BEIRUT: Lebanon has deported dozens of Syrians back to the war-torn country they fled from as anti-Syrian sentiment grows amid a dire economic crisis, security officials and a humanitarian source said Friday.
One of the Syrians deported was an army defector, a relative said, warning that “his life is in danger.”
“The army has deported more than 50 Syrians from Lebanon in the past two weeks,” an army official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.

LONDON: US citizens in Sudan should have no expectation of a US-government coordinated evacuation from the country, deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Friday, amid heavy firing heard in the capital Khartoum.

Patel told reporters at a press briefing that given the closure of Khartoum’s airport and the uncertain security situation in the country, citizens there should make their own arrangements to stay safe.

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s army said it had agreed to a three-day truce starting on Friday to enable people to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr following almost a week of fighting between its troops and a rival paramilitary force.
“The armed forces hope that the rebels will abide by all the requirements of the truce and stop any military moves that would obstruct it,” an army statement said.
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to the 72-hour truce earlier in the day.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India next month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s meeting, his ministry’s official spokesperson confirmed on Thursday, making it the most senior-level visit from Pakistan to the country in seven years.
The development comes as a surprise since Pakistan decided to downgrade diplomatic relations with India after the administration in New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in August 2019 to integrate it with the rest of the Indian union.

NEW YORK CITY: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Thursday for a three-day cease-fire in Sudan over the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr to allow trapped civilians to escape to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies.
Guterres did not specify when the cease-fire should start. The three-day holiday begins in Sudan on Friday.