Sudan Evacuations Speed Up during Fighting Lull

Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23, 2023. (Spanish Defense Ministry Handout/Handout via Reuters)
Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23, 2023. (Spanish Defense Ministry Handout/Handout via Reuters)
TT

Sudan Evacuations Speed Up during Fighting Lull

Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23, 2023. (Spanish Defense Ministry Handout/Handout via Reuters)
Spanish military plane and military vehicles are seen departing on tarmac as Spanish diplomatic personnel and citizens are evacuated, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 23, 2023. (Spanish Defense Ministry Handout/Handout via Reuters)

European nations, China and others from around the world raced to extract thousands of their citizens from Khartoum on Monday during an apparent lull in fierce fighting between the army and Rapid Response Forces (RSF).

The sudden eruption of violence between the military and the RSF paramilitary group on April 15 has triggered a humanitarian crisis and killed 420 people.

Along with millions of Sudanese without access to basic services and trapped in their homes, thousands of foreign diplomats, aid workers, students and their families found themselves stuck in a war zone last week.

Fighter jets have bombed the capital, the main airport has been at the center of fighting and artillery barrages have made movement unsafe in and out of one of Africa's largest cities. Diplomats have been targeted in attacks, and at least five aid workers killed.

Despite sustained pressure from countries concerned by the conflict's wider repercussions as well as the safety of their nationals, the two sides have not abided by a temporary truce.

However, fighting calmed enough over the weekend for the United States to get embassy staff out by military helicopter, triggering a rush of evacuations by other countries.

At least two convoys involved in the evacuations came under attack, including one carrying Qatari embassy staff, and another carrying French citizens, one of whom was injured.

France and Germany on Monday said they had evacuated around 700 people, without giving a breakdown of their nationalities. A German air force plane carrying evacuees landed in Berlin early on Monday.

Several countries sent military planes from Djibouti to fly people out from the capital, while other operations took people by convoy to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is about 800 km (500 miles) by road from Khartoum. From there some have boarded ships to Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia said so far more than 500 of its citizens had been evacuated to the port, and were awaiting transport to Jeddah, across the Red Sea.

China, Denmark, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden also said they had got nationals out, while Japan said it was preparing to send an evacuation team from Djibouti.

A convoy of about 65 vehicles carrying some 700 international United Nations, NGO and embassy staff and their dependents drove from Khartoum to Port Sudan on Sunday as part of the evacuations, a diplomatic source said.

The evacuation of international staff from Darfur, the western region where fighting has also escalated, is also under way, with some heading to Chad and others to South Sudan, the source said.

The fighting in Sudan has closed most hospitals and curtailed water and electricity supplies. The killing of aid workers, including three from the World Food Program, has led the UN agency to pause its operations in the country, which relies on food aid for about a quarter of its people.

The army and RSF jointly staged a coup in 2021 but fell out during negotiations to integrate the two groups and form a civilian government four years after long-ruling President Omar al-Bashir was toppled.

Their rivalry has raised the risk of a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Beyond the capital, people are reported to have fled clashes in several regions including Darfur's three states, Blue Nile State on the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan, and North Kordofan State southwest of Khartoum, according to a UN update on Monday.



Egypt’s Prime Minister and FM Head to Washington for Trump Peace Council Meeting

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary/Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary/Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP)
TT

Egypt’s Prime Minister and FM Head to Washington for Trump Peace Council Meeting

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary/Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan Prime Cabinet Secretary/Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP)

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly headed to Washington on Tuesday ‌to ‌participate in ‌the inaugural ⁠meeting of a "Board of Peace" established by US President Donald ⁠Trump, the ‌cabinet ‌said.

Madbouly is ‌attending ‌on behalf of President Abdel ‌Fattah al-Sisi and is accompanied by ⁠Foreign ⁠Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will represent Israel at the inaugural meeting, his office said on Tuesday.

Hamas, meanwhile, called on the newly-formed board to pressure Israel to halt what it described as ongoing violations of the ceasefire in Gaza.

The Board of Peace, of which Trump is the chairman, was initially designed to oversee the Gaza truce and the territory's reconstruction after the war between Hamas and Israel.

But its purpose has since morphed into resolving all sorts of international conflicts, triggering fears the US president wants to create a rival to the United Nations.

Saar will first attend a ministerial level UN Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday, and on Thursday he "will represent Israel at the inaugural session of the board, chaired by Trump in Washington DC, where he will present Israel's position", his office said in a statement.

It was initially reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might attend the gathering, but his office said last week that he would not.

Ahead of the meeting, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that the Palestinian movement urged the board's members "to take serious action to compel the Israeli occupation to stop its violations in Gaza".

"The war of genocide against the Strip is still ongoing -- through killing, displacement, siege, and starvation -- which have not stopped until this very moment," he added.

He also called for the board to work to support the newly formed Palestinian technocratic committee meant to oversee the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza "so that relief and reconstruction efforts in Gaza can commence".

Announcing the creation of the board in January, Trump also unveiled plans to establish a "Gaza Executive Board" operating under the body.

The executive board would include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi.

Netanyahu has strongly objected to their inclusion.

Since Trump launched his "Board of Peace" at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, at least 19 countries have signed its founding charter.


Palestinian Child Dies After Stepping on Mine in West Bank

Israeli troops conduct a military raid in the village of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, West Bank, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
Israeli troops conduct a military raid in the village of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, West Bank, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
TT

Palestinian Child Dies After Stepping on Mine in West Bank

Israeli troops conduct a military raid in the village of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, West Bank, 17 February 2026. (EPA)
Israeli troops conduct a military raid in the village of Al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, West Bank, 17 February 2026. (EPA)

A Palestinian child died after stepping on a mine near an Israeli military camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, with an Israeli defense ministry source confirming the death.

"Our crews received the body of a 13-year-old child who was killed after a mine exploded in one of the old camps in Jiftlik in the northern Jordan Valley," the Red Crescent said in a statement.

A source at COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry's agency in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, confirmed the death to AFP and identified the boy as Mohammed Abu Dalah, from the village of Jiftlik.

Israel's military had previously said in a statement that three Palestinians were injured "as a result of playing with unexploded ordnance", without specifying their ages.

It added that the area of the incident, Tirzah, is "a military camp in the area of the Jordan Valley", near Jiftlik and close to the Jordanian border.

"This area is a live-fire zone and entry into it is prohibited," the military said.

Jiftlik village council head Ahmad Ghawanmeh told AFP that three children, the oldest of whom was 16, were collecting herbs near the military base when they detonated a mine.

Jiftlik as well as the nearby Tirzah base are located in the Palestinian territory's Area C, which falls under direct Israeli control.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Much of the area near the border with Jordan -- which Israel signed a peace deal with in 1994 -- remains mined.

In January, Israel's defense ministry said it had begun demining the border area as part of construction works for a new barrier it says aims to stem weapons smuggling.


Hezbollah Rejects Disarmament Plan and Government’s Four-Month Timeline

29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
TT

Hezbollah Rejects Disarmament Plan and Government’s Four-Month Timeline

29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
29 July 2024, Iran, Tehran: Then Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem is pictured during a meeting in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)

Hezbollah rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government's decision to grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide disarmament plan, saying it would not accept what it sees as a move serving Israel.

Lebanon's cabinet tasked the army in August 2025 with drawing up and beginning to implement a plan to bring all armed groups' weapons under state control, a bid aimed primarily at disarming Hezbollah after its devastating ‌war with ‌Israel in 2024.

In September 2025 the cabinet formally ‌welcomed ⁠the army's plan to ⁠disarm the Iran-backed Shiite party, although it did not set a clear timeframe and cautioned that the military's limited capabilities and ongoing Israeli strikes could hinder progress.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said in a speech on Monday that "what the Lebanese government is doing by focusing on disarmament is a major mistake because this issue serves the goals of Israeli ⁠aggression".

Lebanon's Information Minister Paul Morcos said during a press ‌conference late on Monday after ‌a cabinet meeting that the government had taken note of the army's monthly ‌report on its arms control plan that includes restricting weapons in ‌areas north of the Litani River up to the Awali River in Sidon, and granted it four months.

"The required time frame is four months, renewable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and field obstacles,” he said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan ‌Fadlallah said, "we cannot be lenient," signaling the group's rejection of the timeline and the broader approach to ⁠the issue of ⁠its weapons.

Hezbollah has rejected the disarmament effort as a misstep while Israel continues to target Lebanon, and Shiite ministers walked out of the cabinet session in protest.

Israel has said Hezbollah's disarmament is a security priority, arguing that the group's weapons outside Lebanese state control pose a direct threat to its security.

Israeli officials say any disarmament plan must be fully and effectively implemented, especially in areas close to the border, and that continued Hezbollah military activity constitutes a violation of relevant international resolutions.

Israel has also said it will continue what it describes as action to prevent the entrenchment or arming of hostile actors in Lebanon until cross-border threats are eliminated.