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BAIJI, Iraq — One man lost his uncle. Another is mourning two sons. Farmers and herders in Iraq's Baiji say mines left by the Daesh group turned their beloved orchards into killing fields.

The improvised explosive devices, planted by extremists trying to fend off Iraqi troops in 2015, have also discouraged scores of families from returning to their battered farming towns around Baiji, in the north of the country.

"Daesh's ghosts are still here. Their crimes are still there, under the earth," said local official Abu Bashir.

His thin face contorted into a grimace as he recalled his personal loss to those "ghosts" — both his sons.

"We came back in March 2018 and found the area booby-trapped. There was nowhere we could feel safe," he told AFP.

"As the kids were playing, a bomb exploded under my six-year-old son who was outside the house. He was killed immediately."

Exactly a year later, in March of this year, unexploded ordnance also killed his 18-year-old son.

He said the experience had left him too scarred to try rebuilding his home, reduced to rubble by ferocious fighting between Daesh and security forces.

"A man bitten by a snake will be afraid of a rope, as the saying goes. After my two boys were killed, I'm afraid of everything." 

 'This soil means so much' 

Lahib, 21, has also been touched by Daesh deadly legacy.

"We got our houses back but the remnants of war are still there. Daesh left us with booby-trapped homes," he told AFP.

"One of these homes blew up on my uncle. I saw it with my own eyes."

The loss pushed him to join Halo Trust, a non-profit group clearing unexploded ordnance in Baiji since June as part of the United Nations' Mine Action Service (UNMAS).

In temperatures reaching 50ºC, Halo Trust mine searchers scanned a field near Baiji for an Daesh specialty: Plastic jerrycans packed with explosives and rigged to pressure plates.

The bombs appeared to have been planted in long rows parallel to a main thoroughfare to defend against incoming Iraqi troops.

Mine searchers used excavators to map out the bombs, then mechanically defused them so Iraqi troops could take the components away.

"When we talk as friends, it's clear no one hasn't seen injustice and explosions with his own eyes. This is why we're doing this job," said Lahib.

In Baiji alone, 340 explosive hazards were removed since UNMAS operations began, with up to 25 IEDs uncovered daily.

UNMAS says the scope and complexity of IED contamination in Daesh-controlled areas is "unprecedented", with tripwires painted to blend in with surroundings and even Iraqi currency turned into bombs.

The fear of undiscovered threats has kept around 100 families away from the area, said Abu Mohammad, another local official.

"People want to come back, live in their homes and get on with normal lives, but when they see that this guy got blown up or that guy was killed, they stay away," he said.

"This soil means so much to us and we hope this kind of thing — losing our loved ones, our children, our homes — doesn't happen on it."

 A pulverised moonscape 

More than 2,500 people remain displaced from Baiji, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Returns seem to be speeding up, with some 15,000 people back in their home district since December.

For the most part, however, they are returning to an utterly destroyed moonscape.

The town of Baiji is a labyrinth of mostly-abandoned buildings, still riddled with bullet holes and craters.

Twisted rebar stick out from the ruins like crushed spider legs.

UNMAS hopes clearing Daesh-laden explosives will allow for Baiji's reconstruction, but other challenges remain.

The area is controlled by various Iraqi paramilitary factions that must approve any activity, which aid workers said slows down their work.

"We get authorisation from one group but it doesn't work with the others, so we end up going to four or five different groups before we can start working," one mine removal worker told AFP.

Iraqi parliamentarians from Sunni-majority areas, including Baiji, have also complained that the government has not allocated enough reconstruction funds to the area.

"The problem is huge but the effort to fix it is small," said Iyad Saleh, programme director at Iraqi non-profit group IHSCO.

He spoke on the sidelines of an IHSCO awareness session at a Baiji elementary school, where volunteers showed pupils pictures of IEDs strewn in the dirt and warned them of the gory consequences of touching them.

"If the rate of reconstruction is so weak and slow," said Saleh, "it will take long years to return this area to the way it was before."

By Maya Gebeily

BAGHDAD  — The United Nations on Monday criticised Iraqi authorities for transferring around 1,600 people from camps to their areas of origin, saying the returns could put them in danger.

The returnees, who fled violence during and after the Daesh group's 2014 seizure of swathes of Iraq, had sought refuge at displacement camps in the northern province of Nineweh.

Since August 23, Iraqi authorities have bussed about 300 families, an estimated 1,600 people, from the three camps to their provinces of origin. 

The transfers took place despite humanitarian groups' concerns that the families had no homes or access to services and may be targeted by their home communities for perceived links to Daesh.

The UN said Monday returnees had "expressed fears that they would be threatened upon their return, and had reportedly received threatening phone calls from community members in their areas of origin warning against return”.

"Despite such concerns, security actors confiscated the [displaced people's] civil identification, informing the families that their documents would only be returned once they boarded the convoy," it said in a statement.

More than 1.6 million people remain displaced in camps, unfinished structures or rented apartments across Iraq, nearly two years after the country declared victory over Daesh.

The government has stressed its policy is for all those displaced to return home and for camps to be shut.

Last week, AFP journalists witnessed transfers from the Hammam Al Alil camp in Nineweh province of hundreds of Iraqis originally from Kirkuk, further south. 

Women and children, some of them crying, were loaded onto buses by security forces. Some said they did not know where they were being taken.

The transfers often happened "with little notice or apparent planning", the UN's Iraq humanitarian coordinator, Marta Ruedas, said on Monday. 

"I am concerned about the lack of organisation and advanced communication with affected communities and humanitarian partners," she said. 

In some cases, the UN said, security forces denied families entry to camps in their home provinces, displacing them a second time. 

In the worst case of violence against returnees so far, three hand grenades were thrown into the Basateen camp in Iraq's Salahaddin governorate on Sunday, a day after the arrival of 150 displaced families from Nineweh. 

"The grenades caused no damage, injuries or casualties [but] are a cause of great concern for the safety of the camp residents," the UN said. 

Other rights groups have already sounded the alarm, including Amnesty International, which has called the returns "premature" and urged Iraqi authorities to halt them immediately.

The Norwegian Refugee Council called on the government to double down on reconciliation efforts to heal lingering resentment from the fight against Daesh.

BEIRUT — The Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 blacklisted by the United States has been off the coast of Lebanon and Syria for the past 24 hours, maritime monitors said on Monday. 

The vessel has been zigzagging in the eastern Mediterranean since it was released from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on August 18, after being held for six weeks on suspicion it was delivering oil for Tehran's ally Damascus.

"The Adrian Darya 1 has stopped just 45 nautical miles west of Tripoli, Lebanon, in international waters," TankerTrackers, a maritime traffic monitoring website said.

MarineTraffic said the vessel previously known as Grace 1 was since Sunday off the coast of Syria, where US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said it would unload.

Pompeo said he had “reliable information” it was transporting oil to Syria in defiance of wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The US Department of Treasury said the vessel was “blocked property” under an anti-terrorist order, and “anyone providing support to the Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned”.

The declared and suspected destination of the Adrian Darya has changed multiple times since it was released from Gibraltar. 

Experts on Monday said the most likely scenario was for a ship-to-ship transfer of some of the tanker’s cargo of 2.1 million barrels before it headed back to Iran.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers, said he believes the Adrian Darya will have to transfer “as much as necessary” of its cargo to one of three Iran-flagged in order to return to Iran via the Suez Canal.

He said if the cargo ends up on one of these tankers, “then the oil will most likely end up going back home to Iran”.

But it could also be offloaded on the Sandro, a vessel which Madani says is partially owned by Samer Foz, a US-sanctioned Syrian businessman who is among the country’s most prominent industrialists.

“If the oil ends up aboard the Sandro... then that will most likely end up going to Syria” the tanker expert told AFP.

Iran said last week it had “sold the oil” aboard the tanker and that the owner will decide the destination.

It did not identify the buyer or say whether the oil had been sold before or after the tanker’s detention in the Strait of Gibraltar.

It also said it could not name the actual destination due to “economic terrorism” by the United States and its sanctions on Iran’s oil sales.

Tensions between arch-enemies Iran and the US have soared ever since Washington stepped up its campaign of “maximum pressure” against Tehran and reimposed sanctions after leaving the landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year.

RIYADH — The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels said Monday it was unaware that prisoners were held at a detention site it targeted with air strikes that killed dozens of people.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have condemned the attack on a former college in the city of Dhamar that the Houthis used to hold their opponents.

The coalition's spokesman Turki Al Maliki reiterated its insistence that the Houthis used the building to store drones and air defence systems.

"The [facility] was not on the 'no strike list' of sites in the city of Dhamar," he told a press conference in Riyadh. 

"Some reports have quoted the ICRC as saying it has gone to the site a number of times. The coalition has never been informed... about the location.

"The Houthis bear full responsibility for making this a location for Yemeni citizens who have been forcibly disappeared."

The ICRC, which rushed to the scene with medical teams and body bags, said that every detainee in the building was killed or injured when the multi-storey facility crumbled, and that the toll could rise as high as 130.

"The facility held around 170 detainees. Forty of those detainees were being treated for injuries; the rest are presumed killed, though no toll has been confirmed," it said in a statement.

The ICRC said it had visited the detention centre in the past as part of its regular work as a neutral inspector in war zones.

“Witnessing this massive damage, seeing the bodies lying among the rubble was a real shock. Anger and sadness were natural reactions,” Franz Rauchenstein, its head of delegation for Yemen, said in a statement.

“People who are not taking active part in combat should not die in such a way,” he said after travelling to the attack site.

Casualties ‘staggering’ 

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to support the government after the Iran-linked Houthis swept out of their northern stronghold to seize Sanaa and much of Yemen — the Arab world’s poorest nation.

Fighting since then has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Footage obtained by AFP showed heavy damage to the building and several bodies lying in the rubble, as bulldozers worked to clear away huge piles of debris.

The UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen has called Sunday’s air strike “horrific” and said aid groups had been forced to divert critical medical supplies, intended for treating a cholera outbreak, to Dhamar hospitals.

“We have no choice,” Lise Grande said. “The scale of the casualties is staggering.”

TUNIS — Campaigning for Tunisia's presidential election opened Monday with 26 candidates vying to replace late leader Beji Caid Essebsi in a vote seen as vital to defending democratic gains in the cradle of the Arab Spring.

Seven million Tunisians are expected to head to the ballot box in the September 15 poll, which was brought forward from November following Essebsi's death in July.

Tunisia's first democratically elected president, Essebsi took office in the wake of the 2011 uprising that overthrew former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked revolts across the Arab world.

The North African country has been praised as a rare case of democratic transition after the Arab Spring. 

But it has faced economic woes and repeated attacks — including a gun battle in the northwest on Monday that killed a national guard officer and three suspected extremists.

"Terrorists are still around but Tunisia is stronger," said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, among those vying for the presidency.

The vote comes with Tunisia's political class divided by internal conflicts, including a struggle between Chahed and Essebsi's son, leading the premier to quit the ruling Nidaa Tounes Party and form Tahia Tounes.

The latter has since become the second largest party in parliament, behind the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party.

Aged 43, Chahed is Tunisia's youngest prime minister, but since he took office his popularity has been hit by instability, inflation and unemployment.

Other candidates include interim parliamentary speaker Abdelfattah Mourou, of Ennahdha, and former defence minister Abdelkrim Zbidi.

Another powerful opponent could be media magnate Nabil Karoui, who despite his arrest on August 23 for alleged money laundering is still legally allowed to run.

That makes for a vote markedly different from the 2014 election which had just two frontrunners — Essebsi and former president Moncef Marzouki. 

“It is the first time that Tunisians have no idea who will become their president,” said the Tunis-based Joussour think-tank.

“Now everything is possible.”

Karoui controversy

Chahed launched his overseas campaign Saturday in the French city of Lyon, casting himself as a human rights defender. Some 1.2 million Tunisians live overseas, mainly in Europe.

“We hope to speak with Tunisians to explain to them... our vision for a stronger Tunisia, a more modern and developed Tunisia, and a Tunisia that truly believes in the universal values of human rights,” he told AFP ahead of a campaign meeting.

He also denied accusations from Karoui backers that he had masterminded the arrest of the controversial media magnate.

Karoui, who recently set up a political party, Heart of Tunisia, has said he was targeted by “attempts to undermine his growing popularity”.

In recent years, Karoui used his popular Nessma TV, which is now banned from covering the election, to launch high-profile charity campaigns.

Chahed’s government tried to eliminate Karoui from the race, passing an amended electoral code through parliament — but it was not ratified by Essebsi before his death.

Tunisia’s electoral commission, which on Saturday approved the final list of 26 hopefuls, has banned the publication of opinion polls, making it difficult for pundits to evaluate each candidate’s strength.

‘Power cannot be shared’ 

Zbidi told AFP in an interview that if he were elected he was determined to “restart the social ladder” and make public services “accessible” for all Tunisians.

The former defence minister, who presents himself as an independent technocrat, said he would like constitutional changes to give the head of state more powers.

“Power cannot be shared,” he said. 

But he called for a referendum to choose a “parliamentary regime or a presidential one”.

Ennahdha’s candidate Mourou is a founding member of the Islamist Party and the first presidential candidate it has ever fielded.

Political analyst Hamza Meddeb said he believed Mourou would make it to the second round of voting expected to be held in the first week of November.

“The big unknown is who will be his rival,” Karoui, Chahed or Zbidi, he said.

The final list of candidates includes only two women — former tourism minister Salma Elloumi and Abir Moussi, who heads a group formed from the remnants of Ben Ali’s ruling party.

Campaigning ends on September 13, two days ahead of voting.

AIN DARA, Lebanon — Braving death threats, Abdallah Haddad fought for years to shut down quarries near his village in Lebanon. 

The 61-year-old said he and fellow activists received "good news" at the end of July about the gutted mountain in Ain Dara they had worked to protect — a Lebanese court ordered 16 quarries out of 17 to close.

But the victory was short-lived. 

Just weeks later, the quarries near his village in central Lebanon — a short drive away from a famed cedar reserve — started operating again, Haddad told AFP.

In 25 years, more than 2 million cubic metres were exploited in the area, in what Haddad calls a "crime" against the mountain.

"Most of the operators don't have a permit, or work with falsified or expired documents," he said.

When he returned to Lebanon after years abroad, Haddad joined a group of locals, including the Ain Dara mayor, who were pushing back against the quarries.

"Since we started in 2016, we have organised sit-ins, lobbied and launched legal proceedings on six occasions," said the activist, who used to work in the banking sector in France.

It is a risky undertaking.

"I've received phone calls from strangers threatening to 'break my legs' or warning me not to go to Ain Dara and threatening to kill me," he said.

'100 trucks a day' 

When the verdict was handed down on July 26, dozens of soldiers and police officers deployed to the areas where "armed men" were often seen near the quarries.

Military men, some wearing balaclavas, sealed off the banned operations with red wax, including one area belonging to a powerful political figure.

But soon "most of them had started working again," Haddad said, adding that "more than 100 trucks a day" were ferrying rocks out of the area.

A boom in quarrying started with the long reconstruction that followed Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

The activity became a top post-conflict industry. 

Each year, Lebanon exports hundreds of thousands of tonnes of cement.

There are more than 1,300 quarries over 50 square kilometres in the country, according to a 2017 satellite survey conducted by the Lebanese army. 

They are regulated by a 2002 decree, but an enviroment ministry official who asked to remain anonymous said "only a dozen of these sites" follow regulations.

"The quarries cause environmental degradation amounting to $610 million a year," he added.

Activists blame corruption and indifference.

They say the fact that several key political figures have stakes in cement factories has created a climate of impunity.

Among them, influential Druze politician Walid Jumblatt, who is a shareholder in the nation's third biggest cement factory "Sibline".

'Bribes' 

In June, five people were wounded during a sit-in near Ain Dara. 

"Armed men" at the entrance of a quarry belonging to tycoon Pierre Fattouche and his brother Nicolas, a former minister and lawmaker, "opened fire on us", Ain Dara Mayor Maroun Badr told AFP.

Haddad says the Fattouche quarries have exploited "1 million square metres with a 1994 permit for 2,000 square metres".

Fattouche did not respond to requests for comment.

As war winds down in neighbouring Syria and in Iraq, activists fear there will be a further uptick in quarrying to meet reconstruction demands across the border.

In a bid to turn the tide, a group called the "Popular Coalition against Quarries" was formed.

Georges Inati, the head of an olive oil producer association in the northern Koura region, is a member.

In and around his village of Kfarhazir, hills facing the Mediterranean have been "defaced", he said, leaving behind a lunar landscape.

The rock is taken to a nearby cement factory in the coastal town of Chekka.

Widespread quarrying has "condemned the ancestral cultivation of olive, fig and almond trees", said the 55-year-old.

But unlike in Ain Dara, the protest movement in Kfarhazir has not yet reaped even temporary results.

Inati accuses the quarry owners of having bribed the local authorities.

"Some money was handed to some political parties, clergy members, and some municipalities so they turn a blind eye," he claimed.