CAIRO: A fire aboard the Hong Kong-flagged ASL Bauhinia on Tuesday was not linked to Houthi attacks, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Joint Maritime Information Center said on Wednesday.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, JMIC said.
A maritime security source told Reuters that the fire resulted from hazardous cargo on board.
There has been a spate of fires on board container ships in recent years due to flammable cargoes.
The crew of the container ship abandoned it in the Red Sea on Tuesday, according to two maritime sources.
Houthis have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this month, the Houthis said the group would limit its attacks on commercial vessels sailing through the Red Sea to Israel-linked ships, provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.
Since the Houthi attacks began, most vessels have diverted to the longer east-west route via the southern tip of Africa.
Ship fire in Red Sea not linked to Houthi attacks, maritime center says
https://arab.news/brahb
Ship fire in Red Sea not linked to Houthi attacks, maritime center says
- Since the Houthi attacks began, most vessels have diverted to the longer east-west route via the southern tip of Africa
Three injured in Iraq when an axe-wielding man attacks an Assyrian Christian new year parade
He struck three people with the axe before being stopped by participants and security forces
IRBIL: The annual parade by Assyrian Christians in the Iraqi city of Dohuk to mark their new year was marred Tuesday when an axe-wielding man attacked the procession and wounded three people, witnesses and local officials said.
The parade, held every year on April 1, drew thousands of Assyrians from Iraq and across the diaspora, who marched through Dohuk in northern Iraq waving Assyrian flags and wearing colorful traditional clothes.
Witnesses said the attacker, who has not been officially identified, ran toward the crowd shouting Islamic slogans.
He struck three people with the axe before being stopped by participants and security forces. Videos circulated online showed him pinned to the ground, repeatedly shouting, “Daesh, the Daesh remains.”
The victims included a 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman, both of whom suffered skull fractures. A member of the local security forces, who was operating a surveillance drone, was also injured. All three were hospitalized, local security officials said.
At the hospital where her 17-year-old son Fardi was being treated after suffering a skull injury in the attack, Athraa Abdullah told The Associated Press that her son had come with his friends in buses. He was sending photos from the celebrations shortly before his friends called to say he had been attacked, she said.
Abdullah, whose family was displaced when Daesh militants swept into their area in 2014, said, “We were already attacked and displaced by Daesh, and today we faced a terrorist attack at a place we came to for shelter.”
Janet Aprem Odisho, whose 75-year-old mother Yoniyah Khoshaba was among the wounded, said she and her mother were shopping near the parade when the attack happened.
“He was running at us with an axe,” she said. “All I remember is that he hit my mother, and I ran away when she fell. He had already attacked a young man who was bleeding in the street, then he tried to attack more people.”
Her family, originally from Baghdad, was also displaced by past violence and now lives in Ain Baqre village near the town of Alqosh.
Assyrians faced a wave of hate speech and offensive comments on social media following the incident.
Ninab Yousif Toma, a political bureau member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), condemned the regional government in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region and Iraqi federal authorities to address extremist indoctrination.
“We request both governments to review the religious and education curriculums that plant hate in people’s heads and encourage ethnic and religious extremism,” he said. “This was obviously an inhumane terrorist attack.”
However, he said that the Assyrian community had celebrated their new year, known as Akitu, in Duhok since the 1990s without incidents of violence and acknowledged the support of local Kurdish Muslim residents.
“The Kurds in Duhok serve us water and candy even when they are fasting for Ramadan. This was likely an individual, unplanned attack, and it will not scare our people,” he said, adding that the community was waiting for the results of the official investigation and planned to file an official lawsuit.
“The Middle East is governed by religion, and as minorities, we suffer double because we are both ethnically and religiously different from the majority,” he said. “But we have a cause, and we marched today to show that we have existed here for thousands of years. This attack will not stop our people.”
Despite the attack, Assyrians continued the celebrations of the holiday, which symbolizes renewal and rebirth in Assyrian culture as well as resilience and continuous existence as an indigenous group.
At one point, as the injured teenager was rushed to the hospital, some participants wrapped his head in an Assyrian flag, which was later lifted again in the parade— stained with blood but held high as a symbol of resilience.
Nationwide power outage in Syria due to malfunctions, energy minister’s spokesperson says
- Syria suffers from severe power shortages, with state-supplied electricity available for only two or three hours a day in most areas
DAMASCUS: Syria suffered a nationwide power outage on Tuesday night due to malfunctions at several points in the national grid, a spokesperson from the energy ministry told Reuters.
The spokesperson said technical teams were addressing the issues.
Syria suffers from severe power shortages, with state-supplied electricity available for only two or three hours a day in most areas. Damage to the grid means that generating or supplying more power is only part of the problem.
Damascus used to receive the bulk of its oil for power generation from Iran, but supplies have been cut off since Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham led
the ouster of Tehran-allied former president Bashar Assad in December.
The former interim government under President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has pledged to quickly ramp up power supply, partly by importing electricity from Jordan and using floating power barges.
Damascus also said it will receive two electricity-generating ships from Turkiye and Qatar to boost energy supplies.
Turkish opposition calls for boycott over jailed students
- Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said it was opening an investigation against people who had launched or shared calls for a boycott
ISTANBUL: The leader of Turkiye’s main opposition party has called for a boycott on Wednesday to protest the detention of students rallying in support of Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor.
“Stop all purchases! Supermarkets, online shopping, restaurants, petrol, coffees, bills, buy nothing,” said Ozgur Ozel, head of the CHP party to which mayor Ekrem Imamoglu belongs, on Tuesday.
“I invite everyone to use their consumer power by participating in this boycott,” added Ozel, echoing an appeal launched by student groups.
Ozel said 301 students have been arrested and detained for taking part in the protests against the detention on March 19 of Imamoglu, widely considered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s greatest political rival.
In the wake of his message, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office said it was opening an investigation against people who had launched or shared calls for a boycott, according to the official Anadolu news agency.
That investigation would notably probe “incitement to hatred,” the agency added.
Lawyers and politicians supportive of Imamoglu have denounced rough treatment of students by police.
The CHP leader had already launched a call to boycott dozens of Turkish companies and groups reputed to be close to the government, in a bid to put pressure on the authorities.
Imamoglu’s arrest on corruption charges, which he denies, have set off a wave of popular protests unseen in Turkiye for more than a decade.
Turkiye’s authorities had banned demonstrations in Istanbul, the large western city of Izmir and the capital Ankara in response.
How grassroots activists are stepping in to care for Sudan’s war-scarred communities
- Sudan’s conflict has left millions without access to basic services, forcing civilians to become self reliant
- Volunteer networks have become essential, filling gaps left by humanitarian aid shortages and failing state institutions
LONDON: Abandoned by the rest of the world and condemned to endure a crisis with no apparent end in sight, communities in war-torn Sudan are taking matters into their own hands, providing public services in place of state institutions that have long since collapsed.
Grassroots efforts are being made to help families who have chosen to remain in Sudan to cope with the trauma of war, from mental health support in emergency response rooms, known as ERRs, to volunteer networks reuniting displaced loved ones.
Two years into the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, aid delivery remains sporadic, internet access unreliable, and violence a persistent threat to civilian lives and infrastructure.
Despite this, networks of volunteers, many of them war survivors themselves, have stepped into the vacuum to assist others — offering a quiet form of resilience in the face of events beyond their control.
“We provide free mental health services to individuals and groups who are victims of war,” Maab Labib, a mental health professional and coordinator of the psychosocial support team at the Bahri Emergency Room, one of the most active ERRs in the capital, told Arab News.
“We currently have 25 therapists and psychologists. So far, we’ve provided individual psychological support to over 1,500 people.”
Founded in the first week of the war, the team’s reach now extends well beyond Bahri to other parts of Khartoum and multiple states across Sudan. The initiative combines online consultations with in-person group sessions held in safe areas.
“Our services are not limited by age, gender or nationality,” said Labib. “We have supported Sudanese and non-Sudanese, survivors of gender-based violence, and even soldiers.”
However, the weight of the war has not spared the caregivers. “The service providers themselves are displaced and traumatized. We offer peer-to-peer emotional support, but the lack of resources and the constant threat of violence make it very hard to continue.”
In the absence of functioning public institutions, the Bahri Emergency Room team is part of a wider constellation of mutual aid structures that emerged from Sudan’s revolutionary fabric.
These include communal kitchens, neighborhood support groups, and psychological first aid training programs — many of which trace their origins to the 2018-19 uprising against long-time ruler Omar Bashir.
According to Guido Lanfranchi, a research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank, these local support networks reflect a deeper political dimension.
“They are a beacon of hope, showing that people can come together to support each other even as the state collapses and militarization deepens,” he told Arab News. “They don’t have power to influence military dynamics, but they keep alive the spirit of the revolution.”
Yet that very symbolism has made them targets. “Mutual aid groups are being attacked by both sides,” Anette Hoffmann, also of the Clingendael Institute, told Arab News.
“Early in the war, the SAF issued a law banning service committees. In RSF-controlled areas, groups have been accused of collaborating with the enemy. And some volunteers have even been asked by the RSF to work with them in exchange for money.”
She added: “Romanticizing their efforts is dangerous. They are desperate for support and very capable of managing large-scale funding — yet the international community has largely turned away.”
According to the UN, almost 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — are now in need of humanitarian assistance, making it one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing crises.
The recent suspension of USAID-funded programs has worsened the situation dramatically, especially in regions where US-backed partners were among the few delivering food, medical supplies, and protection services.
The shutdown has forced numerous nongovernmental organizations to scale back or cease operations altogether, increasing the burden on under-resourced local initiatives.
For many communities, the loss of these lifelines has meant the difference between a meal and an empty stomach, between trauma support and suffering in silence.
That vacuum is deeply felt by grassroots groups trying to maintain food programs and trauma support across multiple regions.
The Safe Haven Organization, formerly known as the Save Geneina Initiative, is one such group. It operates across both Sudan and Chad, managing kitchens and child-friendly spaces in displacement centers.
“In Sudan, we supported 4,500 families a day through our kitchens,” Mozamul Mohammed Ali, himself a refugee and now project manager in Adre, eastern Chad, told Arab News.
“But some kitchens had to stop due to lack of funds. In places like Algazira and Sennar, we simply could not continue.”
Ali, who lives in a refugee camp, described the pressures local initiatives now face.
“When other NGOs — especially those backed by USAID — pulled out, it fell to us to cover more and more people,” he said. “We depend on crowdfunding, and we keep going because we’re part of the same community.”
As a result, they have had to adapt over time. “At first it was just food, then healthcare, then mental health. Now we’re doing reunifications,” he said.
“We found a 9-year-old boy who was separated from his family for nearly a year while crossing into Chad. Our volunteers located him in Abeche, and after receiving psychological support, he was reunited with his parents.”
Inside Sudan, the organization’s reach continues despite the chaos. “We work in army-held areas, using volunteers from within each community,” said Ali.
“But there are more displaced people now. More trauma. Inflation is up. Fuel is scarce. Even communication is hard — blackouts and bad networks slow everything down.”
Mental health problems, in particular, are a growing concern. “There’s a significant rise in trauma-related disorders, especially among women and children,” Mohammed Abkar Goma, a trauma center manager for Safe Haven, told Arab News.
“But stigma remains high. People are afraid to seek help.”
To bridge this gap, the group also trains non-specialists in psychological first aid. “We focus on breathing, grounding, listening,” said Goma. “Our goal is to help people hold each other through trauma — especially in camps and shelters where professional services are not available.”
Despite the resilience of these community-level initiatives, grassroots leaders say they cannot do it alone. “The needs have become more complex,” said Ali.
“We started with just food and shelter. Now, we need sustained health services, education, and trauma care. And we need the international community to recognize that we can manage these programs only if we get the support.”
Lanfranchi of the Clingendael Institute believes Sudan’s grassroots activists — the remnants of a once flourishing civil society — need all the help they can get.
“It’s a form of quiet political defiance,” he said. “The state is collapsing. International actors are absent. And yet, these community groups are stepping in — not just to survive, but to resist fragmentation.”
And despite the risks posed by Sudan’s armed actors, the volunteers say they have no choice but to continue. “We are not heroes,” said Ali. “We just couldn’t watch our people suffer without doing something.”
Three Palestinians injured in settler attack on West Bank village
- 300 settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Duma
- All three victims were transferred to a hospital for medical treatment
JERUSALEM: Three Palestinians were injured on Tuesday in an attack by Israeli settlers near the city of Nablus in the Occupied West Bank, Palestinian media reported.
Local media said around 300 settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Duma, setting fire to farms and damaging vehicles, and that three residents were shot with live and rubber bullets.
The Israeli military said dozens of Israeli civilians had set fire to property in the area, after which “a violent confrontation” developed between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israeli soldiers and police officers were dispatched and “began operating to disperse the violent confrontation,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
All three victims were transferred to a hospital for medical treatment, Palestinian medics said.
Palestinians in the West Bank have regularly complained of the growing violence and strength of settler incursions in Palestinian areas, which have seen repeated attacks.
