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France to Host International Meet on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in June

15 April 2026, Berlin: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, gives a statement at the International Sudan Conference at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. (dpa)
15 April 2026, Berlin: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, gives a statement at the International Sudan Conference at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. (dpa)
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France to Host International Meet on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in June

15 April 2026, Berlin: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, gives a statement at the International Sudan Conference at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. (dpa)
15 April 2026, Berlin: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, gives a statement at the International Sudan Conference at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. (dpa)

France will host an international meeting in June dedicated to the long-touted two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the French foreign minister announced on Thursday.

"On September 22 last year, France took the momentous decision to recognize the State of Palestine and will host an international conference in Paris on June 12 so that Israeli and Palestinian civil societies can make their voices heard," Jean-Noel Barrot said in a video message played to a gathering of peace activists in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The "People's Peace Summit" in Tel Aviv was organized by the "It's Time" coalition, a grouping of more than 80 peacebuilding organizations working to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through a political agreement guaranteeing both peoples' right to self-determination and secure lives.

Several hundred people attended the meeting in Tel Aviv, AFP journalists reported.

"While the Middle East remains deeply scarred by the terrorist attacks of October 7 (2023) in Israel, by more than two and a half years of devastating war in Gaza and by a humanitarian crisis that, sadly, shows no sign of abating, your presence here is an act of resistance against fatalism and resignation," Barrot said.

Palestinian movement Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza, where a ceasefire in effect since October has largely halted fighting.

Barrot's remarks come as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, vehemently opposes the emergence of a sovereign and fully independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and is working on the ground to undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas appears extremely weakened and deeply unpopular.

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Arab World

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan
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RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched drone strikes on capital Khartoum and other army-controlled cities on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent, witnesses and an army source said, in what appeared to be their largest coordinated attack in months.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been ravaged by war between its regular military, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The capital Khartoum, which was recaptured by the army last year, has been targeted by drone strikes before but enjoyed relative calm for months.

A source in the army said the RSF attacked the capital, the Kordofan city of El-Obeid, and the northern cities of Atbara and El-Damer "with a large number of drones, which our anti-aircraft defenses engaged with".

El-Obeid is located nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles) from Khartoum and around 650 kilometers from Atbara.

An AFP correspondent in the capital reported a drone attack at 5 am (0300 GMT) along with the sound of anti-aircraft missiles from the direction of the army's Wadi Seidna base, just north of the twin city of Omdurman.

In Khartoum North (Bahri), just across the Nile River, two drones hit a mosque and an electricity transformer in the El-Droshab area, according to an eyewitness.

It was not immediately clear if air defenses had shot them down.

Witnesses in the northern cities of Atbara and El-Damer -- both also under army control -- gave similar reports of hearing explosions and seeing drones in the sky.

Some 120 kilometers southeast, in the town of Tamboul, civilians were in a "state of fear" after drones appeared above them, a witness told AFP.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks, including in the Khartoum North mosque which worshippers had recently emptied after dawn prayers.

Across the country, aid workers estimate more than 200,000 people have been killed in what the UN calls a "war of atrocities". The conflict has also caused the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

- Retaliatory strike -

The RSF has seemed to be on the back foot since the army last month pushed them off a key highway connecting Khartoum to El-Obeid, the southern Kordofan region's largest city, which they had tried to seize for months.

Daglo in the aftermath said he would "unleash" his fighters -- already accused of war crimes including genocide -- and his fighters have since repeatedly threatened a large-scale retaliatory attack.

Burhan and Daglo, allies until they fell out in a bitter power struggle, have spent most of the war in a relative stalemate, unwilling to hold negotiations while vying for a decisive battlefield advantage.

The RSF last year consolidated its hold on the vast western region of Darfur, and has since pushed to seize territory in Kordofan and along the southeastern Ethiopian border.

The army holds the country's center, north and east, and has tried to project an image of a return to normalcy in areas it controls.

But in Khartoum, 2.3 million people have returned from displacement, only to find vast amounts of uncleared war remnants, dilapidated infrastructure and limited electricity and water.

According to an eyewitness, Wednesday's drone attack "caused an explosion in an electricity transformer" in Khartoum North, where over half a million people already live without power.

Even parts of the city that have had more reliable services than Khartoum North have been without power for weeks.

Arab World

US Says New Round of Lebanon-Israel Talks in Rome in September

A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
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US Says New Round of Lebanon-Israel Talks in Rome in September

A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)

The United States will sponsor a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel in early September in Rome, a State Department official announced Tuesday.

"The political track will reconvene in Rome in early September, and conversations will continue in Beirut, Jerusalem, and Washington in the interim," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We feel good about the trajectory."

The United States has been sponsoring talks between Lebanon and Israel aimed at putting an end to hostilities between them, with Beirut seeking Israel's phased withdrawal from the south.

In June, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones."

Talks last week in Rome were the seventh round since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

The US official speaking Tuesday gave an update on the last round of talks in Rome.

"The framework is being implemented, the first zones are live, and the working groups have aligned their language, maps, and procedures," the official said.

Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel and refuses to surrender its weapons.

Violence in Lebanon has decreased since the Lebanon-Israel deal and the signing in June of a preliminary US-Iran agreement on the Middle East war.

But Lebanon has continued to report intermittent Israeli strikes and shelling, as well as detonations and demolitions in southern villages.

At the next round of technical talks, the US official said: "Lebanon will present detailed roadmaps for securing new areas as implementation proceeds in the current zones."

Arab World

Pakistan Condemns Houthi Strike That Killed 3 of Its Citizens

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Pakistan Condemns Houthi Strike That Killed 3 of Its Citizens

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Pakistan denounced on Wednesday an attack by Houthi militants in Yemen on a vessel in the Red Sea in which three of its citizens were killed.

Yemen's coastguard said Tuesday a strike by the Iran-backed militants on a vessel left six dead, including Pakistanis and an Indonesian citizen.

There has been no official comment from the Houthis about the incident.

"I have learnt with deep concern about the unfortunate incident," Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X, confirming three Pakistanis had been killed and one wounded in the attack.

"Pakistan strongly condemns the Houthi attack on a non-combatant commercial vessel," Dar added.

"We are in contact with the relevant Saudi authorities, as well as the internationally recognized Government of Yemen, to ascertain further details of the incident and the circumstances surrounding it," Dar said.

Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, is currently in Iran to discuss regional security, Pakistan's foreign office said on Wednesday.