LONDON: The UN Security Council on Monday highlighted the positive effects the ceasefire in Yemen is having on the country and its people.

The council said that since the implementation of the truce there has been a 60 percent reduction in casualties in the ongoing conflict and a four-fold increase in fuel shipments passing through Hodeidah port. In addition, the resumption of commercial flights to and from Sanaa has allowed 21,000 passengers to travel to receive medical treatment or reunite with their families.

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s economic meltdown worsened on Monday as protesters blocked roads in Beirut and Tripoli over power cuts and the Banque du Liban’s decision to permanently remove fuel subsidies.

The demonstrations coincided with the Lebanese caretaker government’s renewed call for international efforts to help with the Syrian refugee crisis in the country.

In Qasqas and on Corniche Al-Mazraa, in Beirut, crowds used waste bins to block streets in response to the latest cost-of-living blow.

DAMASCUS: Hospitals in the Syrian capital have been put on alert after more than two dozen cases of cholera and at least three deaths were reported in the war-torn country, health officials said on Monday.

The main cause of the spread appears to be people drinking polluted water as well as watering plants in some areas with unclean water.

Syria’s infrastructure has suffered severe damage since the country’s conflict began in March 2011 where residents of some areas have no access to clean water.

BEIRUT: Daesh killed six US-backed Syrian fighters in eastern Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members of the extremist group.

The Daesh-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and later shot dead late on Sunday.

HATRA, Iraq: Strolling along the ancient ruins of Hatra in Iraq’s north, dozens of visitors admired the site, where local initiatives seek to turn over a new leaf after a brief but brutal Daesh rule.

Designated an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO, Hatra dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

It is a two-hour drive from Mosul, the former “capital” proclaimed by Daesh, which was recaptured in 2017 by Iraqi forces and an international coalition that backed them.