Levant

Millions of people early Feb. 6 partook in "silent marches," traversing through desolate streets across 11 southern provinces to commemorate the 53,537 lives on the first anniversary of the twin earthquakes.

Participants observed a moment of silence at 4:17 a.m., the haunting moment when the first tremor of 7.7 magnitude struck the cities while millions were asleep.

HATAY, Turkey - "It felt like the world was turning upside down. Telling the story is not the same as experiencing it." Sixty-one-year-old Kanraman Karat vividly remembers this night last year when the earth shook violently in the middle of his slumbers, taking tens of thousands of lives and destroying hundreds of thousands of properties.

The strengthening works are ongoing uninterruptedly in Türkiye's prominent Hatay Archaeology Museum, which sustained damage during the deadly earthquakes that jolted the country's southeast in early February last year.

HATAY - Abdullah Yanar planted flowers in front of his container home to make it feel more like a real home for his family, who have been living in temporary shelters in southern Turkey since last year's devastating earthquake.

LONDON - When a devastating earthquake struck Turkey in the early hours of February 6, 2023, the five-storey building in Hatay where 13-year-old Mehmet Koc lived collapsed, burying him in rubble and killing his older brother Emre, 14, and his mother Didem.

Syria is the most dangerous

In a major escalation in the Middle East crisis, three US service members were killed and dozens more injured in a drone strike on the Syrian-Jordanian border by the Iranian-backed Islamic Resistance.

At least nine civilians, including two children, were killed yesterday in air strikes on Syria likely to have been carried out by Jordan against drug-traffickers, a monitor and media outlet reported.

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and Israeli counterpart Israel Katz discussed regional issues and potential energy and transportation projects, in a phone call on Thursday.

The United Nations Security Council demanded on Wednesday an "immediate" end to attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.

The resolution passed "demands that the Huthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security."