Template:Portal:Current events/2020 February 17
February 17, 2020 (Monday)
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War, Northwest Syria offensive
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives a televised speech on the military offensives in north-western Syria, saying the offensives in Aleppo Province and Idlib Province will continue regardless of Turkey's threats while adding that the recent Syrian Army victories are a prelude to the opposition's "final defeat, sooner or later".
- At least ten people – including two police officers – are killed in a terrorist attack by a suicide bombing in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan.
Business and economy
- Aleppo International Airport opens up for the first time since 2013 in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian Transport Minister, Ali Hammoud, says that commercial flights will begin within days starting with Cairo, Egypt.
Disasters and accidents
- At least 20 people, including women and children, are killed in a stampede when people rush forward through the gates of an aid facility to collect aid in southwestern Niger.
- Storm Dennis
- Severe flooding from the storm continues across Wales and Southern England with dozens of storm warnings remain in effect.
- The lower reaches of many rivers, such as the Severn and Shrewsbury, continue to rise as a result of excess runoff from upstream with the River Wye in Hereford reaching its highest levels ever recorded.
- In Worcestershire, police divers have recovered the body of a woman who has died after her car was swept away from a flooded road.