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Burhan Visits Eritrea to Discuss Sudan Conflict with the President

A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces's facebook page on September 4, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disembarking from an aircraft upon arrival in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state, after returning from a visit to South Sudan's capital Juba. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces's facebook page on September 4, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disembarking from an aircraft upon arrival in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state, after returning from a visit to South Sudan's capital Juba. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
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Burhan Visits Eritrea to Discuss Sudan Conflict with the President

A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces's facebook page on September 4, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disembarking from an aircraft upon arrival in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state, after returning from a visit to South Sudan's capital Juba. (Sudanese Army / AFP)
A handout image posted on the Sudanese Armed Forces's facebook page on September 4, 2023, shows army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan disembarking from an aircraft upon arrival in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea state, after returning from a visit to South Sudan's capital Juba. (Sudanese Army / AFP)

Sudan’s military chief traveled to Eritrea on Monday for a meeting with President Isaias Afwerki, the general's latest international trip since fighting broke out between his army and a rival paramilitary force in mid-April, state media said.

Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan has been looking for international support since tensions with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting that has reduced Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and its neighboring cities of Omdurman and Bahri, to urban battlefields.

According to Sudan's state-run SUNA news agency, Monday's talks between Burhan and Isaias will focus on bilateral relations and the conflict in Sudan. No further details were given.

For year, relations between Eritrea and Sudan have been fraught. Sudan is host to some 126,000 Eritrean refugees, according to figures published by the UN refugee agency.

The visit is Burhan's fourth high profile diplomatic meeting in the past two weeks.

Last week, he met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha. The previous week, he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Egyptian coastal city of el-Alamein.

Fighting raged in Sudan. On Sunday, a drone attack in an open market in Khartoum killed at least 43 people. The Associated Press has been unbale to verify which force was behind the attack.

In the western Darfur region — the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s — the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, according to rights groups and the United Nations.

The conflict has killed more than 4,000 people, according to the United Nations. The real toll is likely much higher, doctors and activists say.

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Arab World

Syria Says Arrested Assad-Era General Who Led Attacks on Opposition

Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
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Syria Says Arrested Assad-Era General Who Led Attacks on Opposition

Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)
Former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail after his arrest. (Syrian Internal Security Forces)

Syrian authorities on Saturday said they arrested a general who served under the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, saying he led operations against formerly opposition-held areas during the country's 13-year civil war.

In a statement, security forces announced "the arrest of former Major General Ahmed Mohammad Ismail, a high-ranking commander in the Republican Guard of the former regime's army".

Military records indicate that "he began his service as a platoon commander, then served as a company commander in the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Regiment. He was subsequently promoted, at the beginning of 2016, to Chief of Operations of the same regiment, and directly participated in commanding military assaults on the cities of Aleppo and Daraa, as well as on Eastern Ghouta."

Located near Damascus, Eastern Ghouta was an opposition stronghold during the civil war until 2018, and the site of a major chemical attack five years prior.

US intelligence says more than 1,000 people were killed with sarin nerve gas in the suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, in 2013 during Syria's civil war.

The attack was attributed to the Syrian government under the rule of Assad, who was toppled in late 2024.

The government at the time denied involvement and blamed the opposition factions.

Since Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Syria's new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials, while trials began in April.

Earlier this month Syrian authorities said they had arrested nine former pilots including three generals accused of taking part in lethal bombings of towns and villages under Assad's rule.

Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, and five other security officials to death in absentia in August for atrocities committed during the civil war.

The former president fled Syria as his government fell and is believed to be living in Russia.

Arab World

UN Peacekeeping Chief in Lebanon Says Smooth Transition Is Critical Before Pullout

Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Peacekeeping Chief in Lebanon Says Smooth Transition Is Critical Before Pullout

Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major General Diodato Abagnara of the Italian Army at the UNIFIL base, near Mansouri, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)

The head of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said on Saturday it was critical to ensure other UN agencies and Lebanese troops could assume the tasks carried out by the force before it begins withdrawing at the end of this year.

Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy spoke to Reuters in southern Lebanon at a position operated by the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which has been monitoring hostilities in southern Lebanon for nearly 50 years.

Since a new war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed ‌group Hezbollah in ‌March, the force has also provided security escorts for humanitarian aid ‌convoys ⁠to residents in a ⁠small cluster of predominantly Christian southern Lebanese towns now encircled by Israeli troops. Residents in much of the rest of southern Lebanon have been forcibly displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders.

The UN Security Council has ordered UNIFIL to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026, triggering concerns over whether aid deliveries can continue and how the force can transfer its positions to Lebanese troops.

“There are other United Nations entities here in the south, and so what is ⁠very important for us (is) to conduct a very smooth transition to ‌different entities, or for the future of a new ‌mission,” Abagnara told Reuters.

He said UNIFIL was already working with the UN’s country team to ensure ‌humanitarian assistance in Israeli-occupied areas and information sharing with the Lebanese army about “sensitive areas (and) how ‌they can manage this situation.”

Abagnara acknowledged that it could be “very difficult” to hand over some of UNIFIL's posts to Lebanese troops given that more than half lie within areas now controlled by Israeli troops.

ISRAEL DEMOLISHES TOWN NEAR UN POST

Diplomats worry UNIFIL’s departure will mean an end to the UN's "eyes and ‌ears" in southern Lebanon.

Abagnara spoke to Reuters at a position overlooking Mansouri, a town where Israeli forces have been carrying out demolitions ⁠since ordering residents ⁠to leave in June, despite a ceasefire. Reuters reporters could see excavators in the town knocking down trees and multi-storey homes.

Abagnara described demolitions as “another violation” of UN Security Council resolutions on Lebanon. Israel's military has said it is destroying Hezbollah infrastructure across southern Lebanon.

As a US-backed plan for Lebanon's army to disarm Hezbollah and take control of southern Lebanon has stalled, a diplomatic scramble is underway to address the vacuum that will be left by UNIFIL’s withdrawal.

Lebanon wants an extension. Other countries have discussed a new multinational mission, though it remains unclear what kind of mandate it would have.

Abagnara said an extension would be “a great honor” but that without a new Security Council decision, his force would need to stop operating at the end of the year.

“It's not a long time," he said. "The presence of United Nations in the South is very, very essential. And according to me, more now than ever.”

Arab World

Yemen Calls for Intensifying Regional Coordination over Maritime Navigation

People walk past tents in al-Firdaws camp in Aden province, amid clashes between Iran-aligned Houthi fighters and Yemeni government forces, in Aden, Yemen, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk past tents in al-Firdaws camp in Aden province, amid clashes between Iran-aligned Houthi fighters and Yemeni government forces, in Aden, Yemen, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Yemen Calls for Intensifying Regional Coordination over Maritime Navigation

People walk past tents in al-Firdaws camp in Aden province, amid clashes between Iran-aligned Houthi fighters and Yemeni government forces, in Aden, Yemen, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk past tents in al-Firdaws camp in Aden province, amid clashes between Iran-aligned Houthi fighters and Yemeni government forces, in Aden, Yemen, September 17, 2026. (Reuters)

The Yemeni delegation participating in the multinational maritime coalition, headed by Rear Admiral Abdul Khaliq Monser, called for unifying international efforts and intensifying regional coordination to confront threats targeting the security of maritime navigation.

Monser stressed the importance of providing operational and technical support to restore the readiness of the Yemeni naval forces, enabling them to perform their duties in protecting territorial waters and international shipping lanes.

He said that the continuous threats launched by the Houthi militia in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden have directly impacted the security and safety of international navigation and affected trade movement and global supply chains.

The Yemeni armed forces said they thwarted an infiltration attempt carried out by the Houthi militia in the Al-Fulaiha sector, south of Marib Governorate.

The armed forces said 12 Houthi militants were killed in the clashes and other injured, while the remaining infiltrating elements fled.

Meanwhile, Yemeni government forces continue to confront Houthi attempts to seize control of the highlands located east of Bab al-Mandeb and west of Taiz. The Kahboub and al-Waziyah fronts witnessed fierce battles over the past 24 hours, while airstrikes targeted Houthi gatherings and vehicles.

The Houthi group is seeking to secure its positions of control in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Mayyun Island, and the west coast.

Two sources from the group told AFP that experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) visited the Bab al-Mandeb region to tackle the installation of radars nearby and oversee tunnel excavation works in the mountainous hills overlooking it.