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Macron Discusses Mideast Crisis with Egypt’s Sisi, Israel’s Netanyahu

French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (not seen) before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 19, 2024. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (not seen) before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Macron Discusses Mideast Crisis with Egypt’s Sisi, Israel’s Netanyahu

French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (not seen) before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 19, 2024. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (not seen) before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 19, 2024. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron held phone calls on Monday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss ways of avoiding an escalation in the Middle East crisis, said France and Egypt.

The French presidency said Macron, in his call with Netanyahu, had reaffirmed Paris's desire to avoid an escalation in the Middle East and to stand up to what it said were Iran's efforts to destabilize the region.

The French presidency added that Macron had also reiterated to Netanyahu that France wanted an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and said Paris was working to ease tensions arising from clashes on the border between Israel and Lebanon.

In a separate statement, Egyptian presidential spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy said Macron had also discussed the Middle East crisis with the Egyptian leader and that both Macron and Sisi had agreed on the need to avoid further regional escalation.

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Arab World

Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country’s military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.

The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan’ s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya, The Associated Press said.

The RSF’s announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of “its defensive arrangements to repel aggression” by the paramilitaries.

On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hafter of supporting the RSF’s attack on the area, in a “blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people.”

Hafter’s forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were “a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.”

The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan’s civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.

The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.