Will sanctions relief unlock Syria’s potential, spur economic recovery?

Experts argue the interim government and international partners can still take steps to foster investment and recovery. (AFP)(AFP)
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Updated 25 May 2025
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Will sanctions relief unlock Syria’s potential, spur economic recovery?

  • With US and EU restrictions easing and the diaspora mobilizing, Syria’s entrepreneurs are cautiously eyeing a path to renewal
  • The future may depend less on oil, and more on whether people believe it is safe to come home — and stay, analysts say

LONDON: In a major shift in US foreign policy, President Donald Trump recently pledged to lift sanctions on Syria — a move that has sparked cautious optimism among Syrian entrepreneurs eyeing a long-awaited path to economic recovery after years of war and isolation.

The announcement was quickly followed by a widely publicized meeting in Riyadh on May 14 between Trump and Syria’s interim president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, ahead of a broader summit of Gulf leaders during Trump’s regional tour, signaling a renewed emphasis on diplomatic engagement with Damascus.

Hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the meeting marked the most significant international overture to Syria since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December.

It also marked the first meeting between a sitting US president and a Syrian head of state in more than 20 years.




Sanctions imposed on the Assad regime and inherited by Al-Sharaa’s government targeted key sectors such as banking, transport and energy. (AFP)

As a follow-up to Trump’s announcement, the US government on Saturday issued a six-month waiver of key Caesar Act sanctions, authorizing transactions with Syria’s interim government, central bank, and state firms. The move also clears the way for investment in energy, water, and infrastructure to support humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

Significantly, the EU announced on May 20 that it would follow the US lead and lift its own remaining sanctions on Syria. “We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas posted on X.

Analysts believe that these developments indicate a thaw in relations, opening the door to future cooperation, particularly in rebuilding Syria’s war-ravaged economy.

“Lifting sanctions is a necessary and critical measure,” Syrian economic adviser Humam Aljazaeri told Arab News, highlighting that a key sector poised to benefit is energy, particularly electricity generation.

Syria’s energy infrastructure has been decimated by more than a decade of civil war and sanctions.

Before the conflict erupted in 2011, Syria produced about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly half of which was exported, according to the Alma Research and Education Center.




Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, center, hosted a meeting between Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, right, and US President Donald Trump in Riyadh. (SPA)

Since then, oil and gas output has plunged by more than 80 percent, as fields, refineries and pipelines were destroyed or seized by warring factions, according to World Bank data.

Power generation dropped 56 percent between 2011 and 2015, the local newspaper Al-Watan reported at the time. Today, daily blackouts — sometimes lasting 20 hours — are a grim feature of life across Syria.

Beyond energy, Aljazaeri highlighted the humanitarian sector as another area in urgent need of relief. If sanctions are lifted, Syria “would enjoy a frictionless flow of programs through various UN and other international agencies,” he said.

That relief cannot come soon enough. The UN estimates that 16.7 million Syrians — roughly three-quarters of the population — will require humanitarian aid in 2025. Syria is now the world’s fourth most food-insecure country, with 14.5 million people in need of nutritional support.

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Despite the scale of need, international funding remains woefully short. As of late February, only 10 percent of the $1.2 billion required for early 2025 humanitarian operations had been secured, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Even when funds are available, getting aid to those in need is an ongoing logistical challenge. Continued conflict, insecurity and decimated infrastructure — especially in the hard-hit northern and northeastern regions — make delivery slow and difficult.

Conditions are worsening. Severe drought this year threatens to wipe out up to 75 percent of Syria’s wheat crop, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, placing millions at even greater risk of hunger.




Syria is now the world’s fourth most food-insecure country, with 14.5 million people in need of nutritional support. (AFP)

The crisis is further compounded by the return of about 1.2 million displaced Syrians between December and early 2025. Many have returned to towns and villages in ruins, overwhelming humanitarian services.

While sectors such as transport and trade could see quick wins if sanctions are eased, Aljazaeri cautioned that a full recovery would require time and clearer international policy direction.

“Sectors like infrastructure, health, education and general business are not expected to move quickly in the interim period,” he said. “These areas need a clearer international policy on sanctions and a more stable investment climate.”

Lifting sanctions is a necessary and critical measure

Humam Aljazaeri, Syrian economic adviser

For now, Aljazaeri said, the US is expected to offer only limited relief — temporary exemptions and executive licenses for 180 days — before reassessing its stance, potentially through a broader congressional review.

“This piecemeal approach won’t provide enough assurance for serious investors,” he said. “Against this backdrop, it is important to see how the government will act in the coming weeks and months to justify further international integration and a more sustainable lifting of sanctions.”

Rebuilding Syria could cost between $400 billion and $600 billion, according to Lebanese economist Nasser Saidi.




Syria’s energy infrastructure has been decimated by more than a decade of civil war and sanctions. (AFP)

Syria’s natural resources and its regional pipeline network could attract investors, he wrote in an essay for Arabian Gulf Business Insight magazine.

However, he emphasized that tapping this potential would require dismantling the country’s “corrupt, politically controlled, state-owned enterprises and government-related entities,” and reviving a vibrant private sector.

Some positive steps, however small, are already underway. The Karam Shaar Advisory, a New Zealand-based consulting firm, noted that 97 new limited liability companies were registered in Syria between Assad’s fall in December and March 26.

While the firm called it “a modest rise in formal company formation,” it said that economic stagnation persists.

Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild shattered infrastructure are gaining traction, particularly with the Syrian diaspora poised to play a role.

INNUMBERS

• 84% Syria’s GDP contraction between 2010 and 2023.

• $400–$600bn Syria’s projected reconstruction and redevelopment needs.

(Sources: World Bank & Nasser Saidi & Associates)

“Conversations are underway about involving all stakeholders to create enabling frameworks,” Mohamed Ghazal, managing director of Startup Syria, a community-led initiative supporting Syrian entrepreneurs, told Arab News.

Government buy-in will be essential. “Think tanks and task forces are working on this, but strong cooperation from the Syrian government is crucial — and there are promising signs in this direction,” Ghazal said.

He highlighted the diaspora’s potential to drive investment, skills transfer and community development. “There is a growing recognition that the Syrian diaspora can significantly contribute to ecosystem-building,” he said.

Still, many in the diaspora remain cautious. Ghazal said that the tipping point for engagement included sustainable peace, rule of law, property rights, improved governance, reduced corruption, investment incentives, infrastructure reconstruction and a coordinated international approach.

Aljazaeri echoed those concerns, noting that lifting sanctions alone would not stabilize Syria or improve living conditions. “Issues related to law and order, reconciliation and good policies are detrimental,” he said.

“In our view, it is not inflation, corruption, or cronyism that would pose a challenge at this stage, rather ‘right economics’ or the lack of it. The Syrian administration needs to demonstrate competency in running the economy and applying the necessary reforms.

“It has the power, maybe also the will, but must have the capabilities to do the right thing,” he said, stressing that “to do that, it needs to engage more and widen the pool of dialogue and trust.”




Despite the optimism, the path ahead remains fraught with dangers. (AFP)

However, the path ahead remains fraught with dangers. Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, warned on Wednesday of “the real dangers of renewed conflict and deeper fragmentation” in the war-torn country.

Since Assad’s fall, Syria has seen new waves of violence, particularly along the coast, where his Alawite sect is concentrated. Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Assad, now controls much of the area, which has been wracked by sectarian violence.

Reports of mass executions, looting and arson have heightened fears of renewed sectarian conflict. Al-Sharaa’s government is reportedly struggling to assert control, facing clashes with Druze in the south and standoffs with Kurds in the northeast.

“The Al-Sharaa government has two options in Syria; bring the minorities into government in a meaningful way so they feel invested in the future of the country and believe that they can protect themselves from within the state, or to suppress the minorities and force their compliance,” Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told Arab News.

FASTFACTS

• By 2023, the Syrian pound had collapsed 300-fold from SYP47 per dollar in 2011 to over SYP14,000. 

• Hack for Syria, a hybrid event held Feb. 22–28, drew 5,500 participants from Syria and abroad.

“So far, Al-Sharaa has been using both methods. With the Alawites, he has favored the second method — force. With the Druze and Kurds, he has offered deals.”

Despite the instability, experts argue the interim government and international partners can still take steps to foster investment and recovery.

“Temporarily unlocking frozen financial assets could provide a lifeline,” Aljazaeri said. “How those resources are used will define the government’s direction.”

Ghazal said that capital is urgently needed to fuel entrepreneurship. “Transparent financial channels, encouragement of diaspora investment and attraction of impact investors could bring necessary seed and growth capital,” he said.

 

He noted Syria’s growing startup scene, with more than 200 active ventures. Events such as the “Hack for Syria” hackathon, held from Feb. 22–28, showcased the country’s talent and drive to solve local problems.

“However, these entrepreneurs need support to scale and access global opportunities,” he said.

Sanctions imposed on the Assad regime and inherited by Al-Sharaa’s government targeted key sectors such as banking, transport and energy.

Syria’s gross domestic product plunged from $67.5 billion in 2011 to about $21 billion in 2024, according to the World Bank.




The diaspora has a potential to drive investment, skills transfer and community development. (AFP)

The sanctions cut Syria off from the global financial system, froze government assets and strangled trade — especially in oil — crippling state revenues and economic activity.

This contributed to widespread poverty, with more than 90 percent of Syrians forced below the poverty line.

As Syria emerges from more than a decade of turmoil, the lifting of US and EU sanctions offers a rare economic lifeline — and the possibility of a new chapter in its complex relationship with the West.

 


Syria announces ceasefire after sectarian clashes, but more fighting and abuse alleged

Updated 6 sec ago
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Syria announces ceasefire after sectarian clashes, but more fighting and abuse alleged

  • Tuesday’s announcement follows deadly sectarian clashes between Druze factions and Sunni Bedouin tribes that killed over 30 people
  • That’s according to Syria’s Interior Ministry. However, fighting and allegations of civilian abuses by security forces continue
BUSRA AL-HARIR: Syria ‘s defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, saying it was protecting the Druze minority.
The latest escalation under Syria’s new leaders began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a center of the Druze community.
Syrian government forces, sent to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups.
A ceasefire announcement
On Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said an agreement was struck with the city’s “notables and dignitaries” and that government forces would “respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups.”
However, scattered clashes continued after his announcement — as did allegations that security forces had committed violations against civilians.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.
Among them were 21 people killed in “field executions” by government forces, including 12 men in a rest house in the city of Sweida, it said. It did not say how many of the dead were civilians and also cited reports of members of the security forces looting and setting homes on fire.
Syrian interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said in a statement that he had tasked authorities with “taking immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed a transgression or abuse, regardless of their rank or position.”
Associated Press journalists in Sweida province saw forces at a government checkpoint searching cars and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers.
Israel’s involvement draws pushback
Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces’ convoys heading into the provincial capital of Sweida and in other areas of southern Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sought to “prevent the Syrian regime from harming” the Druze religious minority “and to ensure disarmament in the area adjacent to our borders with Syria.” In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces.
Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called on X for Al-Sharaa to be “eliminated without delay.”
A soldier’s story
Manhal Yasser Al-Gor, of the Interior Ministry forces, was being treated for shrapnel wounds at a local hospital after an Israeli strike hit his convoy.
‘We were entering Sweida to secure the civilians and prevent looting. I was on an armored personnel carrier when the Israeli drone hit us,” he said, adding that there were “many casualties.”
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed “several innocent civilians” as well as soldiers, and called them “a reprehensible example of ongoing aggression and external interference” in Syria’s internal matters.
It said the Syrian state is committed to protecting the Druze, “who form an integral part of the national identity and united Syrian social fabric.”
Suspicion over Syria’s new government
Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria’s new leaders since Al-Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, saying it doesn’t want militants near its borders. Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria.
Earlier Tuesday, religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria called for armed factions that have been clashing with government forces to surrender their weapons and cooperate with authorities. One of the main Druze spiritual leaders later released a video statement retracting the call.
Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, who has been opposed to the government in Damascus, said in the video that the initial Druze leaders’ statement had been issued after an agreement with the authorities in Damascus but that “they broke the promise and continued the indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians.”
“We are being subjected to a total war of annihilation,” he claimed, without offering evidence.
Some videos on social media showed armed fighters with Druze captives, beating them and, in some cases, forcibly shaving men’s moustaches.
Sectarian and revenge attacks
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Since Assad’s fall, clashes have broken out several times between forces loyal to the new Syrian government and Druze fighters.
The latest fighting has raised fears of more sectarian violence. In March, an ambush on government forces by Assad loyalists in another part of Syria triggered days of sectarian and revenge attacks. Hundreds of civilians were killed, most of them members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect. A commission was formed to investigate the attacks but no findings have been made public.
The videos and reports of soldiers’ violations spurred outrage and protests by Druze communities in neighboring Lebanon, northern Israel and in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, where the Israeli military said dozens of protesters had crossed the border into Syrian territory.
The violence drew international concern. The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called the violence “worrisome on all sides” in a post on.
“We are attempting to come to a peaceful, inclusive outcome for Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government and Israeli forces,” he said.

UN says 875 Palestinians have been killed near Gaza aid sites

Updated 16 July 2025
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UN says 875 Palestinians have been killed near Gaza aid sites

  • The United Nations has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards

GENEVA: The UN rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.
The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.
The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.
The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.
“The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
The United Nations has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
The GHF said on Tuesday it had delivered more than 75 million meals to Gaza Palestinians since the end of May, and that other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by “hungry civilian communities.” 

 


UN finds rising child malnutrition in Gaza, where officials say Israeli strikes kill 93 people

Updated 16 July 2025
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UN finds rising child malnutrition in Gaza, where officials say Israeli strikes kill 93 people

  • Strike in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa district Monday evening kills 19 members of same family
  • Gaza’s Health Ministry says bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip have doubled since Israel sharply restricted the entry of food in March, the UN said Tuesday. New Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, according to health officials.
Hunger has been rising among Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians since Israel broke a ceasefire in March to resume the war and banned all food and other supplies from entering Gaza, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. It slightly eased the blockade in late May, allowing in a trickle of aid.

Zainab Abu Haleeb, a five-month-old Palestinian girl diagnosed with malnutrition, according to medics, lies on a bed as she receives treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip July 15, 2025. (REUTERS)

UNRWA, the main UN agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza, said it had screened nearly 16,000 children under age 5 at its clinics in June and found 10.2 percent of them were acutely malnourished. By comparison, in March, 5.5 percent of the nearly 15,000 children it screened were malnourished.
New airstrikes kill several families
One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp killed a 68-year-old Hamas member of the Palestinian legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from the heavily damaged Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa district on Monday evening and killed 19 members of the family living inside, according to Shifa Hospital. The dead included eight women and six children. A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strikes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a daily report Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, along with 278 wounded. It did not specify the total number of women and children among the dead.
The Hamas politician killed in a strike early Tuesday, Mohammed Faraj Al-Ghoul, was a member of the bloc of representatives from the group that won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last national elections, held in 2006.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. But daily, it hits homes and shelters where people are living without warning or explanation of the target.
Malnutrition grows
UNICEF, which screens children separately from UNRWA, also reported a marked increase in malnutrition cases. It said this week its clinics had documented 5,870 cases of malnutrition among children in June, the fourth straight month of increases and more than double the around 2,000 cases it documented in February.
Experts have warned of famine since Israel tightened its lengthy blockade in March.
Israel has allowed an average of 69 trucks a day carrying supplies, including food, since it eased the blockade in May, according to the latest figures from COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid. That is far below the hundreds of trucks a day the UN says are needed to sustain Gaza’s population.
On Tuesday, COGAT blamed the UN for failing to distribute aid, saying in a post on X that thousands of pallets of supplies were inside Gaza waiting to be picked up by UN trucks. The UN says it has struggled to pick up and distribute aid because of Israeli military restrictions on its movements and the breakdown in law and order.
Israel has also let in food for distribution by an American contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF says it has distributed food boxes with the equivalent of more than 70 million meals since late May at the four centers it runs in the Rafah area of southern Gaza and in central Gaza.
More than 840 Palestinians have been killed and more than 5,600 others wounded in shootings as they walk for hours trying to reach the GHF centers, according to the Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli forces open fire with barrages of live ammunition to control crowds on the roads to the GHF centers, which are located in military-controlled zones.
The military says it has fired warning shots at people it says have approached its forces in a suspicious manner. GHF says no shootings have taken place in or immediately around its distribution sites.
No breakthrough in ceasefire efforts
The latest attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.
Israel has killed more than 58,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 139,000 others in its retaliation campaign since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Just over half the dead are women and children, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its attack 21 month ago, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, and the militants are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.
US calls for probe into killing of Palestinian-American
In a separate development, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called on Israel to investigate the killing of a 20-year-old Palestinian-American whose family said was beaten to death by Jewish settlers over the weekend in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“There must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act,” Huckabee wrote on X.
Seifeddin Musalat, born in Florida, and a local friend were killed Friday. Musalat was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on his family’s land, his cousin Diana Halum told reporters. The family had called on the US State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable.
The Israeli military said a confrontation erupted after Palestinians hurled stones at Israelis in the area earlier in the day, lightly wounding two people.
Huckabee, like many in the Trump administration, is a strong supporter of Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal by most of the international community and seen by the Palestinians as a major obstacle to peace.
Israel strikes Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
Also on Tuesday, Israel launched a series of strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, targeting what the military said were compounds of the Hezbollah militant group.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that one of the strikes hit a Syrian refugee camp, killing seven Syrians. Altogether, the strikes killed 12 people and wounded eight, it said. Hezbollah said one of the strikes hit a rig used to drill water wells.
Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon since a US-brokered ceasefire agreement nominally brought an end to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. Some 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon during the war and more than 250 since the ceasefire.

 


UN-backed experts focusing on Palestinian rights quit

Updated 16 July 2025
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UN-backed experts focusing on Palestinian rights quit

  • Council spokesman Pascal Sim said the move marked the first joint resignations of Commission of Inquiry members since the council was founded in 2006

GENEVA: A team of three independent experts working for the UN’s top human rights body with a focus on Israel and Palestinian areas say they are resigning, citing personal reasons and a need for change, in the panel’s first such group resignation.
The resignations, announced Monday by the UN-backed Human Rights Council that set up the team, come as violence continues in Palestinian areas with few signs of letup in the Israeli military campaign against Hamas and other militants behind the Oct. 7 attacks.
The Israeli government has repeatedly criticized the panel of experts, known as the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, and denied their repeated requests to travel to the region or otherwise cooperate with the team.
Council spokesman Pascal Sim said the move marked the first joint resignations of Commission of Inquiry members since the council was founded in 2006. 
The team said in a statement that the resignations had “absolutely nothing to do with any external event or pressure.”
Navi Pillay, 83, a former UN human rights chief who has led the commission for the last four years, said in a letter to the council president that she was resigning effective Nov. 3 because of “age, medical issues and the weight of several other commitments.”    

 


Survivors bury dead after RSF attack devastates Sudan village

Updated 15 July 2025
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Survivors bury dead after RSF attack devastates Sudan village

  • The Emergency Lawyers reported on Monday that nearly 300 people were killed in North Kordofan villages
  • The area is home to several armed tribes that have refused to pledge allegiance to the RSF

PORT SUDAN: It took a full day for the villagers of Shaq Al-Nom, in Sudan’s North Kordofan state, to bury their dead after an attack by paramilitary fighters that left the village in ruins, a survivor told AFP on Tuesday.

The Saturday attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — the paramilitary force at war with the regular army since April 2023 — was part of a series of raids in recent days on villages in North Kordofan, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum.

“On Sunday, we collected the bodies from the village streets and inside the houses, and we buried 200 bodies,” Saleh Abdel Rahim, 34, told AFP.

The Emergency Lawyers, a group that documents atrocities by both sides in the war, reported on Monday that nearly 300 people were killed in North Kordofan villages between Saturday and Sunday.

Tolls are nearly impossible to independently verify in Sudan, with many medical facilities forced out of service and limited media access.

“It was indescribable,” Abdel Rahim said, using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation because he had fled to an area close to RSF positions.

“Under artillery shelling, houses burned with their families inside,” he told AFP via satellite Internet connection to circumvent a communications blackout.

Since it began, the war has killed tens of thousands and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, with 14 million Sudanese currently displaced inside the country and across borders.

The Emergency Lawyers reported on Monday that paramilitaries had killed women and children, abducted civilians and looted livestock in the villages surrounding the RSF-controlled city of Bara.

In Shaq Al-Nom, “RSF vehicles arrived in the village, in an attempt to storm it” on Saturday under a hail of machine gun fire and drone strikes, according to Abdel Rahim.

“We had no choice but to resist in defense,” he said, adding that “all of the villagers of the Bara countryside have fled.”

The area is home to several armed tribes that have refused to pledge allegiance to the RSF.

North Kordofan, key to the RSF’s fuel smuggling route via Libya, has been an important battleground between the army and the paramilitaries for months.

The RSF has tried to encircle the North Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid — the only road link between Khartoum and the vast western region of Darfur, which the RSF has all but conquered.

It has been unable, however, to seize the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher despite an ongoing siege for more than a year.

Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair told AFP that “they want to consolidate that road that links El-Fasher to El-Obeid and other parts of Kordofan, so effectively they’re in a race against time to consolidate in the west before the rains come.”

Sudan’s rainy season, which peaks in August, renders much of the country’s roads inaccessible, making it impossible for either side to capture territory until the floods start clearing in September.