Syrian

One killed and 29 others wounded in latest Israeli attack in violation of ceasefire.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley have killed one person and wounded 29 others, the latest in a series of ceasefire violations.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health announced that a “16-year-old Syrian boy was killed”, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday. He was named as Hussein Mohsen al-Khalaf and was killed in a strike on Kfar Dan near Baalbek, the L’Orient news outlet reported.

At least 13 air strikes were recorded, four in Shmestar, five in Boudai, two in Harbata and two in the Hermel and Nabi Chit mountains, according to NNA. Several shops were damaged in the Baalbek Souk in Tallet al-Ajami.

The Israeli military said it targeted eight camps belonging to Hezbollah’s special operations unit, the Radwan Force. It said weapons and missiles were stored there and training was conducted “as part of preparations for emergency situations, and to plan and execute terrorist plots”. It said this activity was a “violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

Ceasefire violations

Israel’s military has continued to carry out attacks in Lebanon, despite a November 2024 ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that sought to bring an end to more than a year of fighting. More than 300 people have been killed since then, including 127 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Last week, at least 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley and the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Sidon. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah and Hamas command centres.

Lebanon filed a complaint with the UN in January, detailing a total of 2,036 Israeli violations between October and December 2025 alone. It called on the UN Security Council to compel Israel to end these actions and to fully withdraw from its borders.

Israel continues to occupy parts of Lebanon, blocking the reconstruction of border villages and preventing people from returning to their homes.

Lebanon’s government has said it has almost completed its ceasefire commitment to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River. It said it will need four months to complete the second phase.

However, Hezbollah has rejected this, saying it believes the disarmament in the ceasefire agreement only applies to areas south of the river.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Syrian officials announced Wednesday that there was a “mass escape” last month from the country’s Kurdish-controlled al-Hol camp, which held ISIS-linked families.

It’s believed that thousands may have escaped, CNN reported.

The Wall Street Journal reported that about 15,000 to 20,000 people, including ISIS affiliates, were at large following the escape from al-Hol, citing U.S. intelligence agencies, CNN reported. The United Nations said al-Hol camp held more than 30,000 people.

“When our forces arrived, they found cases of collective escapes due to the camp having been opened up in a haphazard manner,” Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said at a press conference Wednesday.

The Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces were in charge of the camp and were an ally to U.S. forces fighting ISIS in Syria. But the U.S. drawdown from the country in 2019 left the SDF struggling, especially after the Assad regime fell in 2024. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa joined the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in November, and his forces continue to hunt for ISIS fighters

In January, the SDF said it abandoned the al-Hol camp because of “international indifference” to ISIS and “the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing​ this serious matter,” CNN reported.

The two main camps — al-Hol and al-Roj — detained ISIS fighters and their family members, but were mostly populated with women and children.

Until mid-January, the camps together housed about 28,000 people. About 12,500 were foreign nationals from more than 60 countries, including about 4,000 Iraqis, according to Human Rights Watch.

The al-Roj camp, which holds around 2,300 foreign women and children, is still under SDF control but it is expected to close.

In 2014, ISIS declared a caliphate in a swath of land across parts of Syria and Iraq, calling Raqqa, Syria, its capital. The caliphate was led by Iraqi-born Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Muslims from around the world who identified with ISIS moved there to be a part of it. A U.S.-led coalition mostly destroyed the enclave in 2019, and the SDF managed the camps. Baghdadi died by suicide just before he could be captured by U.S. forces.

Countries around the world have been facing pressure to repatriate their citizens who have been stuck in the camps since the fall of the caliphate. Most of them are women and children. But most countries cite national security as a reason not to allow them back in.

Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would not allow Australian ISIS detainees from al-Roj to repatriate.

A naturalized American citizen pleaded guilty in June to fighting against U.S. forces for ISIS in the region and was sentenced to 10 years.

The al-Roj camp also houses Shamina Begum, a British woman who left London at age 15 to marry an ISIS fighter. In 2015, she lost her British citizenship.

Syria’s government has been relocating families after announcing the closure of the notorious al-Hol camp for people with suspected links to ISIL fighters. Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett has been seeing families arrive at a new camp, where the government says conditions will be better.