After the military issued forced displacement orders to residents of several southern Lebanoni towns, Israeli warplanes on Wednesday destroyed a number of buildings. Israel is pursuing sites that it claims are Hezbollah.
Published On 19 Nov 2025
Last week, 42 migrants were presumed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after their dinghy set sail off the Libyan coast.
At least 29 of them were Sudanese refugees who fled the catastrophic civil war in their country between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army known as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
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Since erupting in April 2023, the Sudan war has caused the largest displacement crisis in the world.
Nearly 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes and more than four million have fled to neighbouring countries, such as Chad, Egypt and Libya.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 86, 000 Sudanese nationals are registered as asylum seekers or refugees in Libya – a 60, 000 uptick compared with before the war.
As more Sudanese attempt to reach Europe from Libya, this is everything you need to know about their plight.
From April 2023 to January 2024, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) registered nearly 10, 000 asylum applications from Sudanese nationals across the European Union – nearly twice as high as the previous year.
While figures for 2025 have not yet been published, the growing number of Sudanese nationals arriving in Libya suggests that more people are aiming to reach Europe as their final destination.
“I hope to soon take the journey across the sea to Europe”, Hamid, a Sudanese refugee from Khartoum, told Al Jazeera from Libya, where he arrived earlier this year.
“Hopefully, God will make the journey safe”, he added with resignation.
Only a minority of the 10, 000 Sudanese asylum seekers have been granted protection so far, with the rest either rejected or waiting for a ruling.
In general, life has not been easy for many young Sudanese men after reaching Europe.
Some EU states are using anti-smuggling laws to criminalise young men for steering the small and overcrowded boats that smugglers put them in.
In Greece, more than 200 Sudanese minors and young men between the ages of 15 and 21 are facing smuggling charges.
Some have already been convicted and sentenced to decades or life in prison, pushing their lawyers to appeal.
Migration experts have long explained that vulnerable youth often agree to “steer” boats in exchange for a discounted price from smugglers, who often charge thousands of dollars from destitute asylum seekers looking for safety.
The Nomadic “Arab” government-linked Popular Defence Forces, known as the Janjaweed militias, that spearheaded a brutal campaign in the far western region of Darfur at the turn of the millennium, have created the RSF, which has committed countless atrocities throughout the war.
Later, those militias were accused of committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against primarily sedentary “non-Arab” communities.
According to a number of legal scholars and human rights organizations, the atrocities may have been equivalent to genocide.
However, Sudan’s then-President Omar al-Bashir converted many of the Popular Defense Forces militias into the RSF in 2013.
The RSF quickly touted itself as a potential partner in the Sahel and Horn of Africa’s “manage migration” mission in a bid to gain international legitimacy.
The “Khartoum Process,” an initiative that increased cooperation between the EU and East African countries to combat irregular migration, was announced by the EU in 2014.
Over the course of five years, Sudan received about $200 million in this endeavor.
Suliman Baldo, a researcher in Sudan, discovered that some of this money had been used to improve the judiciary and law enforcement, and that it may have been used to fund the RSF.
The EU has long denied that any entity provided funding for the RSF.
The EU suspended all migration cooperation after the Sudanese security forces, including the RSF, killed more than 120 pro-democracy protesters in Khartoum on June 3.
The western Darfur region was described as “an absolute horror show,” according to Tom Fletcher, who recently wrapped up a trip there.
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In a campaign that rights organizations and witnesses claim included widespread sexual violence and kidnappings, the RSF seized control of the state’s capital, El-Fasher, in late October.
In a video, Fletcher stated, “I spent a week in Darfur, which is now the epicenter of human suffering in the world.”
According to the evaluations of numerous survivors, El-Fasher is essentially a crime location. We need to stop deliberate attacks on civilians and bring these crimes to justice, as I’ve heard so many stories of them.
Darfur is a truly terrifying movie.
If the world is prepared to take advantage of it, we have a window of opportunity.
Civilians must be safeguarded. Expanding access is necessary. The flow of weapons must be restricted. pic. Twitter.com/ZKACEMrCf
Fletcher’s remarks come shortly after the UN Human Rights Council ordered an investigation into “atrocities” committed in El-Fasher, which had fallen on October 26 from an 18-month siege.
As the council passed a resolution ordering the investigation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated on Friday that “the international community has a clear duty to act.”
“There was too much pretense, performance, and little action,” the statement read. It must stand up to these atrocities, which are intended to systematically oppress and rule over a whole population.
Any such incidents, according to the RSF, are carried out by rogue actors, the organization claims. However, evidence suggests that the armed group committed numerous mass killings, according to the UN, human rights organizations, and other observers.
Hundreds of thousands of residents of El-Fasher are reportedly trapped and without access to aid, healthcare, and other essential supplies, according to UN officials.
More than 100 000 people have reportedly fled the city to nearby towns and displacement camps since the RSF seized control of El-Fasher from the Sudanese Armed Forces, according to the most recent UN figures.
While American researchers claim satellite images suggest RSF forces are burying bodies in mass graves, survivors have described seeing bodies lining the streets.
The paramilitary group has been expanding its presence eastward into the nearby Kordofan region, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported “intensified air strikes, drone attacks, and heavy troop mobilization since early November.”
According to an update from UNHCR, residents of the towns of Babanousa, Dilling, and Kadugli have been besieged because their access to food, water, and health care is “roast deteriorating.”
The first moments of a gun attack, which involved the murder of at least two people and the kidnapping of the pastor and worshippers, were captured on video from a Nigerian church service. The government of Nigeria has refuted recent US allegations of a “genocide” committed there against Christians.
Published On 19 Nov 2025
A volcano-filled pyroclastic cloud from Indonesia’s Mount Semeru struck a bridge in East Java at the same time as the video captured it. Following Wednesday’s eruption of Java’s tallest mountain, the nation’s volcanology agency raised the alert to its highest level.
Published On 19 Nov 2025