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Canada Repatriates 2 women, 2 Children from Syria Camps

A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands near Kurdish internal security special forces during a security operation in al-Hol camp which holds displaced people and families of ISIS militants in Hasaka governorate, in northeast Syria August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands near Kurdish internal security special forces during a security operation in al-Hol camp which holds displaced people and families of ISIS militants in Hasaka governorate, in northeast Syria August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
    Asharq A-Awsat
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Canada Repatriates 2 women, 2 Children from Syria Camps

A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands near Kurdish internal security special forces during a security operation in al-Hol camp which holds displaced people and families of ISIS militants in Hasaka governorate, in northeast Syria August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands near Kurdish internal security special forces during a security operation in al-Hol camp which holds displaced people and families of ISIS militants in Hasaka governorate, in northeast Syria August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

Canada has repatriated two women and two children from camps in Syria holding family members of suspected ISIS militants, and charged one with supporting terrorism, officials said Wednesday.

This followed years of pressure on Ottawa -- which long refused for security reasons to repatriate as many as 50 Canadians believed to be held in the camps, according to Human Rights Watch -- to bring them home.

Including the latest four, only seven have returned to Canada, AFP reported.

Oumaima Chouay, 27, was arrested upon her arrival in Montreal overnight, according to federal police, while Kimberly Polman, 50, was briefly detained when she landed Wednesday morning and released, her lawyer told AFP.

Chouay had been the subject of an investigation since 2014 by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, Canada's counter-terrorism squad.

She faces four charges, including leaving Canada to join a terrorist group and participating in its activities.

"It is alleged that she participated in terrorist activities in the name” of ISIS, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector David Beaudoin told a news conference.

Chouay was taken prisoner by the Syrian Democratic Forces in November 2017 and held at the Roj camp in Syria, he said.

Polman, who was said to be in poor health, spent three years in a detention camp after traveling in 2015 to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter, which she said later publicly that she regretted.

Authorities were expected to seek a peace bond or court order requiring her to remain on good behavior, said her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon.

Both of the repatriated children were born in Syria and belong to Chouay, authorities said.

In a statement, Canada's foreign ministry thanked the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria as well as the United States for their help in the repatriations.

Western countries have faced a dilemma over how to handle their citizens detained in Syria since the end of military operations against ISIS there in 2019.

Thousands of extremists decided to join the group as fighters, often taking their wives and children to live in the so-called “caliphate” declared in territory conquered in Iraq and Syria.

In 2020, Ottawa repatriated a five-year-old orphaned girl from Syria, after her uncle took legal action against the Canadian government. Another child and her mother were also reportedly repatriated in 2021.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to comment on the recent individual cases.

But he told reporters that "traveling for the purpose of supporting terrorism is a crime in Canada and anyone who traveled for the purpose of supporting terrorism should face criminal charges."

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Arab World

Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Says Two Soldiers Killed in Attack in Northeast

A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)
A member of Syria's security forces stands under a sign in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (AFP)

Syria said two soldiers were killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country's northeast on Monday, while a military source told AFP investigations were underway to identify the perpetrators.

In recent months, Syria's new government has expanded its control to parts of the country's north and northeast that were previously held by Kurdish-led forces, including areas near the site of Monday's attack.

The government has also formally joined the international coalition against the ISIS group, which has long launched attacks in those areas.

The two soldiers were killed "and others wounded in a treacherous attack by unknown assailants" on a bus in Hasakeh province, state news agency SANA quoted the defense ministry as saying.

A military source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a military bus "came under gunfire" along the highway between Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh province and Ain Issa in Raqqa province, adding that two soldiers were killed and two others wounded.

Investigations were underway to determine who was behind the attack, the source added.

Once in control of large swathes of Syria and Iraq, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by Kurdish-led forces with support from a US-led international coalition.

The extremists however maintain a presence in Syria, mainly in the country's vast desert, and repeatedly attacked Kurdish-led forces while they controlled swathes of the northeast.

In February, after government forces seized control of many of those areas, ISIS urged its members to fight Syria's new authorities.

Days later, state media said four Syrian security personnel were killed in an ISIS attack in the northern city of Raqqa, which had been recently taken by Damascus's forces.

Arab World

UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
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UN: Sudan Drone Strikes Killed at Least 880 Civilians between January and April

Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)
Sudanese Army elements celebrate after seizing control of an area in northern Khartoum Bahri on January 25, 2025 (Reuters)

At least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes in Sudan between January and April this year, the UN said Monday, warning such strikes were pushing the conflict towards a "new, even deadlier phase".

Drone attacks by both Sudan's army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war since April 2023, have intensified across the country in recent months, reported AFP.

The United Nations rights office said that its Sudan team had determined that "drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths -- more than 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian deaths -- between January and April this year".

"Armed drones have now become by far and away the leading cause of civilian deaths," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in the statement.

A growing use of drones allows fighting to continue "unabated" in the rainy season, which in the past has seen a lull, he said.

"An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks... risks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern states, with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas," he said.

More than three years of civil war in Sudan have already killed tens of thousands, displaced over 11 million and thrust several areas into famine.

But now, Turk warned that "unless action is taken without delay, this conflict is on the cusp of entering yet another new, even deadlier phase".

Most of the civilian deaths attributed to drone strikes in the first three months of the year were recorded in the Kordofan region and Darfur.

Those strikes have continued, with most recently on May 8 drones striking Al Quoz in South Kordofan and near El-Obeid in North Kordofan, reportedly killing 26 civilians and injuring others, the rights office said.

It said belligerents had used drones to repeatedly strike civilian objects and infrastructure, "diminishing access to sufficient food, clean water and health care".

Markets have been repeatedly targeted, with at least 28 such attacks resulting in civilian casualties in the first four months of the year.

Health facilities have been hit at least 12 times, it added.

Now, the rights office said, drone strikes by the RSF and the Sudanese army were increasingly spreading beyond Kordofan and Darfur, to Blue Nile, White Nile and Khartoum.

Turk warned that heightened violence would disrupt provision of critical humanitarian assistance. 

"Much of the country, including Kordofan, is now facing an increased risk of famine and acute food insecurity," he said, adding that the situation was being exacerbated by fertilizer shortages linked to the Middle East war. 

Arab World

Israel Says Soldier Killed Near Border with Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Soldier Killed Near Border with Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of Israeli bombardment that targeted the village of Tair Harfa on May 11, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said Monday that one of its soldiers had died in fighting near the border with Lebanon, bringing its losses to 18 personnel since the war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Sergeant Major Alexander Glovanyov, 47, "fell during combat near the Israel-Lebanon border", the military said.

He was killed on Sunday.

Since the war began, one Israeli civilian contractor has also been killed in addition to the 18 soldiers.

Israel and Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah have been trading fire in south Lebanon despite a ceasefire in place since April 17 between Israel and Lebanon that aimed to halt the fighting.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion. Its troops are operating behind an Israeli-declared "yellow line" that runs around 10 kilometers (six miles) north of Lebanon's border.