The Latest: Hurricane Milton takes aim at Tampa Bay, Florida, as a Category 4 storm

Hurricane Milton is weakening slightly but remains a ferocious storm that could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg, engulfing the populous region with towering storm surges and turning debris from Helene’s devastation 12 days ago into projectiles.

Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Here’s the latest:

The 11 Florida counties under mandatory evacuation orders are home to about 5.9 million people, according to county-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Two Florida counties — Desoto and Marion — have ordered residents who live in mobile homes, RVs, modular-type homes and low-lying areas to evacuate.

About 30% of Desoto County’s roughly 34,000 residents live in mobile homes, while about 20% of Marion County’s more than 396,000 residents live in mobile homes, according to Census estimates.

In an area where residents are bracing for a double hit from hurricanes, Clearwater Beach homeowner and venture capitalist Arnie Bellini put up $500,000 to hire private contractors to haul away debris from his neighborhood ahead of Hurricane Milton.

He said the sheer scale of the storm debris from Hurricane Helene — and the hard deadline to remove it ahead of Milton’s expected arrival — is too much for city contractors to keep up with, so Bellini said he’s doing what he can.

Piles of ruined refrigerators, furniture and drywall lines the streets of the neighborhood in Clearwater Beach, mounds of metal sheeting and two-by-fours left behind by Hurricane Helene that could turn into storm-powered shrapnel if it’s not hauled away before Milton hits.

Bellini said he hopes his effort sends a message to other residents and business owners to do what they can to restore their storm-battered communities.

Biden participated in an Oval Office briefing Tuesday with a series of top administration officials to discuss the federal government’s ongoing response to Hurricane Helene and preparations for Hurricane Milton.

The president told reporters afterward of Milton, “My priority is to increase the size and presence of our effort.”

Biden postponed a planned trip later this week to Germany and Angola because of the storm, explaining, “I just don’t’ think I can be out of the country at this time.”

He said he still planned to make his scheduled trips, though when he’d do that is unclear.

Biden also spoke about misinformation and disinformation surrounding the federal response to Helene, which Vice President Kamala Harris has blamed on her Election Day opponent, former President Donald Trump. Biden said of such misinformation, “Those who do it do it to try to damage the administration.”

Asked about Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has complained about Harris’ comments about Helene, Biden said DeSantis “has been cooperative” and “said he’s gotten all that he needs.”

Biden said he told DeSantis, “You’re doing a great job” and “we thank you for it” and said he gave DeSantis “my personal cellphone number.”

The game in Tampa has been rescheduled to Saturday, Oct. 12.

The American Athletic Conference and teams will assess the conditions and overall situation after the storm passes to determine whether any other adjustments need to be made, the school announced Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center said at 11 a.m. Tuesday that Hurricane Milton was about 520 miles (835 km) southwest of Tampa. It had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and was moving in an east-northeast direction at 9 mph, the hurricane center said.

The center said a storm surge warning has been extended southward along the East Coast of Florida to Port Canaveral. The government of the Bahamas has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the extreme northwestern Bahamas, including Grand Bahama Island, the Abacos, and Bimini, the center said.

The hurricane was a Category 4 storm at late morning Tuesday, the center said.

“While fluctuations in intensity are expected, Milton is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall in Florida,” it said.

Nick Szabo’s fleet of excavators and dump trucks got to work at about 6:30 am on Tuesday, racing against the clock to haul away the three-foot-high piles of waterlogged couches, appliances, mattresses and two-by-fours that line the streets in this residential stretch of Clearwater Beach — all left behind by Hurricane Helene.

“All this crap is going to be missiles,” if they don’t haul it away ahead of Hurricane Milton, he said. “It’s like a spear coming at you.”

Szabo said he was hired by a local resident eager to help clear the roads — and unwilling to wait for overwhelmed city contractors to get the job done.

His team hauled away some 260 tons of debris as of 5 pm on Monday and they plan to keep working until 7 pm on Tuesday.

“It feels good to help,” Szabo said.

It’s easily the worst vacation John Fedor and his wife Laura have ever been on. After losing their phone on a Caribbean cruise, they missed their flight home to Philadelphia – and then missed the flight they rebooked Tuesday morning, after the bus they took to the Tampa airport was delayed.

“It’s just been utter hell,” Fedor said.

With the city’s airport closing its doors at 9 am on Tuesday, the Fedors are among those who are now stuck in this city ahead of a major hurricane the likes of which the Tampa Bay region hasn’t seen in a century.

“We looked into driving home, taking the train home,” he said, but nothing worked out.

“We don’t really have a whole lot of options … we’re kind of like stranded here.”

President Joe Biden is postponing a planned trip to Germany and Angola to remain at the White House to monitor Hurricane Milton, which is bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the White House announced Tuesday morning.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the change was necessary “given the projected trajectory and strength” of the storm.

It wasn’t clear when the trip might be rescheduled. Biden had promised to go to Africa during his term in office, which ends in January.

Explosively intensifying Hurricane Milton is the latest freaky system to come out of what veteran hurricane scientists call the weirdest storm season of their lives.

Before this Atlantic hurricane season started, forecasters said everything lined up to be a monster busy year, and it began that way when Beryl was the earliest storm to reach Category 5 on record. Then, nothing. From Aug. 20 — the traditional start of peak hurricane season — to Sept. 23 it was record quiet, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Then five hurricanes popped up between Sept. 26 and Oct. 6, more than double the old record of two. On Sunday and Monday, there were three hurricanes in October at the same time — something that never happened before — Klotzbach said. In just 46.5 hours, Hurricane Milton went from just forming as a tropical storm with 40 mph winds to a top-of-the-charts Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds and then it got even stronger.

“I was looking as far back as the Atlantic records go and there’s not really any good analogs for this season, just how neurotic it’s been,” Klotzbach said. “You know, obviously the season ain’t over yet. We’ll see what pops up after Milton.”

▶ Read more about this unusual hurricane season.

“We will let you know — as soon as possible — about school reopening after Hurricane Milton has passed. Our facilities team will need time to safely conduct countywide assessments on all of our sites to ensure our traditional public schools and offices are safe to welcome back students, teachers, and staff members,” the district said in a Facebook post.

The county was also urging residents in evacuation zones to seek shelter. The county is setting up evacuation centers, but those should be viewed as “last resort,” county government said in a statement.

And Criswell pleaded with residents to listen to their local officials for guidance on what to do as the storm bears down.

“This is an extremely dangerous hurricane,” Criswell said Tuesday morning. “I need people to listen to their local officials to get out of harm’s way… People don’t need to move far. They just need to move inland.”

The hurricane remained offshore early Tuesday. Power lines, light poles and trees were knocked down near the coast, and some small thatched-roof structures were destroyed, according to Yucatan Gov. Joaquín Díaz, but he did not report any deaths or injuries.

While Floridians are no strangers to storms, Tampa hasn’t been in the direct path of a major hurricane in over a century.

In that lapse, the area has exploded in growth. Tens of thousands of Americans moved to the area during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many choosing to settle along barrier islands near Clearwater and St. Petersburg overlooking the normally placid, emerald Gulf waters. More than 51,000 people moved to the area between 2022 and 2023, making it the fifth-largest-growing U.S. metropolitan area, according to U.S. Census data.

Longer term residents, after having experienced numerous false alarms and near misses like Irma in 2017, may be similarly unprepared for a direct hit. A local legend has it that blessings from Native Americans who once called the region home and used to build mounds to keep out invaders have largely protected the area from major storms for centuries.

MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel said a hurricane in Tampa is the “black swan” worst-case scenario that experts have worried about for years.

This item has been updated to remove erroneous information about barrier islands.

Hurricanes are humanity’s reminder of the uncontrollable, chaotic power of Earth’s weather.

Milton’s powerful push toward Florida just days after Helene devastated large parts of the Southeast likely has some in the region wondering if they are being targeted. In some corners of the internet, Helene has already sparked conspiracy theories and disinformation suggesting the government somehow aimed the hurricane at Republican voters.

Besides discounting common sense, such theories disregard weather history that shows the hurricanes are hitting many of the same areas they have for centuries. They also presume an ability for humans to quickly reshape the weather far beyond relatively puny efforts such as cloud seeding.

“If meteorologists could stop hurricanes, we would stop hurricanes,” Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University at Albany, said. “If we could control the weather, we would not want the kind of death and destruction that’s happened.”

▶ Read more about the power of hurricanes.

The entire Gulf Coast of Florida is especially vulnerable to storm surge.

Hurricane Helene came ashore some 150 miles (240 kilometers) away from Tampa in the Florida Panhandle and still managed to cause drowning deaths in the Tampa area due to surges of around 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 meters) above normal tide levels.

Forecasters warned of a possible 8- to 12-foot storm surge (2.4 to 3.6 meters) in Tampa Bay. That’s the highest ever predicted for the location and nearly double the levels reached two weeks ago during Helene, hurricane center spokesperson Maria Torres said.

The storm could also bring widespread flooding. Five to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) of rain was forecast for mainland Florida and the Keys, with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) expected in some places.

“There is no fuel shortage. Fuel continues to arrive in the state of Florida” despite long lines at gas stations, DeSantis said at a Tuesday morning news briefing. He said officials are working with fuel companies to continue bringing in gasoline.

“You do not have to get on the interstate and go far away,” DeSantis said. “You can evacuate tens of miles; you do not have to evacuate hundreds of miles away. You do have options.”

DeSantis said the state has helped evacuate more than 200 health care facilities in Milton’s path and that 36 county-run shelters are open.

A tattered American flag flaps outside a home as furniture and household items damaged by Hurricane Helene flooding sit piled along the street awaiting pickup, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A sculpture of Poseidon stands in the ocean after the eye of Hurricane Milton passed off the coast of Progreso, Yucatan state, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

A carousel stands damaged after the eye of Hurricane Milton passed off the coast of Progreso, Yucatan state, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)

Debris from homes flooded in Hurricane Helene sits curbside as Hurricane Milton approaches on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Teams work to clean up debris from Hurricane Helene flooding ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People move their boats ahead of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Treasure Island, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Highway signage announces the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton and the evacuations zones on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A tattered American flag flaps outside a home as furniture and household items damaged by Hurricane Helene flooding sit piled along the street awaiting pickup, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A boarded up business, marked with graffiti reading "Go home Milton, U R drunk," is seen past debris from Hurricane Helene flooding piled up outside a home, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A message is seen outside of an apartment in the Davis Islands community of Tampa, Fla., as residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

John Fedor, of New Jersey, waits for transportation help to get to a shelter after his flight was canceled Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, at the Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Fla., due to the possible arrival of Hurricane Milton. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A message board at the Tampa International Airport shows all American Airlines departing flight canceled Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Tampa, Fla., due to the possible arrival of Hurricane Milton. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

A person fills sand bags on the beach at the Davis Islands Yacht Basin while preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Susana Ortiz fills out sand bags on the beach at the Davis Islands Yacht Basin as she prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Milton, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Owners try to secure their boat at the Davis Islands Yacht Clubs ahead a possible landfall by Hurricane Milton, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Jay McCoy puts up plywood in preparation for Hurricane Milton on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

A shrimping boat makes her way back to port as hurricane flags fly at the Davis Islands Yacht Club, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon, and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike.

Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents to the north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched more than 170 rockets across the border.

Sheikh Naim Kassem, the acting leader of Hezbollah, said its military capabilities are still intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days.

Kassem said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week. The Israeli military said Tuesday it deployed a fourth division, and that operations have expanded to the west, but its focus still appears to be a narrow strip along the border.

The Israeli military said it has dismantled militant infrastructure along the border and killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. On Tuesday, it said a strike in Beirut had killed Suhail Husseini, who it described as a senior commander responsible overseeing logistics, budget and management of the militant group.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and no way to confirm battlefield claims made by either side.

Israeli forces also fought heavy battles Tuesday with Palestinian militants in northern Gaza, where residents were ordered in recent days to evacuate.

Kassem, speaking by video from an undisclosed location, said: “We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance.”

He said Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a bunker in Beirut last month, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”

Kassem said Hezbollah backs efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a cease-fire, but did not specify whether that means the group would be willing to accept a truce before there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, has been seen as the main interlocutor between the militant group and the United States, and has been trying to broker a cease-fire since fighting began a year ago.

The Israeli army said 170 projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Tuesday, and that it's aerial defense intercepted most of them. A 70-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel and Israeli media aired footage of what appeared to be minor damage to buildings near Haifa.

The military also said it struck Hezbollah targets in the southern Beirut suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, where the militant group is headquartered.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after Hamas' surprise attack into Israel ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran.

Israel has inflicted a punishing wave of blows against Hezbollah in recent weeks and says it will keep fighting until tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced since the fighting escalated in mid-September.

Since then, Hezbollah has extended its rocket fire into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the country's commercial hub of Tel Aviv. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have also launched missiles that reached central Israel. Most of the projectiles have been intercepted or fallen in open areas, disrupting life in Israel while causing few casualties and little property damage.

Last week, Iran launched its own barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, in what it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian general who was with him at the time and Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Iran's capital in July.

Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack, without saying when or how.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington this week to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Biden administration says it is opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, which could escalate regional tensions even further.

Northern Gaza, where heavy fighting raged Tuesday, was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and Israeli troops have largely isolated the region — which includes Gaza City — since last October, when up to a million people fled to the south following Israeli evacuation orders.

Hundreds of thousands have remained in the north despite the harsh conditions, leading Israel to order another total evacuation in recent days. Israel has barred residents from returning to the north.

Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Palestinian residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery were pounding Jabaliya as well as Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, towns near the border.

On his account on the social media platform X, Avichay Adraee, a spokesmen for the Israeli military, posted a renewed order for people in Jabaliya to leave and move southward, saying the military would soon “operate strongly” on the ground and from the air in the area.

The Israeli military said it killed around 20 militants in airstrikes and ground fighting in Jabaliya. It said troops located a large quantity of weapons, including grenades and rifles.

The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital said at least 15 people, including two women and four children, were killed Tuesday in the fighting in Jabaliya. It said the dead included four people who were trying to retrieve bodies.

“The situation is extremely difficult. The bombing and explosions haven’t stopped,” said Mahmoud Abu Shehatah, a Jabaliya resident. “It’s like the first days of the war.”

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not say how many were fighters, but say women and children make up more than half of all fatalities.

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Israeli soldiers from the Homefront Command unit treat an elderly woman at the site that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli soldiers from the Homefront Command unit treat an elderly woman at the site that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian man holds the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man fixes power cables in front of a building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Vehicles drive past a billboard on a highway in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, showing slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, center, late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, right, and the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The billboard contains a verse of Quran that reads: "We will surely inflict punishment upon the wicked." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles drive past a billboard on a highway in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, showing slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, center, late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, right, and the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The billboard contains a verse of Quran that reads: "We will surely inflict punishment upon the wicked." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man shows a burnt car to a girl, after a rocket launched from Lebanon, hit an area in Kfar Vradim, northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A man walks as smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)