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Arab World

UN-Egyptian Cooperation to Address Rising Number of Sudanese Refugees

UN-Egyptian meeting to launch the refugee support program (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
UN-Egyptian meeting to launch the refugee support program (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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UN-Egyptian Cooperation to Address Rising Number of Sudanese Refugees

UN-Egyptian meeting to launch the refugee support program (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
UN-Egyptian meeting to launch the refugee support program (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

With the increasing number of Sudanese arrivals in Egypt, the UN Refugee Agency is working closely with Egyptian authorities to accommodate around 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers who have fled the conflict in Sudan since April 2023.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian government, in collaboration with the United Nations and the European Union, launched a joint program to be implemented by the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization, under the framework of the Joint Platform for Refugees and Migrants.

According to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the program, supported by a €12.2 million grant from the European Union, will work with the Egyptian government to meet essential needs in health and education, and to enhance resilience and protection for the most vulnerable refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers living in Egypt, as well as their host communities.

Cairo estimates the number of refugees, migrants, and foreign residents on its territory to be over 9 million.

Ambassador Amr Al-Jowaily, Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs and International Security, stated that Egypt "adopts a comprehensive approach that allows the integration of migrants and refugees into Egyptian society through a policy of not establishing camps and providing essential services."

He added: "We have high expectations that the program, with the valuable contributions of UN organizations and international partners, especially the European Union, will enhance coordination and direct funding to support national systems that provide essential services to migrants, refugees, and the host community, with a focus on education and healthcare, thereby integrating humanitarian and developmental dimensions."

Egypt is one of the main host countries in the region but faces unprecedented challenges due to global displacement, according to Elena Panova, the UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt. She emphasized that the responsibility of caring for and protecting displaced persons cannot fall solely on Egypt, but requires a collective response from the international community and local partners.

Christian Berger, the head of the European Union delegation to Egypt, reaffirmed the EU's continued support for Egypt's efforts to improve services for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, as well as to strengthen the resilience of host communities and explore opportunities for resettlement and safe, legal pathways for refugees in Egypt to the EU.

The UN joint program is based on recommendations from a 2022 report analyzing the status of educational and healthcare services provided to migrants and refugees in Egypt. The program will ensure the continued availability of essential protection services for the most vulnerable refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers, with host communities in selected areas also benefiting from it.

Cairo has expressed concern over the "immense burdens" it bears due to hosting millions on its soil. In May, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke about the strain that "guests" — a term he often uses for migrants and refugees — place on his country’s limited resources, particularly water. He noted that they "consume about 4.5 billion cubic meters of water annually," given Egypt's average water consumption of 500 cubic meters per person, calling it a "significant burden."

According to Hanan Hamdan, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Egypt, the country has received around 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan.

In a televised statement on Tuesday, Hamdan confirmed that coordination with Egypt is ongoing to accommodate the increasing number of Sudanese refugees. She added that registered refugees with the UNHCR number around 800,000 from various nationalities, the majority of whom are Sudanese.

Dr. Ayman Zohry, migration and refugee expert, told Asharq Al-Awsat that part of the European grant to Cairo is expected to support services provided by the Egyptian government to refugees, such as education and healthcare. Additionally, a portion may be allocated as direct financial or in-kind support, such as the distribution of food and other goods.

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Arab World

Egyptian Gaza Relief Group Says Israeli Strike on Photographers Was Deliberate

An aid distribution point in northern Gaza operated by the Egyptian Relief Committee (Egyptian Relief Committee)
An aid distribution point in northern Gaza operated by the Egyptian Relief Committee (Egyptian Relief Committee)
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Egyptian Gaza Relief Group Says Israeli Strike on Photographers Was Deliberate

An aid distribution point in northern Gaza operated by the Egyptian Relief Committee (Egyptian Relief Committee)
An aid distribution point in northern Gaza operated by the Egyptian Relief Committee (Egyptian Relief Committee)

The spokesperson for the Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza, Mohamed Mansour, said Israel deliberately targeted three photojournalists while they were carrying out a humanitarian mission inside the Netzarim camp, an area located about six kilometers away from Israeli army forces.

Mansour told Asharq Al-Awsat that the attack was “a continuation of Israeli pressure on the committee’s work since it began operating, as part of the occupation’s efforts to tighten restrictions on anyone attempting to provide relief work and humanitarian services to the people of Gaza.”

The Israeli army killed three photojournalists on Wednesday who were working as a media team for the Egyptian Relief Committee for Gaza.

Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the victims were Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat, and Anas Ghneim.

They were carrying out a filming mission using a small drone and cameras to document stages of work at camps that the Egyptian committee is helping to establish.

Mansour stressed that “the targeting of the photographers will only increase the committee’s determination to provide relief services and shelter to the Palestinian people.”

He said the committee would continue its work as usual to be “a genuine support for the people of the Strip, amid extremely complex security conditions.”

Israeli Army Radio reported, citing sources, that Egypt sent an angry message to Israel following the attack in Gaza in which Palestinians working for the Egyptian committee for the reconstruction were killed.

According to the radio report, Egypt expressed its protest that the attack took place outside the boundaries of the so-called yellow line, in an area that does not pose a threat to Israeli forces.

For its part, the Israeli army claimed it had targeted suspects operating a “Hamas-affiliated drone” in central Gaza.

In a statement on Wednesday, the army said: “Following the identification of the drone and due to the threat it posed to the forces, the Israeli army precisely struck the suspects who were operating the drone.”

The army said the details were under review.

Arab World

Israel Launches Wave of Fresh Strikes on Lebanon

Smoke and sparks ascend from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Kfour on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke and sparks ascend from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Kfour on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Launches Wave of Fresh Strikes on Lebanon

Smoke and sparks ascend from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Kfour on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke and sparks ascend from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Kfour on January 21, 2026. (AFP)

Israel launched fresh strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon after raids earlier Wednesday killed two people, the latest violence despite a year-old ceasefire with the group.

The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes launched raids on buildings in several south Lebanon towns including Qanarit and Kfour, after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings to residents identifying sites it intended to strike there.

An AFP photographer was slightly wounded along with two other journalists who were working near the site of a heavy strike in Qanarit.

The Israeli army said it was striking Hezbollah targets in response to the group's "repeated violations of the ceasefire understandings".

Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah.

But Israel has criticized the Lebanese army's progress as insufficient and has kept up regular strikes, usually saying it is targeting members of the Iran-backed group or its infrastructure.

Earlier Wednesday, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the town of Zahrani, in the Sidon district, killed one person.

An AFP correspondent saw a charred car on a main road with debris strewn across the area and emergency workers in attendance.

Later, the ministry said another strike targeting a vehicle in the town of Bazuriyeh in the Tyre district killed one person.

Israel said it struck Hezbollah operatives in both areas.

A Lebanese army statement decried the Israeli targeting of "civilian buildings and homes" in a "blatant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty" and the ceasefire deal.

It also said such attacks "hinder the army's efforts" to complete the disarmament plan.

This month, the army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

Most of Wednesday's strikes were north of the river.

More than 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.

The November 2024 truce sought to end more than a year of hostilities, but Israel accuses Hezbollah of rearming, while the group has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Arab World

Syria’s Rifaat Al-Assad, ‘Butcher of Hama’, Dies Aged 88, Say Sources

Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. (AP file)
Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. (AP file)
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Syria’s Rifaat Al-Assad, ‘Butcher of Hama’, Dies Aged 88, Say Sources

Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. (AP file)
Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. (AP file)

Rifaat al-Assad, uncle of deposed Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and dubbed the "Butcher of Hama" for suppressing an uprising in the 1980s, has died aged 88, two sources close to the family said Wednesday.

Once a pillar of the Assad family's dynastic rule, Rifaat "died after suffering from influenza for around a week", one source who worked in Syria's presidential palace for over three decades told AFP.

A second source, an ex-officer of Syria's army in the Assad era, confirmed the death, saying Rifaat had moved to the United Arab Emirates after his nephew's government was toppled by opposition factions in December 2024, without specifying if he died there.

Rifaat's role in a February 1982 massacre as part of a crackdown on an armed revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Hama", referring to the central Syrian city.

His brother Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria at the time, launched the campaign, which government forces carried out under the command of Rifaat, who was the head of the elite "Defense Brigades".

The death toll from 27 days of violence, which took place under a media blackout, has never been formally established, though estimates range from 10,000 to 40,000.

Swiss prosecutors had accused Rifaat of a long list of crimes, including ordering "murders, acts of torture, inhumane treatment and illegal detentions" while an officer in the Syrian army.

He also served as vice president under his brother Hafez but went into exile in 1984 after a failed attempt to overthrow him, moving to Switzerland then France.

He later presented himself as an opponent of his nephew Bashar, who succeeded Hafez in 2000.

In 2021, he returned to Syria from France to escape a four-year prison sentence for money laundering and misappropriation of Syrian public funds.

Two years later, he appeared in a family photo alongside Bashar, the ruler's wife Asma and other relatives.

Shortly after Bashar's ouster, Rifaat crossed into Lebanon and then flew out of Beirut airport, a Lebanese security source said at the time, without specifying his final destination.