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Israel Occupation Makes Palestinian Territories ‘Open-Air Prison’, Says UN Expert

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
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Israel Occupation Makes Palestinian Territories ‘Open-Air Prison’, Says UN Expert

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media after presenting her report at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP)

A United Nations expert on Tuesday said Israel had transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into an "open-air prison" through widespread detentions of Palestinians, an assertion swiftly dismissed by Israel.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, told reporters in Geneva that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war.

"There is no other way to define the regime that Israel has imposed on the Palestinians - which is apartheid by default --other than an open-air prison," Albanese said at a briefing for journalists.

"By deeming all Palestinians as a potential security threat, Israel is blurring the line between its own security and the security of its annexation plan ... Palestinians are presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial very often, and brutalized in Israeli custody."

Israel's permanent mission to the UN in Geneva rejected Albanese's findings.

"Israel does not expect any fair, objective or professional treatment from this Special Rapporteur who was chosen due to her partial views against Israel," the mission said in a statement to Reuters. "Her mandate was created with the sole purpose of discriminating against Israel and Israelis".

In a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Albanese found that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians, including children as young as 12, had been arrested and detained by Israeli authorities.

The report said it was based on a six-month investigation and "consultations, testimonies, stakeholders' contributions, and a comprehensive review of primary and public sources."

Albanese, who said she did not visit the occupied Palestinian territories before submitting the report due to "Israel's continued refusal to facilitate her entry", also outlined what she called unlawful detention practices, saying they could amount to international crimes.

Israel's founding in 1948 scattered hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees through the wider region.

In the 1967 Middle East war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, and launched settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Albanese's comments come a week after Israeli forces hit the city of Jenin with drone strikes as part of one of the biggest incursions in the occupied West Bank in 20 years.

Israel said the objective of its operation was to uproot Iranian-backed Palestinian factions behind a surge in gun and bomb attacks, as well as preliminary efforts to make rockets.

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Arab World

Iraq Arrests Four After Rocket Attack on Syria Base

Demonstrators carry a Syrian flag during a rally commemorating the15th anniversary of the Syrian uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Daraa, southern Syria, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP)
Demonstrators carry a Syrian flag during a rally commemorating the15th anniversary of the Syrian uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Daraa, southern Syria, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP)
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Iraq Arrests Four After Rocket Attack on Syria Base

Demonstrators carry a Syrian flag during a rally commemorating the15th anniversary of the Syrian uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Daraa, southern Syria, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP)
Demonstrators carry a Syrian flag during a rally commemorating the15th anniversary of the Syrian uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Daraa, southern Syria, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP)

Iraq arrested four people in connection with an earlier rocket attack launched against a military base in neighboring Syria, officials said late Tuesday.

"Our security forces, supported by intelligence efforts, moved swiftly and succeeded in arresting four of the perpetrators," a short statement from the prime minister's office said.

It added that the suspects had been handed over to the "appropriate authorities" as part of the investigation.

Monday's attack targeted a northeastern Syrian military base in Hasakeh province that had until recently hosted US forces with an international anti-ISIS coalition.

These are the first arrests announced in Iraq related to the Middle East conflict that broke out on February 28.

However, drone strikes and rocket attacks have regularly targeted the US embassy in Baghdad, a US diplomatic center at the Iraqi capital's airport, and forces with the international anti-ISIS coalition.

Syria's army condemned the attack on Monday, and confirmed they were in contact with Iraqi authorities to "locate the perpetrators".

Arab World

Iraq Summons US, Iran Representatives After Deadly Strikes

Members of Iraq’s PMF guard the streets during the funeral for members of the PMF in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq’s PMF guard the streets during the funeral for members of the PMF in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Iraq Summons US, Iran Representatives After Deadly Strikes

Members of Iraq’s PMF guard the streets during the funeral for members of the PMF in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq’s PMF guard the streets during the funeral for members of the PMF in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)

Iraq said late on Tuesday it would summon the US charge d'affaires and the Iranian ambassador after deadly strikes blamed on their countries, as Iraqi authorities granted targeted former paramilitary groups the "right to respond".

Iraq has been pulled into the war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and which has since engulfed much of the region.

The former paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), part of Iraq's regular armed forces but which also includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups, blamed the United States for the deadliest strike so far on Iraqi territory, which killed a commander and 14 other fighters.

In the autonomous Kurdistan region, a ballistic missile attack killed six of the regional force's fighters, known as the peshmerga.

The region accused Iran of conducting the first such deadly attack on Kurdish security forces since the war began.

Neither the United States nor Iran commented on the accusations, but in a statement released late on Tuesday, Iraq said its foreign ministry would summon both representatives to "deliver formal notes of protest regarding the attacks".

It also emphasized the necessity of maintaining balanced relations both internationally and regionally to prevent Iraq being "drawn into areas of conflict".

Iraq has long been a proxy battleground for the United States and Iran, and has struggled to balance diplomatic ties with both countries.

Since the war began, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups, including state-linked positions.

In the statement from the prime minister's office, however, Iraq granted former paramilitaries within the official armed forces the right to "respond to military attacks" by drones and aircraft that targeted their headquarters.

- 'Decisions of war' -

Late on Tuesday, the Coordination Framework, Iraq's ruling coalition of Shiite parties with varying degrees of links to Iran, backed the government decision.

However, it also condemned "attacks against state institutions and diplomatic missions", and called for the perpetrators to be punished.

The coalition said the government retained "the exclusive right of the state over decisions of war".

The PMF said those killed in the strike targeting its fighters included a top provincial commander.

It described the strike as a "treacherous American attack that targeted the operation headquarters", and later urged authorities to "confront these repeated American violations".

The overnight strike targeted a base in the western Anbar province bordering Syria, long the scene of operations against the ISIS group.

Since the start of the Middle East war, Baghdad has repeatedly denounced attacks on the PMF, formed in 2014 to fight ISIS.

After the extremists were defeated in 2017 in Iraq, the coalition gained influence within the security forces. Its armed factions also developed political roles, including representation in parliament, as well as economic interests.

Last week, the Pentagon acknowledged that combat helicopters had carried out strikes against pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq during the current conflict.

On Tuesday night, the sound of fighter jets was repeatedly heard in the skies above the Iraqi capital.

- Iraqi Kurdistan -

Earlier, the PMF said a "Zionist-American strike" had targeted their Mosul office in northern Iraq, with a security official saying it was a second home for coalition leader Falih al-Fayadh, although he was not present during the attack.

The Kurdish defense ministry in the north separately said a strike targeting peshmerga forces killed six fighters and wounded 30 others, blaming the attack on Iran.

"Six Iranian ballistic missiles targeted them," said the Iraqi Kurdish authorities, branding the attack "hostile, treacherous".

Arab World

France Urges Israel ‘to Refrain’ from Occupying South Lebanon Zone

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attends an interview with AFP journalists at the Quai d'Orsay French Foreign ministry in Paris on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attends an interview with AFP journalists at the Quai d'Orsay French Foreign ministry in Paris on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
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France Urges Israel ‘to Refrain’ from Occupying South Lebanon Zone

France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attends an interview with AFP journalists at the Quai d'Orsay French Foreign ministry in Paris on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attends an interview with AFP journalists at the Quai d'Orsay French Foreign ministry in Paris on March 24, 2026. (AFP)

Israel should "refrain" from sending in forces to take control of a zone in south Lebanon, France's foreign minister told AFP on Tuesday, warning that such a move would have "major humanitarian consequences".

"We urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from such ground operations, which would have major humanitarian consequences and would exacerbate the country's already dire situation," Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with AFP.

His comments came after Israel earlier said its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has since launched strikes across Lebanon, killing at least 1,072 people and displacing more than a million others in more than three weeks of fighting. It has also sent ground troops into the country's south.

Barrot, who visited Lebanon and Israel last week, called on Israel to seize a "historic opportunity" for dialogue with Lebanon's government, saying that Beirut was "turning its words into action" to counter Tehran's interference in the country.

He noted that during his visit to Lebanon on March 19, President Joseph Aoun called for a truce and the opening of negotiations with Israel to stop the war between it and Hezbollah.

"There is a moment to seize, it is historic, and that moment is now," Barrot said, calling for "high-level political dialogue" with the Lebanese government.

Lebanon's government has acted against Iranian interests and withdrew its approval of the Iranian ambassador's accreditation on Tuesday, a decision Barrot hailed as "courageous".

Iranian ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani was told to leave Lebanese territory by Sunday.

"I wish to commend the statements and actions of the Lebanese government...which this morning took a courageous decision by expelling the Iranian ambassador," Barrot said.

Hezbollah strongly objected to the move, calling on the government to reverse it.

It was "no small matter" that Lebanon's government had also expelled "a number of representatives of the Revolutionary Guards" in the country, Barrot said, referring to the country's ideological army.

Beirut has accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of commanding Hezbollah's operations in its war against Israel, having decided on March 5 to ban all activity by the organization in the country.

The government also took the unprecedented step of imposing a ban on Hezbollah military activities and called on the group to hand over its weapons to the state.