Tag: Middle East

Explosions Rock Gaza, Israel Says It Hit Hamas Rocket Factory

GAZA—Several explosions rocked the Gaza Strip early on Monday, according to a Reuters witness, as Israel’s military said it attacked an underground site used by the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas Islamists to manufacture rockets. The air strikes, in which there was no immediate word of casualties, followed what Israel described as its shooting down over the weekend of a…


Death Toll in Turkey, Syria Quake Tops 33,000 as Turkey Starts Legal Action

ANTAKYA, Turkey—Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble on Sunday six days after one of the worst earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria, as Turkish authorities sought to maintain order across the disaster zone and began legal action over some building collapses. With chances of finding more survivors growing more remote, the toll in both…


Death Toll in Turkey, Syria Quake Tops 33,000; Turkey Starts Legal Action Against Builders

ANTAKYA, Turkey—Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble on Sunday six days after one of the worst earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria, as Turkish authorities sought to maintain order across the disaster zone and began legal action over some building collapses. With chances of finding more survivors growing more remote, the toll in both…


British-Iranians Speak of ‘Climate of Fear’ From Regime’s UK Outposts

Under constant fear—that’s how some Iranians describe life living in Britain today. That fear, they say, does not come from the country they now live in, but from the harsh Middle Eastern regime they were born into. Despite being about 4,000 kilometres away, Iran’s repressive establishment has sinister tentacles that reach as far as the…


Ground Zero: In Turkey’s Quake-Ravaged Kahramanmaras, There Are Tales of Grief—and Joy

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey—Five days after Kahramanmaras became the epicenter of back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, the scope of destruction in the southern Turkish province almost defies belief. In central Kahramanmaras, entire neighborhoods have been flattened beyond recognition. Dazed survivors congregate near mountains of rubble that were once multi-story buildings, anxiously awaiting…


2 Women Survive for Days in Earthquake Rubble as Death Toll Tops 24,150

ANTAKYA, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria—Rescuers in Turkey pulled two women alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings after they were been trapped for 122 hours following the region’s deadliest quake in two decades, authorities said on Saturday. The death toll exceeded 24,150 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria a day after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said authorities…


Rescuers Toil on in Rubble of Turkey and Syria as Death Toll Tops 25,250

ANTAKYA, Turkey/JANDARIS, Syria—Rescuers in Turkey pulled more people from the rubble early on Saturday, five days after the country’s most devastating earthquake since 1939, but hopes were fading in Turkey and Syria that many more survivors would be found. In Kahramanmaras, close to the quake’s epicenter in southern Turkey, there were fewer visible rescue operations…


A Glance at the World’s Deadliest Quakes in Past 25 Years

The earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria this week has killed more than 22,000 people. Here’s a look at the deadliest earthquakes in the past 25 years: Feb. 6, 2023: In Turkey and Syria, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills more than 22,000 people. April 25, 2015: In Nepal, more than 8,800 people are killed by…


After Failed Socialist Experiment, Most of Israel’s Collective Farms Opt for Capitalism

Laurie Rimon fell in love with the Israeli collective farm of Kfar Blum after spending a high school year there in 1969-70. She emigrated from the United States to Israel as soon as she graduated high school in 1971. She’s now a dual citizen. Rimon remembers a crucial change in her outlook toward the Jewish state’s…


Afghan Pull-Out a ‘Dark Chapter in UK Military History’: Defence Committee Chair

Britain’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 was a “dark chapter in UK military history,” a senior Conservative MP has said. The UK’s involvement in Afghanistan began as part of a U.S.-led coalition in 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some 457 UK military personnel lost their lives during the 20-year war, which cost British…