ISTANBUL: Turkey’s air force on Sunday shot down an unidentified drone on the Syrian border after it breached Turkish air space six times, the defense ministry said.
“An unmanned aerial vehicle which violated our air space six times (on Saturday)… was downed by two of our F-16s which took off from Incirlik” air base in southern Turkey, the defense ministry said, sharing pictures of the downed drone.
The ministry said it was not known who the drone belonged to but said it was grounded at 1.24 p.m. local time.
“The wreck of the drone was found at the Cildiroba base” by the Turkish gendarmerie in the Kilis province near the Syrian border, the ministry said.
The Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24, aircraft, in the Turkey-Syria border area in 2015, sparking an unprecedented crisis in the two countries’ relations.
That was condemned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “stab in the back” but the two countries later reconciled and worked together on the Syrian crisis although they remain on opposite sides of the conflict.
Turkey backs rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar Assad while Moscow is one of the few remaining allies of the regime in Damascus.
 

CAIRO: The case of a four-year-old girl tortured to death by her grandmother has triggered widespread anger in Egypt.

Reports said Jana, who lived in a village in Mansoura province, died on Saturday, days after she was admitted to hospital with severe burns.

The case has sparked outcry and drawn attention to the levels of child abuse in Egypt.

The police report said Jana was tortured using an iron “by her maternal grandmother” who inflicted burns on her body that led to blood poisoning, a severe drop in blood circulation and collapse of her respiratory systems, Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported.

Her injuries were so severe that her leg had to be amputated three days before her death.The girl’s aunt claimed in police investigations that Jana told her that the grandmother had burnt her around the genitalia.

The grandmother, now in police custody, denies the allegations, the reports said.

Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, said he had been deeply hurt to hear of the “brutal crime committed against the innocent girl Jana.”

“What she experienced from torture and burning is a humanitarian disaster by all means.”

In response, Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Muslim authority, is launching a campaign on Mondy against child abuse and domestic violence.The awareness campaign aims to revive the importance of kindness towards children.

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces have killed 15 suspected militants in a shootout in restive north Sinai, the interior ministry said Sunday.
A militant group was “planning hostile acts targeting military and police forces…in order to destabilize national security,” the ministry said in a statement.
It did not name a specific group, but said “terrorist elements” had been hiding in a farm in El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province.
When forces approached, “the militants shot live rounds forcing troops to deal with them (and) leading to 15 deaths.”
Graphic pictures of the bodies of the alleged militants were sent along with the Sunday press release.
Authorities also said they found a small trove of stashed weapons including an explosive belt, several rifles and an explosive device.
The ministry did not specify when the reported shootout took place, but Sunday’s announcement follows recent military operations in Sinai that authorities say killed 118 suspected militants.
Nine soldiers were killed and one wounded in those “counter-terrorism” operations, a military statement said on Friday.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi paid tribute to the dead personnel in a series of tweets late Friday, describing “terrorism” as a “cancer still trying to kidnap the nation.”
In February 2018, Egypt’s military launched a nationwide offensive against extremist militants, focused mainly on North Sinai, where Daesh still has a significant presence.
Some 665 suspected militants and around 60 soldiers have been killed since, according to official figures.

SANAA: A fuel shortage is deepening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, forcing drivers to wait for days in queues that stretch back from some petrol stations as far as the eye can see.
The new shortage is just one of many problems causing suffering in the civil war being fought by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition backed by the West.
But its consequences are far-reaching. Fuel is needed not just for cars but also for water pumps, hospital generators and to transport goods around a country where millions are on the brink of famine.
“It’s affecting us and all the Yemeni people,” said Nashwan Khaled, who had already been waiting for two days in a queue for petrol in Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital where many petrol stations have been forced to close.
“I put my job and my life on hold,” he said.
Petrol on the black market is selling for almost three times the official price. Drivers can queue for two or three days.
“Fuel shortages in Yemen exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in the country and lead to unacceptable levels of suffering,” said Sultana Begum, a representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council humanitarian organization.
Supplies can be held at ports and frontline borders for months because of bureaucracy on both sides, aid agencies say.
“Today we are in a very bad situation, there’s a fuel crisis and they are stopping fuel ships from entering Yemen with the excuse of security,” said Ahmed Nasser, standing at a petrol station. “We suffer shortages of fuel, goods, all commodities.”
A Djibouti-based UN inspection mechanism was set up in 2015 after the coalition accused the Houthis of smuggling Iranian weapons through Yemeni ports under their control, a charge both the group and Tehran deny.
Ships also need permission from the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Western-backed, Sunni Muslim coalition to enter ports.
Last week, United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock said he was concerned that imports were being further complicated by new Yemeni government regulations on commercial fuel.

UNITED NATIONS: Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem on Saturday demanded an immediate withdrawal of all US and Turkish troops from his country and warned that Syrian government forces had the right to take countermeasures if they refused.
The United States has around 1,000 troops in Syria tackling Daesh militants. Turkey has also launched military incursions into northern Syria, targeting Daesh and Kurdish YPG fighters.
“Any foreign forces operating in our territories without our authorization are occupying forces and must withdraw immediately,” Al-Moualem said during an address to the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.
“If they refuse, we have the right to take any and all countermeasures authorized under international law,” he said.
US President Donald Trump last year ordered the complete withdrawal of US troops from Syria — only to later be convinced to leave some forces behind to ensure that Daesh militants cannot stage a comeback.
The US intervention in Syria began with air strikes in September 2014 under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
While Syria did not approve a US presence there, the Obama administration justified the military action under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which covers the individual or collective right of states to self-defense against armed attack.
“The United States and Turkey maintain an illegal military presence in northern Syria,” Al-Moualem said, describing US and Turkish efforts to create a “safe zone” inside Syria as a violation of the UN Charter.
Turkey plans to build homes to settle 1 million Syrian refugees in the zone.
The United States and Turkey have started joint land and air patrols along part of Syria’s border with Turkey, but Ankara remains angry with Washington’s support for the YPG, which has been a key US ally in fighting Islamic State in Syria.
A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, and Daesh militants used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq.
Assad’s forces have been backed by Russian air power and have been waging an offensive in the Idlib region in the country’s northwest, the last major chunk of territory still in rebel hands after more than eight years of war.
Western states have accused Russian and Syrian forces of targeting civilians in northwest Syria, a charge they deny. They say they are targeting militants.
“We are determined to continue our war against terrorism in all its forms until rooting out the last remaining terrorist,” Al-Moualem said.