US Warns Sudan Risks Becoming ‘Terrorist Haven’

Smoke rising due to clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan (Archive - AFP)
Smoke rising due to clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan (Archive - AFP)
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US Warns Sudan Risks Becoming ‘Terrorist Haven’

Smoke rising due to clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan (Archive - AFP)
Smoke rising due to clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan (Archive - AFP)

US intelligence reports are raising serious alarms about Sudan, warning that the country could become a safe haven for terrorists and international criminals.

There's also concern that the conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) might spill over into neighboring countries.

This warning comes from the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment by US intelligence, highlighting the urgent situation in Sudan, where people are already facing the threat of starvation.

The “Sudan Monitor” website, citing sources within the US National Intelligence, echoed these concerns, emphasizing the risk of Sudan becoming an “ideal environment” for terrorists and criminals, and the potential for the conflict to spread beyond its borders.

The report warns of the fighting in Sudan spreading beyond its borders, with outsiders joining the conflict and civilians facing the threat of death and displacement. It suggests that the ongoing conflict in Sudan could create a favorable environment for terrorist groups to operate once again.

While Sudan faces these risks, the warring parties continue to fight using military force, each accusing the other of terrorism.

Although they both accuse each other of being terrorists, the US hasn’t officially labeled either group as such, using the term “terrorist” for groups that have targeted US interests before, like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The report also predicts that ISIS and Al-Qaeda will expand further in Africa, with increasing ISIS activity in western Sudan.

It states that ISIS destabilizes the Sahel and West Africa, exploiting government conflicts and clashes with marginalized groups for their benefit, especially in Nigeria and the Sahel region.

It is worth noting that a shocking video surfaced on Sudanese social media in mid-February, showing soldiers wearing Sudanese army uniforms holding severed human heads, allegedly belonging to Sudanese citizens.

This disturbing display reminded many of the brutal tactics used by terrorist groups.

The Sudanese military promised to investigate, but no official report has been released yet, despite calls from the victims’ families.



Iraq’s PM Tells UN The State Alone Will Decide War, Peace

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2026. (AP)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2026. (AP)
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Iraq’s PM Tells UN The State Alone Will Decide War, Peace

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2026. (AP)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2026. (AP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said on Friday that one of his government’s priorities was to ensure the state alone decides matters of war and peace, stressing that weapons must remain in the hands of constitutional institutions.

“The practical measures to bring weapons and decisions on war and peace under state control are moving in the right direction,” al-Zaidi told the UN General Assembly.

He called them essential to building state institutions, protecting sovereignty and securing stability.

He said the end of the international coalition’s mission in Iraq would mark a new phase in relations with strategic partners, shifting from military cooperation to economic and development cooperation. Iraq would continue to strengthen its security and military capabilities, he added.

Al-Zaidi called for tighter border controls, the closing of security gaps and continued vigilance against conditions that could fuel extremism.

He reiterated Iraq’s support for dialogue, diplomacy, respect for sovereignty, noninterference and good neighborly relations, and urged countries to resolve conflicts through negotiations and prevent renewed wars.

He urged the world to engage more closely with Iraq, saying the country could contribute to security and stability.

He also highlighted the Development Road project as a “strategic corridor for trade, investment and energy” linking Iraq’s Grand Faw Port to Türkiye and, from there, Europe.

“Iraq has never been on the margins. It is at the heart of history and the pulse of the present, and it deserves a partnership for the future,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned Baghdad that militias must be disarmed to avoid the “Balkanization of Iraq,” amid growing pressure on the Iraqi government to bring weapons under state control.

Rubio expressed US support for al-Zaidi’s efforts to strengthen state authority and called for armed factions to be dismantled. He warned that competing centers of power could fragment Iraq and weaken its institutions.

Al-Zaidi had proposed a plan beginning with a 90-day period during which armed factions would cease attacks, with the transfer of weapons to the state to be completed by June 30, 2027.


UN Identifies 214 Firms Linked to Israeli Settlements

Palestinians protest against Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank (Reuters)
Palestinians protest against Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank (Reuters)
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UN Identifies 214 Firms Linked to Israeli Settlements

Palestinians protest against Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank (Reuters)
Palestinians protest against Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank (Reuters)

The United Nations on Friday released a fresh update of its database of companies with activities in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, listing 214 firms from 11 countries.

Since last year's update, the UN rights office added an additional 61 companies to the database and had removed five companies.

But major firms like Airbnb, Booking.com, Motorola Solutions and TripAdviser remained on the list.

The report, which was harshly criticized by Israel, served as a "reminder to companies that they have human rights responsibilities", UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

Firms, he said, "are expected to conduct due diligence to ensure that they do not become involved in human rights violations or abuses".

While most of the companies were based in Israel, others were based in Canada, China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Britain and the United States.

There were two Spanish companies removed from the database since last year, along with one each from Canada, Israel and Portugal.

The list was first produced in 2020 after a UN Human Rights Council resolution called for a database of firms that profited from business in illegally occupied Palestinian territory.

The UN rights office was asked to list companies found to be taking part in any of 10 activities, including construction, surveillance, demolitions and destruction of agricultural land in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Despite a requirement for the database to be updated annually, it has been revised just twice before, in 2023 and 2025.

The list is not exhaustive.

It only reviews companies about which it received submissions during set timeframes, the last of which closed in June 2024.

In all, it has received submissions about 596 companies, of which it has so far reviewed 381.

Israel, which has been harshly critical of the database from the start, slammed it again Friday as "a distorted mechanism... established solely to persecute the Jewish state".

The country's mission to the UN in Geneva charged that it was "a political tool" used by the rights office "to advance a smear campaign against business enterprises that committed no wrongdoing".

Israel has controlled the West Bank since 1967 in an occupation considered illegal under international law.

 

 

 

 


Lebanon PM Stresses Need to 'Avert Vacuum' if UN Force Leaves

16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
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Lebanon PM Stresses Need to 'Avert Vacuum' if UN Force Leaves

16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam insisted at the UN Friday on the need to "avert the vacuum" that would be caused by withdrawing the UN peacekeeping mission deployed in the south of his country without a viable replacement.

"What we wish to stress here and today is the need to avert the vacuum that UNIFIL's withdrawal could create, were it to take place without agreement on a new international force to replace it," he said.