QAMISHLI, Syria: During the second week of August, the terror group Daesh carried out multiple attacks on Syrian regime soldiers in the governorates of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, leaving dozens dead and more injured.

With attacks in Syria’s central and eastern regions only continuing to grow in frequency and severity, some may wonder whether the group was truly eliminated when its defeat was announced in 2019.

BEIRUT: The Lebanese army turned away around 700 Syrians attempting to cross into the neighboring country illegally over the past week, the armed forces said in a statement on Wednesday.
The attempted influx coincides with days of rare protest in Syria’s southern city of Sweida, as dire living conditions stoke discontent in regime-held areas.
Millions of Syrians have already fled abroad since Syria’s war began in 2011 following the government’s repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.

CHICAGO: Despite painting a broadly optimistic picture of advances in the peace process in Yemen over the past 18 months, including the April 2022 truce agreement between nation’s government and the Houthis, the US special envoy to the country, Tim Lenderking, said the path forward remains “difficult and challenging.”

Following the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the latter of which backs and provides arms to the Houthis, the world “needs to see follow through on the commitments Iran has made” on Yemen, he added.

BEIRUT: Banned pesticides linked to cancer and other illnesses are being smuggled into Lebanon and used by farmers across the country, a former Lebanese health minister has claimed.

Wael Abou Faour said on Wednesday that harmful agricultural products prohibited in most countries are freely available on the Lebanese market and pose a growing threat to public health.

Some farmers are using the pesticides “out of ignorance, while others are aware of their danger, but use them out of lack of conscience,” the Democratic Gathering MP said.

BEIRUT: A Lebanese army helicopter crashed during a training mission in a forest east of Beirut on Wednesday night, killing two crew members and wounding one, the army said.
The army, in a terse statement, said the helicopter crashed near the mountain town of Hammana. It gave no further details.
Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic crisis in its modern history and the army has been severely affected. The nearly four-year meltdown is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s ruling class.