United Nations

A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City, on Sept. 6, 2025.

Interview

UNRWA plans Turkey office to boost Gaza, Syria aid as pledges dip

Speaking exclusively to Al-Monitor, UNRWA’s Tamara Alrifai said the upcoming Turkey office would help the agency to expand its operations not only in Gaza but also in Syria.

In this handout photo released by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on November 10, 2025, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (L) is accompanied by AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami during a visit to a facility in Tehran. (Photo by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran / AFP)

Iran stops IAEA inspections following UN watchdog's reprimand

The IAEA Board of Governors approved a resolution on Thursday demanding Iran provide access to attacked nuclear facilities and information on its uranium stockpiles.

UN Security Council votes for US resolution on the Gaza peace plan

UN Security Council endorses US plan for Gaza security force

The US-drafted resolution also endorses the Trump-led Board of Peace and references possible statehood for the Palestinians.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa waits to meet with France's president, Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 24, 2025.

Exclusive

US pushes UN vote to revoke Sharaa sanctions before White House visit

The Trump administration's effort to delist the Syrian leader has faced resistance from China.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Latest News

Sudan PM orders state of alert as atrocity claims mount in Darfur

EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

US military to start Gaza ceasefire monitoring as international force plans stall

Smoke billows following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on Oct. 19, 2025.

FIFA, Arab League, World Bank: Who's pledging what toward Gaza’s $70B reconstruction?

ABDELRAHMAN RASHAD/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

UNESCO backs Egypt's Khaled el-Enany as next director-general, first Arab in post

Khaled El-Enany, Egyptologist and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, speaks during an interview with AFP at a hotel in Paris on April 10, 2025.

A woman touches victims' portraits as mourners attend an outdoor vigil for the victims of Ukrainian passenger jet flight PS752.

Canada, Ukraine take case against Iran for downed plane to UN court

Iran recently sentenced members of the armed forces to prison for their role in shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020, but Canada, Ukraine and other countries whose citizens died in the incident continue to reject Iran’s handling of the matter.

Trucks move in a United Nations aid convoy en route to Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on June 23, 2023.

Syria’s rebel-held northwest receives first UN aid convoy since earthquake

UN aid has not entered northwest Syria since the earthquake that hit the region in February left millions suffering in devastating humanitarian conditions.

After quitting over 'anti-Israel bias,' US to rejoin UNESCO to counter China

The United States is seeking readmission to UNESCO, the cultural heritage agency that former President Donald Trump quit over alleged anti-Israel bias.

A vehicle of the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) Italian contingent patrols in the village of Seddiqine in the southern Lebanese district of Tyre, from near where four rockets were fired towards Israel, on May 19, 2021. - The Israeli army confirmed the attack, saying it retaliated with artillery fire. It is the third time rockets have been launched from Lebanese territory towards Israel since hostilities flared between the Jewish state and armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip last wee

Lebanon's Hezbollah denies links to suspects in killing of UN Irish peacekeeper

Hezbollah officials have denied court findings that five people formally accused of killing an Irish soldier of the UNIFIL last year were members of Hezbollah.

People protest against executions and detentions in Iran, in front of the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York City on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

What is behind Iran’s execution spree as Tehran hangs 10 prisoners this week?

The United Nations estimated that more than 200 people have been executed this year so far, as authorities battle internal protests.

Pope Francis (L) poses for a picture with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar mosque Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb during their meeting at the Papal residence near the Sakhir Royal Palace, in the eponymous Bahraini city on Nov. 4, 2022.

UN Security Council invites Pope Francis, Al-Azhar imam for joint speech

In a first, the world’s two most prominent religious leaders are expected to deliver a joint speech on peace at the UN Security Council at a time when wars and conflicts are raging across the world.

People flee the southern part of Khartoum as street battles between the army and paramilitaries continue, on April 27, 2023.

Biden issues new Sudan executive order authorizing sanctions

President Joe Biden paved the way for sanctions on members of Sudan’s warring factions but stopped short of imposing them.

Palestinian teachers sit in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City during a general strike of employees in UNRWA institutions in the Palestinian strip, on November 29, 2021. (Photo by Mohammed ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

UNRWA staff in Gaza strike as demands remain unmet

UNRWA schools and clinics in the besieged enclave were closed as the agency failed to meet its staff’s demands.

People displaced by conflict receive food aid and provisions to meet their basic needs.

Breaking | Last Updated: February 27, 2023, 5:04 pm

US announces $444 million to Yemen as humanitarian needs soar

Despite the fresh US assistance, a donors conference for Yemen raised less than one-third of what the United Nations said is needed to avert further humanitarian crisis.

Quake-hit displaced children play near tents set by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) at Islahiye Atatürk Stadium in Islahiye near Gaziantep on Feb. 14, 2023, a week after a deadly earthquake struck parts of Turkey and Syria.

Earthquake orphans in Turkey, Syria face uncertain future

Thousands of requests poured into Turkey’s Social Affairs Ministry to foster children who survived last week's quakes, but the ministry maintains that its priority is to reunite kids with families or relatives, if they can.

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, visits the affected neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo on February 13, 2023 following a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey and Syria. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab states, militias pour aid into Syria as earthquake death toll exceeds 5,000

The Lebanese group Hezbollah and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces are among the militias that delivered aid to Syria.

A Yemeni man looks up at pillars at the Awam, or Moon Temple, near the recently restored Arsh, or Throne of Balquis, the site of the legendary kingdom of Sheba, Marib province, Yemen, Dec. 21, 2000.

Culture

UNESCO lists two locations in Lebanon, Yemen as heritage sites in danger

In an urgent session on Wednesday, UNESCO named two sites from Lebanon and Yemen to its List of World Heritage in Danger, calling for their immediate preservation.