Combating Illegal Migration News Today

Europe-bound Syrian migrants travel via eastern Libya on a carrier that was recently taken off EU sanctions list. The Libyan National Army’s Military Investment Authority pockets fees to issue security clearances and allows them into the country.

Libya: United Nations (UN) experts alarmed at reports of trafficking in persons, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and torture of migrants and refugees

GENEVA (21 July 2023) – UN experts* expressed serious concern about the situation of migrants and refugees in Libya who were allegedly held captive and tortured, subsequently released by Libyan authorities and transferred to unknown places of detention, where they are reportedly at risk of further serious human rights violations, including acts tantamount to enforced disappearance.

During the second phase of the first Saudi expansion of the Grand Mosque (1381 AH - 1961 AD to 1388 AH - 1968 AD), the rest of the vaults were built and roofed, while the construction of the ground floor for all the corridors was completed. Three minarets were also constructed, one next to Al-Safa, and two next to King Abdul Aziz Gate. The arch of Bani Shaybah Gate was removed from the mosque. This phase saw the accession to power of King Faisal, on Jumada II 27, 1384 AH, corresponding to Novemb...

Hundreds gathered in the Sudanese capital Khartoum Wednesday to pray for peace on the first day of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, but gunfire shattered the brief respite, residents said. Witnesses in the capital's twin city of Omdurman late Wednesday reported air strikes and anti-aircraft fire, despite separate unilateral truces announced by the warring generals for the holiday. "The country can't take any more of this," Khartoum resident Kazem Abdel Baqi told AFP earlier in...

Few places in Jerusalem speak of the larger conflict being waged over the city more than the apartment of 68-year-old Nora Ghaith-Sub Laban. As the last remaining Palestinians in a building filled with Israeli settlers, the Ghaith-Sub Labans have battled Israeli attempts to evict them from their Old City home for over 45 years.

Sudan's war has brought painful memories back to the troubled Darfur region where armed groups are accused of ethnically targeting civilians, sparking fears of a new "genocide". "They burned every house in the neighborhood and killed my brother in front of me," recounted one survivor, Inaam, who fled the western region for neighboring Chad. Her harrowing escape took her through streets "littered with bodies", said the human rights defender who, like others inte...

For many Sudanese struggling to survive the war, a taste of the sheep Muslims traditionally sacrifice for the feast of Eid al-Adha is but a distant memory. The conflict, now in its third month, has brought death and turmoil and displaced millions in the country that was already poverty-stricken before the fighting erupted. Like many Khartoum residents, Hanan Adam fled with her six children when the battles broke out in mid-April between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Russian mercenary group Wagner has been seen for years as an armed extension of Moscow's influence in Syria and Africa, but these overseas operations have now been called into question by its leader's failed revolt against the Kremlin. After calling off his troops' advance toward Moscow, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin is expected to go into exile in Belarus.

How do "international networks" bring African children to be trafficked and smuggled into Europe? Big human traffickers hide behind "false names" to round up boys from Africa and Asia for gangs to use them in forced labor, prostitution, and armed groups. Asharq Al-Awsat is tracking cross-border smuggling routes.