Performing medical miracles in impoverished Venezuela

Patrick FORT
Wed, 26 January 2022



Performing medical miracles in impoverished VenezuelaThe La Milagrosa medical center in the Maniapure sector of Venezuela's Bolivar state is funded by donations and serves rural communities for miles around 

(AFP/Federico PARRA)

Venezuelan indigenous teenager Lidiana Requena lies on an old, dirty hammock under an awning, her sunken eyes gazing at her newborn baby in the arms of the village nurse.

Unable to reach a rural medical center miles away from the Amazonian village of Chaviripa in Venezuela's southwestern Bolivar state in time, she gave birth on the ground.

The 270 Chaviripa villagers -- including 180 members of the Enepa ethnicity -- live in extreme poverty, marked by a severe lack of medical facilities.

Nurse Carmen Olivo, 40, is used to making do with limited resources and has delivered dozens of babies.

"I barely have a pair of gloves. I don't even have a pair of scissors, I cut the (umbilical) cord with a knife," she said.

"Both the mother and baby could get infected. These aren't the conditions to give birth... There's nothing hygienic, there's no clean water, there's nothing," she added.

"These people are far from everything. They don't even have the resources to leave."

- 'Not a hospital' -

When Requena's contractions began at dawn, Olivo had sent word for a car to take her the nine miles (15 kilometers) to a Maniapure Foundation center that provides health services to rural communities.

But with no telephone or radio in Chaviripa, Olivo had to send a messenger to ask for the car -- which didn't arrive until after the birth.

At the La Milagrosa donation-funded center, Requena was examined by Natalia Vivas, a 24-year-old medical intern studying at the Central University in Caracas.

Speaking to her patient in a mixture of Spanish and the Enepa language, Vivas stitched up the tears caused by the birth.

"It is important to communicate, to tell them it is going to hurt a bit. The women often don't speak Spanish," she said.

Renowned cardiologist Dr. Tomas Sanabria co-founded the foundation with a Swiss-Venezuelan couple 25 years ago.

He said La Milagrosa now "attends to the largest number of patients in the area, but it is not a hospital."

The 74-year-old started coming to the region to camp in the 1960s as student.

"From the first visits we realized the Enepa and Creoles had many needs. They asked us for consultations."

In 1995, he secured funding from an NGO to install a doctor in the area.

"A salary for a rural doctor, a car to move around, a radio. That's all I asked for," he said.

"From the start we understood the importance of being able to communicate: telemedicine."

From only a radio to internet today, Sanabria said medical workers can resolve 90 to 95 percent of issues without a face-to-face visit.

"It is healthcare for everyone at minimal cost."

Once a year the foundation arranges for a group of around 30 specialists to visit the area.

They treat up to 1,800 patients in a matter of days.

- Symbolic contribution -

Every day, 50 to 100 patients visit the center. Some walk hours to get there.

Cristobal Quilelli cycled three hours with his wife and four-year-old daughter -- who was suffering from a fever and cough -- perched on his bicycle.

Occasionally a bus full of people arrives after an hours-long journey.

Domingo Antonio, 69, and Felix Gutierrez, 73, traveled the day before and slept at the center overnight to consult a doctor the next morning.

One had kidney, heart and prostate problems, the other was suffering from joint pains.

At the center's pharmacy, Alvaro Leal gave them free medicines.

"We ask for a symbolic contribution for each consultancy but we don't turn anyone away," said Leal.

France, one of the center's main benefactors, donates 600,000 euros ($674,000) a year to help protect "indigenous populations."

"We have to protect their languages, their customs and... their health," said French ambassador Romain Nadal.

Around 32 percent of patients at the La Milagrosa center are indigenous, said Sanabria.

Over time, the foundation has extended its reach beyond the center, providing medicines, medical supplies, training and internet access to rural pharmacies.

"Here, I cried, I suffered," said Marlene Campos, a nurse in La Urbana, a village on the shores of the Orinoco river.

Thanks to the foundation she can now treat many patients she used to send to a hospital several hours drive away.

"When I arrived, I wanted to leave. Now I feel useful, I've asked to stay another year."

pgf/jb/bc/sw

Los Angeles set to ban oil drilling in city


Oil derricks and pump jacks are not an uncommon sight in Los Angeles, the second biggest city in the United States (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN) (Frederic J. BROWN)


Wed, January 26, 2022


Los Angeles looks set to ban oil drilling in the city after councillors voted Wednesday to stop the construction of new wells and wind down those already operating.

While Hollywood, palm trees and sunny skies may be the popular image of the second biggest city in the United States, the metropolis is also the largest urban oil field in the country.

Thousands of active wells sit in densely populated and mostly low-income neighborhoods, abutting schools, homes, parks, shopping malls or cemeteries.

Though the heaving pump jacks are a part of the landscape, residents and environmental activists have long campaigned for their removal, saying they are a health risk.

City councillors voted Wednesday to ban new wells and ordered a study on how to phase out existing sites.

"Oil drilling in Los Angeles might have made sense in the early part of the 20th century, but it sure doesn't make a lot of sense now that we've become a megalopolis at the beginning of the 21st century," said Paul Krekorian, chairman of the city's budget committee.

There are 26 oil and gas fields in Los Angeles, and over 5,000 wells, according to the Department of City Planning.

"There are oil and gas facilities in nearly every section of the 503 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) of the city," Vincent Bertoni, the department's director, noted last year.

Ashley Hernandez, who has campaigned for the shuttering of drill sites, said she had been sickened as a child by the facilities, suffering nosebleeds and eye infections.

"I've lived in the front lines of neighborhood oil drilling my entire life and can't begin to express what I'm feeling inside being here in this moment," she told reporters after the vote.

hg/sw

Biden administration warns of risks in doing business in Myanmar after coup

BY LEXI LONAS - 01/26/22 

© Getty Images


The Biden administration is warning businesses of the risks of doing business in Myanmar after the military coup there last February.

The U.S. departments of State, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor and Treasury and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued an advisory on Wednesday warning businesses of illicit finance and money laundering risks that could occur in Burma.

The U.S. identified four primary industries the Burmese military is using as economic resources, including state-owned enterprises, gems and precious metals, real estate and construction projects and arms and materiel.

“The United States does not seek to curtail legitimate business and responsible investment in Burma. However, businesses and individuals should be wary of the associated illicit finance and money laundering risks, as well as reputational and legal risks, of conducting business and utilizing supply chains under military control in Burma,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

“The military regime has undermined the rule of law, facilitated widespread corruption, and committed serious human rights abuses, which exacerbate risks to foreign businesses operating in Burma or providing financial services to Burmese businesses,” he added.

Myanmar’s military overthrew the democratically elected government last year after claiming the nation's 2020 election was fraudulent. Since the takeover, more than 1,400 have been killed and thousands have been arrested and tortured.

Towards the end of December, the military killed 35 people, including women and children amid protests.

The U.S. has sanctioned dozens of officials and entities used by Myanmar’s military due to its human rights abuses.

“Businesses and individuals with potential exposure to, or involvement in, operations or supply chains tied to the military regime that do not conduct appropriate due diligence run the risk of engaging in conduct that may expose them to significant reputational, financial, and legal risks, including violations of U.S. anti-money laundering laws and sanctions, as well as abetting human rights abuses,” Price stated.

Major Australian energy firm Woodside announces Myanmar pullout

Australian petroleum company Woodside operates multiple exploration and drilling sites in Myanamar (AFP/WOODSIDE) (WOODSIDE)

Wed, January 26, 2022, 

Australian energy firm Woodside announced its withdrawal from junta-run Myanmar on Thursday, the latest company to head for the exit following a military coup last year.

"Woodside has decided to withdraw from its interests in Myanmar," the company said in a statement to shareholders after nine years of operating in the country.

The Perth-based petroleum giant cited "the deteriorating human rights situation" as part of the reason for the move, which will cost the company at least US$200 million.


The exit, which comes amid building international pressure on the junta, follows energy majors TotalEnergies and Chevron announcing their departures last week.

Woodside operates multiple exploration and drilling sites in Myanmar, where a military junta ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government last February, sending the Southeast Asian country into turmoil.

Junta opponents -- including allies of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy -- have gone into hiding, and "People's Defence Forces" have sprung up across the country to take on the military.

More than 1,500 people have died in the subsequent military crackdown and 11,000 have been arrested, according to a local monitoring group.

"Given the ongoing situation in Myanmar, we can no longer contemplate Woodside's participation in the development of the A-6 gas resources, nor other future activities in-country," said chief executive Meg O'Neill.

A-6 is a deepwater gas project off Myanmar's west coast in partnership with Total.

The US government this week warned companies worldwide that doing business with Yangon ran "the risk of engaging in conduct that may expose them to significant reputational, financial, and legal risks."

Investors and traders were warned specifically to avoid state-owned enterprises, the gems and precious metals sector, real estate and construction projects, and the arms business.

Myanmar's gas industry is estimated to be worth about US$1 billion a year.

The Western firms' departure will at least temporarily deprive the junta of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in foreign revenue at a time when the economy is under severe strain.

Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch in Australia, said Woodside's departure "underscores the urgent need for coordinated, targeted sanctions" aimed at the regime's natural gas revenues.

Thailand's state-owned PTT and South Korea's POSCO are among the companies that maintain operations in the country.

arb/cwl/jfx

ECOCIDE

Thailand rushes to contain oil spill after undersea leak


An oil spill off the coast of Thailand's Rayong province could threaten a national park in nearby Ko Samet island (AFP/Handout) (Handout)

Thu, January 27, 2022

Thailand's navy and pollution experts battled Thursday to clear up an oil spill close to pristine holiday beaches, after an undersea pipeline leaked up to 50 tonnes of crude.

The kingdom's Pollution Control Department has warned that the spill in the Gulf of Thailand, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong province, could threaten a national park in nearby Ko Samet island.

Weak currents have kept the oil away from coastal areas and there has been no reported impact on marine life or seafood farming, officials said.

Star Petroleum Refining Public Company Limited, which operates the pipeline, said the spill volume was between 20 and 50 tonnes -- around 22,000 to 60,000 litres.

The company said divers had found a failure in a flexible hose that formed part of the undersea equipment around a single point mooring -- a floating buoy used to offload oil from tankers.

The Pollution Control Department and other experts are assessing what type of dispersants to use on the spill, officials said at a joint news conference with the navy and other agencies.

A pipeline leak in the same area in 2013 led to a major slick that coated a beach on Ko Samet, leaving recovery workers in protective suits to clear up the blackened sand.

ton-pdw/axn/dva

A French citizens’ initiative – the ‘People’s Primary’ – aims to fix democracy

Romain BRUNET 

AFP


French voters who signed up for an online People’s Primary will begin choosing their preferred presidential candidate in four days of voting starting Thursday via “majority judgement”, a voting system touted as a solution to mounting disillusion with the electoral process.

© François Le Presti, AFP

The Primaire Populaire (People’s Primary) is a citizens’ initiative with an ambitious objective: to unite France’s weak and divided leftist parties behind a single candidate for the April presidential elections. In the process, it will be testing a novel voting method designed to counter mounting voter apathy and disenchantment with an electoral system that leaves many voters feeling left out.

Nearly half a million people registered for the primary, surpassing the organisers’ own expectations. They will choose between seven candidates in a four-day online primary that runs from Thursday morning and wraps up at 5pm on Sunday.

Of those seven only one prominent candidate, Socialist former justice minister Christiane Taubira, is willingly taking part, along with environmental activist Anna Agueb-Porterie, public health expert Charlotte Marchandise and MEP Philippe Larrouturou. But the three other heavyweights – leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo and the Greens’ Yannick Jadot – have all said they will ignore the outcome of the primary, making its first objective – to unite the left – virtually unattainable.

Instead, the primary’s experimental nature could prove to be its most lasting contribution: bypassing the country’s fragmented and discredited political parties and introducing a new electoral system designed to tackle voter abstention and build consensus around candidates with the best shot at winning.

Under majority judgement, voters express their opinions on each candidate by evaluating them individually instead of pitting them against each other from the start. The idea is to determine the candidate who has the best average grade and is therefore most acceptable to the wider electorate – while weeding out those who are deemed least palatable.

The system was invented in the early 2000s by French researchers Michel Malinski and Rida Laraki, whose aim was to address growing dissatisfaction with France’s traditional two-round electoral system. At the time, the country was reeling from the shock of the 2002 presidential election, which saw far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen qualify for the second round after winning less than 17 percent in the first. Le Pen came second in a crowded field that had split the leftist vote, winning a place in the final despite being roundly ejected by an overwhelming majority of the French electorate.
‘Tactical’ voting vs the will of the people

It had long been commonly assumed that France’s two-round voting system enabled voters to choose first “with their heart” (their favourite candidate) and then “with their head” (the candidate preferred between the two finalists). Since the Le Pen shocker, however, pollsters have registered a steady increase in “tactical voting” designed to preempt that type of outcome. As a result, it is increasingly common for voters to cast their ballots in favour of the “lesser evil” even as early as the first round.

“Our current system obliges voters to pick a single candidate who may or may not be their preferred choice,” says Chloé Ridel, a cofounder of advocacy group Mieux Voter (Vote Better), which champions majority judgement. “People end up voting against a candidate rather than for someone, and they can’t say what they think of other candidates,” she adds. “As a result, abstention and blank ballots (essentially, protest votes) are steadily increasing and the winner is elected without the backing of a majority of the public.”

France’s two-round presidential elections were originally designed to keep fringe candidates at bay and build consensus around the future president, who must garner 50 percent of the vote in the second round to clinch the presidency. However, tactical voting makes the nature of that “consensus” highly debatable; when president Jacques Chirac took a staggering 82 percent of the ballot in the 2002 run-off, that landslide was as much a rejection of Le Pen as it was an endorsement of the conservative incumbent.

>> French election history: Jean-Marie Le Pen's 'thunderclap' shocker

Advocates of majority judgement say it would have prevented such a distorted reading of the will of the electorate. For starters, it would have flagged Le Pen early on as the candidate with the highest likelihood of being rejected by voters. It would also have given a voice to the 42 percent of French voters who backed left-wing candidates in the first round but were left with none in the run-off.

Majority judgement might have prevented similar grievances after the 2017 election, in which Le Pen’s daughter Marine was also roundly beaten in a run-off – this time against newcomer Emmanuel Macron. As with Chirac’s landslide win, the 66 percent of votes that went for Macron in the second round hardly reflected his real level of support across the country. Nor did the electoral system take into account the more than 4 million blank votes cast in protest.

Under the proposed system, “there is no need to cast a protest vote since you can give all candidates a bad rating if you wish to”, Ridel explains. “Moreover, majority judgement obliges all candidates to reach out to the broader electorate, whereas the current electoral system encourages polarisation – since candidates only need to sway about 20 percent of voters to make it to the all-important second round.”
Game changer?

Voters taking part in the People’s Primary will rate each candidate using one of five grades: very good, good, fairly good, acceptable and bad. If the top candidates end up with the same average grade, calculating their “median rating” will determine the winner. For instance, if two candidates both have an “acceptable” average grade, the winner will be the one whose median rating is closest to “fairly good”.

A direct consequence of this voting method is the swift elimination of the most fringe candidates, who may have a small pool of dedicated supporters but are rejected by the broader electorate. Conversely, other candidates who are less divisive can see their fortunes improve dramatically under majority judgement.

Last month, pollster Opinion Way tested both methods with the same sample of voters and ended up with radically different outcomes for the April presidential elections. Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour scored rock bottom using majority judgement, despite winning 12 percent of the vote under current rules. In contrast, leftist Arnaud Montebourg – who has since dropped out of the presidential race – was ranked third out of 13 candidates using majority judgement, despite scoring a lowly 1 percent.

The survey found that Valérie Pécresse, the conservative Les Républicains candidate, and Macron both had the highest average grade (“acceptable”). But Pécresse topped the race thanks to her higher median rating, meaning she garnered more positive grades than Macron.

Comparable analyses have been done on other votes, including the 2016 race for the White House. Using data from the Pew Research Center, which asked voters to rate candidates from “great” to “terrible”, an article on the Open Democracy website noted that the respective frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, got more positive grades but also far more negative grades than their rivals, resulting in a poor “median rating”. The data led the author to conclude that “the US voting process failed because it designated the two ‘worst’ candidates for each party”.

The same article argued that majority judgement might also have resulted in a more nuanced and informed outcome for the Brexit vote, replacing the binary choice between “Leave” or “Remain” with a series of options – such as “No Deal”, “Leave but with customs union” or “Leave but with single market membership”.

Back in France, Ridel’s advocacy group has recently been questioned by lawmakers tasked with finding ways to modernise the electoral system and boost turnout. In a report submitted to the lower house National Assembly last month, the lawmakers suggested experimenting with majority judgement in some local elections.

Other agencies have already tested the method, including Macron’s own ruling party, La République en Marche, which used majority judgement in an internal ballot to pick party delegates in 2019. Paris City Hall also experimented with majority judgement last year, allowing residents to choose between projects designed and submitted by fellow citizens. Just over 100,000 people took part in the latter vote; with more than four times as many participants, the People’s Primary will mark majority judgement’s biggest test to date.

This article was adapted from the original in French.

Mekong region sees 224 new

 species, despite ‘intense

 threat’—report

Reuters / 12:11 PM January 26, 2022

A Megophrys frigida, or Mount Ky Quan San Horned Frog, is pictured at the Bat Xat Nature Reserve, in Mount Ky Quan San, Lao Cai, Vietnam, September 10, 2017. | PHOTO: Benjamin Tapley/WWF/Handout via REUTERS

BANGKOK — A devil-horned newt, drought-resilient bamboo and a monkey named after a volcano were among 224 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region in 2020, a conservation group said on Wednesday, despite the “intense threat” of habitat loss.

The discoveries listed in a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) include a new rock gecko found in Thailand, a mulberry tree species in Vietnam, and a big-headed frog in Vietnam and Cambodia that is already threatened by deforestation

The 224 discoveries underlined the rich biodiversity of the Mekong region, which encompasses Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and was testament to the resilience of nature in surviving in fragmented and degraded natural habitats, WWF said.

“These species are extraordinary, beautiful products of millions of years of evolution, but are under intense threat, with many species going extinct even before they are described,” said K. Yoganand, WWF-Greater Mekong’s regional lead for wildlife and wildlife crime.

The area is home to some of the world’s most endangered species, at risk of habitat destruction, diseases from human activities and the illegal wildlife trade.

A United Nations report last year said wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia was creeping back after a temporary disruption from coronavirus restrictions, which saw countries shut borders and tighten surveillance.

Neil Young removes music from Spotify, saying platform spreads disinformation

Neil Young made good on his vow to have his music removed from Spotify after demanding the streaming service choose between him and Joe Rogan, the controversial podcaster accused of spreading disinformation.

© Joshua Roberts, Reuters

The prolific, legendary singer behind "Heart of Gold" and "Harvest Moon" had published an open letter this week accusing Spotify of "spreading fake information about vaccines -- potentially causing death" by putting out Rogan's podcast that racks up millions of listens.

On Wednesday he published a second letter to his website, thanking his record company, Warner's Reprise Records for their support "in the name of truth."

He said Spotify accounts for 60 percent of his music's global streaming income.

Young has deemed the stand worth it: "Spotify has become the home of life threatening COVID misinformation," he wrote. "Lies being sold for money."

"I realized I could not continue to support SPOTIFY's life threatening misinformation to the music loving public."

His music was expected to come down within hours Wednesday evening, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported that the removal was confirmed.

Young had 2.4 million followers and over six million monthly listeners on the popular streaming platform.

Rogan has a multi-year exclusive deal with Spotify, reportedly to the tune of $100 million, and a massive following.

But critics say his podcast is a platform for peddling conspiracy theories and disinformation, particularly over Covid-19.

Rogan has discouraged vaccination in young people and promoted the off-label use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat the virus.

In a statement widely available across US media Spotify said Wednesday that "we want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid since the start of the pandemic."

"We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify," the service said, "but hope to welcome him back soon."

Young's move followed the publication in December of an open letter from 270 doctors, physicians and professors to Spotify, asking the service to "moderate misinformation on its platform."

"It is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform," read the letter.

It's not the first time the "Rockin' In The Free World" singer has removed his music from Spotify. In 2015 he did so after citing sound-quality issues.

In his latest missive, Young again blasted Spotify's sound, saying the company "continues to peddle the lowest quality in music production. So much for art."

"But now that is in the past for me," he wrote, recommending a number of other platforms that stream his music in high-resolution.

"Soon my music will live on in a better place."

(AFP)

SDF hunt down IS militants after

prison retake

AFP , Thursday 27 Jan 2022

Kurdish-led forces hunted down jihadists hiding in the Gweiran prison Thursday, after the prison was hit by an Islamic State group attack a weak ago, as human rights groups appealed for urgent help for wounded inmates.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) deploy outside Gweiran prison in Syria s northeastern city of Hasakeh on January 26, 2022. AFP

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Kurdish-led forces hunted down jihadists Thursday after retaking a Syria prison hit by an Islamic State group attack a week ago, as human rights groups appealed for urgent help for wounded inmates.

Related

 EXPLAINER: Who are the kids trapped in Syria prison attack?

 Syria Kurds retake prison, ending six-day IS attack

 Kurdish forces advance on IS militants in besieged Syria jail, appeal for help

Search operations across the sprawling complex in the city of Hasakeh found some jihadists still holed up in one wing of the prison a week after the brazen jailbreak attempt began.

The assault and ensuing clashes around the prison left more than 200 people dead in the jihadists' most high-profile military operation since the loss of their "caliphate" nearly three years ago.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said they had retaken full control of Gweiran prison on Wednesday, ending six days of battles that turned the largest city in northeastern Syria into a war zone.

In a statement on Thursday, the SDF said search operations inside the jail revealed "pockets of terrorists hiding in a northern section of the prison."

It estimated that around 60-90 fighters were still holed up in one section of the jail and said that its forces have called on them to surrender.

It said that 3,500 IS inmates have so far surrendered to its forces.

In a statement overnight, the SDF said it was "chasing down IS cells on the southwestern outskirts of Hasakeh city".

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "coalition aircraft targeted IS fighters hunkered down in areas around the prison overnight, killing at least seven."

It said 151 IS jihadists, 53 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians had been killed in the six days of violence.

The Kurdish authorities have insisted no inmates escaped from the compound but the Observatory has said significant numbers got away.

'Broader Crisis'

Gweiran held an estimated 3,500 IS inmates, including around 700 minors, when the initial IS attack began with explosives-laden vehicles driven by suicide bombers.

"The Kurdish-led forces' recapture of the prison ends this immediate deadly ordeal, but the broader crisis involving these prisoners is far from over," Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday.

"The US-led coalition and others involved need to quickly ensure that all prisoners, especially the wounded, ill and children, are safe and receive food, water and medical care," it added in a statement.

Prisoners who surrendered were being transferred to safer facilities as operations in Gweiran continued, the SDF said.

Kurdish authorities say more than 50 nationalities are represented in Kurdish-run prisons holding more than 12,000 IS suspects.

The Kurdish administration has long warned it does not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, all the IS fighters captured in years of operations.

"I think we should not have been surprised, we have been warning about this for quite some time," UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council Wednesday when asked about the attack.

The administration's foreign policy chief Abdulkarim Omar said it was up to the international community to put foreign jihadists on trial or repatriate them.

The IS threat is "like a fireball, it gets more dangerous and complicated with time," he told AFP on Wednesday.

The self-declared IS caliphate, established in 2014, once straddled large parts of Iraq and Syria.

After five years of military operations conducted by local and international forces, its last rump was eventually flushed out on the banks of the Euphrates in eastern Syria in March 2019.

Thousands of ISIS fighters surrender following US strikes on Syria prison uprising

The attack was the largest by ISIS since 2019

BY MAX HAUPTMAN | PUBLISHED JAN 26, 2022 

Photo: Syrian Democratic Forces.

Thousands of Islamic State fighters have surrendered after almost a week of fighting at a prison in Syria. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced Wednesday that they had re-taken control of the al-Sina’a prison in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasakah. 

A coalition official confirmed that “thousands” of ISIS prisoners were surrendering after almost a week of fierce fighting at the prison complex.

“The Coalition stands with our SDF partners who have fought with bravery and determination in Hasakah,” said Maj. Gen. John Brennan, Jr., commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, adding that, “The makeshift prisons throughout Syria are a breeding ground for Daesh’s failed ideology. We must thoroughly investigate the circumstances that allowed this attack to happen.”

The attack on al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah began with a series of car bombings at the prison complex, triggering a riot after some detainees overpowered guards. The prison is one of several across northeastern Syria, where thousands of captured ISIS fighters have been held since 2019, when coalition-led Kurdish forces captured the last major territory held by the group.

U.S. forces had assisted the SDF with airstrikes by Apache helicopters and F-16 jets.

On the ground, Bradley fighting vehicles provided perimeter security to SDF forces. Other footage showed what appeared to be U.S. special operations personnel taking up positions around the prison.

“We provided some support, real time surveillance, some airstrikes, and some ground support, mostly in the form of Bradley Fighting Vehicles positioned to help assist security in the area,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.

A coalition official confirmed Wednesday that the Bradley fighting vehicles “took and received fire” during the operation.

Footage released by the SDF showed re-captured detainees being led away from the prison.

“The final dance of the venom snakes in al-Sina’a prison,” read a statement from SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. “Game over Daesh.”

'Hostages rescued' after SDF regains control of IS-occupied prison

William Christou
Lebanon
26 January, 2022

The SDF says it has defeated a six-day long IS attack on a prison in Hasakeh, securing the safety of hostages in the process.


An SDF spokesperson said that the hostages were safe although other reports claimed otherwise [Getty]


The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Wednesday that they had regained full control of Ghwayran prison and secured the hostages held there, ending a six-day standoff with IS fighters which left at least 180 dead and 6,000 displaced.

The SDF's media centre announced on Wednesday afternoon that the prison had been reclaimed by SDF fighters and that all IS fighters had surrendered.

A spokesperson for the SDF, Aram Hanna, told The New Arab that all hostages had been rescued and that they were all in good health, though media reports have previously reported injuries and even deaths among the hostages.

Nearly 850 children had been held hostage by IS, with rights groups warning that the some of the children were injured and deprived of food and water.

Hanna’s account contradicted voice notes sent by minors in the prison which spoke of children and other hostages who were injured and perhaps even possibly killed.

One 17 year-old Australian hostage told his family that he had suffered a head wound and described seeing dead bodies around him.

At least 1,000 IS prisoners surrendered to the SDF, though it is unclear how many actually participated in the attack, and how many managed to escape. The prison housed up to 3,500 suspected IS fighters, including nearly 850 children between the ages of 12-18.

Hanna said that most of the hostages will be housed in temporary detention facilities, with the fate of others still unknown.

TheIS attack started last Thursday night with car bombs exploding by the prison walls, and fighters targeting the exterior of the prison.

At the same time, detainees staged a riot within the prison, attacking guards and taking prison staff hostage.

The SDF, with the support of the US-led coalition against IS, surrounded the prison and tried to entice IS fighters to surrender.

The Coalition conducted airstrikes on the prison and used Apache helicopters to target fighters from above.

The SDF also worked to secure the surrounding neighbourhoods, as IS fighters holed up in civilian homes and fired rounds from there.

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Paul McLoughlin

The presence of hostages in the prison made recapturing it difficult, with the SDF saying their priority was to secure the safety of the hostages rather than eliminate IS fighters.

The prison attack was the most significant attack by IS in Syria and Iraq since the group was territorially defeated in March 2019. Analysts have warned that the latest attacks signify the group’s growing strength and resurgence.

The SDF has housed 12,000 alleged IS fighters – 3,000 of them foreigners – in makeshift, dilapidated detention facilities since the fall of IS's self-styled "caliphate".

Despite calls for international assistance, most foreign nations have dragged their feet in repatriating their nationals. The Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the SDF, has accused the international community of abandoning their responsibilities.

On Wednesday, 130 Syrian civil society organizations issued a demand that the international community “start holding IS members accountable.”

The groups said that conditions for IDPs in northeast Syria need be improved, security conditions around the prisons should be strengthened, and that the UN should set up an evidence-gathering mechanism for crimes committed by IS and set up a process to hold the extremist group's members to account.

Rare snowfall carpets Jerusalem


Rare snowfall carpets JerusalemJewish worshippers trudge though the snow in front of Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest place where Jews can pray (AFP/Menahem KAHANA)

Thu, January 27, 2022, 

Snow carpeted Jerusalem and its holy places Thursday as a rare wintry storm swept across Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as the wider Middle East.

The cold snap, which has already caused major disruption in Athens and Istanbul, saw heavy snowfall in areas better known for their summer heat.

In the alleyways of Jerusalem's walled Old City, children pelted each other with slushy snowballs after the first flakes fell.

By morning, snow crowned the golden-tipped Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosgue compound, Islam's third holiest site, and carpeted the esplanade in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site where Jews can pray.

Israel's meteorological service reported that between 15 and 25 centimetres (six and 10 inches) of snow had fallen overnight.

The main highways leading into Jerusalem from the north, south and west were all blocked on Thursday morning. Police said snowploughs had worked all night to clear roads inside the city.

In a country little used to such wintry conditions, few motorists have snow chains for their cars.

Schools in Jerusalem and northern Israel were closed, leaving children free to play in the snow.

The snow cover was not expected to last as warmer temperature were forecast in the coming days.

The Israel Electric Company reported that power consumption reached an all-time high overnight as Israels switched on the heating.

Snow also covered higher parts of the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority closed schools and some public services.

mib/gl/kir