Rights group urges probe into Darfur atrocities by Sudanese paramilitary forces battling the army

Sudanese refugees gather as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams assist the war-wounded from West Darfur, Sudan, in Adre hospital, Chad June 16, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 12 July 2023
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Rights group urges probe into Darfur atrocities by Sudanese paramilitary forces battling the army

  • The Darfur conflict began when African tribes that had long complained of discrimination rebelled against the Khartoum government, which responded with a military campaign that the ICC later said amounted to genocide

CAIRO: A prominent rights group on Tuesday called for the International Criminal Court to investigate atrocities in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region, including what it says were “summary executions” of 28 non-Arab tribesmen by a Sudanese paramilitary force and allied Arab militias in May.
Human Rights Watch said several thousand members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and their allies rampaged through the Darfur town of Misterei, home to the non-Arab Massalit tribe, on May 28.
The assailants killed the tribesmen and also left dozens of civilians dead or wounded, the New York-based watchdog said. The attack came as the paramilitary and Sudan’s army have been engaged in monthslong fighting that the United Nations says has brought Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war.
“The mass killings of civilians and total destruction of the town of Misterei demonstrates the need for a stronger international response to the widening conflict,” said Jean Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch said the paramilitary force would not immediately comment on the group’s findings. HRW urged the ICC to investigate the attack on Misterei and others elsewhere in Darfur as part of its investigation into the region’s genocidal war in the early 2000s.
The Darfur conflict began when African tribes that had long complained of discrimination rebelled against the Khartoum government, which responded with a military campaign that the ICC later said amounted to genocide. State-backed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed were accused of widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities. The Janjaweed later evolved into the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The fighting between the paramilitary and Sudan’s army erupted in mid-April, at first centered in the capital, Khartoum. Later, the clashes spread across Sudan, including in Darfur, which saw some of the fiercest battles.
According to Human Rights Watch, the paramilitary and allied Arab militias on motorcycles, pick-up trucks and horses surrounded Misterei and clashed with Massalit fighters. The assailants, armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and vehicle-mounted machine guns, killed men in their homes, on the streets or in hiding.
HRW said they also looted property, stole livestock and valuables before burning the town to the ground. Thousands of residents, including women and children, fled as assailants fired on them, killing many more, the group said.
It quoted an unidentified 76-year-old man as saying the attackers fired on the fleeing people. “I saw three people running, being shot at, and falling to the ground near a grocery store,” he said.
The group said the attackers also went after those who were hiding in schools and a local mosque.
The rights groups said it documented the killing of at least 40 civilians. Local officials said 97 people were killed in the May 28 attack. At least 59 were buried in mass graves, HRW said.
Along with Misterei, six other West Darfur towns and villages were also burned down over a period of several weeks, according to satellite imagery and fire detection data analyzes. Geneina, the local capital in West Darfur, also suffered widespread and apparently deliberate fire damage, HRW said.
Also Tuesday, the UN food agency said residents were still fleeing the violence in Darfur and crossing into Chad, including more than 20,000 refugees who crossed into the Chadian border town of Adre in the last week alone.
That brought the number of people who fled the fighting to Chad to more than 230,000 refugees and 38,000 returnees since since mid-April, the World Food Program said in a statement. In total, the conflict displaced about 3 million people, including over 700,000 who crossed into Sudan’s neighboring countries, according to the UN figures.
The agency said many of the arrivals to Chad were seriously wounded amid reports that fleeing civilians are being deliberately targeted “with an increasing ethnic dimension to the violence.”
“People are running across the border, wounded, scared, with only their children in their hands and the clothes on their backs. They need safety, security, and humanitarian assistance,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s country director in Chad.
Many of the arrivals have lost family members, and “we don’t even dare ask them, ‘Where are the men?’ The answer from the mothers is often that they were killed,” Honnorat said later during an online briefing.
Speaking from the Zabout refugee camp in the Chadian border town of Goz Beida, Honnorat said financial support is urgently required to meet the growing needs of the refugees including dangerously malnourished children. At least one in 10 displaced youngsters from Sudan is malnourished, according to the WFP.
“Every week children are dying at the nutrition centers, this is a reality,” Mr. Honnorat said, adding that the UN food agency needs at least $13 million every month to help those on the Chad-Sudan borders.

 


Israel reveals tunnel under Gaza hospital, says body of Sinwar’s brother found there

Updated 08 June 2025
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Israel reveals tunnel under Gaza hospital, says body of Sinwar’s brother found there

  • Hamas leaders Sinwar, Shabana found dead in tunnel after an Israeli strike
  • Weapons and documents also found in tunnel

KHAN YOUNIS: The Israeli army said on Sunday it had retrieved the body of Hamas’ military chief, Mohammed Sinwar, in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month.
Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, said IDF spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.
Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.
“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals, again and again,” said Defrin.
“We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar’s death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.
Hamas has not commented on reports of the death of either Sinwar or Shabana.
Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, and which triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Shabana was one of Hamas’s most senior and battle-hardened commanders in southern Gaza. He played a central role in constructing the network of tunnels under the southern city of Rafah, which were used for ambushes and cross-border raids.

The drive to Khan Younis in Israeli military vehicles showed widespread devastation, with countless buildings lying in ruins, and piles of rubble collected at the roadside.
The Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, alleging that Hamas uses them to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations — a charge Hamas has repeatedly denied. While Israel has presented evidence in certain cases, some of its assertions remain unverified.
Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike near the European Hospital in order not to damage it.
A large trench dug in front of the Emergency Room entrance led down to a hole in the claustrophobic, concrete tunnel, which was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters, the army said.
During the search of the site, Israeli forces recovered weapon stockpiles, ammunition, cash and documents that are now being reviewed for intelligence value.
“We will dismantle Hamas because we cannot live with this terror organization right in our backyard, right across our border,” Defrin said.
More than 54,000 Palestinians have died during the ongoing Israeli assault, according to Gaza health authorities. The UN has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.


Iranian authorities expand ban on dog walking

Iranians walk their dogs in a park in Tehran on June 8, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 08 June 2025
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Iranian authorities expand ban on dog walking

  • Local authorities have periodically introduced bans on walking dogs in public spaces or carrying them in vehicles as part of a wider campaign to discourage their ownership

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have expanded a ban on walking dogs in public to multiple cities nationwide, citing public health, social order and safety concerns, domestic media reported on Sunday.
The ban —which echoes a 2019 police directive that barred walking dogs in Tehran — was expanded to Ilam city in the west on Sunday, according to reports.
At least 17 other cities recently introduced similar bans, including Isfahan in the center and Kerman in the south.
Owning and walking dogs has been a contentious topic since the 1979 revolution in Iran, though there is no law outrightly banning dog ownership.
Many religious scholars, however, consider petting dogs or coming into contact with their saliva as "najis" or ritually impure, while some officials view them as a symbol of Western cultural influence.
Local authorities have periodically introduced bans on walking dogs in public spaces or carrying them in vehicles as part of a wider campaign to discourage their ownership.
Enforcing the restrictions has been largely inconsistent, as many owners continue to walk their dogs in Tehran and elsewhere across Iran.
On Sunday, the Etemad newspaper quoted an official from Ilam city as saying that "legal action will be taken against violators."
On Saturday, a state newspaper said the latest measures are aimed at "maintaining public order, ensuring safety and protecting public health."
"Dog walking is a threat to public health, peace and comfort," said Abbas Najafi, prosecutor of the western city of Hamedan, as quoted by Iran newspaper.
In 2021, some 75 lawmakers condemned pet ownership as a "destructive social problem," saying it could "gradually change the Iranian and Islamic way of life."
In 2017, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said that "keeping dogs for reasons other than herding, hunting, and guard dogs is considered reprehensible."
"If this practice resembles that of non-Muslims, promotes their culture, or causes harm and disturbance to neighbours, it is deemed forbidden," he added.

 


Israeli bulldozers flatten more Palestinian buildings in Tulkarm refugee camp

Updated 08 June 2025
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Israeli bulldozers flatten more Palestinian buildings in Tulkarm refugee camp

  • Entire residential area reduced to rubble in recent days, residents say
  • Israeli forces plan to destroy 58 structures in Tulkarm, 48 in Nur Shams

LONDON: Israeli forces have conducted demolitions for the third consecutive day in the Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarm in the northern part of the West Bank, the site of military operations since January.

On Sunday, Israeli bulldozers resumed demolition of numerous residential buildings in the camp. The demolitions are part of the destruction plan of 58 structures in Tulkarm and 48 in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

More than 250 housing units and dozens of commercial establishments have been destroyed in both locations, according to Wafa news agency.

Residents say that an entire residential area in the Tulkarm camp has been reduced to rubble in recent days, with debris hindering access to surrounding buildings.

Israeli operations in Tulkarm for the past 133 days and in Nur Shams for the past 120 days have resulted in the deaths of 13 Palestinians and the displacement of almost 25,000 residents.

At least 400 homes have been destroyed and 2,573 damaged after Israeli forces sealed off roads and entrances with earth barriers and barred Palestinian residents from returning, the Wafa added.


Egyptian, Turkish FMs discuss Gaza ceasefire, mass graves in Libya

Updated 08 June 2025
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Egyptian, Turkish FMs discuss Gaza ceasefire, mass graves in Libya

  • Ministers warn of a ‘humanitarian disaster’ in war-ravaged Palestinian enclave
  • They also discussed the discovery of dozens of bodies in mass graves in the Libyan capital, Tripoli

LONDON: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed developments in Gaza and Libya with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan.

The ministers, during a phone call on Sunday, highlighted the urgency of a ceasefire in Gaza and described the situation there as a “humanitarian disaster” amid Israeli attacks and military actions in the area.

They discussed efforts to achieve a ceasefire, secure the release of Israeli hostages and ensure the delivery of humanitarian, medical and shelter aid to the enclave.

Abdelatty and Fidan discussed recent developments in Libya, including the discovery of dozens of bodies in mass graves in the capital, Tripoli.

The Egyptian minister highlighted Cairo’s support for Libya’s unity and integrity, ensuring that Libyans can hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously, without interference, as soon as possible, Kuwait News Agency reported.

Abdelatty said that Cairo and Ankara continue to cooperate in the economic, investment and trade sectors, and exchange views on urgent regional matters.


Israel vows to prevent an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching Gaza

Updated 08 June 2025
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Israel vows to prevent an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching Gaza

  • The vessel departed Sicily last Sunday on a mission that aims to break the sea blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, while raising awareness over the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave

Israel’s defense minister has vowed to prevent an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that Israel wouldn’t allow anyone to break its naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, which he said was aimed at preventing Hamas from importing arms.
Thunberg, a climate campaigner is among 12 activists aboard the Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The vessel departed Sicily last Sunday on a mission that aims to break the sea blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, while raising awareness over the growing humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
The activists had said they planned to reach Gaza’s territorial waters as early as Sunday.
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, is among the others onboard. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
After a three-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade and the war end.
An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.