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Syria’s suffering is a unique desolation and inside Idlib we’ve seen the face of utter desperation.

Here, they thought their plight couldn’t get any worse than running from shelling and cowering from regime bombs, but what was already an horrendously wretched life for millions, has become a whole lot more tragic since the earthquake.

People fear the cold and hunger will kill them now.

Turkey-Syria earthquake – latest: Turkey refuses aid from neighbouring Cyprus

Those who’ve fled from Bashar al Assad’s bombs and bullets for 12 years, have found themselves running again as their homes collapsed and the earthquakes tore into infrastructure already massively weakened by years of war.

We watched in Salquin as the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence group which receives funding from the UK, searched through piles of rubble.

The chances of finding anyone alive now seems crazily optimistic but they don’t give up their digging and searching. It goes on day and night.

Just 12 hours earlier, a young man had been pulled out of here alive. Instances like that keep them going.

They’re spurred on too by the grim realisation they are on their own and there’s no one coming anytime soon to help them.

Five days on from the worst set of earthquakes in this region in a century, there appears to be no international aid of any note and no teams of search and rescue experts.

Idlib is the last pocket of Syria holding out against Basher al Assad’s regime in Damascus and is held by an armed group called Hayat Tahir al Sham (HTS), headed by Abu Mohammed al Jolani.

He was once a member of al Qaeda before falling out with the group and forming his own fighting not only al Qaeda remnants, but Islamic State cells and the Assad regime as well.

He’s still on a terrorist most-wanted list drawn up by a number of nations including the US.

But when we spoke to him at the destroyed site in Salquin where they were searching for a missing family, he denounced the international community for not helping the desperate people of northwest Syria.

“The children being found under this rubble are not terrorists,” he said.

He called on the world to discard politics, concentrate on the people, and send help to the region.

We saw a father sitting in the dark, clutching a blanket wrapped round his dead four-year-old son.

The child – his face covered with dust and the blue-grey cold mask of death – was called Mohammed.

He’d been pulled out after four days trapped in the rubble, still wearing his pyjamas.

His father, Saleem, was in shock, his face stony hard, devoid of any emotion.

He had his little boy laid near a fire for warmth, which he could no longer feel, as if somehow it helped him, as if it might bring him the comfort his father couldn’t provide for the previous four days.

Saleem had no way of knowing if his little boy had laid there, alive but trapped and frightened for days on end waiting for the help which never arrived.

Saleem somehow scrambled to safety while grabbing the hand of his little girl, Mace, and running.

Mace is eight years old and she and Saleem are the only ones who made it out.

Behind them, men from the White Helmets operated diggers tearing into the rubble while colleagues lifted rocks and pulled at blankets peeping out from them.

They were trying to find Saleem’s 10-year-old son Abdul Razek and his wife Amira.

“I will not leave until I find them,” he said. “I cannot.”

He breaks off occasionally, pleading with the White Helmets to try different corners of what was once their home.

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The Team leader is Mustafa Kharzum and he knows all about the grief of losing a son.

His died from illness but the loss of a child never leaves a heartbroken parent.

“I know what he’s going through and I’ve promised him I will not leave here until we find his family,” Mustafa says.

They’re there all night and then all morning. By midday they’re confident they are not still in the rubble, so they start to trek through the hospitals.

Could they still be alive and, somehow, someone has taken them there?

There’s a tiny moment of hope yet again but it’s soon crushed when they find the bodies of both mother and son in the morgue of a hospital.

Saleem is distraught. “They were my world,” he says, “I worked for them. I did everything for them.”

His little girl Mace sobs as crowds of mourners gather round the family home in Mashhead Roheen, close to the Turkish border.

The family fled Ma’arat al Numan where they used to live when the Assad regime troops moved in three years ago.

They survived the long war only to see half the family wiped out in the earthquake.

At the home, the family’s female relatives wash the little boys’ bodies ready for burial.

Tiny children are wailing and howling with grief.

The grandmother, Fatima, collapses and is carried to a chair. She’s seen three of her sons die in the fighting and war – now she’s mourning a daughter and two grandsons.

This misery is too much to bear for them. The heartache is never ending for the Syrian people and once again, they’re feeling no one anywhere is hearing their cries or cares about their sorrow.

Alex Crawford was reporting from Idlib in northwestern Syria with camera operator Jake Britton, and producers Chris Cunningham and Mahmoud Mosa.

There will be a special programme called Disaster Zone: The Turkey-Syria Earthquake on Sky News this evening at 9.30pm.

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Two dead and hundreds of arrests across France after PSG’s Champions League win

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Two dead and hundreds of arrests across France after PSG's Champions League win

Two people are dead and nearly 560 people were arrested after disorder broke out in France following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions League final, the French interior ministry has said.

The ministry added 192 people were injured and there were 692 fires, including 264 involving vehicles.

A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the city of Dax during a PSG street party after Saturday night’s final in Munich, the national police service said.

The second person killed was a man who was hit by a car while riding a scooter during PSG celebrations, the interior minister’s office said.

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez has said the man was in his 20s and although the incident is still being investigated, it appears his death was linked to the disorder.

Meanwhile, French authorities have reported that a police officer is in a coma following the clashes.

Soccer Football - Champions League - Final - Paris St Germain fans gather in Paris - Paris, France - May 31, 2025 A burning bike is seen on
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A burning bike on the Champs Elysees during the disorder. Pic: Reuters

The officer had been hit by a firecracker that emerged from a crowd of supporters in Coutances in the Manche department of northwestern France, according to reports in the country.

Initial investigations reportedly suggest the incident was accidental and the police officer was not deliberately targeted.

The perpetrator has not been identified.

A man walks past teargas during incidents after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. Pic: AP
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A man walks past teargas during incidents after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. Pic: AP

Soccer Football - Champions League - Final - Paris St Germain fans gather in Paris - Paris, France - May 31, 2025 A burning bike is seen on
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A burning bike on the Champs Elysees during the disorder. Pic: Reuters

The interior ministry earlier said 22 security forces workers were injured during the chaos – including 18 who were injured in Paris, along with seven firefighters.

In a news conference today, Mr Nuñez said only nine of the force’s officers had been injured in the French capital.

He added that fireworks were directed at police and firefighters were attacked while responding to car fires.

There were 559 arrests across the country during the disorder, including 491 in Paris. Of those detained across the country, 320 were taken into police custody – with 254 in the French capital.

Mr Nuñez said although most people wanted to celebrate PSG’s win, some only wanted to get involved in fights with police.

He also said the force is only at “half-time” in its response because the PSG team will be celebrating their Champions League victory on the Champs Élysées later today.

Soccer Football - Champions League - Final - Paris St Germain fans gather in Paris - Paris, France - May 31, 2025 Riot police on the Champs
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Police in Paris during the disorder. Pic: Reuters

Soccer Football - Champions League - Final - Paris St Germain fans gather in Paris - Paris, France - May 31, 2025 Riot police on the Champs
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Police in Paris during the disorder. Pic: Reuters

Mr Nuñez said that the police presence and military presence in Paris will be increased on the ground for the parade.

It comes after flares and fireworks were set off in the French capital after PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich – the biggest ever victory in a Champions League final.

Around 5,400 police were deployed across Paris after the game, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray on the Champs Élysées.

A man runs away from teargas during incidents on the Champs Elysees avenue after PSG won the Champions League. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Fireworks explode over police in Paris after PSG win the Champions League. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

At the top of the Champs Élysées, a water cannon was used to protect the Place de l’Etoile, near the landmark Arc de Triomphe.

Police said a large crowd not watching the match tried to push through a barrier to make contact with officers.

Some 131 arrests were made, including 30 who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs Élysées.

Police have said a total of four shops, including a car dealership and a barbers, were targeted during the disorder in Paris.

Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police said.

PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé appealed for calm in a post-match interview with Canal+, saying: “Let’s celebrate this but not tear everything up in Paris.”

A PSG supporter on a traffic sign in Paris while red flares are set off after the team won the Champions League. Pic: AP
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Pics: AP

PSG supporters invade a street in Paris after the team won the Champions League. Pic: AP

After the final played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, thousands of supporters also tried to rush the field.

Police lined up in front of the PSG end of the stadium at the final whistle, but struggled to contain the fans for several minutes when they came down from the stands following the trophy presentation.

PSG fans rush the field at Allianz Arena in Munich after the team win the Champions League. Pic: AP
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Pics: AP

Police try to contain PSG fans on the field at Allianz Arena in Munich. Pic: AP

Désiré Doué, the 19-year-old who scored two goals and assisted one in the final, said after the game: “I don’t have words. But what I can say is, ‘Thank you Paris,’ we did it.”

Despite being a supporter of PSG’s rivals Olympique de Marseille, French President Emmanuel Macron also said on social media: “A glorious day for PSG!

“Bravo, we are all proud. Paris, the capital of Europe this evening.”

Mr Macron’s office said the president would receive the players at the Elysee Palace on Sunday.

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Hamburg hospital fire kills three as people call for help from windows

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Hamburg hospital fire kills three as people call for help from windows

Three patients have been killed and dozens of other people were reportedly injured after a fire at a hospital in Germany.

The blaze broke out in a room in the geriatric ward of the Marienkrankenhaus early on Sunday.

It started on the ground floor and spread to the level above, with smoke affecting much of the four-storey building in the city of Hamburg.

Firefighters were alerted soon after midnight.

They said they found several patients calling for help from windows, and some people were rescued using ladders.

Fire at the Marienkrankenhaus hospital. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP

Hospital fire. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Three adults died and more than 30 were injured in the fire, the German news agency dpa said.

One of the injured is in a life-threatening condition, while 18 have serious injuries and 15 have minor injuries, the agency added.

Read more from Sky News:
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Part of the building had to be evacuated, though the wounded were mostly treated at the hospital.

Two injured people were taken to other nearby clinics.

The blaze was put out within about 20 minutes. The cause is not yet known.

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At least 26 people killed in Israeli attack near aid distribution site, Gaza health ministry says

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At least 26 people killed in Israeli attack near aid distribution site, Gaza health ministry says

At least 26 people have been killed near an aid distribution centre in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry.

Earlier, a nearby hospital run by the Red Cross reported that at least 21 people had been killed. The hospital, which has been receiving bodies and the wounded, also said another 175 people had been injured.

Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub, a new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US.

However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike.

It is not yet clear if eyewitnesses and Hamas-affiliated media are giving different accounts of the same incident.

Sky News has contacted the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment.

Witnesses tell of shooting

The area where the reported shooting took place is controlled by Israeli forces.

Ibrahim Abu Saoud, an eyewitness, said Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution centre.

“There were many martyrs, including women,” the 40-year-old man said. “We were about 300 metres away from the military.”

Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.

Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub.

He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.

“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative.

Palestinians arrived to collect aid from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub in Rafah last week. File pic: Reuters
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Palestinians arrived to collect aid from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub in Rafah last week. File pic: Reuters

Controversial new aid system

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operates as part of a controversial aid system which Israel and the US says is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance.

Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the UN denies it has occurred.

The foundation’s distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory.

Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials.

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From 31 May: Moment Israeli warplane strikes Gaza

GHF says aid distributed ‘without incident’

The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.

The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the hospital’s claims.

In an earlier statement, it said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early on Sunday “without incident”. It dismissed what it referred to as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos”.

Meanwhile, the UN’s aid system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month.

Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians.

Experts have warned that the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in.

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From 29 May: Meet Gaza’s paramedics

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.

They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory, displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.

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