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In Historic First, Pope Francis to Visit Iraq

The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
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In Historic First, Pope Francis to Visit Iraq

The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP
The visit of Pope Francis will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq | AFP

Pope Francis is to arrive Friday for the first-ever papal visit to conflict-torn Iraq, aiming to encourage the dwindling Christian community to remain in their ancient homeland and broaden his outreach to Islam.

Among the most extraordinary moments of the trip will be his one-on-one meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Despite a second deadly wave of coronavirus infections, renewed violence, and notoriously poor public services, Francis is fulfilling the dream of a predecessor, late pope John Paul II, by visiting Iraq.

Amid war and persecution, the country's Christian community -- one of the world's oldest -- has fallen from 1.5 million in 2003 to just 400,000 today.

The 84-year-old pontiff, who will be on his first foreign trip since the start of the pandemic, plans to voice solidarity with them and the rest of Iraq's 40 million people during a packed three-day visit.

From central Baghdad to the city of Najaf, welcome banners featuring his image and Arabic title "Baba al-Vatican" already dot the streets.

From Ur to ravaged Christian towns in the north, roads are being paved and churches rehabilitated in remote areas that have never seen such a high-profile visitor.

"The pope's message is that the Church stands beside those who suffer," said Najeeb Michaeel, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of the northen city of Mosul.

"He will have powerful words for Iraq, where crimes against humanity have been committed."

- Ancient roots -

Iraq's Christian community is one of the oldest and most diverse in the world, with Chaldeans and other Catholics making up around half, along with Armenian Orthodox, Protestants, and others.

By 2003, when the US-led invasion toppled then-dictator Saddam Hussein, Christians made up around six percent of Iraq's 25 million people.

But even as sectarian violence pushed members of the minority to flee, the national population surged, further diluting Christians to just one percent, according to William Warda, co-founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organisation.

Most were concentrated in the northern province of Nineveh, where many still speak a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.

In 2014, militants from the so-called ISIS group seized control of Nineveh, rampaging through Christian towns and telling residents: convert or die.

At the time, Pope Francis endorsed military action against ISIS and considered visiting northern Iraq in solidarity with Christians there.

That trip never materialized, but Francis has kept a close eye on Iraq, condemning the killing of unarmed protesters during mass anti-government rallies from 2019.

- A long time coming -

Pope John Paul II had planned to visit Iraq in 2000 but Saddam Hussein abruptly canceled the trip. His successor Benedict XVI never made moves towards Baghdad.

Soon after Francis was elected pope in 2013, he was urged to visit Iraq by Father Louis Sako -- later appointed as Cardinal and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and now a key organizer of the visit.

In 2019, President Barham Saleh extended an official invitation, hoping to help Iraq "heal" after years of violence.

But as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged Italy, the pope canceled all foreign trips from June 2020.

He lands on Friday in Baghdad with a security team and accompanied by an entourage of 150 people, half of whom are journalists, who like the pope have already been vaccinated.

Just days ahead of the trip, the Vatican's ambassador to Iraq Mitja Leskovar tested positive for Covid-19, but officials insisted it would have "no impact" on the visit.

Despite the Covid situation, he will host masses in Baghdad, the Kurdish regional capital Arbil and Ur.

Swamped by some 4,000 new coronavirus cases per day, Iraq has imposed overnight curfews and full weekend lockdowns that will be extended to cover the entire visit.

Social distancing will be enforced at all church services and those hoping to attend had to register several weeks in advance.

Pope Francis is an outspoken proponent of interfaith efforts and has visited several Muslim-majority countries including Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates.

In Abu Dhabi in 2019, he met Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo. They signed a document encouraging Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Francis hopes this week's trip could open a similar door to Shiite Muslims, who number roughly 200 million worldwide but are the majority in Iraq.

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Arab World

Israel Begins Demolishing 25 Residential Buildings in West Bank Camp

An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Begins Demolishing 25 Residential Buildings in West Bank Camp

An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli army excavator demolishes buildings during a military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, 31 December 2025. (EPA)

Israeli bulldozers began demolishing 25 buildings housing Palestinians in a refugee camp on Wednesday, in what the military said was an effort to root out armed groups in northern areas of the occupied West Bank.

The buildings, home to some 100 families, are in the Nur Shams camp, a frequent site of clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces.

Israeli military bulldozers and cranes tore through the structures early Wednesday, sending thick plumes of dust into the air, an AFP journalist reported. Many residents watched from a distance.

The military said the demolitions were part of an operation against gunmen.

"Following ongoing counterterrorism activity by Israeli security forces in the area of Nur Shams in northern Samaria, the commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Bluth, ordered the demolition of several structures due to a clear and necessary operational need," the military told AFP in a statement.

"Areas in northern Samaria have become a significant center of terrorist activity, operating from within densely populated civilian areas."

Earlier this year, the military launched an operation it said was aimed at dismantling Palestinian armed groups from camps in northern West Bank -- including Nur Shams, Tulkarem and Jenin.

"Even a year after the beginning of military operations in the area, forces continue to locate ammunition, weapons, and explosive devices used by terrorist organizations, which endanger soldiers and impair operational freedom of action," the military said on Wednesday.

Earlier in December, AFP reported residents of the targeted buildings retrieving their belongings, with many saying they had nowhere to go.

The demolitions form part of a broader Israeli strategy aimed at easing access for military vehicles within the densely built refugee camps of the West Bank.

Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory since 1967.

Nur Shams, along with other refugee camps in the West Bank, was established after the creation of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes in what is now Israel.

With time, the camps they established inside the West Bank became dense neighborhoods not under their adjacent cities' authority. Residents pass on their refugee status from one generation to the next.

Many residents believe Israel is seeking to destroy the idea of the camps themselves, turning them into regular neighborhoods of the cities they flank, in order to eliminate the refugee issue.

Arab World

UN Makes First Visit to Sudan’s El-Fasher Since Its Fall, Finding Dire Conditions

Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
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UN Makes First Visit to Sudan’s El-Fasher Since Its Fall, Finding Dire Conditions

Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)
Sudanese displaced from the Heglig area in western Sudan wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement Camp in the in Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on December 30, 2025.(AFP)

A UN humanitarian team visited el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region for the first time since a paramilitary force overran the city in October, carrying out a rampage that is believed to have killed hundreds of people and sent most of the population fleeing.

The hours-long visit gave the UN its first glimpse into the city, which remains under control of the Rapid Support Forces. The team found hundreds of people still living there, lacking adequate access to food, medical supplies and proper shelter, the UN said Wednesday.

“It was a tense mission because we’re going into what we don’t know ... into a massive crime scene,” Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said of Friday’s visit.

For the past two months, el-Fasher has been nearly entirely cut off from the outside world, leaving aid groups unsure over how many people remained there and their situation. The death toll from the RSF takeover, which came after a more than a year-long siege, remains unknown.

Survivors among the more than 100,000 people who fled el-Fasher reported RSF fighters gunning down civilians in homes and in the streets, leaving the city littered with bodies. Satellite photos have since appeared to show RSF disposing of bodies in mass graves or by burning them.

Brown said “a lot of cleaning up" appeared to have taken place in the city over the past two months. The UN team visited the Saudi Hospital, where RSF fighters reportedly killed 460 patients and their companions during the takeover.

“The building is there, it’s clearly been cleaned up,” Brown said of the hospital. “But that doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that this story has been wiped clean because the people who fled, fled with that story.”

El-Fasher lacks shelters and supplies

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, had been the last stronghold of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region until the RSF seized it. The RSF and the military have been at war since 2023 in a conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The UN team visiting el-Fasher focused on identifying safe routes for humanitarian workers and conducted only an initial assessment on the situation on the ground, with more teams expected to enter, Brown said.

“Villages around el-Fasher appeared to be completely abandoned. We still believe that people are being detained and that there are people who are injured who need to be medically evacuated,” said Brown, citing the initial U.N. findings.

The exact number of people still living in the city is hard to determine, but Brown said they’re in the hundreds and they lack supplies, social services, some medications, education and enough food.

They are living in deserted buildings and in shelters they erected using plastic sheets, blankets and other items grabbed from their destroyed homes. Those places lack visible toilets and access to clean drinking water.

The first charity kitchen to operate since the city’s fall opened Tuesday in a school-turned- shelter, according to the Nyala branch of the local aid initiative Emergency Response Rooms (ERR). The charity kitchen will be operated by ERR Nyala, serving daily meals, food baskets, and shelter supplies. More community kitchens are expected to open across 16 displacement centers, sheltering at least 100 people.

The UN team found a small open market operating while they were in the city, selling limited local produce such as tomatoes and onions. Other food items were either unavailable or expensive, with the price of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice reaching as high as $100, Brown said.

‘Paralyzed’ health care system

Mohamed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told The Associated Press Wednesday that medical facilities and hospitals in el-Fasher are not operating in full capacity.

“El-Fasher has no sign of life, the healthcare system there is completely paralyzed. Hospitals barely have access to any medical aid or supplies,” he added.

Brown described the situation in el-Fasher as part of a “pattern of atrocities” in this war that is likely to continue in different areas.

The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said the paramilitaries committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of el-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of rights violations.

Arab World

Israel to Ban 37 Aid Groups Operating in Gaza

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
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Israel to Ban 37 Aid Groups Operating in Gaza

Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk along streets past tent camps for displaced people in Gaza City, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP)

Israel plans to ban 37 aid organizations from operating in Gaza from Thursday unless they hand over detailed information on their Palestinian staff, despite mounting criticism from the United Nations and the European Union. 

Several NGOs have told AFP the new rules will have a major impact on food and medical shipments to Gaza, and humanitarian groups warn there is already not enough aid to cover the devastated territory's needs. 

Israel's deadline for NGOs to provide the details expires at midnight on Wednesday. 

"They refuse to provide lists of their Palestinian employees because they know, just as we know, that some of them are involved in terrorism or linked to Hamas," spokesman for the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Gilad Zwick, told AFP, naming 37 NGOs that had so far failed to meet the new requirements. 

"I highly doubt that what they haven't done for 10 months, they will suddenly do in less than 12 hours," Zwick said. "We certainly won't accept any cooperation that is just for show, simply to get an extension." 

For its part, Hamas, the armed Palestinian group which still controls part of Gaza, branded the Israeli decision "criminal behavior" and urged the United Nations and broader international community to condemn it. 

Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories. 

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. 

On Tuesday, Israel specified that "acts of de-legitimizing Israel" or denial of events surrounding Hamas's October 7 attack would be "grounds for license withdrawal". 

Israel has singled out international medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), alleging that it had two employees who were members of Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas. 

"We continue to seek reassurances and clarity over a concerning request to share a staff list, which may be in violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law and of our humanitarian principles," MSF said, urging Israel to allow it to operate. 

"We will be exploring all possible avenues to alter the outcomes of this decision." 

Apart from MSF, some of the 37 NGOs to be hit with the ban are the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision International, CARE and Oxfam, according to the list given by Zwick. 

- 'Guarantee access' - 

On Wednesday, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk described Israel's decision as "outrageous", calling on states to urgently insist Israel shift course. 

"Such arbitrary suspensions make an already intolerable situation even worse for the people of Gaza," he said. 

The European Union warned that Israel's decision would block "life-saving" assistance from reaching Gazans. 

"The EU has been clear: the NGO registration law cannot be implemented in its current form," EU humanitarian chief Hadja Lahbib posted on X. 

UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said the move sets a "dangerous precedent". 

"Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organizations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world," he said on X. 

UNRWA itself has faced the ire of Israeli authorities since last year, with Lazzarini declared persona non grata by Israel. 

Israel had accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas, claiming that some of the agency's employees took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. 

A series of investigations found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, the agency says, but insists Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation. 

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of 10 countries, including France and the United Kingdom, had already urged Israel to "guarantee access" to aid in the Gaza Strip, where they said the humanitarian situation remains "catastrophic". 

In a territory with 2.2 million inhabitants, "1.3 million people still require urgent shelter support", the ministers of Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said. 

While a deal for a ceasefire that started on October 10 stipulated the entry of 600 trucks per day, only 100 to 300 are carrying humanitarian aid, aid groups say. 

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said last week that on average 4,200 aid trucks enter Gaza weekly, which corresponds to around 600 daily. 

Israel's ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, said that 104 aid organizations had filed for registration according to the new guidelines. 

Nine were rejected, while 37 did not complete the procedures, she said on X, insisting the registration process "intended to prevent the exploitation of aid by Hamas".