World News in Brief: Civilian killings in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan air crash, more Syrian refugees return home | UN News
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said in a social media post on Thursday that it had received credible reports that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in airstrikes by Pakistan’s military forces in Paktika province, on 24 December.
“Our sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones. Children are not and must never be a target,” Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia said.
Kazakhstan air crash: UN condolences
According to media reports, 38 people were killed in the Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to Grozny that crashed in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
The spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a statement late on Wednesday, expressing his sadness at the news, and his condolences to the families of those killed, who included citizens of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia.
The International Civil Aviation Authority, the UN agency for global airspace cooperation, expressed sadness at the loss of life in a social media post, as did UNICEF.
Syria: Refugee returns continue
According to media reports, Hayat-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de facto authorities in Syria have named Anas Khattab as head of the intelligence services. Mr. Khattab is currently subject to UN sanctions, Al Qaida.
HTS is also sanctioned by the UN, following a 2015 resolution which calls on Member States to “prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by” HTS’s predecessor, the Al-Nusra Front”.
The devastating, long-running civil war in Syria caused millions to flee the country: since the fall of Bashar al-Assad on 8 December, thousands of refugees have begun to return, Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, has reported that, whilst food is in short supply in some areas of the country, bread production and distribution have WFP) noted on Thursday that it has more access routes to areas across the country that were inaccessible under the Assad regime, access that will contribute to saving the lives of millions of Syrians.
