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Haj pilgrims take part in first of three-day ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual
Fewer pilgrims than normal flocked to the city of Mina on Tuesday, the first of the three-day stoning of the devil ritual amid the coronavirus.
The annual ritual usually brings millions of worshippers from all over the world shoulder to shoulder.
Clad in white robes denoting a state of purity and face masks, men and women cast their stones in Mina, a neighborhood east of Mecca.
After their third day of stoning, pilgrims will go back to Mecca to pray at the Grand Mosque at the end of the haj.
Only 60,000 Saudi citizens and residents, aged 18 to 65, who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the virus and do not suffer from chronic diseases, were selected for the rite, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.
The ritual, at which pilgrims must hurl pebbles at a giant wall, has in the past been the scene of several deadly crowd accidents.
In 2015, hundreds died in a crush at an intersection leading up to the site.
In previous years, some 3 million white-clad pilgrims from across the world flocked to Islam’s holiest sites to attend haj.
This year it faces the challenge of keeping haj, a major source of income for the government, safe from COVID-19.
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Four members of one family killed in Helmand in Pakistan airstrike
The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.
Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.
The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.
The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.
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UNAMA acting chief visits Islam Qala border to assess support for returnees
UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.
Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s acting head, visited western Afghanistan, including the Islam Qala border crossing, to see firsthand UN efforts to support millions of Afghans returning from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
Earlier this year, the UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.
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Trump: Unlike Afghanistan, US took all equipment from Iraq
Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday compared the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq with the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan, while US forces leaving Iraq took their equipment with them.
Speaking at a White House event, Trump referred to the final departure of US-led coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which marked the end of the US military mission against Daesh in Iraq.
“I said, take a little longer. Take everyone. We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan. Everything was left behind,” Trump said.
“I said, ‘I want every screw taken. If there’s a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it.’ We took everything,” he added.
He also mentioned the August 2021 attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers.
Trump said he had become acquainted with the families of the US service members killed in the attack and also highlighted those who were seriously wounded.
“What happened to those—to their children should never have been allowed to happen,” he said, adding that 48 wounded service members were severely injured and “never get mentioned.”
Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.
The US military announced on Wednesday that its forces and equipment had completed an orderly departure from Erbil Air Base, formally ending Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. The US-led mission began in 2014 to fight Daesh after the group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The US is continuing its counter-Daesh mission in Syria from a headquarters in Jordan.
Trump said the US had entered Iraq to fight the Islamic State and that the group no longer controlled a territorial “caliphate.”
“We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed,” he said.
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