World

Six guilty of murder over 2016 Brussels airport and train attack that killed 32

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2023

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Six men have been found guilty of murder over the 2016 Brussels terror attacks that left 32 people dead.

The trial lasted seven months and was held in the former headquarters of NATO.

Bombs exploded at Brussels Airport in March 2016 and then on a metro train passing through the city’s European quarter, in attacks claimed by Islamic State.

Fifteen men and 17 women were killed, with more than 300 people injured. The attacks were the deadliest in Belgium since the end of the Second World War.

Among those convicted were Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the Paris attacks in 2015, which killed 130 people.

Abdeslam, who was born and brought up in Brussels, has already been convicted, at a trial in France, for his part in those attacks.

The French sentenced him to life imprisonment, without parole, but allowed Abdeslam, along with four others, to be transported to Belgium so they could face justice once more.

One of the group is presumed to have been killed in Syria and was tried in their absence.

Nearly 1,000 people were represented during the hearings, underscoring how many lives were impacted by the attacks – but now the country has some form of closure.

The immediate aftermath led to vigils, protests, border checks, parliamentary inquiries and even the partial evacuation of the nation’s nuclear power stations.

Belgium was a country gripped by a fear that took a long time to quell. Now, it knows where to place the blame.

‘The man in the hat’

Also found guilty was Mohamed Abrini, who became known as “the man in the hat” after being seen in a CCTV image taken at Brussels Airport shortly before bombs were blown up.

Abdeslam was arrested during a police raid and shoot-out in Brussels in March 2016.

The arrest prompted the terrorist group to change its plans – instead of returning to Paris to launch a new wave of terror attacks, as planned, they rushed into place to cause devastation in the Belgian capital.

The murders began at the airport.

CCTV footage shows three men pushing trolleys through the departure terminal shortly before the explosions. In all of their bags there was a bomb, but only two of them were detonated by suicide attackers.

The third man was Abrini. A friend of Abdeslam since childhood, he survived the attack after failing to detonate his device.

He, too, had previously been convicted by the court in France for his involvement in the November 2015 attacks.

Abrini told the Brussels court that “just like in Paris, they’ll convict us for what others did” and said that he, and the other defendants, “are not the tip of the pyramid”.

He added: “You never caught those pulling the strings but you have to trot out someone and that someone is us.”

‘Bomber pulled out when he saw women and kids’

Abrini also claimed that he had suffered a change of heart and refused to blow up his bomb after being shown his target – a queue of passengers preparing to fly to America.

“I saw women and children. I turned around immediately and told them ‘I’m not doing that’,” he claimed.

The court asked him why, if he had suffered a sudden pang of conscience, he did not try to dissuade the other bombers or defuse the devices, but received no clear answer.

Instead, Abrini maintained that those killed and injured in the attack were, in fact, victims of both Islamic State and the foreign policy of Western nations.

The airport was evacuated amid scenes of chaos and fear. But just an hour and a quarter after the airport explosions, another device was detonated in the middle carriage of a train at Maalbeek metro station, not far from the headquarters of the European Commission.

As well as the 32 people who were killed by the attacks, three terrorists also died.

More than 300 people were injured, 62 of them critically.

Woman euthanised over attack trauma

In 2022, a young Belgian woman, who had been in the airport at the time of the attack, decided to be euthanised because of the “intolerable psychological” strain it had placed on her life.

The trial in Belgium had been delayed because of questions about where such a high-profile, maximum-security event could be held.

In the end, millions of euros were spent converting NATO’s former headquarters building into a courtroom.

Police protection was high and overt.

Abdeslam, who denied any involvement in planning the attacks, told the court that he had “always tried to do good”.

When asked if he had any faults, he said: “I don’t know of any.”

He said that Islamic State attacks on Europe had been a response to bombing raids carried out by Western nations on Raqqa and Mosul, a claim repeated by a succession of defendants.

Complaints from defendants of humiliating strip searches caused more delays, with court sessions frequently interrupted and postponed.

‘You are at a crossroads’

The court heard moving testimony from many people profoundly affected by the attacks.

The mother of Bart Migom, a 21-year-old who was on his way to America to see his girlfriend, told the defendants: “You are at a crossroads. You can choose to do as you have done so far, or you can look yourselves in the face and take responsibility for all of this. I hope you do that.”

Another person, Caroline Leruth, told the court she had survived only because Abrini had not detonated his bomb. “I am standing here today because of your cowardice,” she said.

However, the statements from victims also included criticism of the response from Belgian authorities, alleging that help had taken too long to arrive and that they had been treated unsympathetically after the attacks, with health insurance companies trying to minimise their injuries.

Nine people were placed on trial, although the prosecution, in an unusual move, later asked for one of the men, Ibrahim Farisi, to be acquitted after accepting that there was not enough evidence against him.

A tenth, Oussama Atar, was convicted in his absence, although it is believed that he is dead after previously going to Syria to join Islamic State.

World

‘Sixteen killed’ in strike on Gaza hospital as Israel says it hit ‘Hamas command centre below’

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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'Sixteen killed' in strike on Gaza hospital as Israel says it hit 'Hamas command centre below'

At least 16 people have been killed and 70 others were injured at a hospital in Gaza following an Israeli strike, according to the health ministry.

Nine missiles hit the European Hospital and its courtyard in the south of the Palestinian territory, officials said.

Israel said it had hit a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital in Khan Younis.

Hamas denies exploiting hospitals and civilian properties for military purposes.

Middle East latest – Trump signs Saudi arms deal

Earlier, a well-known Palestinian photojournalist died following a separate attack on the Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Younis, said the ministry.

Hassan Aslih had been accused by Israel of working with Hamas and was recovering from an earlier airstrike.

Aslih, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, was said by the Israelis to have recorded and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack into Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

Aslih was one of two patients who died in Tuesday’s strike on Nasser Hospital, said the health ministry. Several others were wounded.

Dozens of people were being treated on the third floor of the hospital building, where the missiles struck, Reuters said, quoting Ahmed Siyyam, a member of Gaza’s emergency services.

The Israeli military said it “eliminated significant Hamas terrorists” in Nasser Hospital, among them Aslih, who it said had “operated under the guise of a journalist”.

Footage showed heavy damage to one of the hospital buildings, including to medical equipment and beds inside.

At least 160 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the International Federation of Journalists.

Gazan officials accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists. Israel denies this and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians.

Aslih, who headed the Alam24 news outlet and had previously worked with Western news outlets, was recovering after being wounded last month in a deadly strike on a tent in the Nasser Hospital compound.

Meanwhile, President Trump has spoken on the phone to Edan Alexander after he was released by Hamas on Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire with Israel.

The 21-year-old was believed to be the last living American hostage in Gaza.

Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the 7 October attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s response has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of the coastal territory. Gaza’s health ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

An aid blockade since March has left the population at critical risk of famine, according to the World Health Organisation, which warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”.

World

Trump to lift sanctions on Syria – as he announces $600bn deal with Saudi Arabia

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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Trump to lift sanctions on Syria - as he announces 0bn deal with Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump has said the US will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria and signed a $600bn (£450bn) deal with Saudi Arabia as he visited the nation as part of a tour of the Middle East.

The US president revealed the US plans to lift sanctions on Syria following talks with Saudi Arabia‘s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Trump was speaking at the US-Saudi investment conference during a four-day trip to the region.

Analysis: US-Saudi relationship feels tighter than ever as Trump signs flurry of deals

The comments follow Air Force One being escorted by Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s as it approached the kingdom’s capital, with Mr Trump welcomed by the crown prince, Saudi’s de facto ruler, as he stepped off the plane.

President Trump said the relationship between the were nations were “stronger and more powerful than ever before”, adding it would “remain that way”.

‘Largest defence cooperation agreement’

Mr Trump and Prince Mohammed signed several agreements aimed at increasing cooperation between their governments, including a commitment to $600bn in new Saudi investment in the US – though Mr Trump said a trillion dollars (£750bn) would be even better.

The US also agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142bn (£107bn), which the White House called “the largest defence cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

In his speech, President Trump also urged Iran to take a “new and a much better path” and make a new nuclear deal with the US.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Trump said he wants to avoid a conflict with Iran but warned of “maximum pressure” if his olive branch was rejected.

“As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound,” he said.

“If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero.”

He added: “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. But with that said, Iran can have a much brighter future, but we’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make.”

Normalising relations with Syria

Mr Trump said he would ease US sanctions on Syria and move to normalise relations with its new government ahead of a meeting with its new leader Ahmad al Sharaa on Wednesday.

The Syrian president was formerly an insurgent who led the overthrow of former leader Bashar al Assad last year.

Mr Trump said he wants to give the country “a chance at peace” and added: “There is a new government that will hopefully succeed. I say good luck, Syria. Show us something special.”

The US leader also said he hoped Saudi Arabia would soon join the Abraham Accords and recognise Israel “in your own time”.

Saudi Arabia has argued its recognition of Israel would be tied to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the lines of Israel’s 1967 borders.

Mr Trump will travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the next three days.

World

US-Saudi relationship feels tighter than ever as Trump signs flurry of deals

Published

5 hours ago

May 13, 2025

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US-Saudi relationship feels tighter than ever as Trump signs flurry of deals

In today’s Saudi Arabia, convention centres resemble palaces.

The King Abdul Aziz International Conference Centre was built in 1999 but inside it feels like Versailles.

Some might call it kitsch, but it’s a startling reflection of how far this country has come – the growth of a nation from desert bedouins to a vastly wealthy regional powerbroker in just one generation.

Trump latest: President signs huge arms deal with Saudi Arabia

At a bar overnight, over mocktails and a shisha, I listened to one young Saudi man tell me how his family had watched this transformation.

His father, now in his 60s, had lived the change – a child born in a desert tent, an upbringing in a dusty town, his 30s as a mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, his 40s in a deeply conservative Riyadh and now his 60s watching, wide-eyed, the change supercharged in recent years.

The last few years’ acceleration of change is best reflected in the social transformation. Women, unveiled, can now drive. Here, make no mistake, that’s a profound leap forward.

Through a ‘western’ lens, there’s a way to go – homosexuality is illegal here. That, and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are no longer openly discussed here.

Bluntly, political and economic expedience have moved world leaders and business leaders beyond all that.

The guest list of delegates at the convention centre for the Saudi-US Investment Forum reads like a who’s who of America’s best business brains.

Signing a flurry of different deals worth about $600bn (£451bn) of inward investment from Saudi to the US – which actually only represent intentions or ‘memorandums of understanding’ at this stage – the White House said: “The deals… represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

“From day one, President Trump‘s America First Trade and Investment Policy has put the American economy, the American worker, and our national security first.”

That’s the answer when curious voters in faraway America wonder what this is all about.

With opulence and extravagance, this is about a two-way investment and opportunity.

There are defence deals – the largest defence sales agreement in history, at nearly $142bn (£106bn) – tech deals, and energy deals.

Underlying it all is the expectation of diplomatic cooperation, investment to further the geopolitical strategies for both countries on key global challenges.

In the convention centre’s gold-clad corridors, outside the plenary hall, there are reminders of the history of this relationship.

There is a ‘gallery of memories’ – the American presidents with the Saudi kings – stretching back to the historic 1945 meeting between Franklin D Roosevelt and King Saud on board the USS Quincy. That laid the foundation for the relationship we now see.

Curiously, the only president missing is Barack Obama. Sources suggested to me that this was a ‘mistake’. A convenient one, maybe.

It’s no secret that the US-Saudi relationship was at its most strained during his presidency. Obama’s absence would give Trump a chuckle.

Today, the relationship feels tighter than ever. There is a mutual respect between the president and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first foreign trip in his last presidency, and he’s done so again.

But there are differences this time. Both men are more powerful, more self-assured, and of course the region has changed.

There are huge challenges like Gaza, but the two men see big opportunities too. A deal with Iran, a new Syria, and Gulf countries that are global players.

It’s money, money, money here in Riyadh. Will that translate to a better, more prosperous and peaceful world? That’s the question.