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Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan's western Darfur region, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Outlining her office's probe of the devastating conflict which has raged since 2023, Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur," AFP reported.

"On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur," she said.

The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighboring Chad.

She detailed an "intolerable" humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that "famine is escalating" as aid is unable to reach "those in dire need."

"People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized," Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become "common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion, things can still get worse."

The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s.

In 2023, the ICC opened a fresh probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.

ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024.

"I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population -- they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past," said Khan.

"But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court," she added.

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Arab World

Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
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Drone Strikes on Sudan Markets Kill 33

Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows over buildings in Khartoum on May 1, 2023 as deadly clashes between rival generals' forces have entered their third week.(Photo by AFP)

A drone attack hit two markets in RSF-controlled towns in southwest Sudan, killing 33 people, a medical source told AFP on Sunday.

The strikes targeted the markets of Abu Zabad and Wad Banda in West Kordofan state -- part of the resource-rich Kordofan region that is currently the fiercest battlefield in the nearly three-year war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces.

A doctor at Abu Zabad hospital, one of the few medical facilities still serving the area, said two drones struck the markets on Saturday, injuring 59 people.

Speaking via a Starlink connection and requesting anonymity, the doctor said 30 of the wounded remain receiving treatment. The two towns lie roughly 15 kilometres (9 miles) apart.

A resident of Abu Zabad town, Hamad Abdullah, said he helped bury 20 people on Saturday following what he described as an army drone strike on the town's market.

"Four of them were my relatives who worked in the market," he told AFP.

A military source rejected the accusations, telling AFP that the "armed forces do not bombard civilian areas".

"This is a lie with no basis. We only target rebels, their equipment and their weapons depots," the source said, requesting anonymity because they are not authorised to brief the media.

Since war broke out in April 2023, both sides have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million and fuelled what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.

Arab World

Lebanese Health Ministry Says Death Toll from Israeli Strikes up to 394

The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Lebanese Health Ministry Says Death Toll from Israeli Strikes up to 394

The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The son of a Lebanese soldier, cries as he sits on his father's coffin who was killed by Israeli airstrikes, during a funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women, the health minister said Sunday, after Israel expanded its attacks to a hotel in central Beirut.

Health minister Rakan Nassereddine said at a press conference that nine rescue workers were among the 394 dead in Lebanon, condemning attacks on medical teams and ambulances.

"These are civilians being targeted, not, as they claim, military personnel and military installations. They are targeting homes, paramedics and the health sector," Nassereddine said, adding "the pace of the massacres has increased in the past 48 hours".

"Medical teams and ambulances are under attack, this is unacceptable."

A previous toll announced on Saturday by the minister had put the number of dead at 294.

Israel never fully halted its strikes targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire that sought to end their last round of fighting, which broke out in 2023 when the group attacked Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza.

Since Hezbollah's latest attack on Monday, Israel has launched multiple waves of strikes across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.

Early Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli airstrike hit a hotel room in Beirut's city center, killing four people and wounding 10 others.

Israel's military said it had "conducted a precise strike targeting key commanders" in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, its foreign operations arm.

In Ghazieh, southern Lebanon, an Israeli attack flattened a building, with an AFP correspondent seeing destroyed solar panels above it and rescuers searching through the debris.

In Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the health ministry said at least 11 people were killed in Israeli morning strikes on the village.

The toll included children, with the minister adding that "there are still people trapped under the rubble".

Standing next to a destroyed home, resident Ali Youssef Taha told AFP that "a family was sleeping inside" before "Israeli warplanes bombed the building, resulting in a massacre".

Mayor Saadallah Mohammed Maatouk said around 500 families were staying in the town.

"What happened will not deter us, and we remain steadfast," he said.

On Sunday, the Israeli military reiterated its call for residents south of Lebanon's Litani river, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Israeli border, to flee the area.

Sir al-Gharbiyeh is located just above the river, and Ghazieh is further north on the coast.

Israel's military, meanwhile, said Sunday that two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the first of its troops to have died since the latest offensive began on March 2.

Arab World

Arab League Chief Says Iran Attacks on Member States 'Reckless'

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Chief Says Iran Attacks on Member States 'Reckless'

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

The Arab League's secretary-general said Sunday that Iranian attacks on several member states were "reckless", urging Tehran to reverse what he called a "massive strategic mistake".

Addressing an emergency videoconference of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the strikes "cannot be justified under any pretext or excuse", and repaid peace efforts by Gulf countries with "treacherous rockets and drone strikes".