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A crowd of angry survivors have hurled mud and insults at Spain’s King Felipe during a visit to one of the worst flood-hit towns.

The King and his wife, Queen Letizia, along with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, were touring devastated Paiporta, just outside Valencia, when they were confronted by locals.

Mr Sanchez was evacuated from the scene, according to Spanish broadcaster RTVE, when the official contingent started to walk the mud-covered streets of Paiporta, where more than 60 people were killed in the historic floods.

Police on horseback were forced to step in and push back a crowd of several dozen people.

“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” rang out among other insults.

“They knew it, they knew it, and yet they did nothing,” one young man shouted at the king while waving a finger in his face.

The king leaving the scene after the crowd of angry survivors tossed mud and shouted insults at him. Pic: AP
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The king leaving the scene after the crowd of angry survivors tossed mud and shouted insults at him. Pic: AP

A piece of mud thrown at the king is intercepted by a member of his security. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A piece of mud thrown at the king is intercepted by a member of his security. Pic: Reuters

One young woman swatted a bodyguard with a long pole.

Pictures of the king’s visit to Paiporta show his face covered in flecks of mud, but after being forced to seek protection, he seemed to remain calm as he proceeded to talk to residents.

One person appeared to have wept on his shoulder. He shook the hand of a man.

The overall number of deaths from the devastating floods which hit the south and east of Spain on Tuesday and Wednesday has gone up to 217, with most of them being reported in the Valencia region.

Vehicles marked by firefighters, with a code indicating that they have searched for casualties from the floods in Paiporta. Pic: Reuters
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Vehicles marked by firefighters, with a code indicating that they have searched for casualties from the floods in Paiporta. Pic: Reuters

Spain's King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez shake hands with Spanish Civil Guards outside a command center as they visit the areas affected by the DANA, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain November 3, 2024. Casa de S.M. el Rey/Jose Jimenez/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
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Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia shake hands with Spanish Civil Guards. Pic: Casa de S.M. el Rey/Jose Jimenez/Reuters

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Dozens of people were still unaccounted for, while some 3,000 households still had no electricity, officials said.

Thousands of additional troops and police joined the disaster relief effort over the weekend in the largest such peacetime operation in Spain.

The floods engulfed streets and lower floors of buildings, and swept away cars and bits of masonry in tides of mud.

Volunteers and residents cleanup the mud four days after flash floods swept away everything in their path in Paiporta, outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Angel Garcia)
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Volunteers and residents clean up the mud from flash floods in Paiporta, yesterday. Pic: AP

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The tragedy is already Europe’s worst flood-related disaster in a single country since 1967 when at least some 500 people died in Portugal.

Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in Europe, and elsewhere, due to climate change.

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Some Syrian rebel factions agree to dissolve under new leadership – but fighting continues in north

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Some Syrian rebel factions agree to dissolve under new leadership - but fighting continues in north

Syria’s de facto leader has reached an agreement with the heads of rebel factions to dissolve their groups and work under the country’s defence ministry, his new administration says.

Ahmed al Sharaa, the head of the Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) group which toppled Bashar al Assad‘s regime earlier this month, met with the leaders of several of the rival factions that have been vying for influence in the country for years in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Those in attendance said their groups would dissolve, according to a statement from the new government.

The statement did not make clear which groups attended, but Syria has factions made up of Muslim Kurds and Shi’ites, as well as Syriac, Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christians, and the Druze community.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa attends a meeting with former rebel faction chiefs in Damascus.
Pic: SANA/Reuters
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The factions meeting in Damascus. Pic: SANA/Reuters

However, one major group, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), did not join the meeting in Damascus and has not agreed to dissolve.

It comes as Al Sharaa attempts to end years of civil strife and armed conflict – with the leader telling Western officials that his new government will not seek revenge against the former regime nor repress any religious minority.

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SDF launches fresh counter-offensive as fighting continues

Despite many groups agreeing to dissolve, fighting continues in the north of Syria.

The SDF, which in 2021 was estimated to have some 100,000 members, is not one of the groups set to dissolve and fall under the Syrian defence ministry.

On Tuesday it announced it had instead launched a fresh counter-offensive against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) to take back areas it previously controlled near Syria’s northern border.

Clashes between the SDF and the SNA have intensified since the fall of the Assad regime at the start of the month, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says dozens from both sides have been killed.

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The SDF is one of the US’s key allies in the country, and is frequently used by Washington to counter a resurgence of the so-called Islamic State in Syria.

The SNA, which helped topple the Assad regime, capitalised on the fall of the previous government by quickly launching an offensive and capturing the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it.

Since Monday and following overnight fighting, the SDF has recaptured some villages and is just seven miles from the centre of Manbij, according to reports from commanders and rights groups.

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Hundreds protest in Damascus after Syrian Christmas tree set on fire

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Hundreds protest in Damascus after Syrian Christmas tree set on fire

Hundreds of people have protested in Christian areas of the Syrian capital of Damascus after a video emerged showing hooded fighters setting a Christmas tree on fire elsewhere in the country.

“We demand the rights of Christians,” demonstrators chanted as they marched through the city on Christmas Eve.

The overthrow of Bashar al Assad by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – a group once aligned with Al Qaeda – has sparked concerns for religious minorities in Syria, but the group’s leader has insisted that all faiths will be respected.

The protests erupted after a video spread on social media showing fighters torching a Christmas tree in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near the city of Hama.

A man carries a cross at a protest against the burning of the Christmas tree in Hama, at Bab Touma neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria.
Pic: Reuters
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A man carries a cross during the protest in Damascus. Pic: Reuters

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the men were foreigners from the Islamist group Ansar al Tawhid.

A demonstrator who gave his name as Georges said he was protesting “injustice against Christians”.

“If we’re not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we used to, then we don’t belong here anymore,” he said.

People gather near a Christmas tree and a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, on the day of a protest against the burning of the Christmas tree in Hama, at Bab Touma neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria December 24, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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People gather near a Christmas tree in Damascus, Syria. Pic: Reuters

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A religious leader from HTS, the leading rebel group in the coalition that toppled Assad, claimed that those who set the tree on fire were “not Syrian” and promised they would be punished.

“The tree will be restored and lit up by tomorrow morning”, he said.

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Russian cargo ship ‘on Syria mission’ sinks in Mediterranean

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Russian cargo ship 'on Syria mission' sinks in Mediterranean

A Russian cargo ship that Ukraine claims was sent to Syria to collect weapons has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, according to officials in Moscow.

Two crew members are missing after an engine room explosion sank the Ursa Major between Spain and Algeria, the foreign ministry said. Fourteen other crew were rescued and taken to Spain.

Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed yesterday that the ship, previously called Sparta III, had been sent to Syria to remove weapons and military equipment after the fall of Bashar al Assad.

In a post on Telegram, the agency said the ship broke down near Portugal but the crew were able to “fix the problem and continue through the Strait of Gibraltar”.

It shared a picture of Sparta III, though referred to the ship in the statement as Sparta. There is another Russian ship in the Mediterranean called Sparta, so it is not fully clear which vessel the agency was referring to.

Ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) shows the Ursa Major departed from the Russian port of St Petersburg on 11 December. It was last seen sending a signal at 10.04pm GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain.

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On leaving St Petersburg it had indicated that its next port of call was the Russian port of Vladivostok.

The operator and owner of the ship is a company called SK-Yug, part of shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistics, according to LSEG data.

Assad fled to Moscow from Syria earlier this month after rebels captured the capital of Damascus in a lightning offensive that brought his family’s five-decade rule to an end.

Russia has the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility
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Russia has the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility

The Kremlin has long been an ally of Assad, who gave Vladimir Putin a Mediterranean seaport and a nearby air base in Syria in return for military support during the country’s civil war, which began in 2011.

Four years later, Russia intervened directly in the civil war and launched its first airstrikes in the country after Islamic State fighters seized the historic city of Palmyra. This proved to be a turning point in the conflict.

A year later, Syrian troops, backed by Russia and Iran, recaptured Aleppo – a significant blow to the rebels.

But in recent weeks Russia has been pulling back its military from the frontlines in northern Syria and the removal of Assad has also thrown the future of Moscow’s bases in the country – the Hmeimim airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility – into question.

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