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Arab World

Sudan Welcomes ‘Economic Integration’ with Ethiopia

Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
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Sudan Welcomes ‘Economic Integration’ with Ethiopia

Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)
Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Lt. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (EPA)

Head of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan held talks on Saturday with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on the sidelines of the Tana High- Level Forum on Security in Africa, which kicked off on Oct 14 in Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar city.

Discussions touched on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and other border issues between the two countries, which the top officials agreed to resolve through dialogue.

Burhan welcomed Ahmed’s suggestion to establish economic integration between the two countries, asserting that the two peoples share a common destiny.

He affirmed that the outstanding issues between the two countries could be resolved through dialogue, underlining Khartoum’s keenness to maintain close ties with its neighbor.

Ahmed, for his part, said Addis Ababa’s relationship with Khartoum is special, stressing that the GERD project will yield great benefits to Sudan. He also proposed to set up a mechanism for bilateral economic integration.

Both sides underscored the importance of addressing all border issues using peaceful means through specialized technical committees.

African heads of state and governments participate in the Tana Forum, which is held annually to discuss the state of peace and security in the continent.

Burhan said the event represents a new approach to addressing the continent's issues, hoping the recommendations of its 10th session would contribute to achieving security and stability in the region and enhancing the welfare of its peoples.

The Forum was held in light of the grave repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the challenges related to security and peace, and threats facing food security in line with the natural disasters resulting from climate change and threatening stability in many African areas, Burhan explained.

He added that Sudan is playing a pivotal role in the Horn of Africa, given its geostrategic location, based on the principle of cooperation in the integration approach among regional countries.

He pointed out that Khartoum is working to strengthen the bonds of good neighborliness among African countries, in its capacity as the current head of the African Intergovernmental Organization for Development (IGAD).

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Arab World

UN Demands Swift Probe into Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

A fireball ascends from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
A fireball ascends from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Demands Swift Probe into Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

A fireball ascends from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
A fireball ascends from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)

The United Nations on Friday demanded swift investigations into fatal Israeli strikes across Lebanon to decide if they complied with international law.

"Lebanon is becoming a key flashpoint," UN rights chief Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.

"I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities."

Lebanon has been engulfed by the expanding Middle East war, after the Iran-backed group Hezbollah on Monday fired missiles at Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel responded with waves of air strikes, and Thursday night it escalated its response by hitting Beirut's southern suburbs where Hezbollah is active -- after warning the area's hundreds of thousands of residents to flee.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned that "a humanitarian disaster is looming" due to the mass displacement.

Turk said he was particularly worried about Israel's "blanket, massive displacement orders" for Beirut's southern suburbs, the Bekaa region and the full area to the south of the Litani river.

These orders were impacting "hundreds of thousands of people", he said, raising "serious concern under international humanitarian law and in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer".

Turk's spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani cautioned that the orders risked amounting to "prohibited forced displacement" under international law.

The mass displacement, coupled with "continued air strikes on different parts of the country, are bringing more misery and suffering to an already weary civilian population", she told reporters.

The Israeli military announced Friday that it had carried out 26 waves of strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs in the past four days.

Late Thursday, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes since Monday had killed 123 people.

Shamdasani pointed to reports that at least eight people were killed in a strike on a residential building in Baalbek on Wednesday, including three girls and two women, and a family of four reportedly died when a building was struck in the Nabatyeh district on Thursday.

"Prompt and thorough investigations must be conducted, particularly to determine whether such attacks complied with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution," she said.

Shamdasani highlighted that "Hezbollah has continued launching barrages of rockets into Israel, striking residential areas in the north and the center of the country, with at least three people reportedly injured".

This, she said, raised "concerns, once again, about indiscriminate attacks against civilians".

She called for "urgent de-escalation", insisting "the sovereignty of Lebanon and the human rights of its people must be respected", she said.

Arab World

In South Lebanon, a Few Villages Defy Israel’s Evacuation Orders

Residents of the southern Lebanese border town of Marjeyoun gather to listen to their priest in the town's churchyard to assert their intention not to leave their homes as directed by the Israeli military earlier this week on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Residents of the southern Lebanese border town of Marjeyoun gather to listen to their priest in the town's churchyard to assert their intention not to leave their homes as directed by the Israeli military earlier this week on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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In South Lebanon, a Few Villages Defy Israel’s Evacuation Orders

Residents of the southern Lebanese border town of Marjeyoun gather to listen to their priest in the town's churchyard to assert their intention not to leave their homes as directed by the Israeli military earlier this week on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Residents of the southern Lebanese border town of Marjeyoun gather to listen to their priest in the town's churchyard to assert their intention not to leave their homes as directed by the Israeli military earlier this week on March 6, 2026. (AFP)

In the basement of a church in Alma al-Shaab, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, dozens of residents gathered amidst the sound of Israeli bombing, defying the Israeli army's order to flee.

"It is our right to preserve and remain in our land," town mayor Shadi Sayah told AFP over the phone.

"We are pacifists... a danger to no one," he added, as the sound of strikes got closer.

Following the start of a new war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on Monday, the Israeli military warned residents in large swathes of southern Lebanon to flee, causing mass exodus.

The area, surrounded by green hills, saw many of its localities razed in the last war in 2024. It is now nearly free of residents.

Close to the border, Alma al-Shaab is one of several Christian towns and villages in the south which have tried to stay away from the conflict.

Farther east, several hundred inhabitants of the large town of Marjeyoun and the neighboring village of Qlayaa also say they are determined to stay on their land, as they did during the previous war, from October 2023 to November 2024.

Dozens of people gathered in one of Marjeyoun's churches on Friday, with the local priest saying they "will not leave".

"We have only one choice: to remain steadfast."

A Marjeyoun resident, requesting anonymity, told AFP that "we have bread, but my wife also bought flour, in case of a famine".

- 'We love our land' -

Of Alma al-Shaab's 250 residents, 96 have stayed including women, children and elderly people.

"We want to live in peace in our land... we love our land, we grew up here, and we will die here," Fadi Haddad, 43, said.

In 2024, the town's residents fled, contrary to other Christian villages.

Alma al-Shaab then became a "war zone", mayor Sayah said, as it was caught in the crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel.

Now, only the town's residents are there, and "we did not see anyone else go in or out".

The Lebanese military, which had a post in the village, withdrew on Tuesday as Israeli forces started their incursions into the country.

According to a source among the United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, the incursions are limited so far as Israeli troops are "entering and leaving".

Sayah said they are "traumatized by what we went through" in the last war

Upon returning after the November 2024 ceasefire, residents saw that more than half of the homes were destroyed.

"That is why we will remain, no matter the outcome," he added.

"Of course I am scared, I am trembling, but what will history remember? That 96 crazy people... were attached to their land."

Arab World

Lebanon Death Toll from War Rises to 217 as Israel Presses Strikes

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Death Toll from War Rises to 217 as Israel Presses Strikes

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 6, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli air strikes battered Lebanon on Friday, sending the death toll since Monday up to at least 217, according to Lebanese authorities, as the premier warned "a humanitarian disaster is looming". 

The Israeli military renewed its strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs Friday afternoon, Lebanese state media reported, following night raids that left heavy damage in the area after residents fled en masse in response to Israeli evacuation warnings. 

Israel says it has killed "over 70" members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. 

A live broadcast by AFP showed plumes of smoke rising above buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, a typically densely populated area where Hezbollah holds sway. 

Speaking to foreign ambassadors Friday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said "the consequences of this displacement, at the humanitarian and political level, may well be unprecedented". 

According to Lebanese authorities, at least 217 people have been killed and 798 wounded since Israel's expanded attacks on Monday, with more than 95,000 people displaced. 

"Our country has been drawn into a devastating war that we did not seek and did not choose," Salam said. 

"Those who were forced to leave their homes are not and should not be held responsible for the suffering inflicted on them," he added. 

On Monday, the Lebanese government banned Hezbollah's military activities after it launched rockets on Israel to "avenge" Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, pulling Lebanon into the Middle East war. 

On Friday, in a message posted in Hebrew on the group's Telegram channels, Hezbollah told Israelis to evacuate all localities "located within 5 kilometers of the border". 

Israel has continued to strike dozens of areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, including Sidon, where five people were killed according to Lebanon's health ministry. 

An AFP photographer at the scene saw extensive damage in the targeted apartment and shattered glass on the street. 

Rescue workers meanwhile recovered a body from under the rubble and collected body parts scattered around the area. 

Further south in Tyre, home to a UNESCO World Heritage site, the NNA reported a major strike. 

- Southern suburbs - 

The Israeli military announced Friday that it had carried out 26 waves of strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs in the past four days. 

It added that Hezbollah had fired around 70 rockets toward Israel since midnight, and that the Lebanese group had launched coordinated attacks with Iran on Thursday. 

Rubble and dust covered a main road in one neighborhood of Beirut's suburbs Friday, while the buildings surrounding it were heavily damaged, AFPTV footage showed. 

After the Israeli evacuation warning on Thursday afternoon, there was a mass exodus from the area, whose population is estimated at between 600,000 and 800,000. 

Mohammad, 39, a resident of the southern suburbs, fled with his family when the bombing began on Monday. 

Returning on Thursday to check on his home and collect belongings just minutes before the Israeli evacuation warning, he said he "went down and found total chaos". 

Fatima al-Masri, 45, also escaped the southern suburbs and has been sheltering in central Beirut's Martyrs' Square for four days. 

"We want to eat and drink... we want to go to the bathroom," she said, adding that she "came here because the schools are full". 

- Strikes on south - 

Since Monday, Israel has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of square kilometers of southern Lebanon and sent ground forces across the border. 

The Israeli army chief on Thursday said he ordered forces deployed in southern Lebanon to expand their control inside south Lebanon. 

Hezbollah, for its part, claimed on Friday new attacks against northern Israel, including one the day before on a naval base in Haifa. 

Hezbollah also announced at dawn on Friday that it had targeted a cluster of Israeli vehicles advancing toward the town of Khiam, about six kilometers from the border, and "forced them to retreat".