Region

BEIRUT — Sitting at a plastic table outside her flatbread sandwich shop in the Lebanese capital, Nadime Yazbeck says she wishes the government would deal with the stench from the local trash dump.

“They really need to find a solution to these smells,” said the 66-year-old Beirut resident, in a spotless white T-shirt and hair net.

Four years after a garbage crisis sparked political protests in Lebanon, the stench of trash is back and government plans to quell the smell have only triggered demands for better waste management.

In Yazbeck’s neighbourhood of Bourj Hammoud, a seaside landfill that reopened to solve the 2015 crisis will be full by the end of the summer.

Near the airport, another overwhelmed landfill is to start refusing waste from neighbouring areas in protest.

On and off for more than a year, the acrid smell of decomposing refuse has wafted into homes and businesses in the capital.

Even kilometres away from landfills, residents have raced to close windows to keep out the stink.

Visitors to the tiny Mediterranean nation have been welcomed off flights by unpleasant odours drifting over the airport.

In June, Lebanon’s environment ministry said it had asked an expert to look into the matter and help neutralise the smells.

Lebanese-French agronomy engineer Aime Menassa determined causes of the stench to include household waste, “badly stabilised compost”, and sewage.

His report unleashed a wave of sarcasm online over a perceived outsider stating the obvious.

“Isn’t there a Lebanese who can smell it?” one person asked on Twitter.

Beyond being unpleasant, the smells also present potential health hazards.

This winter, researchers at the American University of Beirut (AUB) measured the rate of hydrogen sulphide, a smelly gas produced by landfills, in the air in Bourj Hammoud.

Michele Citton, a waste and water expert at AUB, said the levels of the gas — which has been correlated with possible negative health effects — were higher than expected.

A 2018 study in northern China found children living near a landfill were more likely to have deficient immunity and impaired lung function, the latter strongly related to hydrogen sulphide.

But odour suppression is not a sustainable solution, Citton said.

“What these smells are saying to the world and to the community in Beirut is basically that there is a deep need to find alternative methods to solid waste management in Lebanon.”

Multiconfessional Lebanon has been rocked by political crises in recent years, especially since the 2011 outbreak of war in neighbouring Syria.

In 2015, a landfill closure caused trash to pile up in the streets, sparking protests against political leaders, including under the cry “You Stink”.

The demonstrations have since died down, but mistrust in the ruling class — that includes former warlords during the 1975-1990 civil conflict — still runs high.

Menassa insists his offer to treat the smell is only meant to be a temporary solution.

Under his plan, a “biodegradable” solution would be sprayed onto the surface or spread through mist into the air at three sites across the capital, he said. 

Transforming smelly gas into minerals, the solution would clean garbage trucks travelling in and out of two sorting stations, and lessen the stench from the composting site near Bourj Hammoud.

But “the idea is not to mist forever”, he said, of the odour-tackling practice that needs to be maintained 24/7 to be effective.

“The solution is selective rubbish collection... to avoid having to have to bury these huge volumes in the final landfill.”

Experts say half of Lebanon’s waste is organic, and could be better composted if separated out from recyclables at the household level.

Environment Minister Fady Jreissati, who came into office in January, says only eight percent of Lebanon’s rubbish is recycled. 

His plan for the next two years includes trying to encourage better rubbish sorting, and building a new composting plant near the airport by next spring, he told July’s edition of economic magazine Le Commerce du Levant.

He also said a “credible option” would be to widen the Bourj Hammoud landfill — but that would mean destroying an adjacent fishing port.

Activists, meanwhile, have protested plans to open incinerators in Beirut, which they fear will be badly managed and further pollute the atmosphere.

And as grey smog clings to the skyline, others have questioned the ministry halting air quality monitors due to budget cuts.

Claude Jabre, a You Stink activist who lives in Bourj Hammoud, denounced what he saw as vested business interests and a lack of political will to find alternative solutions.

“We have the energy and the expertise to create what’s called a circular economy” aimed at minimising waste, he said.

“Why can’t we make profit in a way that doesn’t damage the environment?”

CAIRO — A huge explosion caused by a speeding car in central Cairo overnight, killing at least 20 people, was a "terrorist incident", Egypt's president said Monday.

"I extend my deepest condolences to the Egyptian people and the families of the martyrs killed in the cowardly terrorist incident," read a post on Abdel Fattah El Sisi's official Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The collision happened just before midnight Sunday, when a speeding car driving against the traffic crashed into three other vehicles outside the National Cancer Institute in the Egyptian capital.

Four of the 20 people killed remain unidentified, the health ministry said, while 47 others were wounded.

Between “three and four [of the injured] are in critical condition in the intensive care unit”, Khaled Megahed, a spokesman for the health ministry, told a press conference.

He said they suffered from “several burns of varying degrees”.

Body parts were also retrieved from the scene, he added.

Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered an investigation to determine the causes of the collision.

Police said they suspected the Hasm group, an armed affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, of being behind the attack.

Social media users posted footage of cars ablaze at the scene and of patients being evacuated from the Cancer Institute, which was severely damaged and charred in the explosion.

Megahed said 78 cancer patients from the institute were moved to other hospitals to continue their treatments.

KHARTOUM — In the heart of the Sudanese capital, crowds are drawn by mouthwatering aromas to Syrian eateries that line an upscale Khartoum neighbourhood.

The tantalising odours of popular Syrian dishes of shawarma, fatteh and garlic sauce fill the air of the Kafouri district.

"Syrian restaurants are distinctive," said Salaheddin Adam, queueing outside one restaurant.

"Their interior designs are appealing and they are always clean and offer varied menus," he added, while waiting for his chicken shawarma wrap.

In the traditional Sudanese turban and white jalabiya, the 34-year-old meat trader said he particularly relishes Syrian appetisers. 

"They have a special taste and add flavour to the dishes," he said.

Syrians benefit from visa-free entry to Sudan and more than 200,000 have arrived since 2011, fleeing their country's war, according to local NGO figures from last year.

Khartoum residents now flock to restaurants serving Syrian delicacies, making it often hard to find a table at restaurants in the Kafouri district.

"Shawarma, shish taouk and kebabs have long been served at Sudanese restaurants. Still, they are not as good as those at Syrian restaurants," said Ahmed Suleiman.

The 28-year-old is a regular at one of the Syrian eateries, which he lauded for the "taste and quality" of their food.

The Syrian presence in the area, where Levantine Arabic is widely heard, has also led to fierce competition between restaurants.

For Suleiman, the rivalry benefits Sudanese diners.

"Every restaurant has its speciality. They generally excel in their service as opposed to Sudanese people," he said.

"We try to support them through their crisis by frequenting their restaurants," he added.

More than 5.6 million Syrians have fled their country, according to the United Nations, since the conflict erupted in 2011 with a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests.

'Good treatment' 

Syrians who opted to settle in Sudan enjoy equivalent rights to nationals, including access to healthcare and education.

They are also allowed to apply for jobs and run businesses.

Malik Abdul Wahab, from the Syrian city of Aleppo, arrived shortly after the start of his country's war.

He opened the "Ayamak Ya Sham" or "The days of the Levant" restaurant which now has a staff of more than 15, the majority Syrians.

"We are keen to provide maximum cleanliness and quality. We also care about good treatment of customers," said the 32-year-old.

Syrian cuisine offers a wider variety of dishes than Sudanese food, and they are cheap to make and come in plentiful portions. 

"We are keen to offer new and varied foods, not known to the people," said Abdel Wahab, boasting that there are more than 100 different Syrian dishes.

One of his customers, Nihad Al Fateh, praised the "diversity of dishes" provided while waiting for her shawarma wrap with garlic sauce.

But Sudanese citizens are suffering from financial woes, with price rises late last year sparking mass protests that ultimately led to the ousting in April of longtime leader Omar Al Bashir.

The current political and financial crisis has led to "soaring prices of all the ingredients", said Abdul Wahab, who is trying not to push up prices significantly.

In the capital's Riyadh neighbourhood, the Levantine influence can also be heard as passers-by sing along to Syrian songs played by restaurants.

Mohamed Abdel Sabour, a Sudanese engineer, eats regularly at Syrian outlets which he says are more welcoming than Sudanese ones.

Khaled, who runs a Syrian eatery in the Riyadh area, boasted of having "permanent Sudanese customers".

"We try to please the customer to make sure that they visit again."

LONDON — Britain on Monday said it would join the United States in an "international maritime security mission" to protect merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tension with Iran.

The move follows a spate of incidents — including the seizure of ships — involving Iran and Western powers, in particular Britain and the US, centred on the vital Gulf thoroughfare.

"This deployment will reinforce security and provide reassurance for shipping," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.

"Our aim is to build the broadest international support to uphold freedom of navigation in the region, as protected under international law."

Raab insisted that despite the coalition Britain's approach to Iran had not changed. 

"We remain committed to working with Iran and our international partners to de-escalate the situation and maintain the nuclear deal."

The US has been struggling to piece together an international coalition to protect cargo ships travelling through the Gulf, with allies concerned about being dragged into conflict with Iran.

The British announcement will be seen as a boost to US President Donald Trump as he continues to step up a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Tehran.

Last year he withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal placing curbs on Iran's nuclear programme and began reimposing sanctions, urging reluctant Western allies to follow suit.

London has sought to distance itself from his hardline stance, insisting along with other European backers of the accord that it could still be salvaged, while trying to remain a steadfast US ally.

But it has found that balancing act increasingly difficult to maintain following a flare-up in relations with Iran over shipping.

On July 4 British Royal Marines helped authorities in Gibraltar — a British Overseas Territory — seize an Iranian tanker on suspicion it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

Tehran threatened reprisals and two weeks later its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intercepted the British-flagged tanker “Stena Impero” as it made its way through the Strait of Hormuz. It has detained the ship at an Iranian port. 

On Sunday, Iranian state media said it had seized another foreign tanker in the Gulf.

ISTANBUL — Turkey called Monday for the United States to end its support for a Kurdish militia in northern Syria as crucial talks between the two countries headed into a second day. 

"The US should positively answer our request to end its partnership with the YPG in Syria," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.

The statement came as US defence officials met their counterparts in Ankara for last-ditch talks aimed at creating a "safe zone" in northern Syria to keep the Kurdish YPG militia away from Turkey's border. 

Those talks would continue into Tuesday, the Turkish defence ministry said in a statement. 

Washington has supported the YPG as the main fighting force against the Daesh group in Syria. 

But Ankara sees it as an offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody separatist insurgency inside Turkey for the past 35 years.

Turkey has so far been unimpressed with the details of the US “safe zone” plan in Syria and has renewed threats to launch a cross-border offensive if the talks fail to reach a “satisfactory” conclusion. 

“We can only be patient for so long. That patience will come to an end,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. 

He repeated a threat he has persistently made for the past 18 months to launch an offensive east of the Euphrates River against the YPG.

Turkish media has regularly shown images in recent weeks of military convoys heading for the border area, carrying equipment and fighting units. 

Turkey has twice carried out unilateral offensives into northern Syria against the Daesh group and YPG, in 2016 and 2018 respectively. 

It wants full control of a wide buffer zone across northern Syria, an area that has largely fallen under the command of Kurdish leaders since their successful, US-backed operations against extremists.

RIYADH — Saudi air defences intercepted Yemeni rebel drones targeting civilian airports on Monday, a Riyadh-led military coalition said, as the rebels ramp up cross-border attacks.

The coalition, in a statement published on Saudi state media, said the strikes were "simultaneous", but did not specify the targets or number of drones intercepted.

The Iran-aligned Houthi rebels' Al Masirah television earlier said their drones targeted civilian airports in the southern cities of Abha and Najran as well as King Khaled air base in Khamis Mushait.

The strikes come just days after the rebels carried out a deadly attack on a security training camp near Yemen's government-held second city Aden.

The rebels said they launched a drone and a ballistic missile at the camp.

The Houthi rebels — who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015 which has exacted a heavy civilian death toll — have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the border in recent weeks. 

Nine civilians were wounded in a July 3 Houthi attack on Abha airport, the coalition said.

A June 12 missile attack on the same airport wounded 26 civilians, drawing warnings of "stern action" from the coalition.

And on June 23, a rebel attack on Abha airport killed a Syrian and wounded 21 other civilians, the coalition said.

The raids come amid heightened regional tensions as key Saudi ally the United States presses a "maximum pressure" campaign against its arch-rival Iran after withdrawing from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Houthis, a charge Tehran denies.

The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 when President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled into Saudi exile, as the rebels closed in on his last remaining territory in and around Aden.

Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say.

The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions displaced and in need of aid.

TEHRAN — The US is acting alone against Tehran and its allies are too "ashamed" to join its forces in the Gulf, Iran's top diplomat said on Monday, dismissing Washington's calls for talks as a sham.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also confirmed he had turned down an offer to meet President Donald Trump last month despite the threat of US sanctions against him.

"Today the United States is alone in the world and cannot create a coalition. Countries that are its friends are too ashamed of being in a coalition with them," Zarif told a news conference.

"They brought this situation upon themselves, with lawbreaking, by creating tensions and crises."

Tehran and Washington have been locked in a battle of nerves since last year when Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal placing curbs on Iran's nuclear programme and began reimposing sanctions.

Tensions have soared since the Trump administration began stepping up a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran.

Drones have been downed and tankers seized by Iranian authorities or mysteriously attacked in Gulf waters, while Britain has detained an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar. 

At the height of the crisis, Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after the Islamic republic's forces shot down a US drone.

Iran said on Sunday its forces had seized a "foreign" tanker carrying smuggled fuel in what would be the third such seizure in less than a month in Gulf waters — a conduit for much of the world's crude oil.

'Arsonist cannot be fireman'

Last month the Guards said they had impounded the Panama-flagged MT Riah for alleged fuel smuggling as well as the British-flagged Stena Impero for breaking "international maritime rules".

In response to such incidents, the US has been seeking to form a coalition whose mission — dubbed Operation Sentinel — it says is to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Gulf.

But it has been struggling to find partners, with European countries reticent and believed to be concerned about being dragged into a conflict.

The US plan suffered another blow on Monday when Germany said it was currently "not in favour" of joining an American-led coalition.

"The important thing is to continue to follow the path of diplomacy and to seek dialogue with Iran... to ensure the free movement of oil tankers in the Gulf," said government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.

Zarif blasted the idea of a US-led coalition.

"Why form a global coalition? America is responsible for tensions in the Persian Gulf, in the world," he said. 

"An arsonist cannot be a fireman."

The veteran diplomat also slammed Britain over its July 4 seizure of a tanker carrying Iranian oil.

He accused London of "piracy" because the sanctions the vessel was accused of breaking — on fuel deliveries to Syria — only applied to EU members.

Zarif rejected claims the British-flagged Stena Impero had been seized in retaliation, saying that the vessel's case "must be investigated in Iranian courts".

Asked about reports he had been invited to meet Trump, Zarif said he had turned it down despite the threat of sanctions against him.

"I was told in New York I would be sanctioned in two weeks unless I accepted that offer, which fortunately I did not," Iran's top diplomat said.

The New Yorker magazine reported on Friday that Senator Rand Paul met Zarif in the US on July 15 and had Trump's blessing when he invited the Iranian minister to go to the White House.

The United States imposed sanctions against Zarif on Wednesday, targeting any assets he has in America and squeezing his ability to function as a globe-trotting diplomat.

'Trump doesn't seek war'

The designation of Zarif under the same sanctions already applied to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the latest in a series of US moves against Iran.

Zarif dismissed as disingenuous US "claims" it wants dialogue.

"They were the ones who left the table, sanctioned the foreign minister of Iran, sanctioned the highest authority of the Islamic republic. Who do they want to negotiate with?" he said.

But Zarif did not rule out talks in the future, saying: "Even in times of war negotiations will exist."

Zarif said he did not believe Trump would go to war with Iran unless hawks around him like his National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had their way.

"I believe Mr Trump does not seek war. But Mr Bolton and Netanyahu have always sought war," he said.

"They're willing to fight their wars till the last American soldier."