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UN Rights Office Says Its Findings Suggest Al Jazeera Journalist Killed by Israeli Forces

Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
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UN Rights Office Says Its Findings Suggest Al Jazeera Journalist Killed by Israeli Forces

Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)

Information reviewed by the UN human rights office suggests Israeli security forces fired the shot that killed Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in May, not indiscriminate firing from Palestinians, a spokesperson said on Friday.

"It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation," Ravina Shamdasani told a briefing in Geneva.

Israeli and Palestinians officials have exchanged recriminations over the shooting that also led to chaotic scenes at Abu Akleh's funeral when Israeli police officers charged at mourners.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was committed to investigating Abu Akleh's death and called on the Palestinian authorities to share access to the bullet that killed her. The Palestinian Authority has refused to hand over the bullet, saying it does not trust Israel.

"The results of the UN investigation confirm once again what we said from the start, that Israel is responsible for the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and it must be held accountable for this crime," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters.

Shamdasani said the UN rights office had conducted its own "monitoring" of the incident - she declined to use the word investigation - and had gone through photo, video and audio material.

It had also visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses, she said.

"All information we have gathered - including official information from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney-general - is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli Security Forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities," she said.

The Palestinian Authority has said its investigation showed that Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier in a "deliberate murder". Its findings lent support to several witnesses, including Palestinian journalists, who said she was killed by Israeli fire. Israel denied the accusation.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"Our findings indicate that no warnings were issued and no shooting was taking place at that time and at that location," Shamdasani said.

"At around 06h 30, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with 'PRESS' markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces," she said.

"One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder, another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly."

In a statement responding to Shamdasani's briefing, the IDF insisted there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.

"Ever since the incident, the IDF has been investigating and reviewing the circumstances of Ms Abu Akleh's death," the statement said.

"The IDF investigation clearly concludes that Ms Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately in her area or inadvertently by an IDF soldier."

In a previous statement, the Israeli military said it identified a soldier's rifle that may have killed Abu Akleh but that it needed to analyze the fatal bullet to be certain.

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Arab World

Strike on Western Iraq Kills Seven Security Personnel

Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Strike on Western Iraq Kills Seven Security Personnel

Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)

A strike on a base in western Iraq killed seven security personnel, the defense ministry said Wednesday, a day after an attack on the same base targeted the Popular Mobilization Forces.

"This resulted in the death of seven of our heroic fighters and the injury of 13 others," the ministry said of the strike in Anbar province, saying it specifically targeted the base's military healthcare clinic.

Rescue operations were ongoing, it added.

The base hosts Iraqi police, soldiers from the regular army and PMF, a security official told AFP.

It was hit by a deadly strike on Tuesday that the former paramilitaries blamed on the United States.

Iraq said late on Tuesday it would summon the US charge d'affaires and the Iranian ambassador after deadly strikes blamed on their countries, as Iraqi authorities granted the targeted groups the "right to respond".

Iraq has been pulled into the war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and which has since engulfed much of the region.

Iraq has long been a proxy battleground for the United States and Iran, and has struggled to balance diplomatic ties with both countries.

Since the war began, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups, including state-linked positions.

In the statement from the prime minister's office, however, Iraq granted former paramilitaries within the official armed forces the right to "respond to military attacks" by drones and aircraft that targeted their headquarters.

Arab World

Spanish PM Says Israel Wants to Inflict on Lebanon ‘Same Destruction’ as in Gaza

A man walks along a street strewn with building debris at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 25, 2026. (AFP)
A man walks along a street strewn with building debris at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 25, 2026. (AFP)
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Spanish PM Says Israel Wants to Inflict on Lebanon ‘Same Destruction’ as in Gaza

A man walks along a street strewn with building debris at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 25, 2026. (AFP)
A man walks along a street strewn with building debris at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 25, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "seeks to inflict the same level of damage and destruction" on Lebanon as Israeli ‌forces had ‌wrought on ‌the Gaza ⁠Strip, Spanish Prime ⁠Minister Pedro Sanchez told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Sanchez, who appeared before the ⁠lower house ‌to ‌explain his government's stance ‌against the ‌US-Israeli war on Iran, added that Iran's new Supreme ‌Leader was more hardline than his predecessor.

"Mojtaba ⁠Khamenei ⁠is an equally dictatorial and even more bloodthirsty tyrant than his father," Sanchez said.

Sanchez warned that the Middle East war presented a "far worse" scenario than the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper," he added.

Arab World

Syria on Alert to Protect its Borders with Iraq, Wary of Intervening in Lebanon

Syria's (L) and Iraq's national flags are pictured near the Iraqi-Syrian border, in Al-Qaim, western Iraq on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
Syria's (L) and Iraq's national flags are pictured near the Iraqi-Syrian border, in Al-Qaim, western Iraq on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
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Syria on Alert to Protect its Borders with Iraq, Wary of Intervening in Lebanon

Syria's (L) and Iraq's national flags are pictured near the Iraqi-Syrian border, in Al-Qaim, western Iraq on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
Syria's (L) and Iraq's national flags are pictured near the Iraqi-Syrian border, in Al-Qaim, western Iraq on January 23, 2026. (AFP)

The Syrian armed forces said they were on full alert in wake of a rocket attack from Iraq against a Syrian military base in the Hasakeh province.

The army stressed that it will perform its duties in defending Syrian territories and deterring any attack.

Iraq arrested four people in connection with an earlier rocket attack launched against a military base in neighboring Syria, officials said late Tuesday.

Monday's attack targeted a northeastern Syrian military base in Hasakeh that had until recently hosted US forces with an international anti-ISIS coalition.

These are the first arrests announced in Iraq related to the Middle East conflict that broke out on February 28.

Monday’s attack took place hour after the bust of an Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) cell in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province.

A Syrian security source told local radio that investigations are ongoing with the detainees to determine what they were planning. He revealed that they were collecting information and smuggling weapons in the area.

Assistant defense minister for the eastern region Sipan Hamo held Iraqi authorities fully and directly responsible for the attack on Hasakeh.

In a post on the X platform, he called on Baghdad to take the necessary measures to prevent a similar attack from taking place in the future.

The attack reflects the Iraqi authorities’ “inability” to impose control over their territories and failure “to prevent them from being used to launch attacks that threaten Syria’s security and safety,” he added.

Border with Lebanon

On the Syrian-Lebanese border, sources close to the Damascus government spoke of signs of an internal Lebanese escalation that is a “source of alarm for Syria.”

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat: “It will be difficult for Syria to steer clear of any possible internal unrest in Lebanon. It will work on preventing any threat to Syria’s security.”

Hezbollah leaders had warned Lebanese authorities in recent days that the Iran-backed party would adopt a different approach towards them when the war is over.

Hezbollah has been critical of the government for banning its military operations, calling for its disarmament, calling for negotiations with Israel and recently for expelling the Iranian ambassador to Beirut.

Syrian Defense Ministry sources told Asharq Al-Awsat said Damascus was weighing three options. The first favors waiting for the end of the war before acting in Syria’s interests; the second believes in striking Hezbollah during the war because it is hostile to the Syrian people and its illegal weapons are tied to Iran and so, their presence is a threat to Lebanon and Syria; the third calls for coordination with Arab and regional parties, led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye, before any intervention can happen.

The unrest along the borders with Lebanon and Iraq will prompt Damascus to increase its coordination with those countries to prevent the smuggling of weapons and drugs and dry up the sources of support for Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias.

Military expert Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the possibility of Syria joining the conflict through intervening in Lebanon “is a very great challenge” and will have dire consequences for the security of the region and Syria that Iran can exploit.

Perhaps Iran is trying to lure Syria into the conflict “given that Tehran has been impatiently waiting for a moment to unleash its fury on the new Syria that expelled its forces, which marked the beginning of the end of the Iranian expansionist project in the region,” he added.

Al-Oqaidi said, however, it would be wise for Syria to stay out of the war. It should limit its role to securing borders and security coordination with the relevant parties.

He predicted that Syria would stay on the side and avoid becoming involved in a conflict that does not benefit it.

The Iranian and Zionist projects only have ill intentions towards the region and Syria, he warned.

The Defense Ministry sources noted the Lebanese government’s recent decision to ban Hezbollah’s military and security operations, saying it was a positive sign.

The Syrian state will “strike with force any attempt by the party to cross the border. At the same time, it is avoiding escalation and assuring Lebanese parties,” they added, underlining the importance of stability in Syria and Lebanon and the need to avert sectarian wars.