Hundreds of Thousands at Risk in Sudan's El-Fasher, Says UN

Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
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Hundreds of Thousands at Risk in Sudan's El-Fasher, Says UN

Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)
Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref on May 12, 2024. (AFP)

Senior United Nations officials warned on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk in the besieged Sudanese town of El-Fasher, amid signs that the fighting could soon escalate.

El-Fasher is one of five state capitals in Sudan's western Darfur region and the only one not in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been battling the regular army since April 2023.

The United Nations says the war across much of Sudan has created the world's largest displacement crisis, with millions uprooted, and has led to famine at a displacement camp near El-Fasher, AFP reported.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in El-Fasher are now at risk of the consequences of mass violence," Martha Pobee, the UN's Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, told the UN Security Council.

"As fighting engulfs the city, it has further exposed an extremely vulnerable population, including internally displaced persons living in large camps near El-Fasher. This violence has also affected health care facilities."

Darfur has seen some of the war's worst atrocities, and the RSF has besieged El-Fasher since May.

Sudan's war has already killed tens of thousands of people, with some estimates as high as 150,000.

"Civilians, especially women and children, have been hit," said the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya.

"Civilian sites and infrastructure, including hospitals and internally displaced persons camps have been hit. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including more than 700,000 internally displaced people in and around El-Fasher, are at immediate threat.

"Our concern is mounting as we receive reports of intense shelling of central and western parts of El-Fasher and deployment of additional forces."

Close to 1.7 million people in the north Darfur region are facing acute food insecurity, she added.

"We are therefore horrified by signs that the fighting will intensify as the rainy season draws to a close in the coming months," Msuya said.

Independent UN experts earlier this month appealed for the quick deployment of an "impartial force" in Sudan for civilian protection.



UK Foreign Secretary Visits Syria, Renewing Ties After 14 Years of Conflict

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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UK Foreign Secretary Visits Syria, Renewing Ties After 14 Years of Conflict

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) welcoming with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the Syrian capital Damascus on July 5, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met in Damascus on Saturday with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, marking the restoration of relations after 14 years of tension during Syria's conflict and Assad family rule.

Syria has been improving relations with Western countries following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December in an offensive led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group.

Al-Sharaa’s office said Lammy and the president discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting cooperation and the latest regional and international developments. Lammy later met his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani, state media reported.

A statement issued by Britain's foreign office said the visit showed London's commitment to support Syria as the new government seeks to rebuild the country's economy, deliver an inclusive political transition and forge a path to justice for the victims of the Assad government.

It added that there will be new UK funding to assist with the removal of Assad-era chemical weapons and provide urgent humanitarian assistance in Syria, to bolster UK and Middle East security and tackle irregular migration. The statement said the British government wants to ensure that the ISIS group's territorial defeat “endures, and they can never resurge.”

ISIS once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it planned attacks worldwide. It was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled.

The statement said Britain's support for Syria is set to continue, with the additional 94.5 million pounds ($129 million) package announced Saturday. It will provide urgent humanitarian aid to Syrians, support Syria’s longer-term recovery through education and livelihoods, and support countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.

This handout photo released by the Lebanese Presidency press office on July 5, 2025 shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (R) receiving British Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the presidential palace in Baabda. (Lebanese Presidency / AFP)

In April, the British government lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, to help the country rebuild after Assad's ouster. Weeks earlier, the UK had dropped sanctions against two dozen Syrian businesses, mostly banks and oil companies.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending many American economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to al-Sharaa.

Syria’s new leaders have been struggling to rebuild the country’s decimated economy and infrastructure after nearly 14 years of civil war that has killed half a million people. In recent months, al-Sharaa visited oil-rich regional countries and France in May in his first visit to the Europe Union.

Also on Saturday, Lammy met in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and they discussed the situation along the Lebanon-Israel border following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

A statement issued by Aoun's office, quoted the Lebanese leader as telling Lammy that Beirut plans to raise the number of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel to 10,000. Aoun added that the only armed sides on the Lebanese side of the border will be Lebanon's national army and UN peacekeepers.