Muslims start Eid festival

Many of the world's Muslims could end their month of daytime fasting on Monday with the arrival of the new, crescent moon, the point where Ramadan gives way to Eid al-Fitr.

The festival, which can last up to three days, is the second most important on the Muslim calendar. Collective prayer, mandatory charitable donations and visiting relatives are some of the customs, along with fine food and drink after almost one month of daytime abstinence. Other names for Eid include the Sweet, or Sugar, Festival, Bayram or the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast.

Believers in Morocco, India and most of Pakistan were still fasting on Monday and were likely to celebrate the start of Eid on Tuesday. This is because the Islamic lunar calendar, or Hijri, is still based on personal sightings of the moon by trusted scholars - meaning issues like cloud cover or a bright evening sky can delay the process.

'Worst Eid of my life'

In Gaza, the start of Eid was punctuated by an attack at a refugee camp playground where seven Palestinian children were killed and dozens injured. Hamas and the Israeli military blamed each other for the attack. For most of Ramadan, since July 8, Gaza has been steadily bombarded by Israeli airstrikes.

"This is the worst Eid that I've experienced in all my life," 45-year-old ex-policeman Abu Nadscha told the DPA news agency. "When I was still a child this was a festival full of joy. But this year: nothing other than blood, destruction, pain, mourning and sadness."

The mood was similarly somber for the more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, displaced by the country's civil war.

"Eid has no flavor here at all," Umm Ammar, who fled her country three years ago with her family and now lives in an encampment in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, told the Associated Press. "We want to celebrate Eid in Syria, in our homes."

Across the Syrian border in Iraq, police on Monday reported two roadside bombs - one in Baghdad and another southeast of the city - and the discovery of 15 corpses around the capital. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which last month renamed itself Islamic State, has seized control of a large chunk of territory in both countries, including Iraq's second most populous city, Mosul. The UN Security Council on Monday backed a Russian initiative banning any trade in oil with ISIS or similar groups in control of these regions.

Malaysia and Africa mourn air crashes

In West Africa, Eid prayers were largely dedicated to the victims of the Air Algerie plane crash in Mali that killed 118 people and the ongoing Ebola outbreak that has claimed more than 650 lives. Malaysian Muslims, meanwhile, marked the religious holiday in the shadow of two lost Malaysian Airlines passenger planes - one believed to have been shot down over eastern Ukraine, the other believed to have crashed into the ocean after disappearing in March.

Even comparatively calm parts of the Muslim world sought more muted celebrations in light of developments elsewhere. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in his Eid message that although Turkey was enjoying a peaceful holiday, many of its neighbors were not.

msh/lw (AP, dpa, Reuters)