Syrians Face Death in Sudan Amid Clashes

Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
TT

Syrians Face Death in Sudan Amid Clashes

Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)
Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum (Reuters)

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Sunday that it was following with concern the developments in Sudan, a week after deadly clashes erupted in the country, killing 11 Syrians.

Syria is also following with great interest the situation of its nationals and the diplomatic mission in Sudan, it said.

State-owned Syrian News Agency (SANA) official news agency quoted an official source as saying that the Ministry instructed the Syrian embassy in Khartoum to register the names of Syrian community members wishing to be evacuated.

Syrian refugees residing in Sudan had sent out, via social media, distress calls to evacuate them from the troubled country.

A Syrian woman told Asharq Al-Awsat that she lost contact with her brother four days ago, who informed her earlier that the situation was challenging. She said he and his family were confined to their home without electricity, water, or enough food.

The woman was trying to find a way to help her brother out of the country, but that didn't seem easy.

Aside from the dangerous security situation, her brother cannot return to Syria because his passport has expired, and he is wanted by the Syrian security forces.

According to Syrian sources in Sudan, several Syrian workers were stabbed when they left their embassy in Khartoum on Friday. They also confirmed that the death toll had risen to eleven since the outbreak of the clashes a week ago; four of them were killed in an attack at the embassy five days ago.

Meanwhile, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Syrian Embassy in Khartoum, Bishr al-Shaar, stated that they were outside the embassy, and it was difficult to reach the premises due to the security conditions difficult situations.

Syrian website, Athr Press, quoted Shaar as confirming the difficulty of evacuating all 30,000 Syrians after Khartoum International Airport was closed.

He explained that other evacuation options included Port Sudan, which is a 15-hour car ride.

The official said that the embassy would prepare for the evacuation if airports were re-opened or land roads were secured, pointing out that the evacuation of 10,000 people to safe areas requires 50 planes or 200 buses.

Unofficial sources estimate over 90,000 Syrian refugees live in Sudan, mostly young men fleeing compulsory military service, and hundreds of families who oppose the regime.

Since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, Sudan has been at the forefront of countries that received refugees "without conditions," treating them as Sudanese citizens. Several of them were also given passports.

The number of Syrian refugees in Sudan in 2019 was estimated at more than 250,000. Many left the country after the toppling of the Omar al-Bashir regime, and the transitional government imposed restrictions on Syrians.

The Syrians were required to obtain an entry visa, and the Sudanese passports of 10,000 of them were revoked.



France's Macron to Meet Palestinian President Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
TT

France's Macron to Meet Palestinian President Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the "full implementation" of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the Elysee said.

The meeting comes a month into a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel, following two years of war triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

Abbas, 89, is the longtime head of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the West Bank and is being considered to assume governance in Gaza under the deal, AFP said.

The two leaders "will discuss the next steps in the peace plan, particularly in the areas of security, governance and reconstruction", said the French presidency.

Brokered by US President Donald Trump, the October 10 ceasefire has been tested by fresh Israeli strikes and claims of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers.

Trump said last week he expected an International Stabilization Force tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to be in Gaza "very soon".

The meeting also follows Macron's decision in September to recognize a Palestinian state at a United Nations summit -- a move the Palestinian Authority hailed as "historic and courageous".

During talks with Abbas, Macron is expected to discuss the need to maintain humanitarian aid access for Gaza and to address changes within the Palestinian Authority.

Reforming the governing body is essential for a "democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel", the Elysee said.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Israeli military's retaliatory campaign has since killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations, does not specify the number of fighters killed within this total.


Yemen's Houthis Signal that They've Stopped Attacks on Israel and Red Sea Shipping

Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
TT

Yemen's Houthis Signal that They've Stopped Attacks on Israel and Red Sea Shipping

Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Yemen’s Houthis are signaling they’ve stopped their attacks against Israel and shipping in the Red Sea as a shaky ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

In an undated letter to Hamas’ Qassam Brigades published online by the group, the Houthis offered their clearest signal that their attacks have halted, reported The Associated Press.

“We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter from Maj. Gen. Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, the Houthi military's chief of staff, reads.

The Houthis have not offered any formal acknowledgment their campaign in the region has halted. Israel's military, which has launched attacks killing senior Houthi leaders, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Houthis gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war with their attacks on shipping and Israel, which they said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting. Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, no attacks have been claimed by the group.

The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk. It upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war. The Houthis’ most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on Sept. 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another.

While insisting its campaign targeted Israel-affiliated vessels, the ships attacked at time had limited — if any — relationship to the Israel-Hamas war.

The US launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the group earlier this year that President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Mideast. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using America's B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.

The Houthis have taken dozens of workers at UN agencies and other aid groups as prisoners, alleging without evidence that they were spies — something fiercely denied by the UN and others.


Large-Scale Israeli Exercise in West Bank Simulates October 7 Attack 

An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
TT

Large-Scale Israeli Exercise in West Bank Simulates October 7 Attack 

An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)

The Israeli Army kicked off on Monday large-scale multi-branch military exercises across the West Bank and Jordan Valley to boost readiness and simulate events similar to the Oct. 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip.

The three-day “Lion's Roar” exercise involves forces of the army’s Central Command, as well as “special units,” the air force, the army Technology and Logistics Directorate and other military branches and security forces, according to an army spokesperson.

A military statement said drones and various weapons will be used during the drill, and “increased movement of security forces and aircraft will be felt in the area.”

The drill is taking place as part of the Operations Directorate’s training schedule, aimed at training and implementing operational plans with a multi-arena perspective. This exercise was preplanned as part of the Army’s annual training program for 2025, the army statement said.

Renewed calls for annexation

The exercises come while Israeli transportation Minister Miri Regev said her ministry is already enforcing “de facto sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank through a network of state-funded infrastructure projects, effectively implementing annexation on the ground.

Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12 News, Regev described road construction and transportation development in the territory as practical acts of sovereignty, reflecting a broader governmental strategy to integrate settlements into Israel’s national infrastructure grid.

Her statements appear to challenge the decision of US President Donald Trump, who said last month he will now allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

Israel plans to annex 82% of the West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Oslo Accords have divided the West Bank into three areas: A, B, and C, each with a different level of Palestinian and Israeli control.

Area A (18% of the West Bank) is under full Palestinian Authority (PA) civil and security control.

Area B (21% of the West Bank) is under PA civilian control with Israeli security control while Area C (61% of the West Bank) is under full Israeli civil and military control.

Although Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, Israel has pushed for large-scale settlement projects and has given settlers a free hand to control more areas of the West Bank.

According to Palestinian figures, there are 200 Israeli settlements, 243 settlement outposts and 129 farm outposts in the West Bank.