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Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs Mobilize Support to Renew UNRWA’s Mandate

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl met with students and faculty at UNRWA schools in Amman on Sunday, September 1, 2019. (EPA)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl met with students and faculty at UNRWA schools in Amman on Sunday, September 1, 2019. (EPA)
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Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs Mobilize Support to Renew UNRWA’s Mandate

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl met with students and faculty at UNRWA schools in Amman on Sunday, September 1, 2019. (EPA)
UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl met with students and faculty at UNRWA schools in Amman on Sunday, September 1, 2019. (EPA)

An emergency meeting was held Tuesday at the Arab League’s headquarters to discuss renewing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East’s (UNRWA) mandate and its financial crisis.

Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs in Arab Host Countries’ conference has called for mobilizing Arab support to ensure that UNRWA continues to carry out its tasks. Attendees discussed means of supporting the renewal of UNRWA's mandate for the next three years.

This comes in line with the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO) plan of action to support the renewal of the agency’s mandate as the voting process approaches in light of the US-Israeli effort to cancel or change the mandate.

The emergency meeting condemned “the targeting and suspicion campaign against UNRWA, especially by the US administration, and rejected any manipulation in defining the Palestinian refugees’ status.”

It called on the Arab League’s General Secretariat, its missions abroad and the Arab ambassadors’ councils to continue their efforts in activating diplomatic and political channels of communication with world countries to urge them to vote in favor of renewing the agency’s mandate.

It also called on Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium to cancel their decisions to postpone their financial support to UNRWA, demanding the three countries not to link allegations of corruption cases that have not yet been proven with stopping or suspending financial aid to the UN agency.

In addition, the meeting stressed strengthening the monitoring, accounting and oversight mechanisms as the agency is part of the UN, especially with the positive evaluations by the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) and the UN oversight and audit committees.

Participants underlined the significance of Arab presence at UNRWA’s ministerial-level Pledging Conference, which will be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 74th session, urging Arab countries to contribute to overcome the financial deficit that is estimated at $120 million.

Attendees agreed on the need for urgent action at the UN General Assembly to support the renewal of UNRWA's mandate on November 15 and reject any attempt to end its mandate or manipulate the status of a Palestinian refugee and condemn efforts to systematically target and distort this status.

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Arab World

IMF Says Lebanon Needs Key Reforms for Program

People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
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IMF Says Lebanon Needs Key Reforms for Program

People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)
People walk along the Corniche Al-Manara seafront promenade on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as the sun sets in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon must push through a number of key economic and banking sector reforms to secure a new International Monetary Fund program, the Fund said on Thursday.

"It will require continued progress on key reforms, including the entry into force of the bank resolution ‌law, and appropriate ‌financial gap laws ‌consistent ⁠with international standards," IMF ⁠spokesperson Julie Kozack told reporters during a press conference.

She added a 2027 budget and medium-term fiscal framework that were "consistent with debt sustainability for the country" were also ⁠required.

Lebanon first signed a ‌preliminary agreement ‌with the IMF in April 2022, more ‌than two years after its ‌financial system imploded following decades of profligate spending and corruption in the ruling elite.

It recently passed a new ‌banking restructuring law which was welcomed by the IMF, but ⁠this ⁠week Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun quietly referred that law to the country’s constitutional council, triggering a review.

The move has sparked concerns among reformists in Lebanon that the country is backtracking on the key piece of legislation and potentially putting its IMF support hopes at risk.

Arab World

Lebanon Army Says Seized 245 Kg of TNT at Syria Border

An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
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Lebanon Army Says Seized 245 Kg of TNT at Syria Border

An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)
An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT. (Lebanese Army on X)

The Lebanese army announced on Thursday that it had seized nearly 250 kilograms (around 550 pounds) of explosives being transported from neighboring Syria into Lebanon, though it was unable to apprehend the smugglers.

"An army unit seized approximately 245 kg of TNT, four explosive devices, eight detonators and electrical wiring for the detonators", which were being "smuggled from Syrian territory into Lebanese territory", the army said in a statement.

"The smugglers fled back toward Syria as soon as an army patrol arrived at the scene," it added.

Lebanon and Syria share a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border known for being porous.

Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, both Lebanon and Syria have been working to stamp out overland smuggling along their shared border -- including the trafficking of weapons and captagon.

Damascus regularly announces the interception of arms shipments destined for Lebanon on behalf of Hezbollah, an organization that denies any presence or activity in Syrian territory.

Arab World

UN Worried about Impact of Latest Lebanon War on Agriculture

Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
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UN Worried about Impact of Latest Lebanon War on Agriculture

Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)
Deputy Director-General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol speaks during an interview with AFP in Beirut on October 1, 2026. (AFP)

The deputy director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP on Thursday that she was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the latest Israel-Hezbollah conflict on agriculture in south Lebanon.

The latest war "puts additional pressure on farmers and rural communities that, frankly, were already facing considerable hardships", said the FAO's Beth Bechdol.

"We're deeply concerned" about the situation in south Lebanon, where agriculture is "at the heart" of livelihoods, she said in an interview in Beirut.

"It is our best assessment that 56,000 hectares, which is more than 22 percent of Lebanon's agricultural land, has been reported as affected or damaged," including burned or physically damaged, she said.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March by attacking Israel, which responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

The conflict came after hostilities that erupted in 2023 and all-out war the following year.

While the latest violence has decreased since a June ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, mainly from the south, and Israel maintains troops in a self-declared "security zone" running around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border.

Israeli forces have been carrying out widespread demolitions affecting villages and farmland.

"Farmers and their families are no longer able to be connected to their agricultural land," Bechdol said, noting that the conflict has also "disrupted markets and reduced access" to essentials for food production including fertilizers.

In June, a UN-backed assessment from Lebanese authorities estimated agricultural production losses in south Lebanon this year had reached at least $530 million.

Bechdol also expressed concern about potential contamination and soil damage in south Lebanon due to unexploded ordnance and residues from military operations.

She said she had held discussions in recent days on the possibility of the FAO getting involved in partnerships on de-mining work in south Lebanon.

She also said she was "very concerned about just general food security levels" in Lebanon.

In April, a UN-backed report said more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger in the following months due to the latest war.

This week, UNICEF said four in five households in Lebanon "are struggling to afford basic necessities as conflict compounds years of economic crisis".