Briefly

SYRIA

Fuel tanker collides with two buses, kills 30

A fuel tank collided with two passenger buses and several other cars on a highway near the capital Damascus on Saturday, killing 30 people, Syria's official news agency said. It said the accident happened on the Damascus-Homs road in the Baghdad Bridge area. Citing Syria's Interior Minister Mohammad Rahmoun, the report said the civil defense units were removing the cars from the road. Rahmoun said the brakes of the fuel tanker were not working, which caused the accident. The war-devastated country marks nine years of conflict next week. It has ravaged the country's economy and infrastructure.

LIBYA

Army unit destroyed in government action

A spokesman of Libya's UN-backed government's forces on Saturday said its forces targeted units of the east-based army in the south of the capital Tripoli. "Our forces destroyed an ammunition store and gatherings of the militias (belonging to the east-based army) in southern Tripoli," Mohamed Gonono said in a statement. On the other hand, the east-based army announced on Saturday the shooting down of a Turkish-made drone belonging to the UN-backed government's forces in southern Tripoli, accusing the UN-backed government forces of targeting civilian areas in Tripoli. The east-based army has been leading a military campaign since April 2019 in and around the capital Tripoli, attempting to take over the city and topple the UN-backed government.

Xinhua