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UN Says Floods Affect More than 50,000 in Sudan

More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week. (Reuters)
More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week. (Reuters)
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UN Says Floods Affect More than 50,000 in Sudan

More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week. (Reuters)
More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week. (Reuters)

More than 50,000 people have been affected by flooding across Sudan over the past week, the United Nations said Wednesday.

"Torrential rains continued in several parts of Sudan... leading to flooding, landslides, damages to houses and infrastructure in at least 14 of the (country's) 18 states," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"More than 50,000 people have been affected," it said in a statement. "The numbers are expected to rise."

Interior Minister Eltrafi Elsdik has said at least five people were killed and almost 3,500 homes damaged by floods last week.

Torrential rains often hit Sudan between June and October, resulting in heavy flooding. Last week's downpours burst a dam in Blue Nile state, destroying more than 600 houses.

"Last year, we had over 400,000 people affected during the whole season," said Saviano Abreu, the OCHA spokesman in Sudan.

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Syria Detains Damascus-Based Leader of Prominent Palestinian Faction

Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
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Syria Detains Damascus-Based Leader of Prominent Palestinian Faction

Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)
Members of the Syria's security forces deploy during an operation in the edge of the town of Sharaya, south of Damascus, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (AP)

Syria on Saturday detained a prominent Damascus-based Palestinian official whose group was close to the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Talal Naji, 79, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, or PFLP-GC, was detained Saturday morning shortly after he left his house with a driver and two guards, a Palestinian official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, added that shortly after Naji was detained near his home in the Mazze neighborhood, security officials came to his home and questioned two unarmed guards for about an hour.

A Syrian government official told the AP that Naji was taken for questioning and should be released later. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The PFLP-GC became known for dramatic attacks against Israel, including the hijacking an El Al jetliner in 1968 and the machine gunning of another airliner at Zurich airport in 1969. In 1970, it planted a bomb on a Swissair jet that blew up on a flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv, killing all 47 on aboard.

Naji’s arrest comes nearly two weeks after Syrian authorities detained two members of the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. The group identified the two officials arrested at the time as its leader in Syria Khaled Khaled and another senior official Yasser Zafari. The Islamic Jihad took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Under Assad, several Palestinians factions were based in Syria and some of them remained after the fall of his 54-year Assad family in December.