More Deaths at Sea; Spain Rescues Boat Off Gibraltar Strait
At least 52 people are feared to have died off the Libyan coast while trying to reach Europe by boat on June 10, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.
The same day, at least seven people were found dead in an inflatable boat by the Libyan coastguard and another passenger later died.
Some 2,500 people were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend. The Spanish maritime rescue service found 54 people, including 13 women and two babies, in a boat east of the Strait of Gibraltar. Seven of them were taken to hospital for treatment.
Around 85 percent of the more than 70,000 people who took boats to Europe this year arrived in Italy from north Africa, primarily Libya.
“Solutions cannot just be in Italy,” the UNHCR said in a statement. “New measures on both sides of the Central Mediterranean Sea to seriously combat trafficking are needed.”
Syrian Refugees Return From Lebanon Under ‘Hezbollah Deal’
Dozens of Syrian refugees returned to Syria from Lebanon under a deal between Hezbollah and Syrian rebels, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper.
The Lebanese army escorted the families over the border from the Lebanese town of Arsal to towns in Syria’s West Qalamoun region, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported.
The plan for refugee returns to Qalamoun was originally put forward earlier this year by Hezbollah, the Lebanese political faction and militia that is fighting in Syria to support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah said it was negotiating with Syrian rebel groups in the area to send refugees back to a so-called “safe zone” over the border inside Syria.
The U.N., humanitarian and human rights groups warn that current proposals for “safe zones” in Syria – including from Russia, which is discussing the plan with the U.S. – risk sending vulnerable refugees back to places of danger, in violation of international law.
Fire That Destroyed German Refugee Center Investigated as Arson Attack
A fire that destroyed a refugee housing center in northern Germany and left dozens injured is under investigation as a possible arson attack.
The blaze started in a bin in the basement of the building in Bremen and left it uninhabitable, police said.
Among the 37 injured, 10 children and four adults were taken to nearby clinics for treatment.
There were 75 arson attacks on refugee centers in Germany in 2015.
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