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Ship Carrying First Ukraine Grain Cargo Nears Syria

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
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Ship Carrying First Ukraine Grain Cargo Nears Syria

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)

The first ship to depart Ukraine under a deal to resume grain exports from the country two weeks ago was approaching the Syrian port of Tartus on Sunday, two shipping sources said, after the vessel had been sailing with its transponder off.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on Aug. 1 under the deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, but its location had not been clear in the past days without the transponder.

The cargo of 26,000 tons of corn had originally been destined for Lebanon, which has been suffering an economic crisis that has plunged about half of its population into food insecurity.

However, the original buyer refused the delivery over quality concerns and the ship sailed to Turkey, docking in Mersin on Aug. 11.

When it set sail again the following day, it did not keep its transponder on. Two shipping sources, one of them in Tartus, confirmed to Reuters on Sunday that the ship was approaching the northwest Syrian port.

Ukraine has previously accused Syria of importing at least 150,000 tons of grain it said was plundered from Ukrainian warehouses after Russia's invasion in February. Russia has denied stealing Ukrainian grain.

Ukraine cut off diplomatic ties with Syria in June after Damascus recognized the independence of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon sent Reuters a statement from the Ministry of Transport, which said it was "not responsible for vessel and cargo after it has left the Ukraine, moreover after vessel's departure from (a) foreign port".

"Our task has been to reopen seaports for grain cargo and it has been done," the statement said, adding it had no information about the position of the vessel or cargo destination.

Meanwhile, the UN-chartered ship Brave Commander will depart Ukraine for Ethiopia in the coming days, a UN official said. It will be the first humanitarian food aid cargo bound for Africa since Russia sent troops into Ukraine and under the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

And the first ship carrying Ukrainian wheat to be exported under the deal arrived in Istanbul on Sunday, the Joint Coordination Center based in the Turkish city, said.

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Arab World

German President Urges Lebanon to Keep up Disarmament of Hezbollah

A general view of demonstrators during 2019 anti-government protests in central Beirut. (Reuters)
A general view of demonstrators during 2019 anti-government protests in central Beirut. (Reuters)
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German President Urges Lebanon to Keep up Disarmament of Hezbollah

A general view of demonstrators during 2019 anti-government protests in central Beirut. (Reuters)
A general view of demonstrators during 2019 anti-government protests in central Beirut. (Reuters)

Visiting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday urged Beirut to keep disarming militant group Hezbollah, saying it would help ensure the withdrawal of Israel's army from Lebanese territory.

Israel has kept up regular strikes and maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group.

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border.

Steinmeier said his visit was about "the demand that both sides fulfil their obligations under the ceasefire agreement and that the disarmament of Hezbollah here in Lebanon continues, thereby creating the conditions for the Israeli army to withdraw from southern Lebanon".

"Both sides are obliged to fulfil the ceasefire agreement -- I say this in Israel as well as in Lebanon," he told a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Joseph Aoun, calling the deal "an opportunity".

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah -- which was badly weakened by war with Israel -- has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Lebanon's army is expected to update the cabinet on Monday over its progress on disarmament and the second phase, which covers the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometres south of Beirut.

Aoun said Lebanon asked Germany to "demand the Israeli side implement the ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the territories it occupies".

He also asked Germany to assist the Lebanese army and to play a "key role" after the departure of United Nations peacekeepers, whose mandate expires this year.

Germany has 179 personnel in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, according to the peacekeepers.

It has headed UNIFIL's maritime taskforce since 2021.

Arab World

Drone Attack on Sudan Market Kills 28, Says Rights Group

Sudanese vendors wait for customers at a fish market in the al-Mourada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
Sudanese vendors wait for customers at a fish market in the al-Mourada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Drone Attack on Sudan Market Kills 28, Says Rights Group

Sudanese vendors wait for customers at a fish market in the al-Mourada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on February 15, 2026. (AFP)
Sudanese vendors wait for customers at a fish market in the al-Mourada neighborhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, on February 15, 2026. (AFP)

A drone attack on a crowded market in central Sudan killed 28 people, a rights group reported Monday, as the army and its RSF rivals traded aerial strikes in their battle for territory.

The attack occurred in a RSF-controlled area in the far north of Sudan's Kordofan region, currently the fiercest frontline in the three-year-old war between the army and RSF, AFP reported.

According to the Emergency Lawyers, a group monitoring atrocities in the conflict, several drones hit the al-Safiya market outside the town of Sodari in North Kordofan on Sunday.

"The attack occurred when the market was bustling with civilians, including women, children and the elderly," the group said, adding that the toll was preliminary.

It gave no indication of who carried out the strike.

Sodari, a remote town where desert trade routes cross, is around 230 kilometres (132 miles) northwest of El-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, which the RSF has been trying to encircle for months.

The Kordofan region has seen a surge in deadly drone attacks as both sides fight over the country's vital east-west axis, which links the western RSF-held region of Darfur, through El-Obeid, to the army-controlled capital Khartoum and the rest of Sudan.

Across vast stretches of territory, attacks by both sides -- many on remote towns and villages -- have killed up to dozens of civilians at a time.

Last Wednesday, two children were killed and a dozen wounded in one strike on a school, while another severely damaged a United Nations warehouse storing famine relief supplies.

After consolidating their hold on Darfur last year, the RSF has pushed east through oil- and gold-rich Kordofan, in an attempt to seize Sudan's central corridor.

Since April 2023, the war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced around 11 million, creating the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also effectively split the country in two, with the army holding the centre, north and east while the RSF controls the west and, with their allies, parts of the south.

Arab World

Sentences of Up to 15 Years for Tunisian Synagogue Attack

Tunisian police - File Photo/AFP
Tunisian police - File Photo/AFP
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Sentences of Up to 15 Years for Tunisian Synagogue Attack

Tunisian police - File Photo/AFP
Tunisian police - File Photo/AFP

Tunisian courts handed down prison sentences of up to 15 years to five defendants tied to a deadly May 2023 attack on a synagogue on the island of Djerba, one of their lawyers told AFP Monday.

The attack on the Ghriba synagogue left five people dead, not including the assailant, a National Guard officer, who was killed during the attack.

A student and the attacker's fiancee, who were prosecuted for "complicity in homicide" and "membership in a terrorist group," were sentenced to three and eight years in prison respectively, said Nizar Ayed, lawyer for several victims of the attack.

According to Ayed, the assailant acted "as a lone wolf".

Two other defendants, whose exact roles were not disclosed, were sentenced to seven and 15 years' imprisonment, with the heavier penalty given out because the defendant had fled justice, according to the lawyer.

The assailant's sister, currently out on bail, was sentenced to one year in prison.

The defense for the accused will appeal, Mustapha Mlaouah, the fiancee's lawyer, said.

On May 9, 2023, the attacker killed three of his colleagues as well as two Jewish worshippers, Aviel Haddad, a 30-year-old Tunisian, and his cousin Benjamin, a 42-year-old French national.

He shot dead one colleague while working at the island's port and then drove to the synagogue, about 20 kilometres away, where hundreds of people were taking part in the third day of an annual Jewish pilgrimage.

There he killed the two Jewish men and wounded several officers providing security, two of whom died later from their wounds.

The student's mother told AFP during a hearing that her family merely rented a studio to the assailant.

"I sometimes cooked for him and asked my son to take him food -- our generosity backfired on us," said Latifa Jlidi.