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Over 50,000 Have Fled Lebanon for Syria Amid Israeli Strikes, Says UN

Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
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Over 50,000 Have Fled Lebanon for Syria Amid Israeli Strikes, Says UN

Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo
Syrians, who were living in Lebanon and returned to Syria due to ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, carry belongings at the Syrian-Lebanese border, in Jdaydet Yabous, Syria, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar/File Photo

The UN refugee chief said Saturday that more than 50,000 people had fled to Syria amid escalating Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.

"More than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria fleeing Israeli air strikes," Filippo Grandi said on X.

He added that "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon".

A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319, including 118,000 just since Israel dramatically ramped up its air strikes on Monday, AFP reported.

The remainder had fled their homes since Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began low-intensity cross-border attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

Israel has shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 700 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, as cross-border exchanges escalated over the past week.

Most of those Lebanese deaths came on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

"Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments," Grandi said.

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Arab World

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher
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Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

Security Council Sanctions 4 RSF Commanders over Atrocities in Sudan’s El-Fasher

The UN Security Council has announced sanctions on four commanders from the Rapid Support Forces for atrocities committed in the October takeover of the Darfur city of El-Fasher.

The four are high-ranking members of the RSF, which a UN probe last week determined had committed acts of genocide in their 18-month siege and eventual capture of El-Fasher.

They are RSF deputy commanders Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo and Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, Brigadier General Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris and field commander Tijani Ibrahim.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by what the UN has called a "war of atrocities" between the RSF and Sudan's regular army, killing tens of thousands and creating the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

For a year and a half, the RSF besieged North Darfur state capital El-Fasher -- the region's last major city to evade their control -- before storming the city on October 26.

The campaign, which the UN fact-finding mission described as "three days of horror", was marked by summary executions, systematic sexual violence and mass detention -- primarily targeting the city's ethnic Zaghawa population.

Abdelrahim, brother of RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, appears in footage "giving direct orders to his fighters to not take captives but to kill everyone", according to the sanctions announcement.

He is already sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Idris, commonly referred to as Abu Lulu, became known as "the Butcher of El-Fasher" for graphic videos he himself posted of the takeover.

"Abu Lulu has filmed himself smiling and killing people while they begged for mercy, as well as videos where he makes ethnically targeted executions," AFP quoted the Security Council as saying.

He, Ahmed and Ibrahim were slapped with US sanctions last week over their roles in the "ethnic killings, torture, starvation and sexual violence" committed in El-Fasher.

Arab World

Aid Groups Petition Israel’s Top Court to Halt Ban on Gaza, West Bank Operations 

Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
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Aid Groups Petition Israel’s Top Court to Halt Ban on Gaza, West Bank Operations 

Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)
Palestinian Red Crescent workers load medical supplies to be transported to Gaza, at the launch of a joint logistical operation with the European Union and the Red Cross, in the West Bank city of Beitunia, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)

Around 17 international humanitarian organizations have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to block an imminent order that would force 37 NGOs to cease operations in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, warning of catastrophic consequences for civilians.

Organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE, were notified on December 30 that their Israeli registrations had expired and that they had 60 days to renew them by providing lists of their Palestinian staff.

If they fail to do so, they will have to cease operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, from March 1.

The petitioners said enforcement has already begun in practice, with supplies blocked and visas denied to foreign staff.

“We haven't been able to get international staff inside Gaza since the beginning of January. Israeli authorities denied any entry to Gaza, but also to the West Bank,” MSF head of mission in the Palestinian territories Filipe Ribeiro told AFP last week.

The petition, described as unprecedented in its scale, seeks an urgent interim injunction from Israel's top court to suspend the closures pending full judicial review.

The 17 petitioners, which include some of the NGOs hit by the ban, argued the Israeli measures are incompatible with an occupying power's obligations under international humanitarian law.

The NGOs said compliance would expose local employees to potential retaliation, undermine the principle of humanitarian neutrality and violate European data protection law.

“Turning humanitarian organizations into an information-gathering arm for a party to the conflict stands in total contradiction to the principle of neutrality,” the petition stated.

The petitioners said they have proposed practical alternatives to handing over staff lists to Israel, including “independent sanctions screening” and “donor-audited vetting systems.”

The organizations noted that they collectively support or implement more than half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60% of field hospital operations and all inpatient treatment for children suffering severe acute malnutrition.

Arab World

Baghdad Airport Closed Due to 'Technical Problem'

A passenger takes his belongings after inspection at the departure hall of Baghdad's International airport on March 14, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
A passenger takes his belongings after inspection at the departure hall of Baghdad's International airport on March 14, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
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Baghdad Airport Closed Due to 'Technical Problem'

A passenger takes his belongings after inspection at the departure hall of Baghdad's International airport on March 14, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
A passenger takes his belongings after inspection at the departure hall of Baghdad's International airport on March 14, 2023. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Iraq's transport ministry said Wednesday a temporary shutdown of Baghdad International Airport was caused by an "emergency technical problem,” denying reports of any security threat.

The closure prompted speculation on social media, but officials stressed that the halt in operations was purely technical and repairs were already underway.

Ministry spokesman Maytham Alsafi said the fault required "immediate precautionary action,” adding that technical teams had begun assessments and repairs, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported.

He said the airport would reopen "within hours" once maintenance work and final checks were completed.

Alsafi rejected claims of domestic or foreign security risks behind the closure, calling the reports baseless and urging media outlets to verify information through official channels.