Top UNHCR official warns of crisis fatigue amid ‘massive’ Lebanese displacement

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Updated 30 September 2024
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Top UNHCR official warns of crisis fatigue amid ‘massive’ Lebanese displacement

Top UNHCR official warns of crisis fatigue amid ‘massive’ Lebanese displacement
  • Raouf Mazou, assistant high commissioner, laments killing of colleagues in Israeli strikes last week
  • ‘We all become numb … We simply don’t have the normal reaction of outrage that we should normally have’

NEW YORK CITY: With the Lebanese prime minister warning that up to 1 million people might be displaced amid war in his country, a top official with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees official has sounded the alarm on the “numbing” of the world to human suffering, and the difficulty of responding to crises in Lebanon, Sudan and elsewhere.

A “massive increase in displacement” is taking place in Lebanon, warned Raouf Mazou, UNHCR assistant high commissioner for operations, appealing for the international community to overcome its crisis fatigue and support a humanitarian response to the conflict.

He was speaking to Arab News in New York City on the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly.




A smoke plume erupts after an Israeli airstrike targeted the outskirts of the village of Ibl al-Saqi in southern Lebanon on September 30, 2024. (AFP)

It comes as Israel ramped up its aerial campaign across Lebanon, with strikes into the heart of Beirut and elsewhere killing hundreds of people last week.

The escalation has compounded woes for the UN’s refugee agency, which is battling crises in some of the world’s most impoverished and conflict-ridden countries.

Two of its workers were killed last week in Lebanon. The UNHCR said it was “outraged and deeply saddened” by the deaths.

Dina Darwiche, from the UNHCR’s Bekaa office in the country’s east, was killed alongside her youngest son as an Israeli missile struck her home on Sept. 23. Ali Basma, who worked with the agency’s Tyre office in the south, was also confirmed dead.




Men inspect destroyed houses that used to host displaced people from three families and their local relatives, after an Israeli strike in Maaysrah, north of Beirut, Lebanon, September 27, 2024. (Reuters)

“On our colleagues, it’s the drama of the context where civilian populations are the victims of indiscriminate bombing, indiscriminate airstrikes — this is what we’re observing,” Mazou told Arab News.

“They weren’t at work at the time when it happened. They were living their normal lives. But it reminds us of how civilians are exposed.

“In addition to that, we also have situations where colleagues in the course of their duty are targeted or find themselves killed.

“And that’s another concern that we have: humanitarian workers being exposed to danger as they’re performing their functions.




Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the Shiyah neighbourhood of Beirut's southern suburbs on September 28, 2024. (AFP)

“In this specific case it wasn’t — they weren’t at work — but still, this is something that to us, of course, is extremely concerning.”

The escalation in Lebanon is “not something the world needs right now,” Mazou added, warning that the “massive numbers” being displaced in the country also include the 80,000 Lebanese who fled to neighboring Syria in the past week, according to the government.

In response to the conflict, the UNHCR is executing its contingency plans and beginning distribution of pre-positioned aid, but urgently needs assistance as part of a wider international response, Mazou said, adding that it will also “strengthen its presence” to protect the most vulnerable.

But with conflicts in the region already raging in Sudan, Gaza, Syria and Yemen, there is a “difficulty” in mobilizing adequate resources for Lebanon, he said.

“We have core relief items already pre-positioned in the region which we can give fairly fast. We have the presence of colleagues. The presence of colleagues is absolutely essential. There are many other items that are necessary and which we’ll provide,” he added.

“We’re now coming up with an appeal that we’re going to issue, to ask for support from the international community.

“But that’s happening at a time when it’s already difficult to mobilize resources. There are many other crises around the world, so it’s already difficult. And now we have another crisis added to the existing one.

“So we’re very worried. We hope we’ll be able to mobilize, but we’re really appealing to the international community to provide the resources that are required.”

For Mazou, the proliferation of conflict has not only tested the logistical strength of the UNHCR, but has also “numbed” the global community to human suffering.

“We all become numb. There’s a new conflict, there’s a new crisis — we simply don’t have the normal reaction of outrage that we should normally have,” he said.

The result is that many of the countries receiving refugees from the world’s conflicts — some of which are already impoverished and unstable — are unable to provide sufficient protection and support.

Host countries are often “in very difficult situations” themselves and, faced with accepting millions of refugees, are too often left to handle the problem alone, Mazou said.

“They provide a global public good by receiving refugees, but they need the support of the international community.




Children walk on the street as displaced people take shelter at a square after fleeing the Israeli strikes in central Beirut, in Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)

“If you don’t give that support, at the end of the day it’s the victims who are again exposed to more danger.”

Chad, for example, hosts about 2 million refugees, including from Sudan. “That’s completely untenable for a country that’s fairly poor, and also a country that’s suffering from the economic impact of the war in Sudan.

“The whole eastern part of Chad … now finds itself in a situation where it can no longer benefit from the economic trade that was taking place.

“It’s the countries which are receiving these refugees, whether it’s Chad, whether it’s the Central African Republic, whether it’s Libya, whether it’s Egypt — countries which are struggling in providing the protection and the system that’s required. They need the support of the international community,” Mazou said.

A lack of international support in the humanitarian response to crises has dire effects on the ground, meaning a greater risk of famine, sexual violence against women, and children losing access to education, he warned.

“The consequences are that you don’t provide the basic assistance that’s required, whether it’s food assistance with the risk of famine, women finding themselves exposed to sexual violence, or children who absolutely don’t have access to school. Children in Sudan haven’t had access to school for all this time.”




Displaced Sudanese queue for food aid at a camp in the eastern city of Gedaref on September 23, 2024. (AFP)

The civil war in Sudan has pushed the UNHCR’s mandate to its limit. After 17 months of conflict, the country is now victim to the world’s worst hunger crisis, and humanitarian agencies are struggling to respond.

More than 10 million people have been forcibly displaced from Sudan, pushed into neighboring countries and beyond, with the UNHCR recently declaring emergencies in Uganda and Libya related to the conflict.

At the UN this week, Filippo Grandi, the UNHCR’s high commissioner, recounted two visits to Sudan earlier this year, describing conditions there as “apocalyptic” and urging donors to fill the “severely underfunded” response plan.

“I can, frankly, hardly think of any other conflict where our, by now, chronic inability to bring about peace … is more in evidence than the Sudan conflict,” he said.

“If people don’t die because of bullets, they starve to death. If they manage to survive, they must face disease, or floods, or the threat of sexual violence and other horrifying abuse, which if perpetrated in other places would make daily headlines. It doesn’t in this situation.”

With famine declared at a displacement camp in El-Fasher in North Darfur, the UN’s main food relief body, the World Food Programme, is struggling to deliver aid to the country amid blocking by government forces and their Rapid Support Forces paramilitary rivals.

Humanitarian workers operating in Sudan have also been targeted or killed in deliberate attacks.

For Mazou and the UNHCR, opening access to aid in Sudan is of the utmost priority. “For us, it’s first making sure that humanitarian access is granted. We’ve been talking to the parties to the conflict. They know that they have the responsibility, they have accountability that they must provide humanitarian access. But that’s something that we keep on repeating,” he said.

“And then we need to have the resources to make sure that we can carry the humanitarian assistance that’s required to the populations in need in asylum countries first.

“I think it’s important in today’s world to underline the fact that asylum countries are willing to provide asylum, and that’s not the case everywhere,” he added, citing Chad, the CAR, Libya and Egypt.

Disputes, rivalries and buck-passing among developed countries on the issue of hosting refugees has been a matter of chronic concern for the UNHCR.

Grandi, as well as a host of humanitarian leaders, have long cited the contrasting reactions of many European countries to the Syrian and Ukrainian refugee crises as evidence of “double standards.”

European countries positioned on the edges of the continent — including Spain, Greece, Croatia and Italy — have engaged, openly or secretly, in violent pushback policies to turn back refugees at their borders, according to a series of reports published by Amnesty International in recent years.

In the years preceding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many of the countries neighboring the latter had complained of an inability to shoulder the burden of hosting refugees from outside Europe, Mazou said.

But following the outbreak of the war, these countries “received several million” Ukrainian refugees, in a sign that “people do realize that it’s their responsibility to provide asylum” in a crisis, he added.

“That’s something that we must all underline,” Mazou said. “Not only the high commissioner, but a number of humanitarian leaders have stressed the importance of supporting countries regardless of where they’re located, to make sure that the assistance that’s required is provided.”

With the UNHCR drawing on all its resources to meet the mounting demands of refugees fleeing crises around the world, Mazou highlighted international support as the backbone of his agency’s operations.  

“We have to put in place mechanisms, and to respond to the needs of the people,” he said. “We continue to appeal to make sure that the needs of all refugees around the world are responded to, and that we’re in the position of mobilizing for all countries around the world and not just one crisis.”


Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day

Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day
Updated 37 sec ago
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Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day

Syria fights ‘catastrophic’ fires for fourth day
DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities said some 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of forest had “turned to ash” in wildfires as firefighters from neighboring Jordan arrived Sunday to battle a fourth day of blazes in the province of Latakia.
Syrian emergency workers have faced tough conditions including high temperatures, strong winds, rugged mountainous terrain in the coastal province and the danger of explosive war remnants, in a country worn down by years of conflict and economic crisis.
An AFP correspondent in Latakia’s Rabiaa region saw emergency workers battling a blaze near homes, while vast swathes of forest and olive groves were burnt and smoke filled the air over a long distance.
Jordanian civil defense teams crossed into Syria on Sunday morning, the Syrian ministry for emergencies and disaster management said, after Turkiye sent assistance a day earlier.
Minister Raed Al-Saleh said on X that “hundreds of thousands of forest trees over an estimated area of around 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) in 28 locations have turned to ash.”
He later decried “a real environmental disaster” at a press conference in the province.
More than 80 teams including civil defense personnel have been helping battle the blaze, he said, noting local organizations and residents were also providing assistance, in addition to teams and firefighting aircraft from neighboring Jordan and Turkiye.
Saleh said it would take days to declare the blazes completely extinguished once the fire was brought under control, calling them “catastrophic.”
Syria’s defense ministry said the air force was assisting, publishing images of a helicopter collecting and dropping water.
Jordan’s public security directorate said in a statement that the “specialized firefighting teams from the civil defense... have been provided with all the modern equipment and machinery necessary to carry out their duties to the fullest extent.”
Swathes of forested area and farmland have burnt and some villages evacuated as the fires raged including near the Turkish border.
The United Nations deputy envoy to Syria Najat Rochdi said in a statement Sunday on X that Damascus “needs more international assistance” to face the fires.
A statement from the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Syria Adam Abdelmoula said that “UN teams are on the ground conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.”
Nearly seven months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that ravaged the country’s economy, infrastructure and public services.
With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves and low rainfall.
In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.”

UK foreign secretary discusses ties with Kuwaiti crown prince, prime minister

UK foreign secretary discusses ties with Kuwaiti crown prince, prime minister
Updated 06 July 2025
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UK foreign secretary discusses ties with Kuwaiti crown prince, prime minister

UK foreign secretary discusses ties with Kuwaiti crown prince, prime minister
  • David Lammy, Kuwaiti officials discussed ways to enhance relations between London and Kuwait
  • Both countries’ respective ambassadors attended meetings, alongside other officials

LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met separately with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah during his visit to Kuwait.

Lammy and the Kuwaiti officials discussed on Sunday ways to enhance relations between London and Kuwait.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to the UK Bader Al-Munaikh, UK Ambassador to Kuwait Belinda Lewis, Kuwait’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Europe Sadeq Marafi, and Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Al-Yahya attended the meetings.

Lammy visited the Middle East over the weekend, landing first in Syria and meeting with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani. The foreign secretary is the first British official to visit Damascus in 14 years.


Palestinian armed group in Gaza admits to coordination with Israel

A Palestinian, wounded by Israeli fire while seeking aid on Friday, receives treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
A Palestinian, wounded by Israeli fire while seeking aid on Friday, receives treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Updated 06 July 2025
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Palestinian armed group in Gaza admits to coordination with Israel

A Palestinian, wounded by Israeli fire while seeking aid on Friday, receives treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
  • Yasser Abu Shabab said his group, known as the Popular Forces, was able to move freely in zones under Israeli military control
  • European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes Abu Shabab as head of a criminal gang in Rafah that has been suspected of looting aid trucks

GAZA CITY: The head of a Palestinian armed group opposed to Hamas and accused of aid looting in the Gaza Strip confirmed Sunday it was coordinating with the Israeli military in an interview with public radio.

Yasser Abu Shabab said his group, known as the Popular Forces, was able to move freely in zones under Israeli military control and communicated their operations beforehand.

“We keep them informed, but we carry out the military actions on our own,” he said in an interview with Makan, Israel’s Arabic-language public radio broadcaster.

Abu Shabab also said his group had received “logistical and financial support from several parties,” without mentioning Israel directly.

“There are things we can’t talk about publicly.”

Last month, the Israeli authorities admitted to providing support to armed Palestinian groups opposed to Hamas in Gaza, without naming them, though local media reports identified the group in question as Abu Shabab’s.

“It is only good, it is saving lives of Israeli soldiers,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, however, accused the government of “giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons.”

The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes Abu Shabab as the head of a criminal gang in the Rafah region of southern Gaza that has been suspected of looting aid trucks.

Abu Shabab did not address the accusation in his radio interview, and stressed that the only goal of his militia was to defeat Hamas and to provide an alternative for governance in the Gaza Strip.

“We do not belong to any ideology or political organization,” Abu Shabab said in the interview, adding that he was seeking to eradicate Hamas’s “injustice” and “corruption.”

“We will continue to fight, no matter the bloodshed,” he added. “Right now, Hamas is dying. They know their end is near.”

Abu Shabab has drawn the ire of Hamas, which has ruled over the Gaza Strip since 2007. On Wednesday, a Hamas military court gave him 10 days to turn himself in to be tried for treason, among other charges.

On Sunday, a coalition of Palestinian clans accused the Popular Forces of “shamelessly collaborating with the enemy.”

“They are rejected by all our people,” the coalition said in a statement.

“We will show no mercy to them or to anyone who follows in their footsteps by aiding the occupation. They will be treated as they deserve to be: traitors and collaborators.”


Abu Dhabi crown prince holds talks with Brazilian president on sidelines of BRICS summit

Abu Dhabi crown prince holds talks with Brazilian president on sidelines of BRICS summit
Updated 06 July 2025
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Abu Dhabi crown prince holds talks with Brazilian president on sidelines of BRICS summit

Abu Dhabi crown prince holds talks with Brazilian president on sidelines of BRICS summit
  • Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan emphasized that the 50-year bond highlights the UAE and Brazil’s commitment to collaboration
  • Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underscored the strength and depth of the bilateral relations between Abu Dhabi and Brasilia

LONDON: Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussed ways to strengthen ties between the UAE and Brazil during a meeting on the sidelines of the 17th BRICS Summit.

Sheikh Khaled emphasized the UAE’s pride in its strategic relationship with Brazil, a pioneering partnership built on decades of cooperation, mutual respect, and shared interests, the Emirates News Agency reported.

He stressed that the 50-year bond highlights both nations’ commitment to collaboration and sustainable development.

BRICS was founded in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa became a member the following year, and in late 2023 Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE accepted invitations to join.

Rio de Janeiro is hosting the 17th edition of the summit on Sunday and Monday.

The Brazilian president underscored the strength and depth of the bilateral relations between his country and the UAE.

The meeting was attended by several Emirati officials, including Reem Al-Hashimy, minister of state for international cooperation; Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, minister of foreign trade; and UAE Ambassador to Brazil Saleh Ahmad Salem Alsuwaidi.


Influential far-right minister lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza war policy

Influential far-right minister lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza war policy
Updated 06 July 2025
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Influential far-right minister lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza war policy

Influential far-right minister lashes out at Netanyahu over Gaza war policy
  • Bezalel Smotrich’s comments come a day before Israeli leader is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.

Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.

.”.. the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime.”

The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.

The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.

Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to UN estimates.

Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.

Pressure

Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.

Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.

The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.

The war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war, a humanitarian crisis has unfolded, and much of the territory lies in ruins.