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Rubio Talks to Jordan’s King Abdullah After Trump Remarks on Palestinian Displacement 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rubio Talks to Jordan’s King Abdullah After Trump Remarks on Palestinian Displacement 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday, the State Department said, with the call coming two days after a suggestion by President Donald Trump that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump on Saturday floated a plan to "clean out" the war-ravaged territory of Gaza in comments that echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes.

Jordan and Egypt had pushed back over the weekend after Trump said they should take in Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. Asked if this was a temporary or long-term solution for Gaza, Trump had said: "Could be either."

"The Secretary and King Abdullah discussed implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the release of hostages, and creating a pathway for security and stability in the region," the State Department said in a statement. Trump's weekend remarks were not mentioned in the statement.

"Secretary Rubio thanked Jordan for supporting the ceasefire through its integral role in providing humanitarian assistance through the Jordan Corridor," the State Department added.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.

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Arab World

Israel Launches Intense Airstrikes in Lebanon as Deadline Looms to Disarm Hezbollah

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Israel Launches Intense Airstrikes in Lebanon as Deadline Looms to Disarm Hezbollah

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of al-Katrani on December 18, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern and northeastern Lebanon on Thursday as a deadline looms to disarm the militant Hezbollah group along the tense frontier.

The strikes came a day before a meeting of the committee monitoring the enforcement of a US-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah a year ago.

It will be the second meeting of the mechanism after Israel and Lebanon appointed civilian members to a previously military-only committee. The group also includes the US, France and the UN peacekeeping force deployed along the border.

In Paris, Lebanon’s army commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal is scheduled to meet on Thursday with US, French and Saudi officials to discuss ways of assisting the army in its mission to boost its presence in the border area.

The Lebanese government has said that the army should have cleared all the border area south of the Litani river from Hezbollah’s armed presence by the end of the year.

The Israeli military said the strikes hit Hezbollah infrastructure sites and launching sites in a military compound used by the group to conduct training and courses for its fighters. The Israeli military added that it struck several Hezbollah military structures in which weapons were stored, and from which Hezbollah members operated recently.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the intense airstrikes stretched from areas in Mount Rihan in the south to the northeastern Hermel region that borders Syria.

Shortly afterward, a drone strike on a car near the southern town of Taybeh inflicted casualties, NNA said.

“This is an Israeli message to the Paris meeting aiming to support the Lebanese army,” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said about the strikes.

“The fire belt of Israeli airstrikes is to honor the mechanism’s meeting tomorrow,” Berri added during a parliament meeting in Beirut.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September last year that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing 127 civilians, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Over the past weeks, the US has increased pressure on Lebanon to work harder on disarming Hezbollah.

Arab World

UN: Over 1,000 Civilians Killed in Sudan's Darfur when Paramilitary Group Seized Camp

The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. (AFP)
The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. (AFP)
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UN: Over 1,000 Civilians Killed in Sudan's Darfur when Paramilitary Group Seized Camp

The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. (AFP)
The Sudanese flag flutters in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum on December 13, 2025. (AFP)

Over 1,000 civilians were killed when a Sudanese paramilitary group took over a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region in April, including about a third who were summarily executed, according to a report by the UN Human Rights Office on Thursday.

"Such deliberate killing of civilians or persons hors de combat may constitute the war crime of murder,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement accompanying the 18-page report.

The Zamzam camp in Sudan's western region of Darfur housed around half a million people displaced by the civil war and was taken over by Rapid Support Forces between April 11-13.

Arab World

Guterres Says Operating Environment 'Untenable’ in Areas Held by Houthis

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 21, 2025, ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 21, 2025, ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP)
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Guterres Says Operating Environment 'Untenable’ in Areas Held by Houthis

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 21, 2025, ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference at the Nasrec Expo Center in Johannesburg on November 21, 2025, ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged all parties in Yemen to exercise maximum restraint after an advance by southern separatists that risks rekindling a 10-year-old civil war after a long lull.

He also said the operating environment had become untenable in the areas held by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement - Yemen's capital Sanaa and the heavily populated northwest.

"I urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, de-escalate tensions, and resolve differences through dialogue," Guterres said. "This includes regional stakeholders, whose constructive engagement and coordination in support of UN mediation efforts are essential for ensuring collective security interests."

Guterres also condemned the Houthis' continued arbitrary detention of 59 UN staff, calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

"In recent days, Houthi de facto authorities referred three of our colleagues to a special criminal court. This referral must be rescinded. They have been charged in relation to their performance of United Nations official duties. These charges must be dropped," he said.

The United Nations has repeatedly rejected Houthi accusations that UN staff or UN operations in Yemen were involved in spying.

"We must be allowed to perform our work without interference," Guterres said. "Despite these challenges, we remain committed to providing life-saving support to millions of people across Yemen."

He said 19.5 million people in Yemen - nearly two-thirds of the population - need humanitarian assistance.