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Türkiye Says Israel’s Move to Ban UNRWA Violates International Law

Israeli soldiers take position as they enter the UNRWA headquarter where the military said it discovered tunnels underneath of the UN agency that the military says Hamas used to attack its forces during a ground operation in Gaza, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP)
Israeli soldiers take position as they enter the UNRWA headquarter where the military said it discovered tunnels underneath of the UN agency that the military says Hamas used to attack its forces during a ground operation in Gaza, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP)
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Türkiye Says Israel’s Move to Ban UNRWA Violates International Law

Israeli soldiers take position as they enter the UNRWA headquarter where the military said it discovered tunnels underneath of the UN agency that the military says Hamas used to attack its forces during a ground operation in Gaza, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP)
Israeli soldiers take position as they enter the UNRWA headquarter where the military said it discovered tunnels underneath of the UN agency that the military says Hamas used to attack its forces during a ground operation in Gaza, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP)

Türkiye’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Israel's decision to ban the UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside of the country was a clear violation of international law that aimed to prevent displaced Palestinians from returning home.

Israel's parliament passed a law on Monday to ban UNRWA from operating inside Israel, alarming some of Israel's Western allies who fear this will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the move aimed to disrupt efforts to reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding UNRWA provided vital help to Palestinians.

"It is the legal and moral obligation of the international community to take a strong stance against attempts to ban UNRWA, which was established by a UN General Assembly resolution," the ministry said. "As the Chair of the Working Group on the Financing of UNRWA, Türkiye will continue to provide political and financial support to the Agency," it added.

UNRWA has been fiercely critical of Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. It has halted all trade with Israel, applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, and repeatedly called for an end to Western support of Israel along with international measures to stop its assaults.

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Arab World

Israeli Army Says Strike Killed Lebanese Member of Iran’s Quds Force

A photograph shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in Hazmieh, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut, on March 23, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in Hazmieh, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut, on March 23, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Army Says Strike Killed Lebanese Member of Iran’s Quds Force

A photograph shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in Hazmieh, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut, on March 23, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows the damage after an Israeli strike targeted an apartment in Hazmieh, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut, on March 23, 2026. (AFP)

Israel announced on Tuesday that a strike it carried out near Beirut the day before killed a member of Iran's Quds Force, who a Lebanese security source said had survived a previous attack in the same area.

On Monday Israel struck an apartment in Hazmieh, an upscale town overlooking Beirut and near the presidential palace and diplomatic missions.

In a statement Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had killed Mohammed Ali Kurani, "a Quds Force terrorist who was advancing terror attacks directed by Iranian intelligence officials".

The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

A Lebanese security source told AFP that Kurani hailed from Nabatieh governorate in south Lebanon, and was "known by his military alias Haj Sadeq".

The source said he was a "security officer" in the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, and by virtue of his position, would likely have been coordinating with the Quds Force.

Kurani survived an earlier March 4 strike on a hotel, also in Hazmieh, with the source saying "a recording that night documented his leaving the hotel with his wife and son".

The strike hit the room where he and his family had stayed for just two hours, and resulted in injuries to a receptionist who later died of her wounds.

Monday's strike targeted a room in an apartment that had been rented in his wife's name since last October, the source added, noting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his sister own two units in the same building.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran's supreme leader.

Following Monday's strike, Hazmieh Mayor Jean Asmar announced the municipality would take new measures with regards to hosting people displaced by the war "so that this incident is not repeated".

Arab World

Sudan’s RSF Says Captured Strategic Town on Ethiopia Border

RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, center, greets the crowd during a military-backed tribes' rally in the Nile River State of Sudan, July 13, 2019. (AP)
RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, center, greets the crowd during a military-backed tribes' rally in the Nile River State of Sudan, July 13, 2019. (AP)
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Sudan’s RSF Says Captured Strategic Town on Ethiopia Border

RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, center, greets the crowd during a military-backed tribes' rally in the Nile River State of Sudan, July 13, 2019. (AP)
RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, center, greets the crowd during a military-backed tribes' rally in the Nile River State of Sudan, July 13, 2019. (AP)

Sudanese paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces said on Tuesday that it and its allies had seized control of the town of Kurmuk on the border with Ethiopia after "fierce fighting".

"Elite troops from the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have succeeded in fully liberating the strategic town of Kurmuk," the RSF said in a statement.

Its forces also took over two other nearby areas, it said, "following fierce fighting waged since yesterday".

On Tuesday morning, a representative of the army-aligned government in Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state where Kurmuk is located, said "the situation in Kurmuk is critical and it's very difficult for the forces on the ground to hold their positions".

Fighting began on Sunday around the small border town in the far southeast of Sudan, which the army considers vital because it sits on one of the few roads to Ethiopia.

The faction of the SPLM-N led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu and allied to the RSF maintains a foothold in southern Blue Nile, a narrow strip of land jutting south between Ethiopia and South Sudan.

From there, it reportedly maintains supply lines from both countries, building on decades-old links.

Ethiopia has denied separate allegations that it is harboring RSF camps.

The war in Sudan, which began in 2023, pits the RSF against the regular army and has left tens of thousands dead, displaced around 11 million people and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Arab World

Iran Guards Threaten 'Heavy' Missile Fire on Israel in Support of Lebanese, Palestinians

24 March 2026, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect the damage caused by an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv. Photo: Itai Ron/dpa
24 March 2026, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect the damage caused by an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv. Photo: Itai Ron/dpa
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Iran Guards Threaten 'Heavy' Missile Fire on Israel in Support of Lebanese, Palestinians

24 March 2026, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect the damage caused by an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv. Photo: Itai Ron/dpa
24 March 2026, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect the damage caused by an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv. Photo: Itai Ron/dpa

Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened on Tuesday to conduct "heavy" missile and drone attacks on Israel in what it described as support for Lebanese and Palestinian civilians.

"We warn the regime's criminal army that if its crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Palestine persist," Israeli forces "will be the target of heavy missile and drone strikes", the Guards said in a statement.

Iran is at war with Israel and the United States, while Israel is also battling Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel's military will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, defense minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday, the first time Israel has clearly spelled out its intent to seize swathes of territory that make up nearly a tenth of Lebanon.

The military has destroyed five bridges over the river since March 13 and has accelerated the demolition of homes in Lebanese villages close to the Israeli border as part of a campaign that Israel says is aimed at Hezbollah and not Lebanese civilians.