Mother and baby reunited nearly two months after earthquake

Earthquake survivor mother Yasemin Begdas reunites with her baby girl Vetin as Derya Yanik, minister of family and social services, looks on at a hospital in Adana, Turkiye. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 04 April 2023
Follow

Mother and baby reunited nearly two months after earthquake

ISTANBUL: A mother has been reunited with her baby in southern Turkiye after a DNA test confirmed it was her daughter, almost two months after a devastating earthquake ripped through the region, the country’s Family Ministry said.

The three-and-a-half-month old “miracle baby,” called Vetin, was pulled out of the rubble of a building in the province of Hatay more than five days after the Feb. 6 quake with no health problems, a ministry statement said.

The minister handed her over to her mother Yasemin Begdas at a hospital in the city of Adana 54 days after the disaster.

“Reuniting a mother and her child is one of the most precious tasks in the world,” Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanik was quoted as saying.

After initially being cared for at a hospital in Adana, the baby had been taken by the presidential plane to be cared for by authorities in Ankara.

A DNA test revealed that Yasemin was her mother and the baby was flown back to Adana, where the reunion took place at the hospital treating her.

More than 56,000 people were killed by the Feb. 6 earthquake and subsequent tremors, with 50,000 of those in Turkiye and the remainder in Syria.

The baby’s father and two brothers died in the quake, the ministry statement said.


Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak resigns

Updated 41 sec ago
Follow

Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak resigns

Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen's internationally recognized government, said on Saturday he had submitted his resignation.
In a statement, Mubarak said he had faced "lots of difficulties", including being unable to reshuffle the government.


MSF says its hospital bombed in South Sudan

Updated 1 min 27 sec ago
Follow

MSF says its hospital bombed in South Sudan

“The pharmacy was destroyed. All medical supplies lost,” MSF said

JUBA: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said one of its hospitals in South Sudan had been bombed early on Saturday, leading to the loss of all its medical supplies.
“At 4 am today, MSF’s hospital in Old Fangak, South Sudan, was bombed. The pharmacy was destroyed. All medical supplies lost. There are reports of people killed and injured,” the medical charity said in a statement.

UN chief condemns Israeli strikes on Syria

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

UN chief condemns Israeli strikes on Syria

  • Antonio Guterres ‘alarmed’ over reports of sectarian violence around Damascus, Suwayda
  • UN commission ‘deeply troubled’ after more than 100 people were killed in clashes this week

NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned repeated Israeli airstrikes on Syria as well as growing sectarian violence around Damascus and Suwayda.

The condemnation came after more than 100 people were killed in clashes in the Syrian Arab Republic over the past week.

The violence has taken place in two predominantly Druze suburbs of the capital, Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, as well as in the southern Druze stronghold of Suwayda.

Guterres “has been monitoring with alarm the reports of violence in the suburbs of Damascus and in the south of Syria, including reports of civilian casualties and assassination of local administration figures,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

The secretary-general condemned “all violence against civilians” and acts that “could risk inflaming sectarian tensions.”

Amid the sectarian clashes, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Syrian targets, in what it described as an attempt to protect the country’s Druze minority.

Early on Friday, it bombed an area near the Presidential Palace in Damascus. Later that day, it targeted the Damascus, Hama and Daraa countryside, killing one civilian in the former and injuring four people in Hama, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Israel acknowledged the strikes, which it claimed targeted “a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure.”

It followed a warning by Tel Aviv earlier this week that it would attack sites controlled by Syria’s new government if further sectarian clashes involving the Druze minority did not stop.

Guterres condemned Israel’s violation of Syria’s sovereignty and said it was “essential” that the attacks stop. He called on all parties to “cease all hostilities, exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation.”

Syria’s interim authorities under the government of President Ahmad Al-Sharaa must “transparently and openly” investigate all violations of peace in a bid to uphold their commitment to “dialogue and cooperation within the framework of national unity,” Guterres added.

On Friday, experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on the Commission of Inquiry on Syria described the surge in sectarian violence as “deeply troubling.”

The commission was established in 2011, and its three commissioners serve in an independent capacity.

“The spread of discriminatory incitement and hate speech, including through social media, is fueling violence and risks threating Syria’s fragile social cohesion,” the commission said on Friday. “While the situation remains fluid and an agreement has reportedly been reached between prominent leaders in Suwayda and the authorities in Damascus, the commission underscores that the interim government remains responsible for ensuring the protection of all civilians in areas under its control. Impunity for grave violations has in the past been a consistent driver of Syria’s conflict and must not be allowed to persist.”

The commission also highlighted the risk posed by Israeli airstrikes, as well as Tel Aviv’s continued expansion of its occupation in the Golan Heights.

Israel’s attempts to “divide various Syrian communities risks further destabilizing Syria,” it said.

“Syria’s recent history should serve as a reminder that external interventions have often led to increased violence, displacement and fragmentation.”


Sudan paramilitary drone strike hits border city near Eritrea: govt source

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

Sudan paramilitary drone strike hits border city near Eritrea: govt source

KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitaries have carried out a rare drone strike on the eastern city of Kassala, near the Eritrean border, a source from the rival army-aligned government said Saturday.
“A drone targeted the fuel storage area at Kassala airport,” the government source told AFP, blaming it on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and reporting no casualties or damage.


Gaza rescuers say three babies among 11 killed in Israel strike

Updated 03 May 2025
Follow

Gaza rescuers say three babies among 11 killed in Israel strike

  • An overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people
  • Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Saturday that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people including three babies up to a year old.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported 11 killed “after the bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in the Khan Yunis camp” in southern Gaza at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT).
Bassal told AFP that eight of the dead had been identified and were all from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one-year-olds, and a month-old baby.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas that was triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
On Friday the civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people across the war-ravaged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade since March 2.
Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza, saying Hamas had diverted supplies. Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure the militants into releasing hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
UN agencies have urged Israel to lift restrictions, saying that Gazans were experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and warning of famine.