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Slain Hamas Chief Haniyeh to Be Buried in Qatar

A banner bearing the picture of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
A banner bearing the picture of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
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Slain Hamas Chief Haniyeh to Be Buried in Qatar

A banner bearing the picture of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
A banner bearing the picture of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

Qatar is to hold on Friday funeral ceremonies for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his killing in an attack blamed on Israel that has deepened fears of a regional escalation.
Haniyeh, the Palestinian armed group's political chief, had resided in Doha along with other members of the Hamas political office, AFP reported.
He will be buried at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital, following funeral prayers at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab mosque.
Hamas has said "Arab and Islamic leaders" as well representatives of other Palestinian factions and members of the public would attend the events.
Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in the pre-dawn attack on their accommodation in Tehran early Wednesday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said.
He had traveled to Iran to attend Tuesday's swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the attack, has not directly commented on it.
The Hamas leader's assassination came just hours after Israel struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hamas-allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The killings are the latest of several incidents that have inflamed regional tensions during the Gaza war which has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
A public funeral ceremony for Haniyeh was held in Tehran on Thursday with crowds of mourners paying their respects.
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh having earlier threatened "harsh punishment" for his killing.
'Rage'
Türkiye and Pakistan announced a day of mourning on Friday in honor of Haniyeh, while Hamas has called for a "day of furious rage" to coincide with the burial.
The Palestinian group encouraged "roaring anger marches... from every mosque" following Friday prayers to protest Haniyeh's killing as well as the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attack on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Hamas also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,480 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
- 'High price' -
Haniyeh's coffin arrived in Doha on Thursday afternoon, Qatar-based network Al Jazeera reported, broadcasting images of a convoy including in internal security force vehicles traveling down Doha's corniche road.
Qatar has hosted Hamas's political bureau with the blessing of the United States since 2012 following the Palestinian group's closure of its office in Damascus.
Haniyeh had played a key role in talks for a potential truce in Gaza, liaising with mediators Qatar, which has led months of behind-the-scenes negotiations alongside Egypt and the US.
Reacting to Haniyeh's death, Qatar's prime minister said the killing had thrown the Gaza war mediation process into doubt.
"How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?" Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on social media site X.
The international community called for calm and a focus on securing a ceasefire in Gaza -- which Haniyeh had accused Israel of obstructing.
Israel warned its adversaries on Thursday they would "pay a very high price" for any "aggression".
"Israel is at a very high level of preparation for any scenario, both defensive and offensive," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"Those who attack us, we will attack in return."

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Arab World

US Embassy in Beirut Warns of Possible Iran Threat to Universities in Lebanon

People walk past the main gate to the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the center of Beirut on January 13, 2022. (AFP)
People walk past the main gate to the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the center of Beirut on January 13, 2022. (AFP)
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US Embassy in Beirut Warns of Possible Iran Threat to Universities in Lebanon

People walk past the main gate to the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the center of Beirut on January 13, 2022. (AFP)
People walk past the main gate to the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the center of Beirut on January 13, 2022. (AFP)

The US embassy in Beirut said on ‌Friday ‌that Iran ‌and ⁠its aligned armed ⁠groups "may intend to target ⁠universities ‌in Lebanon".

In ‌a security ‌alert, ‌the embassy also ‌urged US citizens to depart ⁠Lebanon "while ⁠commercial flight options remain available".

Lebanon was dragged into the conflict in the Middle East when Iran-backed Hezbollah shot rockets at Israel in retaliation to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the beginning of the war.

Over the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes killed 23 people and wounded 98, the Lebanese health ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that the overall death toll includes 125 children and 91 women, since Israel launched intense airstrikes across Lebanon after the Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran on March 2. The strikes have also wounded 4,138 others.

Among those killed are 53 health workers, while Israeli strikes have targeted 83 emergency medical service facilities, the health ministry said.

Arab World

UN Force Says 3 Peacekeepers Wounded in Blast Inside South Lebanon Position

UNIFIL vehicles drive on a main road in Qlayaa, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
UNIFIL vehicles drive on a main road in Qlayaa, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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UN Force Says 3 Peacekeepers Wounded in Blast Inside South Lebanon Position

UNIFIL vehicles drive on a main road in Qlayaa, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)
UNIFIL vehicles drive on a main road in Qlayaa, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, in Qlayaa, southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026. (Reuters)

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said a blast hit one of its positions and wounded three peacekeepers on Friday, the third such incident in a week.

"This afternoon, an explosion inside a UN position... injured three peacekeepers, two seriously. They are all currently being evacuated to hospital. We do not yet know the origin of the explosion," UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said in a statement.

"UNIFIL reminds all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers, including by avoiding combat activities nearby that could put them in danger," she added.

The UN force is deployed in south Lebanon near the Israeli border, where Israel and Hezbollah have been at war for a month and where Israeli troops are pressing a ground invasion.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with massive strikes across Lebanon, as well as the ground operation.

UNIFIL had said that a peacekeeper was killed on Sunday evening when a projectile of unknown origin "exploded in a UNIFIL position near Adchit al-Qusayr".

The following day, UNIFIL said an "explosion of unknown origin" destroyed a peacekeeping vehicle, killing two more Indonesian troops.

It said investigations had been launched into both incidents.

A UN security source told AFP this week that Israeli fire was the source of Sunday's attack, while a mine may have caused the following day's deadly blast.

Israel's military denied responsibility for Monday's incident.

"A comprehensive operational examination indicates that no explosive device was placed in the area by army troops, and that no troops were present in the area at all," the statement said.

According to the UN, 97 force members have been killed in violence since UNIFIL was first established to monitor the withdrawal of Israeli forces after they invaded Lebanon in 1978.

The mandate of the force, which for decades has acted as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon, finishes at the end of this year.

Arab World

RSF in Sudan Kill at Least 10 People in Hospital Drone Attack, Medical Group Says

Fighters of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drive an armored vehicle in Khartoum in 2023. (AFP)
Fighters of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drive an armored vehicle in Khartoum in 2023. (AFP)
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RSF in Sudan Kill at Least 10 People in Hospital Drone Attack, Medical Group Says

Fighters of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drive an armored vehicle in Khartoum in 2023. (AFP)
Fighters of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drive an armored vehicle in Khartoum in 2023. (AFP)

Sudan ’s paramilitary forces killed at least 10 people on Thursday in a drone attack that hit a hospital in the south-central part of the country, said a medical group.

Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF, launched two drone strikes on al-Jabalain Hospital in the White Nile province, hitting an operating theater and a maternity ward.

The strikes, the latest in an intensifying drone warfare between the army and the RSF, killed 10 people, including seven medical staffers, and injured at least 19 people. Those injured were transferred to a hospital in Kosti, which is around 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, said MSF.

Salah Moussa, a senior staffer in the nursing department at al-Jabalain Hospital, was injured in his leg in one of the two strikes. He told The Associated Press by phone on Friday that those killed include the hospital’s general manager, the administrative manager, several policemen and a citizen.

Moussa said he was in his house near the hospital when he heard the sound of explosions at around 11 a.m. on Thursday.

“I rushed to the hospital when I heard the explosion and while we were helping evacuate three injured staff members, another drone strike was launched and I got hit and lost consciousness,” he said. “The hospital lost all its medical and administrative leadership in this attack.”

The strikes are the latest in a series of attacks on the health care system in Sudan that continues to be hit hard during the ongoing war between the army and the RSF that broke out in April 2023. The World Health Organization said in March that over 200 attacks have targeted health care since the war began. Most recently, 70 people were killed, including at least 13 children, in a strike on a hospital in Sudan’s western Darfur region last month.

The nearly three-year conflict in Sudan killed more than 40,000 people, according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be much higher.

“The attack is even more appalling as it occurred during a children’s immunization campaign,” the MSF said of the strike on the al-Jabalain hospital.

Meanwhile, Emergency Lawyers, a local rights group, said Thursday that the attacks also targeted a medical supply depot in Rabak, the capital city of the White Nile province.

The Emergency Lawyers said the “recurring pattern” of drone attacks by the warring parties since March in the provinces of South Kordofan, Blue Nile, East, Central and South Darfur displaced more people.

On Friday, Khalid Aleisir, the minister of culture, information, antiquities and Tourism condemned the attack and called for designating the RSF a terrorist organization and prosecuting its members.

“We also hold regional backers directly responsible for perpetuating this violent campaign through military and logistical support, including advanced weaponry and unmanned aerial systems, which have escalated violence and targeted civilians,” he wrote on X.

Sudan Doctors Network, a local group that monitors war violence, called the attack a “deliberate assault on health facilities and unarmed civilians” that further worsens an already deteriorating health sector in the country.

“MSF is outraged by these repeated attacks on health care, which have escalated dangerously in recent weeks,” said Esperanza Santos, MSF head of emergencies for Sudan in the group’s statement on Thursday. “Health facilities, medical staff, and patients must always be protected. We call on RSF and SAF to immediately stop this spiral of violence against medical facilities.”

A surge in drone strikes in the Sudanese region of Kordofan has taken a growing toll on civilians and hampered aid operations, analysts and humanitarian workers previously said.