ISTANBUL: A magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck northwest Turkiye during Wednesday’s early hours, injuring at least 35 people.
The shallow tremor struck about 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of Istanbul, the country’s largest city, where it was strongly felt.
National authorities said the quake was at a magnitude of 5.9 — lower than the 6.1 given by the US Geological Survey — and its epicenter was in Duzce province’s Golyaka district, though it also shook other nearby cities.
“We were woken up with a big noise and tremor,” Duzce resident Fatma Colak told AFP.
“We got out of our homes in panic and now we are waiting outside.”
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that 35 people were injured including 32 in Duzce, one in Istanbul and the other two in the nearby provinces of Bolu and Zonguldak.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, who visited Golyaka, said one person was seriously hurt after jumping from a balcony out of panic.
He said 70 aftershocks had been recorded.
Initial images showed people covered in blankets outside their homes during the early morning. Some were seen placing blankets on the floor outside, and lighting fires for warmth.
Authorities said schools would be closed on Wednesday in Duzce and Sakarya provinces.
Soylu said that, apart from a few ruined barns, there were no reports of heavy damage or building collapses, but inspections were continuing.
National disaster agency the AFAD said there were controlled blackouts in the Duzce region, urging residents not to panic.
Turkiye is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.
Duzce was one of the regions hit by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in 1999 — the worst to hit Turkiye in decades.
That quake killed more than 17,000 people, including about 1,000 in Istanbul.
Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate Istanbul, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.
A magnitude-6.8 quake hit Elazig in January 2020, killing more than 40 people.
And in November that year, a magnitude-7.0 quake hit the Aegean Sea, killing 114 people and wounding more than 1,000.
At least 35 hurt after magnitude-6.1 quake in Turkiye
https://arab.news/6u6sb
At least 35 hurt after magnitude-6.1 quake in Turkiye
Chinese fighter jets soar over Egypt in first joint exercises
- Drills showcased China’s military hardware, Egypt’s regional clout
- Beijing expanding defense and technology ties in North Africa
BEIJING: The sound of Chinese fighter jets roared over the Egyptian pyramids and could echo across the Middle East, as Beijing wrapped up military drills with Cairo aimed at chipping away at US strategic influence in the volatile region.
China’s military on Monday released videos of its fast jets, helicopters and transport planes flying high above the Sahara and hailing inaugural joint air force exercises with Egypt as “a signal of deepening military ties and shifting alliances.”
The joint exercises with one of the United States’ biggest security partners come as Washington increasingly turns inward under President Donald Trump, allowing China to deepen ties across North Africa and invest billions in security projects.
“As Egypt looks beyond its traditional US partnership, a new era of cooperation is taking flight over Cairo’s skies,” said a video released by the international division of state broadcaster CCTV, as a jet plane takes off into the night.
Global Times, a tabloid owned by the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, People’s Daily, said the “Eagles of Civilization 2025” drills had established a foundation for various potential cooperation between the two countries’ militaries at a time when Egypt is trying to upgrade its combat equipment, citing experts.
Analysts say the 18-day drills also help Egypt assert itself as a major regional power among the Arab nations and North Africa amid growing regional turbulence.
“It’s great public diplomacy for (China), particularly in the Middle East,” said Eric Orlander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project. “It’s what brings people in the door for them to sell drones, SAMs, light arms, transports, et cetera.”
“A major regional power needs an Air Force, right?” he added.
Orlander cautioned that switching jet fighter systems is very expensive, and Washington could choose to withhold financial military support from Cairo if it upped its purchases of Chinese technologies.
But the United States — the primary security partner to Egypt, neighboring Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states since the late seventies — has made large foreign cuts under Trump that have been keenly felt across the region.
And with the Gaza crisis unfolding to its north-east, ethnic violence in Sudan to the south, and political instability in Libya to its west, Egypt finds itself squeezed on three fronts.
China has since pledged billions in fresh investment for projects such as satellite manufacturing facilities in Egypt capable of producing military-grade surveillance equipment.
Beijing’s air force said the drills represented “a new starting point and a significant milestone in military cooperation between the two countries,” in a statement marking their conclusion.
First Jordanian passenger jet lands in Syria’s Aleppo after 14-year hiatus
- The airline said it will run three flights per week from Amman to Aleppo
CAIRO: A Royal Jordanian Airlines passenger jet landed in Aleppo on Tuesday, marking the company’s first flight to the city after nearly 14 years.
The flight was from Amman to Aleppo International Airport, according to the Syrian News Agency.
The airline said it would run three flights a week from Amman to Aleppo, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, SANA reported.
Royal Jordanian had operated a trial flight in March to assess the airport’s technical and security readiness.
The airline began commercial flights to Damascus in January, according to a previous SANA report.
Top Hamas official says Gaza truce talks no longer of interest
- A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza
GAZA: A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel's "hunger war" against Gaza.
"There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip," Basem Naim told AFP.
He said the world must pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the "crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings" in Gaza.
The comments by Naim, a Hamas political bureau member and former Gaza health minister, come a day after Israel's military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing "most" of its residents.
On Monday Israel's security cabinet approved the military's plan for expanded operations, which an Israeli official said would entail "the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories".
Nearly all of the territory's residents inhabitants have been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2 and faces a severe humanitarian crisis.
Israel's military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a radio interview on Tuesday called Israel's plan for a Gaza offensive "unacceptable", and said its government was "in violation of humanitarian law".
Sudan’s paramilitary unleashes drones on key targets in Port Sudan
- The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war
- Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport
CAIRO: Sudan’s paramilitary unleashed drones on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan early Tuesday, hitting key targets there, including the airport, the port and a hotel, military officials said. The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war.
There was no immediate word on any casualties or the extent of the damage. Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport. Footage circulating online showed thick smoke rising over the area.
The attack on Port Sudan, which also serves as an interim seat for Sudan’s military-allied government, underscores that after two years of fighting, the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are still capable of threatening each other’s territory.
The RSF drones struck early in the morning, said two Sudanese military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Abdel-Rahman Al-Nour, a Port Sudan resident, said he woke up to strong explosions, and saw fires and plumes of black smoke rising over the port. Msha’ashir Ahmed, a local journalist living in Port Sudan, said fires were still burning late Tuesday morning in the southern vicinity of the maritime port.
The attack apparently disrupted air traffic at the airport, with Cairo airport data in neighboring Egypt showing that three Port Sudan-bound flights were canceled on Tuesday.
The RSF did not release any statements on the attack. On Sunday, the paramilitary force struck Port Sudan for the first time in the war, disrupting air traffic in the city’s airport, which has been the main entry point for the county in the last two years.
A military ammunition warehouse in the Othman Daqna air base in the city was also hit, setting off a fire that burned for two days.
When the fighting in Sudan broke out, the focus of the battles initially was the country’s capital, Khartoum, which turned into a war zone. Withing weeks, Port Sudan, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east of Khartoum, turned into a safe haven for the displaced and those fleeing the war. Many aid missions and UN agencies moved their offices there.
The attacks on Port Sudan are also seen as retaliation after the Sudanese military earlier this month struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, which the paramilitary RSF has turned into a base and where it gets shipments of arms, including drones.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum. From there, the fighting spread to other parts of the country.
Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including four million crossed into neighboring countries. It also pushed parts of the country into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western Darfur region, according to the United Natios. and international rights groups.
Syrian president expected to visit France soon
- Sharaa in February received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the ‘coming weeks’
Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is expected to visit France soon, a statement by the Syrian president’s office said, without specifying a date.
Sharaa in February received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the “coming weeks.”
