Downpour brings misery to Riyadh

March 20, 2015

Riyadh, Mar 20: Heavy rains lashed Riyadh on Thursday morning causing congestions on main traffic arteries.

Rainwater flooded the new Al-Kharj road. Industrial areas were inundated. Traffic police diverted traffic on the new Al-Kharj road to the old Al-Kharj road to enable workers to make their way to their offices.

Motorists using the airport highway to the city center were caught up in traffic snarls.

Al-Jouf region, including the city centers of Sakaka and Zaloom, Al-Kharj district, Makkah, Khurmah province and places such as Muzamiyah, Quwaiyath, Murat and Ghat in the Riyadh region experienced torrential rains, while Taif received light showers.

Abdul Kareem Mohamed Ashraff, top executive at a food company, said that it took him more than two-and-a-half hours to reach his office because of heavy rains. “The whole new Al-Kharj road from Exit 18 was impassable due to floods,” he said.

Packeer Alithamby, an accountant at a steel factory in the industrial zone, told Arab News that it took him four hours to reach his workplace, which normally would have taken 30 minutes. “I saw the underpass on the new Al-Kharj road was flooded and it was impassable,” he said.

Hameed Mowlana, who works close to the industrial area, said some of the roads flooded quickly because there is no proper drainage system in the Faisaliah district. “Roads are being dug now to install proper drainage facilities in these areas,” he said. The district houses more than 200 warehouses of large suppliers of food, industrial spares, textiles and building materials.

The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) said that rainfall with thunderstorms accompanied by cold winds would affect regions of Riyadh, the Eastern Province, Qassim, Hail, Northern Border and Al-Jouf. Similar climatic conditions will prevail in the highland regions of Makkah, Baha, Asir and Najran.

Surface winds and rising dust will reduce visibility in Madinah and Tabuk, while people will notice a drop in temperatures in the northwest and west of the Kingdom. Fog is also expected in the northern and eastern regions of the Kingdom.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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