United Nations

UNIFIL says incident first of its kind since Israel and Lebanese-armed group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.

Direct fire from the Israeli military hit the perimeter of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon, the mission said.

In a statement on Wednesday, UNIFIL added that the incident on Tuesday was the first of its kind since Israel and Lebanese-armed group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.

UNIFIL said one of its bases in the village of Kfarchouba in southern Lebanon was hit. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.

“In recent days, UNIFIL has also observed other aggressive behaviour by the [Israeli military] towards peacekeepers performing operational activities in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701,” it said in a post on X, referring to a UN resolution originally adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

UNIFIL is concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) involving UNIFIL personnel and assets near the Blue Line, including yesterday’s incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba.

— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) May 14, 2025

Tuesday’s incident occurred near the Blue Line, a UN-mapped demarcation separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, it added.

Any unauthorised crossing of the Blue Line by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

UNIFIL cited other alleged incidents it blamed on the Israeli army, including being targeted by lasers while it was performing a patrol with the Lebanese army in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras on Tuesday.

“UNIFIL protests all such and we continue to remind all actors of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN assets and premises at all times,” it added.

Volatile ceasefire

Separately on Wednesday, Israel’s military said it killed a Hezbollah fighter in a strike on southern Lebanon.

“Earlier today [Wednesday], the [Israeli military] struck in the area of Qaaqaaiyet El Jisr in southern Lebanon, eliminating a Hezbollah terrorist who held the position of the commander of the Qabrikha area within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation,” a military statement said.

The November ceasefire ended a conflict in which Israel attacked Lebanon by air and invaded the country, devastating vast swaths of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli attack in September.

The ceasefire terms require that neither Hezbollah nor any other armed group have weapons in areas near the border south of the Litani River, which flows into the Mediterranean some 20km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.

They require Israel to withdraw troops from the south and the Lebanese army to deploy into the border region.

Although the truce officially ended hostilities, sporadic cross-border attacks have continued. Israel has regularly broken the truce and carried out air raids across southern Lebanon, also hitting neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah retains strong support.

Israel still occupies five strategic hilltops along the border. While rockets have been fired into Israel from Lebanese territory on two separate occasions, Hezbollah has denied involvement.

Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, has maintained that the group no longer keeps weapons in the border zone, in accordance with the truce.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in intense Israeli attacks across Gaza, including attacks on hospitals and refugee camps. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher says Israel is using mass starvation as a weapon by deliberately blocking aid deliveries.

United Nations agencies are facing an unprecedented financial crisis, with the United States abruptly pulling aid, European contributions shrinking, and global budgets shifting to defence. Deep cuts, mass layoffs and sweeping reforms are under way, jeopardising food, shelter and other aid for millions around the world. How can the UN adapt to survive?

Interior Ministry urges residents to stay home and avoid movement, warning of further instability.

The United Nations has called for urgent de-escalation in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, as rival gunmen exchanged fire in the city’s southern districts after the killing of a powerful militia leader, prompting authorities to impose an emergency lockdown warning.

Residents reported hearing heavy gunfire and explosions across multiple neighbourhoods from about 9pm local time (19:00 GMT), according to journalists on the ground.

Reporting from Libya’s Misrata, Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina said security sources had confirmed the killing of Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, widely known as “Gheniwa”, who is the head of the powerful Stability Support Authority militia.

Gunfire and clashes then consumed several parts of Tripoli.

Al-Kikli was one of the capital’s most influential militia leaders and had recently been involved in disputes with rival armed groups, including factions linked to Misrata.

Traina said that at least six people have been injured, although it remains unclear whether they are security force members or civilians.

“People are angry that every time these armed groups clash, civilians are caught in the crossfire,” he continued, adding that residents are demanding “accountability”.

“When these groups fight and people are killed, no one is held responsible. Locals want justice, and expect the authorities to hold those behind the violence accountable,” he said.

In a statement early on Tuesday, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said it was “alarmed by the unfolding security situation in Tripoli, with intense fighting with heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas”.

UNSMIL added that it “calls on all parties to immediately cease fighting and restore calm, and reminds all parties of their obligations to protect civilians at all times”.

UNSMIL is alarmed by the unfolding security situation in Tripoli, with intense fighting with heavy weaponry in densely populated civilian areas. 
The Mission calls on all parties to immediately cease fighting and restore calm, and reminds all parties of their obligations to… pic.twitter.com/SZ8oKgZ1p8

— UNSMIL (@UNSMILibya) May 12, 2025

UNSMIL voiced support for local mediation efforts, particularly those led by elders and community leaders, emphasising the need to protect civilians amid mounting tensions.

Schools shut, residents told to stay indoors

The Ministry of Internal Affairs urged residents to stay home and avoid movement, warning of further instability. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education suspended classes across Tripoli on Tuesday, citing the deteriorating security situation.

Libyan social media platforms have been flooded with videos and images showing gunfire, plumes of black smoke rising, armed men in the streets and convoys entering the city.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency captured the sound of medium-calibre gunfire in several neighbourhoods, including areas where the Stability Support Authority militia is known to operate.

Several districts have seen what local sources describe as “suspicious military manoeuvres”, with convoys arriving from Az-Zawiyah, Zintan, and Misrata – seen by many as preparations for a possible showdown in the capital.

The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The oil-rich nation has been governed for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of fighter groups and foreign governments.

Port Sudan, el-Fasher, West Kordofan and West Darfur have all seen heavy fighting.

Multiple attacks by Sudan’s armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have struck various locations across the country now in its third year of a civil war.

At least nine civilians, including four children, were killed and seven injured in attacks on Sunday by the RSF in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, according to the Sudanese army.

During a sweep of the city, the SAF killed six RSF members and destroyed three combat vehicles, according to the statement. There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the army report.

El-Fasher is the last major city held by SAF in Darfur. For over a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control it, located more than 800km (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, from the SAF, launching regular attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

In the meantime, Sudan’s civil defence forces announced on Sunday that they have full control over fires that erupted at the main fuel depot and other strategic sites in Port Sudan, the seat of the army-backed government, which has come under daily drone attacks blamed on the RSF over the past week.

The fires caused by a drone strike on the fuel depot on Monday had spread across “warehouses filled with fuel”, the Sudanese army-aligned authorities said, warning of a “potential disaster in the area”.

The Red Sea port city had been seen as a safe haven from the devastating two-year conflict between the SAF and RSF before the drone strikes began on May 4.

The attacks have damaged several key facilities, including the country’s sole international civilian airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station.

On Tuesday, Sudanese authorities accused the RSF of being behind the drone strikes. The RSF has not commented on the allegations.

Port Sudan is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country”, his spokesman said.

Sudan’s army launched air strikes on the RSF in el-Khuwei in West Kordofan state and the state of West Darfur late on Saturday. El-Khuwei was captured by the RSF last week.

Activists and Sudanese accounts shared a video clip on social media showing the Sudanese army and their allied forces announcing that they had regained control over el-Khuwei after battles with the RSF on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency.

Witnesses also reported drone strikes on Sunday, targeting the airport in Atbara, a city in the northern state of River Nile.

The RSF has been battling the SAF for control of Sudan since April 2023. The civil war has killed more than 20,000 people, uprooted 15 million and created what the UN considers the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

US-backed Gaza foundation proposal to keep aid from Hamas, but critics slam bypass of UN, Israeli threat to besieged Palestinian civilians.

The United States has said a new foundation is being established to coordinate aid deliveries to Gaza amid Israel’s two-month blockade.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told reporters on Friday that Israel would not be involved in distributing aid in the enclave but would provide security for the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The plan for the “charitable” and “non-governmental” initiative was announced on Thursday by State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce. Although few details were revealed, it appears part of a US-Israeli push to take over the distribution of aid to prevent it from being diverted by Hamas and other groups.

The AP news agency reported that the newly created GHF had issued a proposal to implement a new aid distribution system, supplanting the current one run by the United Nations and other international aid agencies.

Reports claim that under the proposal, private contractors will be used to secure hubs where Palestinians will be required to gather to collect supplies.

Israel, which has halted the entry of all aid to Gaza since March 2, deepening the humanitarian crisis, has previously said it will not relax the blockade until a system is in place that gives it control over the distribution, insisting that supplies are used to support Hamas.

The intention to sideline the United Nations has drawn sharp criticism from humanitarian organisations, and it is unclear if the GHF proposal will ease those concerns.

Bruce promised further announcements regarding the proposal would follow soon. “I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly,” she said.

The former executive director of the UN World Food Programme David Beasley is in talks with the US, Israel and other key players to head the GHF, reported US outlet Axis, quoting unnamed sources.

Israel’s blockade, implemented about two weeks before it resumed its bombardment of the enclave, has left Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, most of whom have been displaced multiple times, desperately short of food, fuel, and medicine.

Israeli ‘aid plan’

The US plan appears to be designed along similar lines to a proposal approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday.

Under the scheme, four “Secure Distribution Sites” would be constructed, each intended to serve 300,000 people. Palestinians expelled from northern Gaza would be forced to relocate to reach the centres.

The plan was met by sharp criticism from the UN and other aid groups, who noted that Palestinians have regularly come under attack from Israeli forces while collecting aid.

Addressing those concerns, Huckabee on Friday said “the most significant danger is not doing anything” and “people dying from hunger”.

The aid would be “distributed effectively, but also safely”, the US official insisted, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

The decision to bypass international aid agencies comes amid growing alarm over famine-like conditions in the besieged territory, where Israel’s near-total blockade has cut off all essential supplies for almost three months.

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza, with most of the victims being children, as well as the sick and elderly.

UN humanitarian agency spokesperson Jens Laerke condemned the effort to dismantle existing aid structures on Tuesday.

“This appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponise the aid,” he said. “It should be based solely on humanitarian need.”

Israeli Prime Minister says Palestinians in Gaza will be relocated to the south during a ‘new phase’ of intense military operation, with reports suggesting that Israel is considering occupying the entire enclave and taking control of aid distribution.

Top UN court says it does not have authority to rule on case accusing UAE of arming rebel Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.

The top United Nations court has dismissed a case brought by Sudan accusing the United Arab Emirates of breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s deadly civil war.

The International Court of Justice said on Monday that it “manifestly lacked” the authority to continue the proceedings and threw out the case.

While both Sudan and the UAE are signatories to the 1948 genocide convention, the UAE has a carveout to the part of the treaty that gives The Hague-based court jurisdiction.

In March, Sudan asked the ICJ for several orders, known as provisional measures, including telling the UAE to do all it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people in Darfur.

The UAE called the filing a publicity stunt and, in a hearing last month, argued the court had no jurisdiction.

“The case is baseless both legally and factually. The UAE is not involved in the war, and this case is yet another attempt by the Sudanese Armed Forces, one of the warring parties, to distract from its own responsibility,” Reem Ketait, a senior official at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement ahead of the decision.

Sudan descended into a deadly conflict in mid-April 2023 when long-simmering tensions between its military and rival paramilitary forces broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions.

Both the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s military have been accused of abuses.

The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and a US ally, has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF, something it has strenuously denied despite evidence to the contrary.

More to follow.

The United Nations says a funding crisis is putting millions of people in danger.

An internal review of the organisation is also reported to be looking for drastic cuts and reforms.

That’s after its biggest donor, the US, slashed foreign aid.

So, what is next for the UN?

Presenter: 

Neave Barker

Guests: 

Sherine Tadros – Deputy director of advocacy and the UN representative for Amnesty International

Martin Griffiths – Director of Mediation Group International and the former UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs

Stephanie Fillion – Independent correspondent covering the United Nations

Israeli air attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 29 people, Gaza’s civil defence agency said, as the United Nations demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory and allow humanitarian aid to enter.

At least eight people were killed in an Israeli attack that hit the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, according to civil defence official Mohammed el-Mougher.

Four others were killed in an air strike in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, east of Shaaf, and at least 17 more were killed in other assaults across the enclave on Thursday, including a strike on a tent housing displaced civilians near Deir el-Balah.

Witnesses told the AFP news agency about a trail of devastation in Khan Younis. “We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces,” said Ahmed Abu Zarqa. “Enough, we’re tired. We don’t know what to do with our lives any more. We’d rather die than live this kind of life.”

‘Aid should never be a bargaining chip’

The bombardment comes amid dire warnings about the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, which has been under a total Israeli blockade for two months.

Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, said the conditions being imposed by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza are “increasingly incompatible with their continued existence as a group”. He warned that starvation as a method of warfare could amount to a war crime.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a catastrophic level, with Palestinians teetering on the edge of mass starvation, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reporting from the ground.

“Parents have literally started to skip meals and children are now eating spoiled food. Canned food has become a luxury,” he said. Aid-supported bakeries have shut down due to severe shortages, while the World Food Programme has reportedly run out of stock, leaving soup kitchens overwhelmed and barely operational.

“Locals are calling for safe, sustained humanitarian corridors, but say meaningful aid can only enter when Israel permits it,” he added. With the blockade now in its second month, many in Gaza feel they are not just enduring a humanitarian emergency but “an engineered misery” that has unleashed famine on a devastating scale.

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, echoed those concerns on Thursday. “Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip,” he said.

“Blocking aid kills. It inflicts cruel collective punishment.” He criticised an Israeli proposal for private distribution of aid in Gaza, calling it insufficient and not aligned with basic humanitarian principles.

“To the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: lift this brutal blockade. Let humanitarians save lives,” he said.

UN agencies, including UNRWA, said more than 3,000 aid trucks are stuck at the Gaza border, unable to deliver essential supplies. Some one million children are said to be at risk. “The siege must be lifted,” UNRWA said in a post on X.

Qatar slams Israel at ICJ

Israel’s obligations to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are also the subject of a weeklong hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), following a request for an advisory opinion from the UN General Assembly last year.

In the fourth day of hearings on Thursday, Qatar’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Mutlaq al-Qahtani, told the court Israel has continued its “genocidal war against the Palestinian people” and increased settlement efforts in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians in Gaza continue to face “famine-like conditions” as Israel continues to block “any delivery of life-saving aid”, said Mutlaq al-Qahtani

Israel has jeopardised the existence of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is the “backbone” of humanitarian and development assistance in the occupied territory, added the Qatari diplomat.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says contributions have fallen sharply across the board.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that global health is at serious risk as donor support dries up and severe budget cuts loom.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday that the agency is facing “the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory” as contributions fall sharply across the board.

The crisis deepened after the United States, formerly the organisation’s biggest funder, pulled out in January, saying the health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises. The US had previously covered nearly a fifth of the WHO’s budget.

In response, the WHO has revised its financial plans, scaling back its current spending and proposing a 21 percent cut for the 2026-2027 budget cycle.

An internal memo seen by the news agency Reuters outlines a reduction from $5.3bn to $4.2bn as well as significant staff cuts.

“It is of course very painful,” Tedros said, warning that slashing the budget will directly impact healthcare systems around the world, particularly in the most vulnerable countries.

Across-the-board cuts

The WHO plans to make cuts across all levels of its operations, including its headquarters in Geneva and regional and country offices. Some offices in wealthier nations may be closed entirely.

Assistant Director General for Business Operations Raul Thomas said about 25 percent of the WHO’s salary budget remains unfunded over the next two years, adding that it’s too early to say how many roles will be lost because that would depend on staffing levels and locations.

While the US exit added pressure, Tedros pointed to deeper structural problems. The WHO currently relies on a handful of countries for 80 percent of its budget through voluntary contributions. He said the agency must diversify its funding sources to survive long term.

Tedros told reporters he remains in contact with US officials and continues to provide them with information although he has had no direct communication with President Donald Trump.

With a shortfall of nearly $600m this year alone, WHO officials are urging donors to act swiftly. Without renewed support, they warned, the ability to respond to international health emergencies and sustain basic services could collapse.

Palestinian ambulance driver Assaad al-Nassasra, who survived an Israeli attack in March that killed 15 medics, has been released from Israeli detention. He was among at least 10 Palestinian detainees released on Tuesday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Palestinian envoy tells court aid used as a ‘weapon of war’ as Israeli foreign minister condemns ‘delegitimisation’ of his country.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has opened hearings to gauge Israel’s responsibility for the humanitarian crisis engulfing Gaza during its war against Hamas.

The hearings, which began on Monday in The Hague and will run throughout the week, follow a request last year from the United Nations General Assembly asking the court to assess Israel’s responsibility to ensure the provision of essential supplies to Gaza.

Since the start of the war 18 months ago, Israel has blocked aid, leaving Palestinians facing severe shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.

Over the next five days, 38 countries – including the United States, China, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia – will address the 15-judge panel to consider how Israel’s actions comply with international law.

The League of Arab States, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and African Union will also present their arguments about Israel’s obligations to ensure aid reaches Gaza.

‘Weapon of war’

Top Palestinian official Ammar Hijazi told the judges that Israel was blocking aid to use as a “weapon of war”.

No food or medical supplies have reached the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip since March 2 when Israel imposed what has become its longest ever blockade of the territory. It was followed two weeks later by the collapse of a two-month ceasefire.

“These are the facts. Starvation is here. Humanitarian aid is being used as a weapon of war,” Hijazi said.

The ICJ has been tasked by the UN with providing an advisory opinion “on a priority basis and with the utmost urgency”.

While no immediate ruling is expected, the court’s advisory opinion will likely shape future international legal approaches.

However, it is nonbinding, meaning its impact depends on whether states choose to enforce or ignore it.

The ruling “will likely be ignored by Israel, as it has done with other judgements from the ICJ, the International Criminal Court and other international legal bodies,” Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands said, reporting from The Hague.

However, he added that “the tide of pressure is mounting” on Israel as a growing list of international courts have ruled against its actions.

What the UN is saying, Challands noted, is that “Israel basically has a twofold obligation here under international law. It has an obligation as an occupying power in the Palestinian territories … That includes children’s education and welfare systems, medical facilities, including UN-established hospitals, and humanitarian relief operations. If it doesn’t do those things, then it’s in contravention of its obligations under international law.”

“It also has an obligation as a signatory to the UN Charter, because under that, the UN has immunities and exemptions that set it apart from other institutions and other multilateral organisations”, Challands continued.

‘Systematic persecution’

The ICJ will consider the positions of both state actors and international organisations in its deliberations.

However, it will not hear from Israeli representatives directly. Rather, Tel Aviv has submitted written advice and objections.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded to the opening of the hearings by branding them “part of a systematic persecution and delegitimisation of Israel” in comments to reporters in Jerusalem.

“It is not Israel that should be on trial. It is the UN and UNRWA,” he insisted, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel is preventing from delivering aid to Gaza.

US brings the two countries’ foreign ministers together and voices an interest in investment in the DRC’s mineral-rich east.

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have agreed to draft a peace deal by May 2, committing to respect each other’s sovereignty and refraining from providing military support to armed groups.

DRC Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and her Rwandan counterpart Olivier Nduhungirehe signed the agreement in a tense meeting in Washington, DC, on Friday, in which the two did not shake hands.

The deal, part of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in eastern DRC, came two days after Qatar brokered an unexpected truce between the African nations.

The United States brought the two countries’ foreign ministers together and voiced an interest in investment in the DRC’s turbulent but mineral-rich east, where fighting between DRC forces and M23 rebels has intensified since January. The M23 has captured key cities in the east in a campaign that has left thousands dead.

The US and the United Nations experts say M23 is backed by Rwanda, which has repeatedly denied the charge, saying it is defending its security against hostile militias operating in DRC, including remnants of the Hutu-led group behind the 1994 genocide.

Friday’s joint declaration, signed in front of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pledged the two sides would halt military support to non-state armed groups, though it avoided naming M23 directly.

Wagner later said the deal amounted to a commitment for Rwandan forces to withdraw, as outlined in a UN Security Council resolution.

“The good news is there is hope for peace. The real news – peace must be earned, and it will require seriousness, transparency and sincerity,” she said.

Nduhungirehe said US President Donald Trump had made a “real change in the conversation” on DRC, including by drawing a link to efforts to expand US private-sector investment.

Rubio described the agreement as a “win-win”, suggesting it could unlock major US-backed investment in energy and mining – areas where China already has significant influence. A new US envoy to Africa, Massad Boulos, recently visited both nations and urged Kigali to stop backing M23 and pull out troops.

Since 2021, the two sides have agreed to at least six truces that later collapsed. The latest bout of violence since January has killed thousands and raised fears of a wider regional war.

Analyst Martin Ziakwau Lembisa believes the US pressure pushed both governments towards diplomacy.

“If it were up to the M23, they would have advanced further,” he told AFP news agency. “But how far the Americans will really get involved is the whole question.”

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani raised the country’s new three-starred flag at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The move signals the new Syrian government’s push for legitimacy and relief from Western sanctions.

Calls for more aid, support for police amid surge in violence in the Caribbean nation since the end of last year.

Haiti is approaching a “point of no return” as it struggles to respond to escalating gang violence, the top United Nations official in the country has said.

Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN special representative to the Caribbean nation, delivered the warning to the UN Security Council on Monday.

“As gang violence continues to spread to new areas of the country, Haitians experience growing levels of vulnerability and increasing scepticism about the ability of the state to respond to their needs,” Salvador said.

“Haiti could face total chaos,” she said, adding that aid and support for the international force deployed to stem rampant gang violence was desperately needed to avoid that fate.

“I urge you to remain engaged and answer the urgent needs of the country and its people,” she said.

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti faces severe political instability, with swaths of the country under the control of rival armed gangs who carry out widespread murders, rapes and kidnappings.

Salvador cited cholera outbreaks and gender-based violence alongside a deteriorating security situation.

Most recently, Salvador said, gangs seized the city of Mirebalais in central Haiti, freeing more than 500 prisoners during the assault. It was the fifth prison break in under a year and “part of a deliberate effort to entrench dominance, dismantle institutions and instil fear”, she said.

Armed gangs have also been increasingly battling for control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, with violence intensifying as rival gangs attempt to establish new territories, she said.

Meanwhile, a Kenyan-led force authorised by the UN has failed to push back the gangs since the deployment began in June of last year. The mission has about 1,000 police officers from six countries, short of the 2,500 originally planned.

Kenya’s national security adviser, Monica Juma, told the council in a video briefing from Nairobi that the force has entered “a decisive phase of its operation” where gangs are coordinating operations and attacking people and strategic installations, and targeting the political establishment.

While the Haitian police and the multinational force have launched intensive anti-gang operations and achieved some notable progress, especially in securing critical infrastructure, she said a significant gap exists.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also warned that further international support was “required immediately to allow the national police to prevent the capital slipping closer to the brink”, according to an unpublished report seen by the AFP news agency.

The report detailed the surge in violence, with the UN recording 2,660 homicides in the three months since December 2024 – a 41.3 percent increase over the previous quarter.

But the report also pointed to a high civilian toll in efforts to counter the gangs.

During the period, anti-gang operations resulted in 702 people killed, with 21 percent estimated to be innocent civilians, the report said.

There was also an alarming increase in gender-based violence, with 347 incidents reported in the five months to February 2025, according to the UN data.

Collective rape was the most common violation, accounting for 61 percent of cases.