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Officials Warn of Devastating Consequences If UNRWA Funding Is Not Restored

Members of the Zourub family, displaced from the central Gaza Strip, keep warm by a fire outside their tent, near the border separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip 27 February 2024. (EPA)
Members of the Zourub family, displaced from the central Gaza Strip, keep warm by a fire outside their tent, near the border separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip 27 February 2024. (EPA)
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Officials Warn of Devastating Consequences If UNRWA Funding Is Not Restored

Members of the Zourub family, displaced from the central Gaza Strip, keep warm by a fire outside their tent, near the border separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip 27 February 2024. (EPA)
Members of the Zourub family, displaced from the central Gaza Strip, keep warm by a fire outside their tent, near the border separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip 27 February 2024. (EPA)

If funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is not restored soon, it will have devastating consequences for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, officials warned on Wednesday.

“The decision to stop funding UNRWA constitutes a collective punishment for every Palestinian inside Palestine and in the diaspora countries, especially in Lebanon,” Lebanese Member of Parliament Fadi Alame told reporters Wednesday after touring the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon with an UNRWA delegation.

Some 250,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon depend on UNRWA for services including healthcare, schooling and cash assistance for the poorest families.

Last month, Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack, prompting the United States and other donors to suspend funding. UNRWA immediately fired the 10 surviving employees and has launched investigations. The agency says if funding is not restored, it will have to halt operations in April.

Dorothee Klaus, UNRWA’s director in Lebanon, said that a halt to the agency’s services would have “security and stability” as well as “humanitarian” consequences.

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Arab World

UK Lifts Sanctions on Syrian Central Bank and Petroleum Firms

A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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UK Lifts Sanctions on Syrian Central Bank and Petroleum Firms

A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of the commercial harbor of Syria's coastal city of Tartous, Syria, December 14, 2024. (Reuters)

Britain unfroze the assets of Syria's central bank and 23 other entities including banks and oil companies on Thursday, reversing sanctions imposed during Bashar al-Assad's presidency.

The West is rethinking its approach to Syria after opposition forces led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group ousted Assad as president in December after more than 13 years of civil war.

"We are lifting asset freezes on 24 Syrian entities that were previously used by the Assad regime to fund the oppression of the Syrian people," a foreign office spokesperson said.

"At the same time, sanctions on members of the Assad regime and those involved in the illicit trade in captagon remain in place."

Captagon in an addictive amphetamine-like stimulant widely produced in Syria during Assad's rule.

A notice posted on the British government website said entities including the central bank, the Commercial Bank of Syria and the Agricultural Cooperative Bank had been delisted and were no longer subject to an asset freeze.

Syrian Arab Airlines, Syrian Petroleum Company, Syria Trading Oil Company (SYTROL) and Overseas Petroleum Trading were also among those delisted.

Syria's Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has called repeatedly for the lifting of Western sanctions that were imposed to isolate Assad during the civil war.

Last month, the European Union eased restrictions on the Syrian central bank while keeping in place the sanctions. The US has said its sanctions on the central bank remain in place.

A Syrian government media official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.