Storm Kills 4 People, Injures Several in War-torn Syria

File photo: Damage caused by the storm seen in Latakia on Saturday. (Syrian media)
File photo: Damage caused by the storm seen in Latakia on Saturday. (Syrian media)
TT

Storm Kills 4 People, Injures Several in War-torn Syria

File photo: Damage caused by the storm seen in Latakia on Saturday. (Syrian media)
File photo: Damage caused by the storm seen in Latakia on Saturday. (Syrian media)

A storm in central Syria on Wednesday collapsed building walls in two villages, killing four people, including two children, a pro-government radio station reported.

The heavy winds forced Syrian authorities to close all ports on the Mediterranean Sea while in the war-torn country’s rebel-held northwest, dozens of tents collapsed in settlements housing people displaced by Syria’s 12-year conflict, The Associated Press said.

Along with collapsing walls, falling rocks and trees also injured several people in the northwest, said the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets.

Sham FM radio station quoted Dr. Saleem Khallouf, the head of the National Hospital in the central city of Hama, as saying the four fatalities took place in the villages of Morek and Jibreen. He said the injured were being treated at the local hospital.

Hundreds of buildings and homes collapsed in the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria, killing more than 50,000 people, including more than 6,000 in Syria.



Syrian Security Forces Search for Militants Who Refuse to Turn in Their Weapons

Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
TT

Syrian Security Forces Search for Militants Who Refuse to Turn in Their Weapons

Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Weapons and ammunition handed over by members of Bashar Assad regime security forces are collected by members of the new government, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

The forces together with armed vehicles were deployed in the city of Homs Thursday to look for the militants affiliated with ousted President Bashar Assad, state media reported.
SANA, citing a military official, said that the new de facto authorities led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group had set up centers in Syria’s third-largest city for former soldiers and militants to hand over their weapons, similar to other parts of Syria.
In early December, a lightning insurgency took out the decades-long rule of Assad in less than two weeks. HTS has since run much of war-torn Syria under the authority of its leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, The Associated Press said.
Officials who were part of Assad's notorious web of intelligence and security apparatus have been arrested over the past few weeks.