and cutting off payments to them.