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Arab World

French Foreign Minister Suggests Sanctions on Israel to Get Aid into Gaza  

A Palestinian child plays near a building destroyed by earlier Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian child plays near a building destroyed by earlier Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
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French Foreign Minister Suggests Sanctions on Israel to Get Aid into Gaza  

A Palestinian child plays near a building destroyed by earlier Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian child plays near a building destroyed by earlier Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)

France's foreign minister said on Tuesday that pressure, and possibly sanctions, must be imposed on Israel to open crossings to get humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

"There must be levers of influence and there are multiple levers, going up to sanctions to let humanitarian aid cross check points," Stephane Sejourne told RFI radio and France 24 television

"France was one of the first countries to propose European Union sanctions on Israeli settlers who are committing acts of violence in the West Bank. We will continue if needed to obtain the opening of humanitarian aid," he said.

Some 33,207 Palestinians have been killed in six months of conflict, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. Most of the enclave's 2.3 million people are homeless and many at risk of famine.

Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel in a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, according to Israeli tallies.

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Arab World

Iraq Says Ankara Agrees to Take Back Turkish Citizens Among ISIS Detainees Transferred from Syria 

This handout picture made available by the Iraqi prime minister's office shows Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) receiving US Special Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack (L) before attending the signing of agreements between Chevron Corporation and the Basra, Dhi Qar, and North Oil Companies at the government palace in Baghdad on February 23, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture made available by the Iraqi prime minister's office shows Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) receiving US Special Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack (L) before attending the signing of agreements between Chevron Corporation and the Basra, Dhi Qar, and North Oil Companies at the government palace in Baghdad on February 23, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
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Iraq Says Ankara Agrees to Take Back Turkish Citizens Among ISIS Detainees Transferred from Syria 

This handout picture made available by the Iraqi prime minister's office shows Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) receiving US Special Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack (L) before attending the signing of agreements between Chevron Corporation and the Basra, Dhi Qar, and North Oil Companies at the government palace in Baghdad on February 23, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture made available by the Iraqi prime minister's office shows Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) receiving US Special Envoy to Iraq Tom Barrack (L) before attending the signing of agreements between Chevron Corporation and the Basra, Dhi Qar, and North Oil Companies at the government palace in Baghdad on February 23, 2026. (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Press Office / AFP)

Iraq's foreign minister said on Monday Türkiye had agreed to take back Turkish citizens from among thousands of ISIS detainees transferred to Iraq from Syria when camps and prisons there were shut in recent weeks.

Iraq took in the detainees in an operation arranged with the United States after Kurdish forces retreated and shut down camps and prisons which had housed ISIS suspects ‌for nearly a decade.

Baghdad has said ‌it ⁠will try suspects ⁠on terrorism charges in its own legal system, but it has also repeatedly called on other countries to take back their citizens from among the detainees.

Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told US envoy Tom Barrack in a meeting that Iraq ⁠was in talks with other countries on ‌the repatriation of ‌their nationals, and had reached an agreement with Türkiye.

In ‌a separate statement to the UN Human ‌Rights Council, Hussein said: "We would call the states across the world to recover their citizens who've been involved in terrorist acts so that they be tried ‌in their countries of origin."

The fate of the suspected ISIS fighters, ⁠as well ⁠as thousands of women and children associated with the group, has become an urgent issue since the Kurdish force guarding them collapsed in the face of a Syrian government offensive.

At the height of its power from 2014-2017, ISIS held swathes of Syria and Iraq, ruling over millions of people and attracting fighters from other countries. Its rule collapsed after military campaigns by regional governments and a US-led coalition.

Arab World

Chad Govt Shuts Sudan Border Until Further Notice 

Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
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Chad Govt Shuts Sudan Border Until Further Notice 

Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)
Children poke their heads and arms through holes in makeshift fabric fences in the strategic opposition-controlled town of Akobo, Jonglei State, on February 12, 2026. (AFP)

Chad's government said on Monday it was closing the border with Sudan until further notice, following several clashes between Chadian soldiers and armed groups involved in the civil war across the frontier.

"This decision follows repeated incursions and violations committed by the forces involved in the conflict in Sudan on Chadian territory," Communications Minister Mahamat Gassim Cherif said in a statement, adding that he wanted to halt "any risk of the conflict spreading" to his country.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting government troops for almost three years in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced 11 million to flee their homes, triggering what the UN says is one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The paramilitaries have conducted several operations near the Chad border and at least nine Chadian soldiers have been killed in separate incidents since December.

Monday's statement said Chad "reserves the right to retaliate against any aggression or violation of the inviolability of its territory and its borders".

"Cross-border movements of goods and people are suspended," the text said, adding that "exceptional exemptions" for humanitarian reasons would still be possible.

Arab World

Report: US Forces to Complete Withdrawal from Syria within a Month 

Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
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Report: US Forces to Complete Withdrawal from Syria within a Month 

Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 
Men watch as a US military mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored fighting vehicle moves in a convoy along a highway outside Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province on February 23, 2026. (AFP) 

US forces that led the anti-ISIS coalition in Syria started leaving a major base in the northeast on Monday and should complete their withdrawal from the country within a month, sources told AFP. 

The move comes after Kurdish forces, long backed by Washington in the fight against the ISIS group, ceded territory to Damascus and agreed to integrate into the state. 

American forces have already withdrawn from two other bases in the past two weeks, Al-Tanf in the southeast and Shaddadi in the northeast. 

"Within a month, they will have withdrawn from Syria and there will no longer be any military presence in the bases," a Syrian government official said, with a Kurdish source confirming the timeline. 

A third source, a diplomat, said the withdrawal should be completed within 20 days. 

The United States has about 1,000 troops still deployed in Syria. It began withdrawing on Monday from the Qasrak base in the northeast, which is still under the control of Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official who requested anonymity told AFP. 

An AFP team saw a convoy of dozens of trucks, loaded with armored vehicles and prefabricated structures, on a road linking the Qasrak base in Hasakeh province to the border with Iraq. 

Syria's government recently extended its control to the northeast of the country. 

Washington has drawn close to Syria's new authorities since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.