Arab League Urges Int’l Community to Aid Syria after Deadly Quake

People watch as rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in the regime-controlled northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 6, 2023. (AFP)
People watch as rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in the regime-controlled northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 6, 2023. (AFP)
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Arab League Urges Int’l Community to Aid Syria after Deadly Quake

People watch as rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in the regime-controlled northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 6, 2023. (AFP)
People watch as rescue teams look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in the regime-controlled northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 6, 2023. (AFP)

Arab League called on the international community on Monday to aid the Syrian people in the aftermath of a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit southeast Türkiye and northern Syria early on Monday.

Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the secretary-general of the pan-Arab organization, wrote on Twitter that an international assistance is required to help those impacted by “this humanitarian catastrophe.”

Hundreds were killed in Syria and Türkiye, thousands were injured and the toll was expected to rise further.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in a statement early Monday, offered help to both Türkiye and Syria.

The quake was felt in the Egyptian capital of Cairo and across parts of the region.

The offers of assistance were made despite strained relations between Türkiye and several countries in the area including Greece and Egypt.



Israel Says Killed Hezbollah Commander in South Lebanon

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced 'daily Israeli violations' of Lebanese sovereignty - AFP
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced 'daily Israeli violations' of Lebanese sovereignty - AFP
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Israel Says Killed Hezbollah Commander in South Lebanon

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced 'daily Israeli violations' of Lebanese sovereignty - AFP
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced 'daily Israeli violations' of Lebanese sovereignty - AFP

Israel's military said it killed a local Hezbollah commander on Saturday in south Lebanon, where authorities reported one dead in the fourth Israeli strike within days despite a November ceasefire.

Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli "drone strike" on a vehicle in south Lebanon's Tyre district.

An AFP correspondent saw the charred wreckage of a vehicle in Abu al-Aswad, an area around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces "struck and eliminated... a commander" involved in "the re-establishment of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure" in south Lebanon.

Israel has continued to launch strikes on its neighbour despite the November 27 truce which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah militants including two months of full-blown war.

The Israeli military said that "the rebuilding of terrorist infrastructure and related activity constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon."

Earlier this week, the Israeli military said three separate strikes in south Lebanon targeted Hezbollah operatives.

Under the ceasefire, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was to pull back its fighters north of Lebanon's Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems "strategic".

The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure there.

At an Arab summit in Baghdad on Saturday, Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced "daily Israeli violations" of Lebanese sovereignty and "the ongoing Israeli occupation of positions" in the south.

He said Lebanon was working to "fully implement" a United Nations Security Council resolution that formed the basis of the ceasefire.

The resolution says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.

Salam again urged international pressure "to oblige Israel to stop its attacks and immediately and fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory".