الكاتب: kafej

The government says it is in full control following an armed attack in the capital and a nationwide curfew.

Sierra Leone has arrested most of the leaders of an armed attack in the capital that has prompted the government to declare a nationwide curfew, the country’s president has said.

“Most of the leaders have been arrested. Security operations and investigations are ongoing,” President Julius Maada Bio said on national television on Sunday following armed clashes in Freetown after what the government said was an attack on a military armoury.

The government said it repelled the attack and was in control of the situation. The incident occurred amid months of post-election unrest in the West African nation.

The “government is in firm control of the security situation in Freetown, the attackers are retreating”, information minister Chernor Bah told the AFP news agency.

Sierra Leone’s civil aviation authority also urged the airlines to reschedule flights.

An AFP journalist said calm was slowly returning to the capital by Sunday evening but checkpoints heavily guarded by security forces remained in place.

“We are trying to collate the number of arrests and casualties,” Bah said, adding that “those responsible for today’s attack will be hunted down to face the full force of the law”.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show men in uniform under arrest in the back or beside a military pick-up truck.

Earlier in the day, witnesses told AFP they heard gunshots and explosions in the city’s Wilberforce district, where the armoury and some embassies are located.

Other witnesses reported exchanges of fire near a barracks in the Murray Town district, home to the navy, and outside another military site in Freetown.

The information ministry reported attacks on prisons earlier in the day that obliged the security forces to retreat. “The prisons were thus overrun” with some detainees released and others “abducted”, it said.

Video posted on social networks suggested numerous prisoners had escaped from the central jail.

In a statement issued on Sunday, West Africa’s regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the attempt to “disturb constitutional order” in Sierra Leone.

Growing unrest since President’s re-election

Sierra Leone has seen political violence and unrest since the re-election of President Bio in June.

That election was the fifth since the end of Sierra Leone’s brutal 11-year civil war – more than two decades ago – which left tens of thousands dead and destroyed the country’s economy.

International observers condemned the “lack of transparency” in the ballot count and Sierra Leone’s opposition party initially disputed the results and boycotted the government.

Since his electoral victory five months ago, Bio continues to face criticism because of debilitating economic conditions. Nearly 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s population of more than 7 million are impoverished and youth unemployment is among the highest in West Africa.

The unrest in Sierra Leone comes after a series of military coups that have dealt blows to democracy in the region. There have been eight military coups in West and Central Africa since 2020, including in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea.

نشرت في: 26/11/2023 – 21:42

3 دقائق

أكد المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان أن مطار دمشق الدولي خرج عن الخدمة مُجددا الأحد جراء تعرضه لقصف إسرائيلي بعد ساعات من استئناف عمله.

وقال المرصد “شن الطيران الحربي الإسرائيلي بعد عصر اليوم الأحد غارة جديدة استهدفت مطار دمشق الدولي (..) حيث استهدفت مهابط المطار ما أدى لخروجه عن الخدمة مجددا”.

وأشار المرصد إلى سماع دوي انفجار آخر من جهة مطار المزة في الجهة الأخرى من العاصمة.

ولاحقا أفاد المرصد بإصابة ضابط برتبة نقيب وعنصرين من قوات النظام، نتيجة “قصف إسرائيلي استهدف قاعدة لقوات الدفاع الجوي، في منطقة المزة”.

ونقلت وكالة الأنباء السورية الرسمية (سانا) عن مصدر عسكري أنه “حوالى الساعة 16:50 (13:50 ت غ) من بعد ظهر اليوم نفذ العدو الصهيوني عدوانا جويا بالصواريخ من اتجاه الجولان السوري المحتل مستهدفا مطار دمشق الدولي وبعض النقاط في ريف دمشق”.

وأضاف المصدر” تصدت وسائط دفاعنا الجوي للصواريخ المعادية ودمرت معظمها وأسفر العدوان عن خروج المطار عن الخدمة ووقوع بعض الخسائر المادية”.

وتوقفت جميع الرحلات من وإلى المطار الأكبر والرئيسي في البلاد منذ 22 تشرين الأول/أكتوبر جراء ضربات إسرائيلية طالت مدرجاته الرئيسية، وأخرجت ضربات متزامنة في اليوم ذاته مطار حلب الدولي من الخدمة، ما دفع وزارة النقل السورية إلى تحويل الرحلات كافة على مطار اللاذقية، الأصغر والأقل تجهيزا.

واستأنف المطار صباح الأحد عمله بعد توقف لأكثر من شهر، جراء ضربات إسرائيلية أخرجته من الخدمة، وفق ما أفادت شركتان خاصتان لحجوزات السياحة والسفر في العاصمة السورية وكالة الأنباء الفرنسية قبل أن يتم استهدافه مجددا عصر الأحد.

ومنذ بدء النزاع عام 2011، شنت إسرائيل مئات الضربات الجوية في سوريا، طالت أهدافا للجيش السوري وأخرى لمجموعات موالية لطهران، بينها حزب الله اللبناني.

وصعدت إسرائيل وتيرة استهدافها للأراضي السورية منذ شن حركة حماس في 7 أكتوبر هجوما غير مسبوق على إسرائيل، التي ردت بقصف عنيف على قطاع غزة، ترافق منذ أسابيع مع عمليات برية، قبل التوصل إلى هدنة بدأ سريانها الجمعة، ويتم بموجبها تبادل رهائن ومعتقلين.

ونادرا ما تؤكد إسرائيل تنفيذها ضربات في سوريا، لكنها تكرر تصديها لما تصفه بمحاولات طهران الداعمة لدمشق، ترسيخ وجودها العسكري في هذا البلد.

فرانس24/ أ ف ب 

The families of three Palestinian students who were shot in Vermont have called on US officials to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

The three men, all aged 20, were wearing keffiyehs – a traditional scarf – and speaking Arabic when they were attacked as they walked down a street in the city of Burlington on Saturday night, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC.

Police said a white man suddenly approached the trio without saying anything and then fired four rounds from a pistol before running away.

Two of the men were hit in the torso, while the third was hit in the “lower extremities,” police said.

At the time, the group were on their way to visit one of the victim’s relatives for dinner over the Thanksgiving holiday.

All three are receiving treatment in hospital. Two of the men are in a stable condition, while the other is said to have suffered “much more serious injuries”.

One of the men, Kinnan Abdalhamid, was named by Haverford College as one of its students. The other two have been named as Brown University student Hisham Awartani and Tahseen Ahmed, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut.

Israel-Gaza latest: More hostages and prisoners freed

Their families said in a joint statement: “As parents, we are devastated by the horrific news that our children were targeted and shot.

“We call on law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation, including treating this as a hate crime. We will not be comfortable until the shooter is brought to justice.

“We need to ensure that our children are protected, and this heinous crime is not repeated.”

They added: “Our children are dedicated students who deserve to be able to focus on their studies and building their futures.”

The men were all graduates of Ramallah Friends School, a secondary school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to its Facebook page.

The school said in a statement: “We extend our thoughts and prayers to them and their families for a full recovery, especially considering the severity of injuries – as Hisham has been shot in the back, Tahseen in the chest, and Kinnan with minor injuries.”

Vermont senator and former Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “It is shocking and deeply upsetting that three young Palestinians were shot here in Burlington, VT. Hate has no place here, or anywhere.”

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The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the shooting had come during an “unprecedented surge” in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment in the US amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, posted a photo of the trio on social media and added: “The hate crimes against Palestinians must stop”.

It comes following the death of a six-year-old Palestinian-American who was stabbed 26 times in a suspected hate crime in Illinois last month.

Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said: “In this charged moment, no one can look at this incident and not suspect that it may have been a hate-motivated crime.

“And I have already been in touch with federal investigatory and prosecutorial partners to prepare for that if it’s proven.”

Two of the students hold US citizenship, while the third is living in the country legally, police added.

The FBI said it was not yet treating the shooting as a hate crime.

A spokesperson said: “If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.”

A third batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners has been freed as the exchange of captives between Hamas and Israel continues for a third day under a four-day truce deal.

Large crowds of Palestinians took to the streets in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday night as they waited for Red Cross buses carrying the prisoners.

Some waved Palestinian flags alongside the flags of the two main Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah. Some youth climbed on top of a white bus transporting mostly young men and some female prisoners.

“At first we did not believe it,” Shakir Mahajna told Al Jazeera while he waited with his family for his son Omar, who recently turned 18.

“The last time I visited him he was frustrated, he told me ‘Dad I want to leave’,” said Mahajna, whose son was 16 when he was arrested and had four months left in his sentence.

“After what happened in October, I was even more scared,” Nour Ara’ar, whose 17-year-old brother Zeid was arrested in July, told Al Jazeera.

“Everything was suspended because of the war,” she added. “The trial did not take place.”

“We are happy, but we are experiencing mixed feelings. Our joy is incomplete because of what is happening in Gaza,” she added.

Meanwhile, in nearby Beitunia, where some Palestinians had also gathered, three Palestinians aged 15, 18 and 33 were injured after Israeli forces fired live rounds, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said. Two children, aged 11 and 13, were admitted to a hospital for tear-gas inhalation, the PRCS added.

Hamas frees American child, Russian man 

Earlier on Sunday, Hamas handed over 13 Israeli captives, including nine children and four foreign nationals – three Thais and one Israeli Russian – to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of the truce deal.

The Israeli Russian was released “in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts and in recognition of Russia’s position in support of Palestine”, Hamas said in a statement. He is the first male captive to be released since the truce deal came into effect.

US President Joe Biden said a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, Abigail Edan, whose parents were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack, was also among those released.

“She’s free and she’s in Israel,” he said, adding that another dual American citizen – a 45-year-old woman – was also released. Biden also urged the parties to extend the truce deal to allow for more releases.

The exchange of captives was delayed by a few hours on Saturday after Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce agreement. The standoff sparked concerns that the deal was at risk of derailing.

The impasse was resolved following mediation by Qatar and Egypt.

Around 150 Palestinian prisoners and 50 civilian captives held in Gaza are to be released over four days under the Israel-Hamas deal.

Israel’s ground and air assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians and left vast swathes of the enclave in ruins.

Netanyahu’s ‘photo-op’ in Gaza

Ahead of Sunday’s exchange, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza, the first since the Gaza assault began last month.

“We continue until the end – until victory,” he told soldiers, footage posted online by his office showed.

“Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all the war’s goals, and we will.”

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said it was the first time an Israeli prime minister entered Gaza since Israel disengaged from the enclave in 2005.

“It is a landmark visit,” he said. “We’ve heard Netanyahu talk about victory but not in this location. This location is what he wants the Israeli public to see,” he added, calling it a “photo-op”.

In a statement on Sunday, Hamas said it is seeking to extend the four-day truce with Israel should serious efforts be made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons.

Speaking from Beirut, senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera he expected US President Biden to push Israel to end its war on the Gaza Strip.

“President Biden has the ability to make an end to the Israeli offensive against Gaza. He has the power to do that and talking about extending the ceasefire is not the solution.

“The solution is to stop the Israeli attack against Gaza and to force Israel to implement international resolutions regarding the Palestinian people,” he said.

After weeks of intense Israeli bombardment, a humanitarian truce is being used to exchange dozens of detainees and captives between Israel and Hamas.

But that deal hit a snag on Saturday, when a disagreement led to several hours of delay in releasing captives.

So, with a great deal of mistrust on both sides, how do mediators ensure both Israel and Hamas play their part?

And what are the logistical implications of facilitating such an agreement?

Can it be extended beyond the four days agreed upon?

Presenter: Nastasya Tay

Guests:

Alastair Crooke – Founder of the Conflicts Forum and veteran negotiator

Fabrizio Carboni – Near and Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Nimer Sultany – Advisory committee at the Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS University of London