airstrikes - The African Mirror

Oct

08

2024

Escaping airstrikes in Eastern Ukraine: an 82-year-old’s journey to safety

WORLD

AS fighting raged around her village in the north of Ukraine’s Donetsk region in August, 82-year-old Nina Ryazantseva – affectionately known as 'Baba Nina' – was hiding in the basement of her house. She had been there for weeks, hungry and isolated, since rumours began spreading that Russian forces were advancing towards the village. In early August, the Ukrainian authorities began evacuating villagers, but Nina was reluctant to leave the house she had spent years building, brick-by-brick. She was still in the basement on 9 August when an explosion reduced her house to rubble. Shaken and deafened by the blast,…

Jul

09

2024

By The African Mirror

Latest Israel attack threatens ceasefire process – Hamas

WORLD

THE situation in Gaza remains perilous as the latest Israeli attacks threaten to derail ongoing ceasefire negotiations. Hamas has issued stark warnings, stating that continued Israeli military operations in Rafah could undermine efforts to reach a temporary ceasefire. These operations have included intensive airstrikes and ground incursions targeting what Israel claims are tunnels and weapons caches used by Hamas. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened dramatically. The United Nations and other international organizations have called for an immediate ceasefire to address the catastrophic conditions faced by civilians. The UN General Assembly President highlighted the urgent need to halt hostilities…

Jun

19

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

Israeli forces deepen Rafah invasion, kill 17 in central camps

WORLD

ISRAELI airstrikes killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into the enclave's southern city of Rafah, residents and medics said. Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. Most of the population has fled northwards since then as Israeli forces invaded the city. "Rafah is being bombed without any intervention from the world, the occupation (Israel) is acting freely here," a Rafah resident and father of six told Reuters via a chat…

Mar

07

2024

By KAMAR GHOSSN

Displacement and upheaval in southern Lebanon as Israel intensifies airstrikes

WORLD

AS Israel expands its airstrikes deeper into Lebanon, hitting parts of the country previously considered safe, those already forced to flee the conflict are struggling to get by without jobs or much aid, unsure where to go next if things get even worse. Cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese political and militant group, have been growing since the outbreak of war in Gaza, with almost daily exchanges of fire. But in the past few weeks, Israel has intensified its attacks on southern Lebanon, hitting targets it says are linked to Hezbollah in the southern city of Nabatieh and…

Feb

13

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and EMILY ROSE

Israel frees two hostages, Gaza officials say airstrikes kill 67

WORLD

ISRAEL freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages in Rafah under the cover of airstrikes which local health officials said killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the southern Gaza City is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians. A joint operation by the Israeli military, the domestic Shin Bet security service and the Special Police Unit in Rafah freed Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, the military said. They were among 250 people seized during the Oct. 7 raid by Hamas militants that triggered Israel's war on Gaza. More than four months on, much of the densely-populated strip of…

Feb

04

2024

By PHIL STEWART, IDREES ALI and TIMOUR AZHARI

U.S. launches strikes in Iraq, Syria, nearly 40 reported killed

WORLD

THE United States launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, reportedly killing nearly 40 people, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops. The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in response to the attack last weekend in Jordan by Iran-backed militants, and more U.S. military operations are expected in the coming days. The strikes intensified a conflict that has spread into the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant Palestinian group's deadly assault…

May

19

2023

By MAI SHAMSELDIN and EL TAYEB SIDDIG

Sudan’s conflict inflicts heavy toll on children

NEWS

AFTER surviving weeks of fighting in Khartoum, Sanaa Mahmoud has finally got her family to safety in Cairo. However, she says her daughter still wakes up at night screaming because of the gunfire and airstrikes that rocked her neighbourhood. "They saw everything, the gunfire was falling on us at home ... they saw horrible scenes," said Mahmoud, speaking at a shelter in Cairo where she has found sanctuary for her two daughters. "She still screams at night and cries to me 'Why are these people coming to kill us?'" she said. Sanaa Mahmoud, a Sudanese displaced woman, and her daughters…

Apr

20

2023

By The African Mirror

Khartoum’s fearful residents hunker down amid fierce street fighting

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ and NAFISA ELTAHIR RESIDENTS in an affluent district of Khartoum feared there would be trouble when they found their new neighbour was a commander from a paramilitary force that protesters blamed for cracking down on them in the past. Those concerns proved well-founded this week when people were forced to hunker down in their homes as gunfire, shelling and airstrikes raged across the city in a fierce fight for power between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). "We knew a day like this would come," said Motasim, who lives a few buildings from Abdelrahim Dagalo, deputy leader of the RSF, the…

Nov

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian air strikes in Tigray will continue, says PM, as civil war risk grows

NEWS

GUILIA PARAVICINI and DAWIT ENDESHAW Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has pledged more airstrikes in the escalating conflict amid reports that Tigrayan forces had seized control of federal military sites and weapons. Civilians in the northern region should avoid "collateral damage" by not gathering outside as strikes would continue, Abiy said in a televised speech on Friday evening, defying international pleas for both sides to show restraint. The developments illustrate how quickly the days-old conflict is escalating, raising the threat of a civil war that experts and diplomats warn would destabilise the country of 110 million people and hurt the…