Middle East Experience

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday evil has returned to Ukraine as he gave an emotional address for Victory Day, when Europe commemorates the formal surrender of Germany to the Allies in World War Two.The life that soldiers fought for in that war came to an end on February 24 when Russian forces invaded, he said in a video message.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“The evil has returned. Again!” Zelenskyy said. “In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose.”But he said Ukraine and its allies will win.“No evil can escape responsibility, it cannot hide in a bunker,” he added.Nazi leader Adolf Hitler spent the last days of his life in a bunker in Berlin where he committed suicide in the final days of the war.Moscow calls its actions since February 24 a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it what it calls “Nazis” and anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.The invasion in Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced nearly 10 million people. It has left Russia in the grip of tough Western sanctions, and has raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the West.In Russia, Victory Day on May 9 is one of the country’s most important national events - a remembrance of the enormous sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany.Read more:Patriotism, unease mix in Russia as it marks WWII Victory DayRussians plan to launch alternative to Google Play on Victory DayNo plans for Victory Day events in Mariupol: Kremlin
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Zelenskyy says ‘evil has returned’ on WWII Victory Day, in reference to Russia

More Syrian children are in need than at any time since a devastating civil war erupted over a decade ago, but funding for them is “dwindling,” the United Nations warned Sunday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“Syria’s children have suffered for far too long and should not suffer any longer,” the UN children’s agency said in a statement, noting that 12.3 million were in need of aid both inside the country and in the wider region where they had fled.“More than 6.5 million children in Syria are in need of assistance, the highest number recorded since the beginning of the crisis, more than 11 years ago,” it added.Syria’s war is estimated to have killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions since it began with a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011. It escalated to pull in foreign powers and global extremists.“Children’s needs, both inside Syria and in neighboring countries, are growing,” said Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s Middle East chief.“Many families struggle to make ends meet. Prices of basic supplies including food are skyrocketing, partially as a result of the crisis in Ukraine.”Children are among the most vulnerable and the UN warned they are bearing the brunt of the impact.“In Syria’s neighboring countries, strained by political instability and fragility, nearly 5.8 million children depend on assistance, their lives riddled with poverty and hardship,” Khodr added.UNICEF said they faced a severe cash shortfall to provide aid.“Funding for humanitarian operations is meanwhile fast dwindling,” Khodr said. “UNICEF has received less than half of its funding requirements for this year.”UNICEF called for $20 million to fund “cross-border operations” in northwest Syria -- the country’s last major rebel enclave -- to create “the only lifeline for nearly one million children.”Read more: Unidentified aircraft target Syrian regime: War monitorFrustration growing among US diplomats at the State DepartmentBashar al-Assad's family likely worth $1-2 billion, US report says
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Record 12.3 million Syrian children need aid: UN

Russia has lost around 25,500 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion on February 24, local news media The Kyiv Independent reported on Sunday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Russia has also lost approximately 1,130 tanks, 2,741 armored personnel vehicles (APV), and 509 artillery systems, an infographic released by the newspaper showed, citing the Ukraine Armed Forces.Other losses included 1,961 vehicles and fuel tanks, 199 planes, 156 helicopters, 92 cruise missiles, 12 boats, 179 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and 360 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s latest update on Sunday, Russia “suffered the greatest losses (of the past day) at the Novopavlivsk direction.”Russia “continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine,” and has not stopped its military operations in the “Eastern Operational Zone,” the ministry added in an earlier update on Sunday.“Certain units of the Armed Forces of the Russian federation continue to carry out tasks to cover the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Bryansk and Kursk regions,” the ministry said, highlighting that Russia was also blocking Ukrainian units in Mariupol.“In the Mariupol direction, Russian enemy continues to blockade our units in the area of the Azovstal plant and, with the support of artillery and tank fire, carries out assault operations,” and that it continues to “supply weapons, military equipment, and ammunition, fuel, and oil to meet the needs of the group of Russian troops in this direction.”Sunday marks the 74th day of the Ukraine war.The Russian invasion has caused mass displacement, both within the country and externally, with over twelve million Ukrainians believed to be seeking asylum in Europe so far, according to United Nations estimates.Read more:Zelenskyy says ‘evil has returned’ on WWII Victory Day, in reference to RussiaBombing of school in Ukrainian town kills two, 60 more under debris: GovernorPatriotism, unease mix in Russia as it marks WWII Victory Day
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Russia lost 25,500 troops, 2,741 APVs in Ukraine since Feb. 24

During Friday's vote, 59.45% of the registered 30,929 voters cast their ballots..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Lebanese in 48 countries vote in parliamentary elections

Around 200 attacks have been carried out on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Ukraine on Saturday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“I have seen the damage inflicted on health structures, and listened to accounts of the harm – physical and mental – inflicted on health workers. These are people whose primary motivation is to protect health and life.,” said the WHO chief, recounting what he discovered during his visit to Ukraine.“WHO has now verified 200 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the war began. These attacks must stop. Healthcare is never a target,” he added.The Director-General praised the Ukrainian people for their resilience and drew on his own personal experience of growing up in a warzone.“My time here has affected me very personally. As someone – myself, who grew up in a warzone myself, I understand only too well how the people of Ukraine feel – the worry for family and friends, the fear, the sense of loss and so on. Because I know the impact, I know the devastation of war firsthand. And I felt very, very sad when Russia invaded Ukraine because I know its impact and devastation,” he said.Ghebreyesus continued: “However, I have seen extraordinary resilience – people who have suffered loss and destruction but have not given up. They have kept going, repairing essential services to stop that destruction making a deeper hole in their lives.”“These are people whose primary motivation is to protect health and life.”Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation,” the UN organization has been actively delivering trauma and emergency aid to facilitate 15,000 surgeries to be carried out, providing the necessary medicines and healthcare equipment to serve 650,000 people in need. “While I saw and learned of great suffering, I also saw bravery, humor, kindness and heard stories of spontaneous, often ingenious ways people have found to help and protect one another,” he said.Over the past few months, WHO has played an active role in Ukraine, coordinating over 50 emergency medical teams in Ukraine and neighboring countries hosting refugees who fled the conflict and “trained thousands of Ukrainian healthcare providers on how to handle mass casualties,” he explained.The WHO chief also praised the organization’s staff in Ukraine for supporting the war-torn country’s health needs.“Our team in Ukraine was working hard to support the country to build an ever-stronger health system before the war. And that work will continue.”“… there is one medicine that WHO cannot deliver, and which Ukraine needs more than any other, and that is peace. So we continue to call on the Russian Federation to stop this war.”Read more:Russia lost 25,500 troops, 2,741 APVs in Ukraine since Feb. 24Zelenskyy says ‘evil has returned’ on WWII Victory Day, in reference to RussiaBombing of school in Ukrainian town kills two, 60 more under debris: Governor
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: WHO verifies 200 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since Russian invasion

Videos of crowds in several areas around the country during Eid have circulated on social media. They were perceived with two different views..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Mall's family-only policy: 'discriminatory' or 'safe'?

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad made an unannounced trip to Tehran on Sunday where he met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian state media reported.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.During the meeting with the Syrian president, Khamenei called for further improvement in ties between the two countries.“Efforts should be made to improve relations between the two countries more than before,” Khamenei was quoted by his website, Leader.ir, as saying during the meeting.Khamenei said Syria today has more “respect and prestige” on the world stage than it did before the war.“Syria today is not the same as pre-war Syria; although there was no destruction before the war, the respect and prestige of Syria is much higher now than in the past, and everyone looks at this country as a power,” Khamenei said.The “strategic relations” between Iran and Syria stopped Israel from “ruling the region,” al-Assad was quoted as saying in the meeting.This was al-Assad’s second visit to Iran since the start of the Syria war in 2011. His first visit took place in 2019.Iran has been al-Assad’s biggest ally since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, dispatching thousands of fighters and Revolutionary Guards commanders to the war-torn country to back al-Assad’s regime.The Syrian president left Iran for Syria later that day, Iranian media said.Read more: Analysis: West’s failure to hold Syria’s Assad accountable motivated Russia’s Putin
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Syria’s President al-Assad meets Iran’s Khamenei in Tehran 

Canada’s Prime Minister Justine Trudeau has made on Sunday a surprise trip to Ukraine amid the war waged by Russia, his spokesperson said, adding that he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.“The prime minister is in Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm Canada's unwavering support for the Ukrainian people,” said Trudeau’s director of communications, Cameron Ahmad.The mayor of Ukrainian city Irpin Oleksandr Markushyn said on Facebook: “I've just had the privilege of meeting the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, who came to Irpin to see with his own eyes all the horror which Russian occupiers have caused to our city.”For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Markushyn said Trudeau was “shocked” by what he saw. “He saw – not military facilities – burned and completely destroyed homes of Irpin resident, who until recently enjoyed life and had their own plans for the future,” the mayor said.Irpin, a city near the capital Kyiv, has witnessed significant devastation after Russia launched its war on Ukraine on February 24.Ukrainian authorities accuse the Russian of committing atrocities against civilians across Ukraine. Moscow denies the charges.Trudeau’s visit coincided with the visit of US first lady Jill Biden, who made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Sunday and met with Ukrainian first lady, Olena Zelenska.Read more: US first lady Jill Biden makes unannounced visit to UkraineUkrainian fighters at besieged Azovstal plant vow to fight Russians till the endZelenskyy says ‘evil has returned’ on WWII Victory Day, in reference to Russia
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Canada’s Prime Minister Justine Trudeau makes surprise trip to Ukraine

Some 800 IDF troops took part in the manhunt, including forces from the IDF’s Commando Brigade.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Bloodstained banknotes led security forces to Elad killers

20 percent of all art in Europe was appropriated by Nazis in WWII in a “crime of opportunity,” and allied soldiers did it too.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Roman bust bought at Texas Goodwill for reveals history of WWII looting