DAMASCUS: Israel struck the Syrian Arab Republic on Wednesday in what it called a “warning” against attacks on the Druze minority, in a military intervention that came as sectarian clashes spread near Damascus.
The sectarian violence, and Israel’s intervention, present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria’s Alawite coastal heartland.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “carried out a warning action and struck the organization of an extremist group preparing to attack the Druze population” in Sahnaya.
Deadly sectarian clashes erupted overnight in Sahnaya, a town home to people from Syria’s Druze and Christian minorities southwest of the capital.
Israel had previously warned Syria’s Islamist rulers against harming the Druze, who follow an offshoot of Islam and make up about three percent of Syria’s population.
“A stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime — Israel expects them to act to prevent harm to the Druze community,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
State news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, said 16 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded “after outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces” in the Sahnaya area overnight.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said two local fighters were killed in Sahnaya during “clashes between gunmen linked to the authorities and local Druze fighters.”
The night before, 13 people including eight Druze fighters and nine gunmen linked to the authorities were killed in Jaramana, a mainly Druze and Christian suburb southeast of the capital, the Observatory said.
Jaramana and Sahnaya are surrounded by Sunni-majority areas.
The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous.
AFP was unable to confirm the recording’s authenticity.
In Sahnaya, activist Samer Rafaa said that “we didn’t sleep... right now mortar shells are falling on our homes.”
“The authorities are absent... we beg them to do their part,” Rafaa told AFP, adding that “people are dying.”
The interior ministry said authorities would “strike with an iron first all those who seek to destabilize Syria’s security,” SANA reported.
It said security forces launched an operation to arrest “outlaw gangs” in the area.
Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country but must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists within their ranks.
Israel, which sees Syria’s new forces as jihadists, has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad’s downfall and ground incursions to keep forces away from its border.
It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone of the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights and voiced support for Syria’s Druze.
The Druze are mainly divided between Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
Key Syria backer Turkiye has accused Israel of stirring up divisions and turning minorities against Damascus.
Citing a security source, SANA said that “outlaw groups” in Sahnaya attacked a checkpoint overnight while other groups fired at vehicles elsewhere.
The Observatory also said Druze gunmen targeted checkpoints, adding a curfew was imposed and local officials discussed ways to restore calm.
Druze fighter Karam, declining to provide his full name due to the security situation, told AFP that clashes began outside Sahnaya “and spread to its outskirts.”
“The sound of fighting has not stopped since last night,” said Karam, 27, as gunfire rang out in the background, adding that “there is a body on the road ahead of me... restoring calm will require great effort.”
Information ministry official Ali Al-Rifai told journalists the dead included five security personnel targeted by “sniper” fire.
The six others, from the southern province of Daraa, were inside a vehicle that was targeted, Rifai added.
Armed factions were dissolved and have been integrating into the defense ministry after Assad’s ouster.
General Security, formerly the chief security agency in rebel-held northwest Syria, is now the most influential such body.
In Jaramana, calm returned on as Syria’s government promised Druze leaders to try those responsible for the violence, which it blamed on “gunmen.”
An AFP photographer said mourners raised Druze flags at the funeral Wednesday for seven fighters from Jaramana.
Druze representatives have declared their loyalty to a united Syria amid Israeli warnings.
Last month’s massacres on the coast, where the Observatory said security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, were the worst bloodshed since the December ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.
The government accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence by attacking security forces, and has launched an inquiry
Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread
https://arab.news/6n8hx
Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread
- Netanyahu said Israel “carried out a warning action and struck the organization of an extremist group preparing to attack the Druze population” in Sahnaya
- State news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, said 11 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded “after outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces“
US has struck three Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air campaign
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Saturday that the US military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel ‘s effort to decapitate the country’s nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.
The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on social media. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
TEL AVIV, Israel: Israel ‘s military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned that US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US
The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun “assisted departure flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in pursuit of its goal to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Smoke rose near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province’s deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed Israeli strikes damaged the facility.
The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel’s military said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the attack and said the facility — also targeted in the war’s first day — was “extensively damaged,” but that there was no risk of off-site contamination.
Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel but there were no reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines, estimated the military has taken out more than 50 percent of Iran’s launchers.
“We’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a “prolonged campaign.”
US aerial refueling tankers on the move
US President Donald Trump is weighing active US military involvement in the war, and was set to meet with his national security team Saturday evening. He has said he would put off his decision for up to two weeks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.” He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkiye. Araghchi was open to further dialogue but emphasized that Iran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs. The US has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver the bomb, according to the Air Force.
On Saturday, multiple US aerial refueling tankers were spotted on commercial flight trackers flying patterns consistent with escorting aircraft from the central US to the Pacific. B-2 bombers are based in Missouri. It was not clear whether the aircraft were a show of force or prepared for an operation. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
The war’s toll
The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against her apartment wall. “I’ve had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,” she said Saturday. Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when “something blew up right in front of me.”
Several Iranians have fled the country. “Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,” said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia.
For many Iranians, it is difficult to know what’s going on. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said Saturday that limited Internet access had again “collapsed.” A nationwide Internet shutdown has lasted for several days.
Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel’s multitiered air defenses have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.
No date has been set for more talks after negotiations in Geneva failed to produce a breakthrough Friday.
Iran’s nuclear program
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60 percent — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation will continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that his country will never renounce its right to nuclear power, which “cannot be taken away from it through war and threats.” Pezeshkian told French President Emmanuel Macron via phone that Iran is ready to provide guarantees and confidence-building measures to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60 percent and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether.
Attacks on Iranian military commanders
Israel’s defense minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi’s death, but the Qom governor’s office said a four-story apartment building was hit and local media reported two people had been killed.
Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force’s weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said.
Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog
Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s statements about the status of Iran’s nuclear program prompted Israel’s attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi “pay” once the war is over.
Grossi on Friday warned against attacks on Iran’s nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. A direct hit “would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Grossi said, adding: “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.”
Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead focusing on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
___
Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show Israel hit one centrifuge production site, not two.
Israel says it’s preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
- Iran FM says Tehran open to further dialogue but no interest in talks with US while Israel continues to attack
- Netanyahu has said Israeli operation will continue until it eliminates the threat of Iran’s nuclear program
TEL AVIV: Israel ‘s military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned that US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the United States.
The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun “assisted departure flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in pursuit of its goal to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Smoke rose near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province’s deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed Israeli strikes damaged the facility.
The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel’s military said. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the attack and said the facility — also targeted in the war’s first day — was “extensively damaged,” but that there was no risk of off-site contamination.
Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel but there were no reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines, estimated the military has taken out more than 50 percent of Iran’s launchers.
“We’re making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a “prolonged campaign.”
US aerial refueling tankers on the move
US President Donald Trump is weighing active US military involvement in the war, and was set to meet with his national security team Saturday evening. He has said he would put off his decision for up to two weeks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said US military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.” He spoke on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkiye. Araghchi was open to further dialogue but emphasized that Iran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs. The US has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver the bomb, according to the Air Force.
On Saturday, multiple US aerial refueling tankers were spotted on commercial flight trackers flying patterns consistent with escorting aircraft from the central US to the Pacific. B-2 bombers are based in Missouri. It was not clear whether the aircraft were a show of force or prepared for an operation. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
The war’s toll
The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against her apartment wall. “I’ve had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,” she said Saturday. Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when “something blew up right in front of me.”
Several Iranians have fled the country. “Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,” said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia.
For many Iranians, it is difficult to know what’s going on. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said Saturday that limited Internet access had again “collapsed.” A nationwide Internet shutdown has lasted for several days.
Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Israel’s multitiered air defenses have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.
No date has been set for more talks after negotiations in Geneva failed to produce a breakthrough Friday.
Iran’s nuclear program
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60 percent — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation will continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that his country will never renounce its right to nuclear power, which “cannot be taken away from it through war and threats.” Pezeshkian told French President Emmanuel Macron via phone that Iran is ready to provide guarantees and confidence-building measures to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60 percent and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether.
Attacks on Iranian military commanders
Israel’s defense minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi’s death, but the Qom governor’s office said a four-story apartment building was hit and local media reported two people had been killed.
Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force’s weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said.
Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog
Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s statements about the status of Iran’s nuclear program prompted Israel’s attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi “pay” once the war is over.
Grossi on Friday warned against attacks on Iran’s nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. A direct hit “would result in a very high release of radioactivity,” Grossi said, adding: “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.”
Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead focusing on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
What the latest figures reveal about the state of the world’s refugees
- The vast majority of the world’s displaced remain in poorer countries, challenging the narrative of a crisis centered on wealthy nations
- Humanitarian agencies warn of deep funding gaps that place support for those displaced by conflict, disaster and economic collapse at risk
LONDON: There are not many people who would consider starting over at the age of 103. But for father, grandfather and great-grandfather Jassim, who has spent the past decade in exile in Lebanon with his family, the dramatic end of the Syrian civil war meant he could finally return home.
And in May, Jassim did just that.
In 2013, after their hometown in Syria’s Homs Governorate was caught in the crossfire of the country’s bitter civil war, Jassim and the surviving members of his family fled.
Not all of them would make the journey to relative safety and a makeshift tent camp near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon. During one period of intense fighting three of his children were killed when a shell fell near the family’s house.
For Jassim, holding the memory of their loss deep in his heart, the return last month to the town of Al-Qusayr after 12 years as refugees in another country was achingly poignant.
“You raise your children to see them grow and bring life to your home,” he said, speaking through a translator for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. “Now they are gone.”
As the family discovered when they arrived back in Al-Qusayr last month, the home in which they had been raised was also gone.
“It was a bittersweet moment,” Jassim said. “I was happy to return to the place where I was born and raised but devastated to see my home reduced to rubble.”
Although they are back in their own country, the future for Jassim’s family remains uncertain. With luck they are on the cusp of a fresh start, but for Jassim returning to the land of his birth has a more final meaning.
“I came back to die in Syria,” he said.
UNHCR says about 550,000 Syrian refugees returned home between December and the end of May, along with a further 1.3 million displaced within the country. This is one of the brighter spots in UNHCR’s 2025 Global Trends report, published in the lead-up to World Refugee Day on June 20.
Overall, the report, which contains the latest statistics on refugees, asylum-seekers, the internally displaced and stateless people worldwide, makes for predictably gloomy reading.
As of the end of 2024, it found that 123.2 million people — about one in 67 globally — were forcibly displaced “as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order.” This figure includes 5.9 million Palestinian refugees.
Of the 123.2 million, 42.7 million are refugees seeking sanctuary in a foreign country, and of these about 6.6 million are from countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Unsurprisingly, the largest number of refugees in the region under the UNHCR’s mandate in 2024 were from Syria — accounting for 5.9 million. But other numbers, although smaller, serve as a reminder of conflicts currently overshadowed by events in Syria and Gaza.
More than 300,000 Iraqi refugees were registered in 2024, along with 51,348 from Yemen, 23,736 from Egypt, 17,235 from Libya and 10,609 from Morocco.
Amid the devastation in Gaza since October 2023, and rising settler violence in the occupied West Bank, nearly as many Palestinians have fled as refugees in 2024 — 43,712 — as have been killed in Gaza.
Globally, there is a glimmer of hope. In the second half of 2024 the rate of forced displacement slowed and, says UNHCR, “operational data and initial estimates for 2025 indicate that global forced displacement may begin to fall during 2025.”
Indeed, the agency estimates that by the end of April 2025 the total number of forcibly displaced people — a term that includes people displaced within their own country and those seeking refuge in another state — had fallen by 1 percent to 122.1 million.
But whether that trend continues depends very much on several factors, said Tarik Argaz, spokesperson for UNHCR’s regional bureau for the Middle East and North Africa in Amman, Jordan.
There are, Argaz told Arab News, undoubtedly “signs of hope in the report, particularly in the area of solutions. But during the remainder of 2025, much will depend on the dynamics in key situations.
“While we should keep hopes high, we have to be very careful in interpreting the trends in the international scene,” including “whether the situation in South Sudan does not deteriorate further, and whether conditions for return improve, in particular in Afghanistan and Syria.”
In 2024, about 9.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide were able to return home, including 1.6 million refugees — the highest number for more than two decades — and 8.2 million internally displaced people — the second highest total yet recorded.
However, Argaz said, “it must be acknowledged that many of these returns were under duress or in adverse conditions to countries like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine, which remain fragile.”
For Syrians in particular, “there is uncertainty and significant risks, especially for minority groups. Syrians in the country and those returning from abroad need support with shelter, access to basic services such as water, sanitation, employment and legal assistance, among other things,” he said.
“The economic conditions remain dire, while the security situation remains fragile in many parts of the country.”
And while Jassim and his family are pleased to be back in Syria, UNHCR is concerned that not all Syrian refugees are returning entirely of their own free will.
“UNHCR is supporting those who are choosing to return,” Argaz said. “But returns should be safe, voluntary and dignified. We continue to call on states not to forcibly return Syrians to any part of Syria and to continue allowing civilians fleeing Syria access to territory and to seek asylum.”
The Global Trends report also highlights the burden placed on host countries by refugees.
IN NUMBERS
• 550,000 Syrian refugees returned home between December and the end of May.
• 6.6 million people forcibly displaced from MENA countries as of December 2024.
Source: UNHCR
Relative to the size of its population, Lebanon was hosting the largest number of refugees of any country in the world in 2024, accounting for one in eight of the population.
Lebanon’s already complex situation was further complicated in September 2024 when the war between Israel and Hezbollah displaced nearly a million people within the country.
By the end of April, there were still 90,000 people internally displaced in Lebanon. But between September and October last year the conflict led to an estimated 557,000 people fleeing Lebanon for Syria — of whom over 60 percent were Syrians who had originally sought sanctuary in Lebanon.
The issue of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa has become a delicate matter in Europe, with right-wing parties winning votes over the issue and centrist governments taking anti-migrant stances to assuage increasingly angry voters.
“But contrary to perceptions in the global North,” Argaz said, “60 percent of forcibly displaced people stay within their own country, as internally displaced people. Of those who leave as refugees, 67 percent go to neighboring countries — low and middle-income countries host 73 percent of the world’s refugees.”
For example, at the end of 2024, almost 80 percent of the 6.1 million Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers were hosted by neighboring countries — 2.9 million in Turkiye, 755,000 in Lebanon, 611,000 in Jordan, 304,000 in Iraq and 134,000 in Egypt.
The situation in Sudan and South Sudan is particularly perilous. Sudan’s two million refugees, although scattered across dozens of countries, from Algeria to Zimbabwe, are concentrated mainly in Chad, South Sudan and Libya, with tens of thousands each in countries including Egypt, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Uganda, with sizable numbers in the UK and France.
Despite offering refuge to almost half a million refugees from Sudan, 2.29 million South Sudanese are seeking sanctuary elsewhere — in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and, in a reflection of the internecine nature of the violence in the region, Sudan.
For all the world’s refugees and internally displaced, UNHCR is the lifeline on which they depend, both for support while displaced and upon returning to shattered lives and homes. But with donor nations slashing funds, this work is under threat.
“Severe cuts in global funding announced this year have caused upheaval across the humanitarian sector, putting millions of lives at risk,” Argaz said.
“We call for continuing funding of UNHCR programs that save lives, assist refugees and IDPs returning home and reinforce basic infrastructure and social services in host communities as an essential investment in regional and global security.
“In addition, more responsibility sharing from the rest of the world with the countries that host the bulk of refugees is crucial and needed.”
In December, UNHCR announced it had secured a record $1.5 billion in early funding from several countries for 2025. But, as Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said at the time, “generous as it is, humanitarian funding is not keeping pace with the growing needs.”
The funding commitment of $1.5 billion represents only 15 percent of the estimated $10.248 billion UNHCR says it will need for the whole of 2025. Of that total, the single largest proportions, $2.167 and $2.122 billion respectively, will be spent on projects in East Africa and in the Middle East and North Africa.
Turkiye detains prominent journalist for allegedly threatening Erdogan
- Altayli posted a video on Friday referencing an unnamed poll showing 70 percent of Turks opposed Erdogan ruling for life
- Istanbul prosecutor’s office said the comments from Altayli “contained threats” against Erdogan
ANKARA: Turkish authorities detained prominent independent journalist Fatih Altayli on Saturday over social media comments allegedly threatening President Tayyip Erdogan, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said.
Altayli, who has more than 1.51 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, posted a video on Friday referencing an unnamed poll showing 70 percent of Turks opposed Erdogan ruling for life, saying this would “never be allowed” by the Turkish people.
Altayli also referenced past Ottoman rulers in his comments, saying people had “drowned,” “killed,” or “assassinated them in the past.” His comments drew backlash from an Erdogan aide, Oktay Saral, who said on X that Altayli’s “water was boiling.”
In a statement, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said the comments from Altayli “contained threats” against Erdogan, and said an investigation has been launched against him. Legal representation for Altayli could not immediately be reached for comment.
Altayli’s detention comes amid a series of detentions of opposition figures in recent months, including the arrest in March of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu who is Erdogan’s main political rival.
The main opposition CHP says the detentions and arrests of its members, along with other opposition members and journalists or media personalities, is a politicized move by the government to muzzle dissent and eliminate electoral challenges to Erdogan.
The government denies these claims, saying the judiciary and Turkiye’s courts are independent.
Turkish authorities have in the past carried out widespread detentions and arrests against opposition politicians, namely pro-Kurdish local authorities. More than 150 people jailed so far over what Erdogan’s government says is a ring of corruption that the CHP denies.
Ex-bodyguard of slain Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli strike in Iran
- His former bodyguard Hussein Khalil was killed in Iran
- An Iraqi border guard officer said Khalil and a member of an Iraqi armed group were killed by “an Israeli drone strike“
BEIRUT: A former bodyguard for Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike in Iran, an official from the Tehran-backed militant group said.
For more than a week, Israel has been carrying out waves of air attacks on Iranian targets in the foes’ worst confrontation in history.
Israel assassinated Nasrallah in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27 last year, during a war that left Hezbollah severely weakened.
His former bodyguard Hussein Khalil — commonly known as Abu Ali, and nicknamed Nasrallah’s “shield” — was killed in Iran near the Iraqi border, the Hezbollah official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
An Iraqi border guard officer told AFP that Khalil and a member of an Iraqi armed group were killed by “an Israeli drone strike” after crossing into the neighboring country.
The Iraqi group, the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades, said that the commander of its security unit, Haider Al-Moussawi, was killed in the “Zionist attack,” along with Khalil and his son Mahdi.
The former bodyguard had appeared alongside Nasrallah for years during the leader’s rare public appearances.
The two men also shared family ties, with one of Khalil’s sons married to a granddaughter of Nasrallah.
During Nasrallah’s funeral in February, Khalil stood atop the vehicle carrying the slain leader’s body.
The funeral drew a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, the first mass event organized by Hezbollah since the end of its war with Israel.
Separately, five children were wounded in Iraq on Saturday by fallen debris from a missile near the town of Dujail in the northern province of Salaheddin, security and medical sources told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
The children sustained moderate and minor injuries, a medical source said.
A security source in the area confirmed the children were wounded by “a fallen fragment from a missile.”
The origin of the missile was not clear.
Since Israel launched its unprecedented attack on Iran last week, Iranian missiles and drones have been crossing paths with Israeli warplanes in the skies over Iraq, forcing Iraq to close its airspace to commercial traffic.
