Concerns in Southern Syria over Renewed Displacement to the North

Russian police escort displaced Syrians from the South to the North. (The Syrian Tweet)
Russian police escort displaced Syrians from the South to the North. (The Syrian Tweet)
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Concerns in Southern Syria over Renewed Displacement to the North

Russian police escort displaced Syrians from the South to the North. (The Syrian Tweet)
Russian police escort displaced Syrians from the South to the North. (The Syrian Tweet)

Opposition activists in southern Syria have expressed concern about the renewal of a “displacement scenario” to the north, following the evacuation of dozens of people upon an agreement between the regime and Russian-backed opposition forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Turkish soldiers continued to prevent 30 families displaced from the village of Umm Batna in the countryside of al-Quneitra, from entering the city of Al-Bab since Thursday evening.

The Observatory reported that the families from al-Quneitra were stranded at the Abu al-Zendin crossing, which is under the control of Turkish forces and their proxy factions, as they were not allowed to enter the countryside of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, a popular demonstration was organized at the Center roundabout in the city of al-Bab, east of Aleppo, denouncing the Turkish forces’ refusal to allow the entry of the families.

Earlier on Friday, activists reported seeing three buses entering Um Batna in preparation for the evacuation of 30 wanted people with their families to the Syrian North. This comes following an agreement between the military security branch and the Russians on one hand, and the Central Commission in Horan and some of the area’s officials.

A member of the Central Negotiating Committee told Asharq Al-Awsat that the committee in Quneitra and Daraa and local officials “had failed to persuade the Russian side to abolish the displacement condition imposed by the Syrian regime’s officers to resolve the situation in the town of Umm Batna and the rural Quneitra regions.”

He added that several negotiation meetings took place over the past few days in the cities of Daraa Al-Mahatta and Sa’sa, with Syrian regime and Russian officers to ease the tension and military escalation against the town of Um Batna and to go back on the evacuation decision, in exchange for a pledge by the families of the wanted individuals to refrain from committing actions against the regime forces in the region.

The official noted that the talks failed due to the regime’s insistence on the evacuation or extradition of wanted persons.



Sudan PM Vows to Rebuild Khartoum on First Visit to War-torn Capital

Kamil Idris, a former UN official who was appointed in May as prime minister by Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addresses people and local fighters supporting the Sudanese army who came to cheer him on, during a visit in Omdurman on July 19, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Kamil Idris, a former UN official who was appointed in May as prime minister by Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addresses people and local fighters supporting the Sudanese army who came to cheer him on, during a visit in Omdurman on July 19, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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Sudan PM Vows to Rebuild Khartoum on First Visit to War-torn Capital

Kamil Idris, a former UN official who was appointed in May as prime minister by Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addresses people and local fighters supporting the Sudanese army who came to cheer him on, during a visit in Omdurman on July 19, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Kamil Idris, a former UN official who was appointed in May as prime minister by Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, addresses people and local fighters supporting the Sudanese army who came to cheer him on, during a visit in Omdurman on July 19, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

Sudan's Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum, ravaged by more than two years of war, as he made his first visit to the capital since assuming office in May.

Touring Khartoum's destroyed infrastructure earlier, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the over 3.5 million people who fled the violence, AFP reported.

"Khartoum will return as a proud national capital," Idris said, according to Sudan's state news agency.

Sudan's army chief and de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who appointed Idris, landed Saturday at Khartoum's airport, recaptured by the army in March after nearly two years of occupation by their rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF began in the heart of the capital in April 2023, quickly tearing the city apart.

Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the once-bustling capital, and reconstruction is expected to be a herculean feat, with the government putting the cost at $700 billion nationwide, with Khartoum alone accounting for around half of that.

The army-aligned government, which moved to Port Sudan on the Red Sea early in the war and still operates from there, has begun to plan the return of ministries to Khartoum even as fighting rages on in other parts of the country.

Authorities have begun operations to properly bury the bodies still missing around the city, clear thousands of unexploded ordinance and resume bureaucratic services.

On a visit to Sudan's largest oil refinery, the Al-Jaili plant just north of Khartoum, Idris promised that "national institutions will come back even better than they were before".

The refinery -- now a blackened husk -- was recaptured in January, but the facility which once processed 100,000 barrels a day will take years and at least $1.3 billion to rebuild, officials told AFP.

Cabinet stumbles

The UN expects some two million people will return to Khartoum this year, but those coming back have found an unrecognizable city.

The scale of looting is unprecedented, aid workers say, with evidence of paramilitary fighters ripping copper wire out of power lines before they left.

Vast areas of the city remain without power, and the damage to water infrastructure has caused a devastating cholera outbreak. Health authorities recorded up to 1,500 cases a day last month, according to the UN.

"Water is the primary concern and obstacle delaying the return of citizens to their homes," Idris said on Saturday.

A career diplomat and former UN official, Idris is building a government that critics warn could put up a veneer of civilian rule, in addition to facing challenges within its own camp.

In 2020, during a short-lived transition to civilian rule, the government in Khartoum signed a peace agreement with Sudanese armed groups, allocating a share of cabinet posts to signatories.

All but three cabinet posts are now filled, and armed groups currently fighting alongside the army have retained their representation in Idris's government.

But reports that Idris had sought to appoint technocrats in their place have created tensions.

Some of the armed groups, known together as the Joint Forces, have been integral in defending North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, which has been besieged by the paramilitaries since May of last year.

If the RSF succeeds in taking El-Fasher, it will control all of the vast western region of Darfur, cementing the fragmentation of the country.

Despite the army securing the capital, as well as the country's north and east, war still rages in Sudan's west and south, where the RSF is accused of killing hundreds of civilians in recent days.

Sudan is suffering the world's largest hunger and displacement crises, with nearly 25 million people in dire food insecurity and over 10 million internally displaced across the country.

A further four million people have fled across borders.