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Iraq’s PMF to Form Air Force Directorate

PMF members patrol an area in Tuz, southern Kirkuk city, Iraq, 17 October 2017. EPA file photo
PMF members patrol an area in Tuz, southern Kirkuk city, Iraq, 17 October 2017. EPA file photo
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Iraq’s PMF to Form Air Force Directorate

PMF members patrol an area in Tuz, southern Kirkuk city, Iraq, 17 October 2017. EPA file photo
PMF members patrol an area in Tuz, southern Kirkuk city, Iraq, 17 October 2017. EPA file photo

Deputy chief of the Popular Mobilization Forces Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes announced Thursday the formation of the air force directorate, weeks after growing air strikes against PMF locations in Baghdad and other provinces that its officials have blamed on Israel.

An official letter said that Salah Mahdi Hantoush was appointed acting director of the air force directorate.

The order was signed by the PMF deputy chief and not by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi or PMF chief and national security adviser Faleh Fayyad, a sign of growing inter-PMF disputes.

Last month, Mohandes held Israel responsible for the blasts on PMF camps and depots, threatening to respond to the attacks.

However, Fayyad respected the position of the Iraqi government, and said he would wait for the release of final results of investigations conducted by a fact-finding committee tasked with probing the explosions.

Iraqi security expert Hashem al-Hashemi said the formation of a new air force is an embarrassment for the Iraqi PM, mainly if the air defense system was bought without the approval of the Defense Ministry.

“Only Iranians will accept to sell weapons to the PMF without coordinating with the Defense Ministry,” the expert said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Defense Minister Najah Al-Shammari referred on Thursday several officers and commanders to military courts on corruption charges.

In a brief statement, the Ministry said: “Defense Minister Najah Al-Shammari ordered the transfer of some high-ranking officers and commanders to the competent military courts on charges related to corruption.”

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Arab World

Holdouts Flee Lebanon Border Village After Israeli Warning

An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Holdouts Flee Lebanon Border Village After Israeli Warning

An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The last residents of a Christian village on Lebanon's border with Israel fled the area on Tuesday, a UN source and an AFP correspondent said, after locals had for days defied an Israeli order to leave.

Fighting flared last week between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as part of a wider regional war, prompting the Israeli military to warn people across swathes of southern Lebanon to flee.

But some residents in Christian towns and villages refused to join a mass exodus, with dozens in the Alma al-Shaab area staying put despite the violence.

Fears spiked however after an Israeli strike at the weekend killed one resident.

On Tuesday, an AFP correspondent in the nearby Naqura area saw a convoy of vehicles transporting people who had left Alma al-Shaab, including women, children and the elderly. Their cars were packed with belongings, some strapped to the roofs.

Vehicles from Lebanon's United Nations peacekeeping force accompanied the convoy to a Lebanese army checkpoint further north, the correspondent said.

A source from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told AFP that more than 80 people had left and the village was now empty, saying they had been transported to areas outside the force's operations.

UNIFIL had said on Monday that "at the request of the municipality" of Alma al-Shaab, it was "ready to facilitate the safe movement of civilians who wish to leave".

Last week, local mayor Shadi Sayah had told AFP that "it is our right to preserve and remain on our land".

"We are pacifists... a danger to no one," the mayor said.

The Israeli army announced last week its intention to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying the goal was to protect residents of northern Israel from Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The Lebanese army, which had maintained a post in Alma al-Shaab, withdrew last Tuesday as Israeli forces started incursions into the country.

Many towns and villages along Lebanon's border have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, when hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, but some predominantly Christian villages have gone relatively unscathed.

Farther east in the village of Qlayaa, a parish priest died on Monday of wounds sustained from Israeli tank fire, sparking anger and fear.

Qlayaa mayor Hanna Daher has urged Lebanese authorities to prevent any armed presence in or around the town, referring to Hezbollah.

 

 

 

 

Arab World

Lives Being Upended on Massive Scale in Lebanon, Says UN Refugee Agency

A boy looks on while lying under a blanket alongside family belongings in a makeshift encampment along the waterfront in Beirut on March 10, 2026, as civilians who fled the city's southern suburbs due to Israeli bombardment remain displaced. (AFP)
A boy looks on while lying under a blanket alongside family belongings in a makeshift encampment along the waterfront in Beirut on March 10, 2026, as civilians who fled the city's southern suburbs due to Israeli bombardment remain displaced. (AFP)
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Lives Being Upended on Massive Scale in Lebanon, Says UN Refugee Agency

A boy looks on while lying under a blanket alongside family belongings in a makeshift encampment along the waterfront in Beirut on March 10, 2026, as civilians who fled the city's southern suburbs due to Israeli bombardment remain displaced. (AFP)
A boy looks on while lying under a blanket alongside family belongings in a makeshift encampment along the waterfront in Beirut on March 10, 2026, as civilians who fled the city's southern suburbs due to Israeli bombardment remain displaced. (AFP)

‌Lives have been upended on a massive scale in Lebanon amid a wider conflict in the Middle East, with more than 667,000 people now registered as displaced within the country - an increase of ‌100,000 in ‌just one day - the ‌UN ⁠refugee agency said ⁠on Tuesday.

Lebanon was dragged into the US-Israeli war on Iran this month when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets ⁠and drones into Israel, which ‌has ‌responded with heavy bombardment across the ‌country.

Some 120,000 people are ‌staying in government designated shelters, while others are still looking for somewhere to stay, the ‌UNHCR said, citing government figures.

"Many others are ⁠staying ⁠with relatives or friends or still searching for accommodation, and we see cars lined along the street with people sleeping in them and also on the sidewalks," said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative in Lebanon.

Arab World

Syrian Interior Ministry Airs Confessions of ‘Saraya al-Jawad’ Members

The February operation targeted hideouts in the villages of Beit Alouni and Basniya in Latakia province. (SANA)
The February operation targeted hideouts in the villages of Beit Alouni and Basniya in Latakia province. (SANA)
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Syrian Interior Ministry Airs Confessions of ‘Saraya al-Jawad’ Members

The February operation targeted hideouts in the villages of Beit Alouni and Basniya in Latakia province. (SANA)
The February operation targeted hideouts in the villages of Beit Alouni and Basniya in Latakia province. (SANA)

The Syrian Interior Ministry released a video showing confessions from members of the "Saraya al-Jawad" armed group, nearly two weeks after announcing a raid on one of its main strongholds in the countryside of Jableh in the Latakia province.

According to the ministry, the February 23 operation targeted hideouts in the villages of Beit Alouni and Basniya in Latakia province. The raid killed the group’s coastal leader Bashar Abdullah Abu Ruqayya and two other commanders, and led to the arrest of six members.

The video released Monday includes footage from the twin operation carried out by the Interior Ministry’s Internal Security Directorate.

Authorities said the raid followed several days of surveillance and resulted in the destruction of a weapons depot and explosives storage site belonging to the group.

One member of the Syrian special task forces was killed and another was lightly wounded during the operation.

In the recorded confessions, detainees said they took part in attacks along the Syrian coast in March 2025. One suspect admitted to ambushing a General Security patrol and killing one officer during a clash.

The confessions also described the establishment of an operations room in a residential house that doubled as an arms depot. According to the detainees, the group received financial support from businessmen Ayman Jaber and Mohammad Jaber, while supplies were smuggled in from Lebanon.

Mohammad Jaber, a businessman close to the former government of Bashar al-Assad and a commander in the Desert Hawks militia founded by his brother Ayman, previously appeared in a television interview acknowledging his role in organizing attacks by pro-regime remnants along the Syrian coast on March 6, 2025.

Documents and recordings obtained by Al Jazeera’s investigative program Al-Mutahari suggested that senior figures linked to the former government sought to form armed groups to carry out attacks on Syrian security forces and the army.

The Interior Ministry said it is pursuing members of those networks and attempting to curb their activities.

Saraya al-Jawad has been active in Syria’s coastal region — particularly in Latakia, Jableh and Tartus — since August 2025, when activists circulated a video showing a car bomb targeting a General Security vehicle in rural Jableh.

Earlier this month, security forces in Tartus also arrested three suspects — Ali Zuhair Idris, Ammar Madin Youssef and Mousa Mazhar Mia — accused of planning attacks targeting the province’s security and civilians.

Officials said intelligence showed the group had received explosives training abroad before infiltrating back into Syria.