Latest news with #Osama
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Health
- Al Jazeera
In Gaza, death seems easier than amputation
'Ten children a day losing a limb in Gaza, warns UN-backed body', this is the latest horrific headline to come out of Gaza. The article reports: '134,105 people including over 40,500 children have suffered new war-related injuries since the war began in October 2023.' Behind these shocking statistics are real children in real pain who have lost a part of their body, their childhood and their dreams. My 12-year-old relative Osama is one of them. He escaped death twice, but each time he lost part of his family until only he remained. The first time, he was at his grandparents' house, along with his mother, grandmother and sisters. An Israeli air strike hit the home, killing everyone except Osama. The second time, he was at a school-turned-shelter when Israel bombed it. His father and seven uncles were all killed. Osama survived but lost his leg. My father and I visited him at Al-Aqsa Hospital to check on him. At the gate of the hospital, a child greeted us; he was selling water in a plastic bag, holding it with one hand; his other hand was amputated. Inside, the scene at the ward where Osama was admitted was gut-wrenching. Dozens of amputees were lying on beds and on the floor. We found Osama lying in his bed. He spent most of the visit crying. Every movement was difficult for him. The pain I saw on his face cannot be described. A child who lost his mother, father and his siblings now had to face the trauma and pain of an amputation utterly alone. He had to rely on the charity of relatives for everything. He was cared for and supported; someone was constantly in search of a wheelchair for him. But in times of war, taking care of a wounded child who cannot even go to the toilet by himself is an overwhelming weight even for those who love him. Not because they do not want to help, but because they themselves are barely surviving. Osama knew that. 'I want to go to mama and baba … and play in heaven,' he whispered. His words broke my heart. To be a child without a limb means living an unfair life. It means needing help for every move, every step, every simple activity. It means always feeling different, being looked at with pity or discomfort, watching other children run and play without being able to join. Many, like Osama, have to endure all this without the support of their mom, dad, sisters and brothers. I cannot begin to comprehend what Osama must feel. But I do know what I myself felt when I nearly escaped an amputation. In June last year, our home was attacked and my family and I were all injured. I had shrapnel lodged into various parts of my body, including my hand. I was rushed to the hospital. My first thought when I heard I needed urgent surgery was that I could lose my hand. It was my right hand. The hand I use to write my dreams. The one I open my notebooks and hold my books with. The one I use to help my mother, to hold my phone and write to my friends and the relatives I cannot see. How could I live without it? How would I go on as a writer, as a translator, as a woman who still dared to dream amid all this destruction? In that moment, I felt what Osama had felt too: Death would be easier than losing a part of my body. I cried a lot in the hospital. Not only from pain, but from fear of a life in which I might no longer feel whole. The surgery saved my hand from amputation, but the shrapnel remained inside. They couldn't remove it; it was too close to the nerve, and they feared damaging it. They said it would stay there … indefinitely. A piece of shrapnel in the body, like a fragment of painful memory in the mind. A part of the war still living inside me. A piece of destruction, lodged in my body. I spent two weeks in the surgery ward, the section designated for amputation and limb fracture cases. The place was saturated with pain; not a morning passed without me waking up to the scream of a child crying from the agony of amputation, or the groans of a woman writhing in pain from a wound that refused to heal. In front of my bed, there was a woman in her 50s who had lost both her arms. She couldn't even lift a piece of bread to her mouth. Her daughter sat beside her, feeding her with a spoon as if she were a child. Her eyes were filled with tears not just from physical pain, but from that unbearable feeling of helplessness. I watched her in silence. Her image never left me. To see a human being stripped of their most basic abilities – to eat, to wash themselves, to walk – destroys the soul. War doesn't just kill. It steals. It steals land, homes, loved ones, it still limbs, it steals souls. The pain doesn't end when you survive. It begins when you are left to live with what's missing, what's broken, with a body that will never be the same. And if death sometimes feels easier than losing a part of your body, then the life we choose to live afterwards is resistance in its purest form. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
10 arrested from six states for running inter-state religious conversion, radicalisation racket
Lucknow: While probing the mysterious disappearance of two sisters, aged 33 and 18, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh Police uncovered a sophisticated network involved in illegal religious conversions and radicalisation. The breakthrough led to a coordinated crackdown and the arrest of 10 operatives across six states, including fresh arrests on Saturday. The first arrest came of Shekhar Roy and Osama from Kolkata, who had trapped the two sisters from Agra and converted them. Their arrest led to the uncovering of the gang. Those arrested include a woman named SB Krishna from Goa, Shekhar Roy and Osama from Kolkata, Rehman Qureshi from Agra, Mohammed Ali, Ali and Junaid Qureshi from Jaipur, Abu Talib from Muzaffarnagar, Manoj from Delhi, and Abur Rehman from Dehradun. An Agra court granted a ten-day police custody remand for all the ten accused. Director general of police (DGP) Rajeev Krishna in Lucknow told reporters that the network operated through "love jihad" tactics, online radicalisation, and foreign funding from Canada, the USA, Dubai, and London, with transactions routed via dark web. "The network was funnelling money through the dark web and adopting tactics resembling the signature style of ISIS," the state police chief said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You To Read in 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Preliminary findings suggest that the group had active ties with banned outfits like PFI and SDPI, with handlers connected to Pakistan-based operatives. The DGP said that the action forms part of 'Mission Asmita', an internal initiative launched to confront emerging challenges, including alleged forced/deceitful conversion, online radicalisation, and funding channels purportedly exploiting "love jihad" tactics. "In the past, under this mission, we made arrests of Umar Gautam and Mufti Jahangir Alam, who were arrested by UP ATS in 2021 for running a pan-India religious conversion racket. The two were also convicted for a life term by a court in 2024," said another senior police officer. Agra police commissioner Deepak Kumar, who came all the way to Lucknow, said that it all began after an FIR was registered regarding the March disappearance of two sisters. It was lodged at Sadar Bazar police station, Agra, and later transferred for technical probes to the district cyber police station. Sections 87, 111(3), and 111(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 3/5 of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, were invoked. Investigators say evidence pointed to a wider organised operation spanning multiple states. "When we dug deeper, a pan-India syndicate surfaced. Forty-five teams were sent to Goa, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan, based on surveillance. We made arrests and found that the network allegedly targeted vulnerable women through emotional manipulation, facilitated radicalisation via curated content, and arranged conversions with necessary documentation. It provided safe houses, managed foreign funds from Canada and the US, and offered operational support, including new phones, SIM cards, legal assistance, and internal communication channels," said Kumar. "We will now conduct a sustained interrogation of the accused," said Kumar.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
Inter-state ‘love jihad' racket busted, 10 operatives held
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh police's investigation into the disappearance of two sisters, aged 33 and 18, in Agra has uncovered an inter-state 'love jihad' network engaged in illegal religious conversions and radicalisation, supported by a nexus of banned outfits PFI and SDPI, Pakistan-based handlers, and foreign funding. The breakthrough led to a coordinated crackdown and the arrest of 10 operatives across six states, including fresh arrests on Saturday, police said. Two men, Shekhar Roy and Osama from Kolkata, allegedly trapped and converted the two sisters. Their arrest led to the unravelling of the wider network and the subsequent arrest of SB Krishna from Goa, Rehman Qureshi from Agra, Mohammed Ali, Junaid Qureshi, and Ali from Jaipur, Abu Talib from Muzaffarnagar, Manoj from Delhi, and Abur Rehman from Dehradun. An Agra court has remanded all the accused to police custody for ten days. UP DGP Rajeev Krishna told reporters in Lucknow that the network operated using "love jihad" tactics, online radicalisation, and foreign funding from Canada, the USA, Dubai, and London. "The network was funnelling money through the dark web and adopting tactics resembling the signature style of ISIS," he said. "In the past, under this mission, UP ATS arrested Umar Gautam and Mufti Jahangir Alam in 2021 for running a pan-India religious conversion racket. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Eine zielgerichtete Strategie für Ihre finanzielle Zukunft eToro Click Here Undo Both were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2024," said a senior police official. Agra Police Commissioner Deepak Kumar, told reporters in Lucknow that the investigation began after an FIR was lodged in March regarding the sisters' disappearance. "When we dug deeper, a pan-India syndicate surfaced. Forty-five teams were sent to Goa, West Bengal, Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan, based on surveillance," he said. "We made arrests and found that the network allegedly targeted vulnerable women through emotional manipulation, promoted radicalisation via curated content, and facilitated conversions with necessary documentation. It provided safe houses, managed foreign funds from Canada and the US, and offered operational support, including new phones, SIM cards, legal assistance, and internal communication channels," added Kumar.
France 24
16-07-2025
- France 24
Syrians terrified as violence grips Druze-majority city of Sweida
"A lot of my friends were killed, including a doctor who was going to hospital," said Osama, 32, by telephone on Wednesday, adding he was in the centre of the southern city. "There were summary executions in the streets," he told AFP crying, declining to provide his surname. "If they reach here, I'm dead," he said, adding: "I fear massacres similar to those on the coast." In early March, hundreds of civilians mostly from Syria's Alawite minority were massacred in the community's coastal heartland after attacks on the security forces. Security personnel, allied armed groups and foreign jihadists were accused of committing the atrocities. Paramedic Munzer, 43, said he was stuck at home in Sweida unable to respond to calls for help. "Entire families have been decimated. I know a family of four who were killed in their home," he said. "The bombardment didn't stop all night," said Munzer, also declining to provide his surname. "We have nothing left to eat in the fridge, just some dry biscuits, and some fruit and vegetables that have gone bad because the power has been cut off for 48 hours," he said. "I have four children but I don't know how to protect them." 'Catastrophic situation' But the hardest thing, according to Munzer, is being unable to do his job as a paramedic. He said he had received more than 50 calls for help and was worried about the "catastrophic situation" in the city's main hospital where he usually works. An AFP correspondent in the city saw men wearing defence ministry uniforms, some with their faces covered, launching mortars and crying out "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest, in Arabic) near the bodies of two Druze fighters, as other combatants went house to house carrying out searches. Another AFP correspondent saw on Wednesday some 30 bodies on the ground, including government forces and fighters in civilian clothes whose affiliation was not immediately clear. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, more than 300 people have been killed since fighting erupted on Sunday between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, sparking government intervention, and Israeli strikes in support of the Druze. Most of the dead are fighters but they also include 40 civilians, 27 of them summarily executed by security force personnel, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. The Syrian presidency on Wednesday condemned "heinous acts" and vowed to punish those responsible. A committee tasked to investigate the coastal massacres in March was supposed to issue its findings earlier this month but no report has been announced.
LeMonde
16-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Israel drives Syrian government forces out of Druze stronghold of Sweida
The bodies of Osama and Ahmed Qtemish, two members of the General Security Service, the newly formed Syrian police force, lay on the ground under a blanket, their faces speckled with blood. Their young brother, who had also been injured in the ear, wept and refused to leave their bodies. He had already lost two other brothers, who had been tortured to death by Bashar al-Assad's regime in the notorious Saydnaya prison. On the morning of Tuesday, July 15, the police unit in which the Qtemish brothers served was targeted by an Israeli strike in the center of Sweida, a city in southern Syria where the majority of residents are from the Druze religious community. "It's a massacre," said Dr. Ahmed al-Hor, one of only two doctors working at the improvised field hospital set up in a building in al-Mazra'a, a Druze village located on the western outskirts of the city of Sweida. "Since dawn, we've received more than 100 wounded and about 30 martyrs – soldiers and police officers, but also members of elite units. Most were targeted by strikes from Israeli drones and aircraft; others by Druze snipers and artillery," he said. On Tuesday evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported 248 dead, including 93 members of the government forces, since fighting broke out on Sunday between Druze factions and Bedouin fighters. The government forces, who had entered Sweida on Tuesday morning, were caught off guard. A ceasefire had been announced by Syria's Defense Ministry at 8 am. An agreement had just been reached with the city's prominent Druze figures, providing for its defenders to surrender their weapons and allow government forces to deploy in Sweida, a city of 150,000 residents that had so far remained outside of Damascus's control. Yet influential Druze religious leader Hikmat al-Hijri condemned the agreement, accusing the government of violating it through the "indiscriminate bombardment" of "unarmed civilians." He also addressed Druze fighters, calling for "resisting this brutal campaign."
