The 57 migrants who drowned off the coast of Libya on Sunday added to the toll of nearly 1,000 lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea this year alone, the UN agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has revealed.
In addition to the 57 who drowned on Sunday when their boat sank, there are at least 20 women and two toddlers missing from the sinking, while 18 were rescued, according to the IOM.
The United Nations children’s agency said on Friday that more than 100,000 children in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray could suffer life-threatening malnutrition in the next 12 months, a 10-fold increase to normal numbers.
UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said that one-in-two pregnant and breastfeeding women screened in Tigray were acutely malnourished.
En 2011, la Tunisie est devenue le berceau du bouleversement connu sous le nom de Printemps arabe – une série de protestations et de soulèvements en faveur de la démocratie qui se sont répandus comme une traînée de poudre dans une grande partie du monde arabe et ont fait tomber les régimes de la région en l’espace de plusieurs mois.
When Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed orchestrated the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States homeland on 9/11, it was a watershed moment for the global jihadist movement. The attacks catapulted al-Qaeda to the forefront of the West’s security agenda, monopolizing Western security policy for the better part of the past two decades, with global reverberations. Ever since, al-Qaeda and the jihadist movement have transformed in several important ways, not least in response to the emergence of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Bin Laden’s original objective was to establish a vanguard movement that would lead the struggle against apostate regimes across the Islamic world and instigate local insurrections and insurgencies. Yet, since then, the global jihadist movement’s success appears to have exceeded Bin Laden’s greatest ambitions, with the proliferation of affiliate groups in numerous countries and the mobilization of thousands of fighters from around the world, including the West. In particular, the rise of the Islamic State succeeded in transforming the jihadi movement into a popular protest movement, attracting people who would otherwise have little connection with Islamist extremism or militancy. Continuing the efforts of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State essentially turned jihadism into the primary ideology of rebellion.
Intissar Fakir and Fadil Aliriza of MEI’s Program on North Africa and the Sahel discuss the context and consequences of Tunisian President Kais Saied’s political maneuvers earlier this week, which opponents were quick to label a “coup.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight government-affiliated forces and three opposition fighters died in the clashes Thursday.
Tensions between Syria’s pro-government forces and opposition fighters have escalated in Daraa, the Syrian city considered the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against the regime.
Russia has unveiled plans to open a Naval School in the Syrian port of Tartous, as part of its plans to consolidate influence in Syria, according to North Press.
On Sunday, the Syrian port of Tartous witnessed large-scale exercises in preparation for a military parade celebrating the Russian Navy, as Russia prepares to open a naval school in the coastal city.
Charities based south of Damascus, and led by the “godfather of reconciliation,” Saleh al-Khatib, are reportedly stealing donations, according to Sowt al-Asima.
Many residents of the town of Yalda, south of Damascus, filed complaints against two “charitable” associations working to raise funds from the region. The complaints came after discovering that the charities had failed to distribute the funds and instead had used them for “personal” purposes, as they appear to be stealing donations.