DAMASCUS -- Over 2.3 million Syrians have returned home since Dec. 8, 2024, a UN refugee agency official said Thursday, noting that returnees face critical shortages of housing and livelihoods, with many finding homes destroyed or damaged.
The returnees included more than 750,000 refugees coming from Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, and over 1.6 million internally displaced Syrians, Celine Schmitt, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Syria office, told Xinhua. (Syria-Returnees-UN Official)
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JERUSALEM -- The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a food distribution mechanism backed by the United States and Israel, is a "deadly tool of control" and weaponizes starvation in Gaza, 108 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said Thursday in a joint statement.
The GHF is "a militarized distribution mechanism promoted as a humanitarian solution," and in reality "a deadly tool of control, with at least 859 Palestinians killed around 'GHF' sites since it began operating," read the joint statement. (Israel-Gaza-Food Distribution Mechanism)
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KHARTOUM -- Sudan's western Darfur region recorded more than 2,300 cholera cases and 40 deaths over the past week, Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), announced on Thursday.
"On top of an all-out war, people in Sudan are now experiencing the worst cholera outbreak the country has seen in years," the MSF said in a statement. (Sudan-Cholera-Outbreak)
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DAMASCUS -- A powerful explosion shook the countryside of Syria's Idlib province on Thursday, killing at least four people and injuring five others, according to Syrian state media and a war monitoring group.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the blast occurred near Idlib city, citing an initial toll from the health authorities. (Syria-Blast-Toll) ■
