Regional

Death toll from earthquakes in Turkey and Syria passes 20,000

Published

4 years ago

February 10, 2023

Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised spirits among weary search crews. But hopes were fading that many more would be found alive in the ruins of towns and cities.

According to Reuters the death toll across both countries has now surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey.

A Turkish official said the disaster posed “very serious difficulties” for the holding of an election scheduled for May 14 in which President Tayyip Erdogan has been expected to face his toughest challenge in two decades in power.

With anger simmering over delays in the delivery of aid and getting the rescue effort underway, the disaster is likely to play into the vote if it goes ahead.
The first U.N. convoy carrying aid to stricken Syrians crossed over the border from Turkey.

In Syria’s Idlib province, Munira Mohammad, a mother of four who fled Aleppo after the quake, said: “It is all children here, and we need heating and supplies. Last night we couldn’t sleep because it was so cold. It is very bad.”

Hundreds of thousands of people in both countries have been left homeless in the middle of winter. Many have camped out in makeshift shelters in supermarket car parks, mosques, roadsides or amid the ruins, often desperate for food, water and heat, read the report.

Some 40% of buildings in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, epicentre of the tremor, are damaged, according to a preliminary report by Turkey’s Bogazici University.

ROADSIDE CAMPFIRES

At a gas station near the Turkish town of Kemalpasa, people picked through cardboard boxes of donated clothes. In the port city of Iskenderun, Reuters journalists saw people huddled round campfires on roadsides and in wrecked garages and warehouses.

Authorities say some 6,500 buildings in Turkey collapsed and countless more were damaged, Reuters reported.

The death toll in Turkey rose to 17,406, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. In Syria, already devastated by nearly 12 years of civil war, more than 3,300 people have died, according to the government and a rescue service in the rebel-held northwest.

In the devastated Syrian town of Jandaris, Ibrahim Khalil Menkaween walked in the rubble-strewn streets clutching a white body bag. He said he had lost seven members of his family, including his wife and two of his brothers.

“I’m holding this bag for when they bring out my brother, and my brother’s young son, and both of their wives, so we can pack them in bags,” he said. “The situation is very bad. And there is no aid.”

Turkish officials say some 13.5 million people were affected in an area spanning roughly 450 km (280 miles) from Adana in the west to Diyarbakir in the east. In Syria, people were killed as far south as Hama, 250 km from the epicenter, Reuters reported.

Rescue crews looked for survivors at the site of a collapsed building in the dark in the city of Adiyaman with temperatures below freezing, Turkish broadcasters showed.

Teams frequently called for silence, asking all vehicles and generators to be turned off and reporters to keep quiet as they listened for sounds of anyone alive under the concrete blocks.

There were still some signs of hope.

A 2-year-old boy was picked out of the rubble by a Romanian and Polish rescue team in Hatay 79 hours after the earthquake, video released by Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) on Thursday showed.

The boy, wearing a blue, white and black striped sweater, cried as he was gently lifted from the hole where he had been trapped. He was carried away on a blanket. No other details were immediately available.

Another video from IHH showed a helmeted and dust-streaked rescuer weeping with emotion after successfully freeing a little girl from the rubble of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, read the report.

Many in Turkey have complained of a lack of equipment, expertise and support to rescue those trapped – sometimes even as they could hear cries for help.

After facing criticism over the initial response, Erdogan said on a visit to the area on Wednesday that operations were now working normally and promised no one would be left homeless.

Nevertheless, the disaster will pose an additional challenge to the long-ruling president in the election.

Greece sent thousands of tents, beds and blankets on Thursday to help those left homeless by the quake, in an act of solidarity with a neighbour that is a NATO ally but also a historic foe.

Israeli satellite intelligence was helping map the disaster zones in Turkey with mapping capabilities predominantly used for special operations, the Israeli military said.

SYRIA OVERWHELMED

In Syria, relief efforts are complicated by a conflict that has partitioned the country and wrecked its infrastructure.

The U.N. aid convoy entered Syria at the Bab Al Hawa crossing – a lifeline for accessing opposition-controlled areas where some 4 million people, many displaced by the war, were already relying on humanitarian aid.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed for more humanitarian access to northwestern Syria, saying he would be “very happy” if the United Nations could use more than one border crossing to deliver help, Reuters reported.

The Syrian government views the delivery of aid to the rebel-held northwest from Turkey as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Syrian civil defence said at least 2,030 people were killed in opposition-held northwest Syria, and the government has reported 1,347 deaths, read the report.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday admitted the government lacked capability and equipment but blamed the war and Western sanctions.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has chaired emergency meetings on the earthquake but has not addressed the nation in a speech or news conference.

Related Topics:#earthquakes featured Syria Turkey

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Regional

Saudi Grand Mufti tells troops to be ready to sacrifice their lives fighting Houthis

State TV has ⁠in recent weeks aired footage of an alleged Houthi strike on a mosque in the kingdom’s south, and authorities have also accused the Houthis of launching an attack on Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.

Published

18 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Ariana News

Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority called on soldiers in the kingdom to be ready to lay ‌down their lives to fight the Iran-backed Houthis until the group is ousted from power, a statement posted on the Saudi state news agency said.

The rare and strongly worded message by Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan was addressed to soldiers stationed at the country’s borders and drew heavily on Quranic verses and recorded sayings of the Prophet Mohammad related to sacrifice and struggle in defence of God, Reuters reported.

It comes after weeks of escalating violence between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis which has ⁠seen the Iran-backed group attack the kingdom with salvos of missiles and drones and Saudi Arabia respond with airstrikes.

Observers have been questioning whether Saudi Arabia will launch a broader military operation along with Yemeni government forces it backs.

“Protecting this great nation… and punishing anyone who seeks to lay a hand on even an inch of its territory are among the greatest duties and most virtuous acts of devotion, for which lives and souls may be sacrificed in seeking God’s pleasure,” said the statement, issued late Thursday.

Asserting the authority of the Saudi-backed internationally recognized Yemeni government over the entire country was “among the most pressing obligations,” it added.

Those government forces lost control of the vital Bab el-Mandeb waterway to the Houthis two weeks back, a blow to the kingdom, which has been mired in the conflict since ‌2015 ⁠after it launched an unsuccessful operation to oust the Houthis from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The recent fighting is the latest episode in 12 years of civil war in Yemen which had largely been frozen since a 2022 but has escalated again and has become linked to the wider Iran war.

“We ask God Almighty to grant you all his support, and to protect our countries and beloved Yemen from all harm. We also ask him to ⁠bring about the complete defeat of the Houthi group and those who assist and support them,” the statement said.

The Mufti’s letter adds to a growing religiously centered narrative by authorities in the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom aimed at discrediting the Houthis, who follow a different sect of Islam.

“It is incumbent upon you, brothers serving on the front lines, to ⁠remain constantly prepared to perform your duty, to obey the rulers and your field commanders, and to carry out orders with the utmost precision, as God Almighty commanded the companions of his Prophet to do,” the statement said.

“You are following in the footsteps of the Prophet’s companions, defending the sacred sites of Muslims.”

Regional

Iran airlines cancel flights as US sanctions hit

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2026

Ariana News

Iranian airlines cancelled some international flights on Wednesday after the United States imposed new sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector.

Georgia and Azerbaijan confirmed the suspension of flights to Iran, while a travel agent in Tehran told AFP that flights to Baghdad, Muscat and Qatar had also been halted. Flights to several other destinations, including China, continued.

The new US measures were announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday as Washington seeks to increase economic pressure on Tehran amid the ongoing conflict.

“We are squeezing the Iranians like they’ve never seen,” Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday, claiming that more than 80% to 90% of Iran’s international flights had been affected.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, rejected the pressure.

“The resistance of the Iranian people will only intensify in the face of sanctions, mounting pressure and growing intimidation” from the United States, Pezeshkian said.

Iran’s aviation industry has faced US sanctions for years, but the latest measures could further restrict international connections.

Despite the new sanctions, flight-tracking data showed a Mahan Air flight from Tehran arriving in Guangzhou, China, on Wednesday. A flight to Shanghai was also scheduled to depart from Tehran’s international airport.

China has opposed the new US sanctions, describing them as illegal.

Some flights to Istanbul also continued, although others were cancelled, according to the Tehran-based travel agent, who said the situation remained uncertain.

“The situation is unstable and we are no longer selling tickets for the time being for fear of cancellations,” the agent told AFP.

Flights connecting Iran with Turkey and Armenia were also still possible on some smaller Iranian airlines, while flights to Najaf in Iraq and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates were listed as scheduled.

Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned neighbouring countries against complying with the US measures.

“If a country cooperates with or embarks on adventures with the United States, its airports will no longer be able to operate flights” to Iran, he told Iranian state television.

The possible suspension of flights between Iran and Iraq has raised particular concerns because of the large number of Iranian religious pilgrims who travel to Iraq.

Iranian media reported that authorities were considering rerouting flights from Baghdad to Najaf. AFP also reported that several sources in Iraq said Baghdad would comply with the US sanctions, although the Iraqi government had not publicly announced a flight ban.

Travel agents in Najaf said passengers were seeking information about possible cancellations and considering travelling by land instead.

Regional

US and Iran hold first talks since June after Trump’s ‘annihilation’ threat

WATCH Donald Trump’s speech to UNGA on Iran, including his ‘annihilation’ threat

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2026

Ariana News

The United States and Iran have held their first high-level talks since June, with discussions taking place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York amid continued fighting and growing international pressure to end the conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff took part in the talks, which were mediated by Qatar. US envoy Jared Kushner also participated on the American side, according to reports.

No breakthrough was immediately reported. Witkoff said the two sides had completed a round of discussions that he hoped would prove “constructive and promising”, adding that mediators would continue their efforts.

Iranian officials said Araghchi conveyed Tehran’s conditions, including an end to what Iran describes as US acts of aggression and the lifting of measures affecting Iranian shipping and assets.

The talks came just hours after US President Donald Trump warned in his address to the UN General Assembly that he could “annihilate” Iran if no agreement was reached.

Trump said Iran faced a choice between reaching a deal and what he described as destruction, while also saying he believed an agreement could be reached after the US midterm elections in November.

Trump later described the three-hour discussions as very productive. Witkoff, however, clarified that the two sides communicated through mediators who shuttled between the delegations rather than holding direct face-to-face negotiations.

The latest contact follows months of conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States. The fighting has also disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy routes.

Iran has indicated that it could reopen the strategic waterway if Washington takes steps to ease military and economic pressure on Tehran. Iranian officials have linked the issue to demands including the lifting of the US naval blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key route for global energy supplies, and its closure has contributed to volatility in international oil markets.

Despite the renewed diplomatic contact, significant differences remain between Washington and Tehran over the war, Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and US military operations in the region.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, with further diplomatic efforts expected to continue in New York.