ROME: Three UN agencies warned Thursday of a “significant deterioration” in the nutrition situation of children and mothers in war-torn Sudan, calling for “urgent action.”
“The lives of Sudan’s children are at stake and urgent action is needed to protect an entire generation from malnutrition, disease and death,” the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement.
Sudan has been in the throes of conflict for over a year between the regular army led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, including up to 15,000 in a single West Darfur town, according to UN experts.
Nearly nine million people have been forced from their homes.
“The ongoing hostilities are worsening the drivers of child malnutrition,” the agencies said.
“These include a lack of access to nutritious food, safe drinking water and sanitation, and increased risk of disease,” they added.
“Sudan is facing an ever-increasing risk of conflict-induced famine that will have catastrophic consequences including the loss of life, especially among young children.”
The agencies said the conflict “is also severely impacting the delivery of humanitarian supplies, leaving countless women and children without access to vital food and nutritional support... (while) growing violence and bureaucratic procedures impede access to conflict affected areas.”
Child malnutrition in Sudan is “at emergency levels,” the statement said.
In Central Darfur, acute malnutrition is estimated to be at 15.6 percent among children under five, while at the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur state it is close to 30 percent.
“We need immediate and safe access to deliver the humanitarian assistance that they so desperately need,” said WFP head Cindy McCain.
“Millions of lives are at stake and the international community must act now or we risk losing an entire generation of children,” she said.
The agencies warned: “The window to avert the worst is rapidly closing.”
Child malnutrition at ‘emergency levels’ in Sudan: UN
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Child malnutrition at ‘emergency levels’ in Sudan: UN
- “The lives of Sudan’s children are at stake and urgent action is needed to protect an entire generation from malnutrition, disease and death,” the UNICEF, WHO and WFP said
- “The ongoing hostilities are worsening the drivers of child malnutrition“
GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait
- Meeting gathers ministers, UN agency representatives, international organizations
KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism and border security on Monday.
The conference, which is being held in Kuwait and ends on Tuesday, has been organized by Kuwait in partnership with Tajikistan and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.
It gathered ministers, UN agency representatives, and international and regional organizations to help bolster international counter-terrorism efforts.
Al-Budaiwi said: “This important regional conference focuses on border security and combating terrorism, which are vital issues requiring collective action.”
Al-Budaiwi spoke of the GCC’s achievements in security collaboration, including information-sharing and laws targeting terrorism financing.
He added: “The GCC countries have built a common security system through joint agreements, enhancing cooperation in border protection and addressing security threats.”
He stressed the region’s proactive approach in utilizing technology and training personnel to safeguard borders against transnational threats like arms and human trafficking.
Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village
- Prime minister calls on international community to address Israeli aggression against Lebanon and protect nation’s heritage and cultural sites
- Three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah
BEIRUT: Dozens of houses and other buildings in the Lebanese border village of Mays Al-Jabal have been destroyed during Israeli incursions over the past 48 hours, residents said. The fate of several elderly villagers, including a woman, who refused to leave their homes before the attacks remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday called on the international community to address Israel’s “continued aggression against Lebanon and its crimes of killing and destruction.”
His appeal came during meetings with ambassadors from the permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, the UK, France, Russia and China — and Sandra de Waal, the EU’s envoy to Lebanon.
The death toll in the country had risen to 2,968 by Sunday evening, officials said, including dozens of children, women and the elderly people who died in the rubble of their homes. The number of wounded has risen to 13,319. Health Minister Firas Abiad said eight hospitals in the south of the country, the Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs are out of service.
The people of Mays Al-Jabal appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help to search for survivors who might be trapped under the rubble following the Israeli attacks. Some of the missing were said to be in their 80s and 90s and had received medical and food aid in recent months from the Red Cross, in coordination with UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army.
Explosions during the attacks in Mays Al-Jabal caused tremors similar to those in the towns of Kfarkela, Blida, Mhaibib, Khiam, Ayta Al-Shaab and Ramyah over the past two weeks. Israeli forces were reportedly spotted on the move in the vicinity of Mays Al-Jabal’s government hospital on Monday in preparation for a fresh assault.
Activists on social media shared satellite images of the devastation caused by the Israeli attacks on border villages, from which the inhabitants have fled.
Israeli airstrikes hit the villages of Tyre and Bint Jbeil but did not stop there. A Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority center in the town of Bazouriyeh was targeted, killing two paramedics and wounding several people.
Bint Jbeil, Maroun Al-Ras, Yaroun and Aitaroun have also come under sporadic artillery fire, though they were quiet on Monday. However, three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah region, and an Israeli airstrike on Machghara in Western Bekaa killed four people and left several injured.
The Israeli army said the air force had killed Abu Ali Rida, a Hezbollah leader in the southern Baraachit area said to be responsible for planning and carrying out rocket and anti-tank attacks, and overseeing the activities of Hezbollah operatives in the area.
Hezbollah said it “struck a gathering of soldiers to the east of Maroun Al-Ras, using a suicide drone that reached its intended target.” The group also said Israeli forces “retreated from the Khiam region on Sunday, as well as from Sarda, Al-Amra, Talat Al-Hamames and the vicinity of Al-Wazzani.”
It added that its forces had attacked the Nahariya settlement and the Meron air surveillance base, and launched a suicide-drone assault targeting Israeli forces in the Yiftah settlement.
On Sunday night, Hezbollah said it launched an “air attack with a squadron of suicide drones on a gathering of Israeli forces in the Manara settlement,” and targeted “the settlements of Elite Hashahar, Sha'al, Hatzor, Dalton and Yesud HaMa’ala with rocket barrages.”
Sirens sounded in Acre and Nahariya on Monday. Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, said: “Within 30 minutes this morning, the air force successfully intercepted four drones en route to Israel. Some of these drones originated from Lebanon, while others came from the east. Two of the drones were intercepted before entering the country’s airspace.”
According to Israeli news reports, “a drone was intercepted in the Rekhs Ramim area in Upper Galilee without activating the sirens.” And an Israeli attack on a residence in the Baalbek-Hermel area, close to the Douris municipality, reportedly caused significant damage.
During his meeting with the international envoys, Mikati said Israel had “turned against all the suggested solutions and continues its war crimes in various Lebanese regions, to the extent of targeting archaeological sites. This, in itself, is an additional crime against humanity and must be confronted and stopped.”
He highlighted the “escalation of Israeli hostilities against Lebanon and the atrocities committed, including killings and destruction, which should be brought to the attention of the international community, which remains silent on these events.”
Nations that traditionally “carry the banner of humanity and human rights should exert maximum pressure on Israel to stop its aggression,” Mikati added.
He said the Lebanese government has “welcomed all calls advocating for a ceasefire but Israel has turned against all proposed solutions. We renew our demand to put pressure on Israel to cease its aggression.”
The government previously agreed to “enhance the presence of the army and recruit military personnel,” he continued, and during an upcoming parliamentary session “we will discuss certain executive measures to support recruiting 1,500 members for the army.”
Mikati reiterated the need for the international community to put pressure on Israel to avoid targeting civilians, medical teams and ambulance crews, and handed the envoys “a letter in which he stressed that the ongoing Israeli aggression, especially the attacks on places such as Baalbek and Tyre, have led to the displacement of entire villages and threatened priceless heritage and cultural sites.”
He also presented them with a report on the damage to Lebanon’s health sector caused by the Israeli attacks, and called for “an immediate ceasefire to stop the senseless violence and protect our country’s cultural heritage.”
Mikati urged the Security Council “to take swift and decisive action to protect the historical treasures that are not only part of our national identity but also hold significance as global historical landmarks.”
He added: “We must work together to ensure the preservation of these sites for future generations.”
Yemen’s government shuts down unlicensed exchange firms to stop riyal devaluation
- Local money traders and media said that the riyal was trading at 2050 against the dollar
- Yemeni government closed dozens of exchange firms in Aden, Yemen’s interim capital, Hadramout, Shabwa, and Mahra that lack or have expired licenses
AL-MUKALLA: The Yemeni riyal stabilized on Monday near its all-time low of 2050 against the dollar in government-controlled areas, as the Yemeni government launched a campaign targeting unlicensed exchange firms.
Local money traders and media said that the riyal was trading at 2050 against the dollar, maintaining the same record low, days after breaking the historic low of 2000 against the dollar. In early 2015, the Yemeni riyal was worth 215 per dollar.
This comes as the Yemeni government closed dozens of exchange firms in Aden, Yemen’s interim capital, Hadramout, Shabwa, and Mahra that lack or have expired licenses.
Local officials, escorted by armed policemen, were seen in the streets of Aden, Al-Mukalla in Hadramout, Attaq in Shabwa, and Al-Ghaydah in Mahra province, inspecting exchange firms and shops’ licenses and closing the doors of unlicensed firms to slow the devaluation of the Yemeni riyal.
The Yemeni government has long accused local money traders of engaging in currency speculation, which resulted in the Yemeni riyal’s rapid devaluation.
Another reason for the devaluation, according to the Yemeni government, is the Houthis’ attacks on oil terminals in Hadramout and Shabwa in late 2022, which resulted in a complete halt to oil exports.
Saleh Fadaeq, the head of the central bank branch in Shabwa, said on Monday that the campaign against unauthorized exchange firms would continue to stop the Yemeni riyal’s devaluation, end currency speculation, and combat money laundering, according to the official news agency SABA.
The Presidential Leadership Council and the Yemeni government have recently requested financial assistance from international donors to help stabilize the Yemeni riyal, pay employees, and fund critical projects.
Yemenis across the political and social spectrum have warned of a major humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as the rapid devaluation of the riyal has driven up the prices of food, fuel, and other essential commodities, pushing people deeper into poverty.
Ismael Al-Sharabi wrote on Facebook that the riyal’s depreciation is causing “a humanitarian crisis,” with the prices for basic food items reaching unprecedented highs. He urged the Yemeni government to quickly bring under control the riyal’s fall.
“A tomato now costs 1,000 riyals. This is a humanitarian disaster and a historical curse that has befallen these people, who are now fighting death to survive, swallowing all burdens, high prices, and extreme poverty,” Al-Sharabi said.
High prices caused by the riyal’s devaluation have sparked violent protests in Aden and Al-Mukalla, as well as other Yemeni cities under government control, over the last several years.
Mustafa Nasr, director of the Studies and Economic Media Center, said the government’s campaign against unlicensed exchange firms did not lead to the riyal’s recovery as it only targeted small firms and not the large exchange firms that control the market, calling for stricter government measures to prevent the riyal’s fall.
“The exchange sector has become disorganized, bloated, and has sufficient liquidity to influence the exchange market,” Nasr told Arab News.
In its most recent report on the Yemeni economy, released late last month, the World Bank depicted a bleak economy in 2025, saying that Yemen’s gross domestic product is expected to fall by 1 percent in 2024, compared to a 2 percent drop last year.
Sixty percent of Yemenis have insufficient access to food due to an unprecedented level of insecurity brought about by the war, and the Houthis’ attacks on oil terminals slashed 42 percent of the government’s revenues, making it difficult for it to provide public services and devaluing the Yemeni riyal, according to the World Bank.
Syrian state media reports Israeli strike south of Damascus
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported at least three strikes in the area
DAMASCUS: Syrian state media reported Israeli strikes on Monday near the Sayyeda Zeinab area south of Damascus, home to an important Shiite sanctuary and guarded by pro-Iranian groups, including Hezbollah.
"At approximately 5:18 pm (14:15 GMT), the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting a number of civilian sites south of Damascus, which led to some material losses," the official SANA news agency said, citing a military source.
Mehdi Mahfouz, a 34-year-old resident of the area, said he "heard three successive explosions, one of which was very strong."
"Then I saw a large black cloud of smoke rising," Mahfouz added.
The blasts were heard in the neighbouring Jaramana suburb of Damascus, according to an AFP photographer, as ambulances headed to the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported at least three strikes in the area.
The targets include a house "used by members of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," the monitor added, saying it is located in a farm in the Sayyeda Zeinab area.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.
The Israeli military has intensified its strikes on Syria since it launched its war on Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
Sudan’s RSF chases civilians out of villages in violent raids
- The war has unleashed hunger across the country, erased most signs of a functioning state in RSF-held areas, and prompted fears of fragmentation
NEW HALFA: Salwa Abdallah was recuperating from a caesarean section and tending to her one-month old baby when soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces barged into her home in Sudan’s eastern El Gezira state late last month.
They accused her of loyalty to the army and its allies, their rivals in an 18-month war. “They said ‘You killed us, so today we’ll kill you and rape your girls,’” she told Reuters, sheltering under a makeshift sheet in the town of New Halfa, where she arrived after walking for days on foot with her elderly mother and children.
She said the soldiers chased them out of their village with whips and later shot at them on motorcycles, which two other victims of the attack also mentioned.
Reuters spoke to 13 victims of a series of intense, violent raids in eastern Gezira over the past two weeks, which affected at least 65 villages and towns according to activists.
The UN says some 135,000 people have been displaced, largely to Kassala, Gedaref, and River Nile states, which are already packed with many of the more than 11 million internally displaced by the devastating war that broke out in April 2023.
“I am shocked and deeply appalled that human rights violations of the kind witnessed in Darfur last year ... are being repeated in El Gezira State. These are atrocious crimes,” said the UN’s top official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, referring to attacks last year that prompted accusations of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity from the United States and others.
The war has unleashed hunger across the country, erased most signs of a functioning state in RSF-held areas, and prompted fears of fragmentation.
Both sides are accused of hindering much needed international assistance.
Spokespersons from the RSF and Sudanese army did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
REVENGE ATTACKS
Though El Gezira state has been subject to a violent looting campaign since the RSF took control in December, the defection of its chief in the state unleashed a series of revenge attacks.
The Wad Madani Resistance Committee, a pro-democracy group, named 169 people killed since the violence began on Oct. 20, though in a statement it said there were hundreds more.
The UN’s human rights office said last week that there were at least 25 cases of sexual violence, including an 11 year-old girl who died as a result. The office also said that the RSF had confiscated Internet devices in at least 30 villages, and cited reports they had burnt fields of crops.
The worst incident was in Al-Sireha, where the committee said 124 people were killed on Oct. 25.
Video verified by Reuters showed RSF soldiers lining up men, many of them elderly, and some in blood-splattered clothes, taunting them and forcing them to bleat.
Another video verified by Reuters showed dozens of bodies wrapped up in sheets for burial.
The RSF has denied ordering both attacks, and said the attacks in Gezira were the result of the army arming local communities.
The army has responded by emphasising popular resistance campaigns, though there has been little evidence of widescale arming of civilians in Gezira.
The Sudanese Human Rights Monitor warned the army against “leaving civilians ... exposed to direct and disproportionate confrontations with the RSF,” which it criticized for not fulfilling promises to protect civilians.
Hashim Bashir, a man disabled after his leg was amputated prior to the war, said RSF soldiers threw him out of his home in Al-Nayb village.
“They are very vicious... If you survive their gunshots, they hit you in your head. If you survive that, they beat you with a whip,” he said, showing scars on his functioning leg.
His niece, Faiza Mohammed, said the RSF soldiers allowed them to take nothing with them, even identifying documents.
“I hid under the bed, but they got me, beat me, and pulled my earring straight off my ear,” she said.
