分类： world

ROME, May 4 — For nearly 1,800 years, the grand, intricately decorated Baths of Caracalla, a sprawling ancient public bath complex steps from Rome’s iconic Colosseum, served as a space of leisure, healing, and quiet relaxation for Roman citizens. On a sunlit spring Sunday this year, this historic site took on a new, deeply meaningful purpose: a moment of escape from trauma and medical uncertainty for nearly 50 Palestinian children and their families, evacuated from war-ravaged Gaza to Italy through the country’s humanitarian corridor program for urgent medical care.

Organized by Guides for Gaza, a volunteer network of Italian tour guides formed to support displaced Gazans, the day-long outing offered more than just a walk through ancient ruins. Beyond a guided tour of the site’s towering marble remnants and ancient engineering features, volunteers arranged light refreshments, games for children, and unstructured time for families to connect and process their experiences away from hospital appointments and the weight of war memories. “We brought these families here so they could experience the joy of visiting an ancient archaeological site,” Luisa delle Fratte, a tour guide with the group, told the Associated Press. Amid ordinary Italian locals spreading picnic blankets on the grass to enjoy the warm spring weather, the Palestinian families, all now temporary residents of Rome, moved seamlessly through the 27-hectare site. They snapped selfies against the backdrop of centuries-old stone columns, watched the new reflecting pool’s fountain jets arc into the air, and followed their guide and translator through the site’s historic halls.

For 13-year-old Ahmed Skena, one of the evacuees, the outing marked a small break in a long road of medical recovery. Skena was injured in the conflict that has ravaged Gaza, leaving him with impaired speech and limited mobility in one hand and leg. He also lost his father and brother in the war, he shared haltingly with reporters. For Mariam Dawwas, a 25-year-old who traveled to the outing with her husband and four young children, one of whom requires ongoing medical treatment, the safety of Rome is already a profound change from life in Gaza. Dawwas and her family were displaced more than 10 times across the enclave before they were evacuated through the humanitarian program. “Thank God, I am still in a better situation than in Gaza, away from the bombing. At least I am safe, I have shelter, and there is light for my children,” she said.

Delle Fratte noted that the outing also created a rare chance for reconnection: several of the families had known each other back in Gaza but had not seen one another since their separate evacuations. “It was very beautiful to see them there embracing again and meeting one another once more,” she said. The event also doubled as a fundraiser for ongoing support for Gazan civilians: while the Palestinian families toured the ruins for free, Guides for Gaza offered paid tours to regular visitors to the site, with all donations going to Gazelle, a nonprofit organization that runs child protection programs across the Gaza Strip.

The ongoing conflict in Gaza erupted in October 2023 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducted 251 more. Since that time, the Gaza Health Ministry, operating under the Hamas-led government, reports that more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent military campaign. The ministry’s casualty data, which does not break down numbers between combatants and civilian residents, is widely regarded as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent conflict analysts. International diplomatic efforts, including a 20-point ceasefire plan proposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, remain ongoing to end the conflict and pave the way for reconstruction of the devastated enclave.

In the early hours of Monday, a Ukrainian drone struck a luxury residential high-rise in southwestern Moscow, leaving visible structural damage to an upper floor’s facade but causing no reported casualties, according to local officials. The incident marked the third straight night of drone attacks targeting the Russian capital, coming just days before Moscow hosts a significantly reduced 9 May parade honoring the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Unverified footage circulating across social media platforms captured first responders entering a heavily damaged apartment, where broken windows, scattered dust and piles of rubble filled the space. A second clip showed pieces of downed drone debris spread across the street at the base of the building. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that two other drones targeting the city were successfully intercepted by Russian air defenses, and the capital’s two major international hubs, Vnukovo and Domodedovo, temporarily paused all flight operations overnight as a security precaution.

Across multiple Russian regions between Sunday and Monday, Russian defense officials reported that a total of 117 Ukrainian drones were shot down. Sixty of those drones were directed at the St. Petersburg region, in what regional governor Aleksandr Drodzhenko described as a large-scale coordinated attack.

The damaged residential building sits in one of Moscow’s most exclusive neighborhoods, located less than 10 kilometers from the Kremlin and Red Square, where the scaled-back 9 May victory parade will be held this Saturday. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow have become a recurring occurrence. While drone warnings frequently force temporary airport shutdowns on the capital’s outskirts and disrupt commercial air traffic, most of central Moscow is shielded by Russia’s Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile systems, making successful strikes this close to the city center a relatively rare event.

Growing security anxiety ahead of the annual celebrations prompted the Kremlin to announce last week that it would scale back the traditional large-scale military parade on Red Square, citing an ongoing “terrorist threat” from Ukraine. This year will mark the first time since 2008 that no armored vehicles or long-range missile systems will be featured in the event. Separately, Russian state media reported Monday that multiple local mobile network providers have announced restrictions on mobile internet access across most of Moscow for the coming week, a measure framed as necessary for national security.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky openly acknowledged the increasing drone pressure, commenting that the Kremlin’s decision to downsize the parade reveals Moscow’s fear that drones could reach Red Square itself. “This is telling… We need to keep up the pressure,” Zelensky said.

Over the course of the full-scale war, Ukraine has rapidly expanded its domestic production of long-range drones, which are now capable of striking targets hundreds of kilometers inside Russian territory. These unmanned systems regularly target Russian energy infrastructure and oil refineries across the country, with the strategic goal of cutting into Russia’s total oil output and reducing critical export revenue that funds Moscow’s war effort.

A day before the Moscow strike, Zelensky announced that Ukrainian forces had hit three Russian oil tankers, a cruise missile-carrying warship and a patrol boat in separate attacks on two Russian Black Sea ports. Zelensky noted that the targeted tankers were part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of vessels that Moscow uses to evade Western oil sanctions imposed after the 2022 full-scale invasion.

Despite the increasing Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia, Moscow continues its daily campaign of deadly aerial attacks against Ukrainian population centers. On Monday, Ukrainian emergency officials confirmed that a Russian missile strike near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, located just kilometers from the Russian border, killed four civilians and left 18 others injured.

On a tense Monday in the Persian Gulf region, the United Arab Emirates confirmed it had faced direct Iranian attacks — the first such escalation since a fragile ceasefire took effect in early April. The confrontation unfolded hours after the U.S. launched a new push, dubbed “Project Freedom,” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global energy supplies that Iran has controlled effectively since the U.S. and Israel launched their military campaign in late February.

According to the UAE Defense Ministry, Iran fired four cruise missiles toward the emirate; three were successfully intercepted by air defenses, while the fourth fell harmlessly into the Gulf waters off the country’s coast. Separately, authorities in the eastern emirate of Fujairah — a key oil infrastructure hub that serves as the UAE’s main maritime access point outside the Strait of Hormuz and the terminus of an oil pipeline built to bypass the strait — confirmed an Iranian drone sparked a fire at a major oil facility. The UK Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors regional shipping security, later reported two cargo vessels were ablaze in waters off the UAE coast. A South Korean government statement confirmed an explosion and fire broke out on a South Korean-operated vessel anchored in the strait near the UAE, though no injuries were reported; it remained unclear Monday if this was one of the vessels noted by British officials.

The new U.S. initiative kicked off Monday, when U.S. Central Command confirmed two American-flagged merchant ships completed a successful transit of the strait, with guided-missile destroyers from the U.S. Navy providing escort. “Both transiting vessels are safely headed on their journey,” the command said in a post on X, adding that U.S. Navy destroyers also transited the waterway as part of the effort to restore commercial traffic. The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center has advised commercial ships to route through Omani territorial waters, establishing what it calls an “enhanced security area” for transits, and warned that traveling near traditional shipping lanes remains “extremely hazardous” due to uncleared mines scattered across the waterway.

The confrontation threatens to upend the three-week-old ceasefire and reignite large-scale fighting across the region. Iran has repeatedly condemned the U.S. initiative as a direct violation of the ceasefire agreement, and has vowed to continue targeting vessels that ignore its requirement that all transiting ships coordinate with Iranian authorities. “We warn that any foreign military force — especially the aggressive U.S. military — that intends to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted,” Major General Ali Abdollahi, a senior Iranian military commander, told state broadcaster IRIB Monday. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency dismissed Project Freedom as an outgrowth of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “delirium”, after Trump warned Iran Sunday that any attempt to interfere with the U.S.-led transit effort would be met with a “forceful” response.

Trump framed the initiative as a humanitarian measure, designed to assist hundreds of stranded seafarers trapped on vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf since the war began. Crew members of stranded ships have previously told the Associated Press they have faced dwindling supplies of drinking water, food, and other essentials, while watching drones and missiles explode overhead amid earlier hostilities.

Iranian state media stirred further tension Monday when multiple outlets reported Iranian forces had struck a U.S. military vessel near an Iranian port southeast of the strait, claiming the ship was forced to turn back after violating maritime security rules. U.S. Central Command quickly debunked the claim, saying in a statement on X that “no U.S. Navy ships have been struck” in the region.

The closure of the strait has already sent global fuel prices soaring and sent shockwaves through the already fragile global economy, squeezing energy-dependent nations in Europe, Asia, and beyond. The U.S. has also levied sanctions that penalize shipping companies that pay Iran transit fees for passage through the waterway, and enforced a naval blockade of Iranian ports since April 13 that has turned away at least 49 commercial vessels, depriving Tehran of critical oil revenue needed to prop up its ailing domestic economy. U.S. officials have said they hope the pressure will force Iran to make concessions in ongoing ceasefire and peace negotiations, which have so far shown little sign of progress.

As of Monday, questions remain about whether the U.S. initiative can actually restore consistent commercial traffic, as shipping companies and their insurers weigh the growing risk of attacks. “No formal guidance or details about the U.S. effort had been issued to the industry,” said Jakob Larsen, head of security for the Baltic and International Maritime Council, a leading global shipping trade group. Larsen added that the initiative carries clear long-term risks, saying “it carries a risk of hostilities breaking out again” and questioned whether the effort could be sustained over time.

Talks to end the broader conflict remain stalled as both sides dig in on competing demands. Iran’s latest peace proposal calls for the U.S. to lift all sanctions, end its naval blockade, withdraw all military forces from the region, and force Israel to end its military operations in Lebanon, according to Iranian news outlets with close ties to the country’s security apparatus. Iranian officials said they are still reviewing the U.S. response to the proposal, but Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei noted Monday that shifting U.S. negotiating demands have made meaningful diplomacy difficult. Iran has also claimed its proposal excludes discussion of its nuclear program and enriched uranium stockpiles — a core point of tension between Iran, the U.S., and Israel for over a decade — and wants all outstanding issues resolved within 30 days to end the war permanently, rather than extend the current temporary ceasefire. Trump cast doubt on the prospects of a breakthrough over the weekend, saying he did not expect Iran’s proposal to lead to a lasting negotiated deal.