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Gaza remains deadliest place for aid workers for third consecutive year: UN

Gaza remained the world’s deadliest place for humanitarian workers for the third consecutive year, with 186 aid personnel killed in 2025, the United Nations humanitarian office said Wednesday. Sudan ranked second, with 71 aid workers killed during the year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement marking World Humanitarian Day. Worldwide, 907 humanitarian workers were killed, injured or kidnapped in 2025, setting another record for violence against aid personnel, according to figures from Humanitarian Outcomes’ Aid Worker Security Database. Although the annual death toll fell slightly to 350, the UN humanitarian office said the overall level of violence showed no sign of easing. A further 322 aid workers were injured and 235 kidnapped. Read: UN urges support for Afghan women “More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed in just three years and that is utterly unacceptable,” said Tom Fletcher, UN under-s...

Syria condemns Israeli strikes on airbase as ‘flagrant violation’ of sovereignty

Syria on Tuesday strongly condemned Israeli airstrikes targeting Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in the eastern countryside of Idlib province as a “flagrant violation” of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry called the attack “an unjustified act of aggression, a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a dangerous escalation that threatens security and stability in the region.” “The continuation of these Israeli attacks since December 8, 2024, at a time when Syria has exercised restraint and worked to consolidate stability and avoid escalation, once again demonstrates the Israeli occupation’s attempts to undermine these efforts and drag the region toward further tension and instability,” the ministry said. 📍 Israeli warplanes carry out four airstrikes on the abandoned Abu al-Duhur military airport in Syria’s Idlib province 💢 No immediate information is available on casualties or damage https://t.co/5P8c7Pq4mb pic.twitter.com/RSVLzOZsv3 — Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) August 18, 2026 An Israeli aircraft carried out eight airstrikes targeting the runway of Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in the eastern countryside of Idlib in northern Syria early Tuesday, causing material damage to the airbase’s infrastructure, without causing casualties, according to Al-Ikhbariyya TV. Israeli warplanes carried out four airstrikes on the abandoned Abu al-Duhur military airport in the eastern countryside of Idlib province in northern Syria at around 3 am local time (0000GMT). Following the fall of the Assad regime, Israel expanded its attacks across Syria, targeting weapons and missile depots as well as strategic military sites. Earlier, Israel carried out attacks in Syria targeting Iranian forces and Hezbollah positions. US envoy says Washington ‘deeply concerned’ over Israeli airstrikes on Syrian airbase US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday that Washington is “deeply concerned” over the Israeli airstrikes, describing the attack as an “unnecessary escalation.” We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability. The Al-Sharra government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces. It has, in fact,… — Ambassador Tom Barrack (@USAMBTurkiye) August 18, 2026 “We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” Barrack said on US social media platform X. “The [Ahmad] Al-Sharra government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces. It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel,” he said. “The United States has in the past, and will continue in the future, to host discussions to encourage diplomatic cadence over kinetic frustration for both nations,” added Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkiye.

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