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Jordan's King Heads to Europe to Garner Support to End Gaza Conflict

FILE PHOTO: Jordan's King Abdullah II addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jordan's King Abdullah II addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
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Jordan's King Heads to Europe to Garner Support to End Gaza Conflict

FILE PHOTO: Jordan's King Abdullah II addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jordan's King Abdullah II addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Jordan's King Abdullah leaves on Saturday for a European tour to garner support from the region's leaders for an end to the Israeli "war on Gaza", Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told state media.

The monarch, who met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, has had intensive contacts with leaders in the region and in the West to de-escalate the violence and prevent the region being dragged into a wider war, officials say.

Jordan on Saturday said any move by Israel to impose a new displacement of Palestinians would push the region to the "abyss" of a wider regional conflict.

Safadi also said Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza and forcing its residents to leave their homes as it escalates its military action were a "flagrant" breach of international law.

Israel had given the entire population of the north of the Gaza Strip a Saturday morning deadline to move south ahead of an expected ground offensive to root out Hamas militants. It has said it will keep two roads open until 4:00 pm. to allow people to escape.

Safadi said the military campaign against Hamas was killing innocent civilians and would bring despair and destruction in its wake that would not bring security to Israel.

"The war is killing and displacing innocent Palestinians and will leave the region and the world facing the repercussion of an environment of destruction and despair that Israel will create in Gaza," Safadi said in comments after meeting his Canadian counterpart.

"It won't achieve security or lead to peace," Safadi said, in the toughest language from Jordan since the conflict that broke out after a devastating cross-border attack by Hamas a week ago.

Israel's push to move the entire population to leave their homes was a "red line" that Arabs would confront, Safadi said.

"This will bring the region into the hell of war. We have to end this madness," he added.

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Arab World

Few People Left at Syria Camp that Held ISIS Families, Former Director Says

Children, part of a group of detainees, look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Children, part of a group of detainees, look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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Few People Left at Syria Camp that Held ISIS Families, Former Director Says

Children, part of a group of detainees, look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Children, part of a group of detainees, look through a fence at al-Hol camp after the Syrian government took control of it following the withdrawal of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Hasaka, Syria, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Fewer than 1,000 families remain at a camp where relatives of suspected ISIS militants had been held in Syria's northeast, the camp's former director said on Wednesday, with thousands having fled last month as government forces seized control of the area from Kurdish-led fighters.

Al-Hol, near the Iraqi border, was one of the main detention camps for relatives of suspected ISIS militants who were detained during the US-backed campaign against the terrorist group in Syria.

Control of the camp changed hands last month when government forces under President Ahmed al-Sharaa seized swathes of the northeast from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, including several jails holding ISIS militants. The US military said last week it had completed a mission to transfer 5,700 adult male ISIS detainees to Iraq.

Jihan Hanna, the former director who still coordinates with international agencies and the Syrian government, told Reuters the remaining families were Syrian nationals and were being transferred to a camp in Aleppo. Most of the camp’s foreign nationals had fled, she said.

The Syrian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to the latest camp data obtained by Reuters, dated January 19 - a day before the government took control of the camp - its population was 6,639 families comprising 23,407 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, as well as 6,280 foreigners from more than 40 nationalities.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said it had observed "a significant decrease in the number of residents in al-Hol camp in recent weeks," adding in a statement to Reuters that there were no confirmed figures on the remaining population.

"Over the weekend the camp administration advised UNHCR not to enter the camp due to the unrest and anxiety in the camp," UNHCR added.

The Syrian government accused the SDF of withdrawing from al-Hol on January 20 without any coordination.

The SDF, in a statement that day, said its forces had been "compelled to withdraw from al-Hol camp and redeploy to areas surrounding cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats."

A Syrian government security source said most people in the camp fled that day during a five-hour period when it was unguarded, and that some had left with men who came to take their relatives to unknown destinations.

The security source and a source from a non-governmental organization working there said a section of the camp that housed its most dangerous residents, known as the annex, was empty.

The security source said the escapees had spread throughout Syria and that security authorities, working in cooperation with international partners, had established a unit to "follow up on the matter and pursue those who are wanted."

Some have left Syria.

In Lebanon, the army has questioned more than a dozen Lebanese who crossed illegally from Syria after leaving al-Hol, a Lebanese security source said.

The Syrian government’s Directorate of International Cooperation said on Tuesday that hundreds of people, mostly women and children, had been transferred from al-Hol to a newly prepared camp near the town of Akhtarin in northern Aleppo.

Arab World

Germany Moves Troops Out of Iraq, Citing Mideast 'Tensions'

FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
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Germany Moves Troops Out of Iraq, Citing Mideast 'Tensions'

FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Germany's military has "temporarily" moved some troops out of Erbil in northern Iraq because of "escalating tensions in the Middle East," a German defense ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday.

Dozens of German soldiers had been relocated away from the base in Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

"Only the personnel necessary to maintain the operational capability of the camp in Erbil remain on site," the spokesman said.

The spokesman did not specify the source of the tensions, but US President Donald Trump has ordered a major build-up of US warships, aircraft and other weaponry in the region and threatened action against Iran.

German troops are deployed to Erbil as part of an international mission to train local Iraqi forces.

The spokesman said the German redeployment away from Erbil was "closely coordinated with our multinational partners".

Arab World

UN: At Least 15 Children Killed in Sudan Drone Strike

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
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UN: At Least 15 Children Killed in Sudan Drone Strike

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)

A drone strike on a displacement camp in Sudan killed at least 15 children earlier this week, the United Nations reported late on Wednesday.

"On Monday 16 February, at least 15 children were reportedly killed and 10 wounded after a drone strike on a displacement camp in Al Sunut, West Kordofan," the UN children's agency said in a statement.

Across the Kordofan region, currently the Sudan war's fiercest battlefield, "we are seeing the same disturbing patterns from Darfur -- children killed, injured, displaced and cut off from the services they need to survive," UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said.