NEWS

BEIRUT — Five Iran-backed fighters were killed on Sunday in a drone strike in Syria’s east, near the Iraqi border, a war monitor said, adding it was not clear yet who was behind the attack.

“Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed and others were injured, some severely… after an unknown drone targeted the military vehicle they were in… near the Syrian-Iraqi border,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The strike occurred in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province, where Iran wields significant influence and which is regularly targeted by Israel and the United States, according to the Britain-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.

In June, three pro-Iran fighters, including at least two Iraqis, were killed in an overnight air strike in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border, the Observatory had reported at the time.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria.

Iran-backed groups including Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement have bolstered President Bashar Assad’s forces during Syria’s civil war.

The Syrian government’s brutal suppression of a 2011 uprising triggered the conflict that has killed more than half a million people and drawn in foreign armies and militants.

AN-AFP

Tehran, IRNA — Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has called for unity among Islamic countries to take effective measures to prevent the Israeli regime from committing more crimes.

Bagheri Kani made the remarks during a phone talk with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on the latest Israeli aggression against a school in Gaza.

The talks also focused on the necessity of adopting a joint stance on the regime’s criminal acts and preserving stability and security in West Asia.

The situation of the West Asia region is now critical due to the Israeli regime’s crimes, and Islamic countries have to pave the way for helping the oppressed Palestinians counter the occupying entity, he noted.

About the July 31 assassination of the Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh by Israel in Tehran, Bagheri Kani said the Zionists, through such a crime, did violate national security, territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic.

Iran has the legitimate right under the UN Charter and international laws to take a reciprocal measure, he asserted.

For her part, the Indonesian foreign minister condemned the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran and described the Israeli measures as threats to international peace and security.

Expressing regret over Israel’s killing of 40,000 people in Gaza, Marsudi stressed the need to concentrate on the issue of truce in Palestine.

To reach a ceasefire, unity and solidarity among all, particularly among the Islamic countries, is important and necessary, she added.

More than 100 Palestinians were killed after the Israeli regime’s deadly airstrike against a school in the Daraj area in Gaza at the time of morning prayers on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Two people were killed and 12 others injured early Sunday in an eight-vehicle chain-reaction pileup in the northern Iranian province of Alborz, Iran’s IRIB news agency reported.

The incident, involving two trucks, five sedans and a pickup truck, occurred on a freeway between the provinces of Tehran and Alborz at 3:35 a.m. local time (0005 GMT), the report said.

According to the IRIB, five ambulances were immediately sent to the scene and transferred the injured to medical centers.

NEW DELHI, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Ten members of a family drowned Sunday after a vehicle they were traveling in was swept away by flood water in the northern Indian state of Punjab, police said.

The vehicle was swept away in a rivulet near Jejon town of Hoshiarpur district, about 114 km northwest of Chandigarh, the capital city of Punjab.

According to police, the family hailing from neighboring Himachal Pradesh were on their way to Nawanshahr town in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district of Punjab to attend a wedding.

“The vehicle carrying victims was passing through the Jejon rivulet and it suddenly was swept away in the strong current of water,” the police official said.

Officials said seven bodies have been fished out, while efforts were underway to trace the three missing persons.

KABUL, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — A blast was heard in Dasht-e-Barchi locality on the western edge of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul on Sunday, casualties feared.

MOSCOW, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — At least 15 people were injured by the debris from a Ukrainian missile that fell onto a residential building in Russia’s Kursk region, Acting Governor of Kursk region Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram Sunday.

“Due to the fall of missile debris on an apartment building in the regional center, 15 people were injured, all of whom are receiving necessary medical care,” Smirnov said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Sunday that Russian armed forces will retaliate against Ukraine for its attacks on the western Russian regions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had destroyed 35 drones overnight over the Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk and Oryol regions. A military operation to defeat the Ukrainian forces in Kursk was underway.

KIEV, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — A four-year-old boy and his father were killed and three others injured in the Kiev region early Sunday in a Russian missile and drone strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Kiev Regional Military Administration said in a statement that two private houses were destroyed and six others damaged in the Kiev region by falling debris of the projectiles. Still, there were no direct hits to residential and critical infrastructure.

Russian forces fired 57 Shahed combat drones and four ballistic missiles at Ukraine during the attack, said the Ukrainian Air Force.

The Ukrainian air defense destroyed 53 drones over 11 regions.

According to Ukrainian authorities, the Russian army has launched more than 30 missiles and over 800 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine this week.

ALOR GAJAH — Hujan lebat berterusan selama enam jam mengakibatkan beberapa kawasan di Masjid Tanah dilanda banjir kilat.

Sekretariat Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri (JPBN) Melaka, Lt Kol (PA) Kamarulsyah Muslim, berkata hingga jam 4 petang tadi empat kawasan iaitu Kampung Paya Lebar, Ramuan China Besar, Taman Masjid Tanah Ria dan Durian Daun terjejas.

Selain kawasan perumahan, bencana itu turut membabitkan Pekan Masjid Tanah yang tenggelam hingga hampir satu meter.

“Kita kini dalam proses memindahkan mangsa yang terjejas ke dua pusat pemindahan sementara (PPS) iaitu di Balai Raya Paya Lebar dan PPS Balai Raya Seri Tanjung.

“Jumlah mangsa yang terbabit belum dapat dikenal pasti dan operasi menyelamat sedang diteruskan selain pemantauan paras air turut dilakukan,” katanya.

Sementara itu, mangsa banjir Khairul Anwar Mansol, berkata hujan lebat berterusan bermula sejak 5 pagi sehingga menyebabkan kediamannya dinaiki air hingga paras pinggang.

“Saya hanya mampu selamatkan dokumen penting sahaja kerana air tiba-tiba sahaja masuk dan memenuhi ruangan dalam rumah pada jam 10 pagi.

“Ini adalah kejadian pertama yang berlaku di taman perumahan saya dan untuk waktu ini saya bersama isteri serta tiga anak tumpang berteduh di sebuah kedai berdekatan yang lokasinya agak tinggi,” katanya.

Seorang lagi mangsa banjir yang juga penternak lembu, Muhammad Nabil Irfan Ibrahim, 22, berkata, air mula memenuhi kandang lembunya yang terletak di Kampung Ramuan China Besar, kira-kira jam 12 tengah hari tadi selepas hujan lebat mula turun pada 7 pagi.

“Mujurlah saya cepat sampai dan dapat melepaskan kesemua 20 ekor lembu yang berada di dalam kandang. Walaupun terpaksa meredah air di paras dada ketika itu tetapi saya tekad redah untuk pastikan lembu peliharaan dapat diselamatkan,” katanya.

BH ONLINE

CHUKAI — Satu lagi mayat kejadian bot karam dekat Kuala Kemaman ditemukan terapung petang tadi.

Mayat lelaki dikenali sebagai Shahril Ismail, 50, ditemukan kira-kira jam 1 petang tadi.

Ketua Polis Daerah Kemaman, Superintendan Hanyan Ramlan, berkata mayat kedua tiba di Pos Kawalan Tempat Kejadian jam 2.45 petang tadi.

Beliau berkata, sebelum ini mayat pertama dikenali sebagai sebagai Siti Zaimah, 29 ditemukan jam 7 pagi bersama lima yang terselamat dalam kejadian itu.

“Kita masih mengesan dua lagi mangsa dikenali sebagai Aina Husna Mohamad Husani, 25, dan Yusof, 66, dalam operasi yang disertai pelbagai agensi.

“Mayat kedua-dua mangsa sudah dibawa ke Unit Forensik Hospital Kemaman untuk proses pengecaman.

“Saya pun sudah berhubung dengan pihak kesihatan dan cuba berusaha untuk menjalankan bedah siasat petang ini,” katanya di sini hari ini.

Media sebelum ini melaporkan seorang wanita ditemukan lemas, manakala tiga lagi dikhuatiri hilang selepas bot nelayan dinaiki mereka dilanggar tongkang.

BH ONLINE

YANGON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Four members of a family, including a seven-month-old baby, drowned while bathing in a creek in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, an official from a rescue organization told Xinhua on Sunday.

The incident occurred around 9 a.m. local time on Saturday in a creek in Meiktila town of Mandalay region, he said. The water in the creek is not very deep, about the height of an average person, he added. The children’s bodies were found immediately and taken to a local hospital, but the mother’s body is still being searched for, he said.

The family, which included the mother and her three children, lives on a farm where they live separately from others, said the official.

MOSCOW, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Thirteen people were injured in the Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk region, with two in critical condition, Acting Governor of Kursk region Alexei Smirnov said on his Telegram channel Sunday.

Smirnov said that the incident occurred when a missile intercepted by Russian defense systems fell onto a residential building, triggering a fire.

Initial reports indicated that the building’s structural integrity remains intact. To date, 15 people have been rescued.

On Saturday, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian KS-701 Tunets high-speed boat in the Black Sea near the coast of Crimea.

It claimed that the Ukrainian forces hit 18 Russian vessels with Magura V5 and destroyed nine of them during the conflict.

YAOUNDE, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Three children have been found dead beneath the debris of a collapsed wall in Chad’s Kanem region after torrential rain, an official said on Saturday.

The tragedy happened on Friday at the Ligra locality of the region when a local house collapsed, resulting in the death of two girls and a two-year-old boy, said Brahim Alifa Ali, the prefect of the Kanem-Centre department.

Last week, Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno warned of the risk of flooding after heavy rain battered the Central African nation for days.

The government was working to achieve “lasting solutions throughout the national territory from now on,” he said.

TRIPOLI, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — At least nine people have been killed and 16 others injured in clashes between rival militias in the capital of Tripoli, a spokesman of the Emergency Department of the Libyan Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

Spokesman Osama Ali told Xinhua that the clashes that broke out in the Trajura district on Friday forced dozens of families to flee their homes.

Libya has been suffering escalating violence and political instability ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.