PA Calls on International Community to Intervene to End Israeli Aggression

 Israeli police clashes with Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after Israeli police entered the compound before dawn as thousands of Muslims were gathered to perform prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, Jerusalem, 15 April 2022. (EPA)
Israeli police clashes with Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after Israeli police entered the compound before dawn as thousands of Muslims were gathered to perform prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, Jerusalem, 15 April 2022. (EPA)
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PA Calls on International Community to Intervene to End Israeli Aggression

 Israeli police clashes with Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after Israeli police entered the compound before dawn as thousands of Muslims were gathered to perform prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, Jerusalem, 15 April 2022. (EPA)
Israeli police clashes with Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after Israeli police entered the compound before dawn as thousands of Muslims were gathered to perform prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, Jerusalem, 15 April 2022. (EPA)

The Palestinian presidency said attacks by Israeli settlers and the occupation forces against worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque amount to a “declaration of war.”

The international community should intervene immediately to “stop the Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa mosque and prevent things from going out of control,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

At least 152 Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli riot police inside Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday in the latest outbreak amid an upsurge of violence that has raised fears of a wider conflict.

The Palestine Red Crescent said most people were injured by rubber bullets, Israeli police batons and stun grenades at al-Aqsa mosque.

The attacks sparked Arab and Islamic condemnation.

Saudi Arabia issued a statement Friday denouncing the Israeli forces for raiding Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and attacking Palestinian worshippers.

“This systematic escalation is a blatant attack on the sanctity of the Mosque and its significance to the Islamic nation and a violation of relevant international resolutions and covenants,” read a statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

The Kingdom called on the international community to assume its responsibility in holding the Israeli occupation forces fully responsible for the repercussions of these ongoing crimes and violations on the defenseless Palestinian people, their land and their holy sites, and on the chances of reviving the peace process in the Middle East,” the statement added.

The Secretariat General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), for its part, deemed the developments a dangerous escalation, an attack against the entire Islamic nation and a flagrant violation of the international resolutions and charters.

It held Israel responsible for the repercussions of such daily crimes and offenses against the Palestinian people and their territories.

Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Nayef al-Hajraf said Israel should respect the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem and its sanctities and halt all illegal acts.

He called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to preserve the safety of Al-Aqsa Mosque and worshipers, underlining the importance of Israel’s abidance by its obligations as an occupying power, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez issued a statement calling for self-restraint to fully protect the Muslim worshippers and allow them to perform their Islamic rituals at Al-Aqsa Mosque as a “a purely Islamic endowment for Muslims.”

He reiterated rejection of all forms of violence and incitement, including the calls for storming the mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, and warned against the consequences of this attack on the stability and security of the Palestinian territories and the region.

For his part, Arab Parliament Speaker Adel bin Abdulrahman al-Assoumi said Israel’s attacks are provocative and considered a blatant violation of the basic human rights advocated by the international community, its states and institutions.

He called for a decisive international position to end the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people.



Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
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Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo

Thousands of Syrian refugees are set to return from Lebanon this week under the first, UN-backed plan providing financial incentives, after Syria's new rulers said all citizens were welcome home despite deep war damage and security concerns.

Returning Syrians will be provided with $100 each in Lebanon and $400 per family upon arrival in Syria, Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said. Transport is also covered and fees have been waived by border authorities, she said.

"I think it's a good and important start. We have discussed and are coordinating this with our Syrian counterparts and I think the numbers will increase in the coming weeks," Sayed told Reuters. A Syrian interior ministry spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 6 million Syrians fled as refugees after conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, with most heading to Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan. Lebanon has the highest concentration of refugees per capita in the world, hosting about 1.5 million Syrians among a population of about 4 million Lebanese.

Some 11,000 have registered to return from Lebanon in the first week, and the government targets between 200,000 and 400,000 returns this year under the plan, Sayed said.

The Lebanese government is focused on informal tented settlements in the country, where some 200,000 refugees live, she added, and may provide Syrian breadwinners who stay in Lebanon with work permits for sectors such as agriculture and construction if their families return to Syria.

UN agencies previously viewed Syria as unsafe for large-scale returns due to uncertainty over security and persecution by the government of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.

That has changed.

Since taking over, the new Syrian government has said all Syrians are welcome home. A UN survey from earlier this year showed nearly 30% of refugees living in Middle Eastern countries wanted to go back, up from 2% when Assad was in power.

"While the situation in Syria continues to rapidly evolve, (UN refugee agency) UNHCR considers the current context a positive opportunity for larger numbers of Syrian refugees to return home, or to begin considering return in a realistic and durable way," Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.

As of the end of June 2025, UNHCR estimated that over 628,000 Syrians had crossed back to Syria via neighboring countries since 8 December 2024, including 191,000 via Lebanon.