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US Warns Türkiye against Hosting Hamas Leaders

16 November 2024, Türkiye, Istanbul: A woman holds a Palestinian flag during during a march towards Imbarli Port, which is used by companies to transport military ammunition to Israel. (dpa)
16 November 2024, Türkiye, Istanbul: A woman holds a Palestinian flag during during a march towards Imbarli Port, which is used by companies to transport military ammunition to Israel. (dpa)
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US Warns Türkiye against Hosting Hamas Leaders

16 November 2024, Türkiye, Istanbul: A woman holds a Palestinian flag during during a march towards Imbarli Port, which is used by companies to transport military ammunition to Israel. (dpa)
16 November 2024, Türkiye, Istanbul: A woman holds a Palestinian flag during during a march towards Imbarli Port, which is used by companies to transport military ammunition to Israel. (dpa)

The United States warned Türkiye on Monday against hosting Hamas leadership, saying Washington does not believe leaders of a terrorist organization should be living comfortably.

Asked about reports that some Hamas leaders had moved to Türkiye from Qatar, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller did not confirm the reports but said he was not in a position to dispute them. He said Washington will make clear to Türkiye’s government that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas.

Miller added that some Hamas leaders are under US indictment and Washington believes they should be turned over to the United States.

"We don't believe the leaders of a vicious terrorist organization should be living comfortably anywhere, and that certainly includes in ... a major city of one of our key allies and partners," Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.

A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed on Monday reports that Hamas had moved its political office to Türkiye, adding that members of the Palestinian group only visited the country from time to time.

Qatar said last week it had told Hamas and Israel that it will suspend efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until both show seriousness about resuming talks. Doha also said media reports that it had told Hamas to leave the Gulf Arab country were not accurate.

"Hamas political bureau members visit Türkiye from time to time. Claims that indicate the Hamas political bureau has moved to Türkiye do not reflect the truth," the diplomatic source said.

Later on Monday, Hamas dismissed the reports as "rumors the (Israeli) occupation is trying to publish from time to time."

NATO member Türkiye has fiercely criticized Israel over its offensives in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon and does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. 

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Arab World

Taiz on Alert to Confront the Houthi Threat

A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, sits in an armored vehicle at a position along the Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, sits in an armored vehicle at a position along the Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
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Taiz on Alert to Confront the Houthi Threat

A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, sits in an armored vehicle at a position along the Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)
A member of the Yemeni government forces, including National Army and Taiz Axis forces, sits in an armored vehicle at a position along the Kadha frontline west of Taiz in western Yemen on September 13, 2026. (AFP)

Yemen’s Taiz governorate has raised its readiness to counter threats from the Houthi militia as the group intensifies its movements across the province's western, northern, and southern fronts in an attempt to achieve field breakthroughs.

These advances aim to tighten the siege on Taiz city and its liberated countryside, while threatening supply lines connecting the city to its western rural areas.

The mobilization coincided with fierce battles fought by government forces across several locations, during which they managed to recapture positions that the Houthis had infiltrated in the western part of the governorate.

Government troops also advanced toward new areas, while airstrikes targeted Houthi positions, reinforcements, and vehicles across multiple fronts.

The group has been attempting, since the start of the escalation in early September, to exploit the widening scope of confrontations along the western coast, southern Hodeidah, and western Taiz. These maneuvers aim to redraw the lines of contact around the governorate, allowing the militia to pressure Taiz city from several directions and sever supply and movement routes leading to the coastal areas.

During the past few hours, government forces announced the recapture of positions overlooking the Jurdad area in al-Shamayatayn district, as well as an advance toward the Ghail Bani Omar region.

These developments followed clashes with Houthi fighters who had infiltrated several locations in the western part of the governorate.

Official military sources said that government forces managed to seize Houthi military equipment during the operations, while inflicting casualties among Houthi ranks.

The government also intensified airstrikes on Houthi positions and movements in various parts of the governorate. According to military sources, the strikes targeted military vehicles and gatherings in the districts of Dhubab, al-Waziyah, and Hayfan, as well as a gathering of militants in the Al-Afeerah area of Jabal Habashi district, killing at least ten militants and destroying several vehicles and a medium-weapons ammunition cache.

Meanwhile, the local authority in Taiz moved to mobilize the internal front to counter the escalation.

Governor of Taiz Nabil Shamsan met with sheikhs, notables, dignitaries, and social figures in the al-Shamayatayn, as part of efforts to strengthen internal cohesion and unify the local stance behind government forces.

Shamsan stressed that Taiz will continue to stand firm against the Houthis, praising the role the governorate has played during the years of war in preserving state institutions, as well as the Saudi support provided to the government and the Yemeni people in confronting the group.

The Human Rights Ministry said 150 civilians have been killed and over 200 wounded between September 3 and 13 since the escalation intensified. Some 85,000 have been displaced.

Arab World

Portugal Says Israel Undermining Palestinian State Through Settlement Expansion

Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Varsin Aghabekian Shahin (L) and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel (R) attend a press conference after a meeting at Necessidades Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, 14 September 2026. (EPA)
Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Varsin Aghabekian Shahin (L) and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel (R) attend a press conference after a meeting at Necessidades Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, 14 September 2026. (EPA)
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Portugal Says Israel Undermining Palestinian State Through Settlement Expansion

Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Varsin Aghabekian Shahin (L) and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel (R) attend a press conference after a meeting at Necessidades Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, 14 September 2026. (EPA)
Palestinian Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister Varsin Aghabekian Shahin (L) and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel (R) attend a press conference after a meeting at Necessidades Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, 14 September 2026. (EPA)

Portugal's ‌foreign minister said on Monday that Israeli settlement expansion and economic pressure in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were undermining prospects for a viable Palestinian state.

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said Israel's E1 settlement plan was "extremely pernicious" because ‌it would ‌divide the West Bank, ‌isolate ⁠East Jerusalem and ⁠was incompatible with a two-state solution.

Israel's withholding of Palestinian tax revenues amounted to a "brutal strangulation" of the Palestinian Authority's finances, preventing the economy from ⁠functioning, he said after meeting ‌Palestinian Foreign ‌Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin in Lisbon.

‌Rangel also cited the closure ‌of Christian schools in East Jerusalem as evidence of worsening conditions there.

Portugal recognized the State ‌of Palestine a year ago.

Rangel said the two-state ⁠solution ⁠was the only way to guarantee peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel said last week it was closing Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem in response to plans by the UK, France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Arab World

UN Warns Key Humanitarian Network in Sudan Could ‘Collapse within Weeks’

A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, talks to her relative through a fence next to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad August 5, 2023. (Reuters)
A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, talks to her relative through a fence next to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad August 5, 2023. (Reuters)
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UN Warns Key Humanitarian Network in Sudan Could ‘Collapse within Weeks’

A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, talks to her relative through a fence next to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad August 5, 2023. (Reuters)
A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, talks to her relative through a fence next to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad August 5, 2023. (Reuters)

The United Nations warned on Monday that a key system for bringing aid into conflict-torn Sudan risked collapsing completely unless it receives more funding immediately.

"The entire humanitarian system could collapse within weeks if we don't act now," said Amy Pope, head of the International Organization for Migration.

"Without new funding, we won't be able to get help where it's needed most."

The war between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted in April 2023 has killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crisis.

The IOM stressed that the Common Humanitarian Pipeline logistics system it runs allows a network of more than 100 national and international NGOs to bring desperately needed shelter and other non-food aid into the African country.

Since the start of the war, it said, the system had reached 2.84 million people.

But it warned that the reach had been shrinking due to falling funds, even as the needs remain at an all-time high.

While the pipeline helped get aid to more than one million people in 2024, only 330,000 had received assistance like shelter and emergency support kits through the system so far in 2026, the IOM said.

"Without immediate donor support, current shelter, sanitation and emergency household relief items are expected to be depleted by the end of September," the UN's migration agency said in a statement.

"The warehousing and operational capacity that keeps the pipeline functioning can only be sustained until December 2026," it stressed.

The IOM said it would need $15 million just to maintain the pipeline at its 2026 minimum capacity for the next 12 months, while it would require $42 million to return to its 2024 level.

It said cutting off access to shelter assistance carried far wider risks.

"Prolonged exposure to weather, disease and insecurity can heighten risks of gender-based violence, family separation and eviction in overcrowded sites," it pointed out.

"Shelter is the foundation from which protection, health and recovery can begin," Pope insisted.

"When the pipeline stops, it is not simply warehouses that become empty. The entire humanitarian response becomes harder to deliver."