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US-led Coalition Urges Calm in Northeast Syria After Clashes Between Arab Tribes, Kurdish-Led Force 

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
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US-led Coalition Urges Calm in Northeast Syria After Clashes Between Arab Tribes, Kurdish-Led Force 

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)

The US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group called on Thursday for an end to clashes in northeast Syria, where the Kurdish-led force it backs has been locked in deadly fighting with Arab tribes.

"The violence in northeast Syria must cease," the coalition said in a statement, saying that "distractions" from fighting ISIS sleeper cells risked a resurgence of the group.

Clashes broke out on Sunday after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces arrested Ahmad Al Khubail, alias Abu Khawla, who headed its Deir Ezzor Council.

At least 40 fighters from both sides and another 15 civilians have been killed in the violence, according to local sources and witnesses.

The US-led coalition helped the SDF - which includes a smaller Arab component - oust ISIS from swathes of territory in northern and eastern Syria over the last seven years.

ISIS lost its last territorial bastion of Baghouz, which lies in Deir Ezzor, in 2019 to the SDF. IS still operates sleeper cells across parts of Syria and have waged hit-and-run attacks.

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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.