A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war‑scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) reported mass displacement in Swedia, Syria after five days of sectarian violence between Bedouin tribal fighters, government forces and Druze militias.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the Israeli strike on Thursday that hit the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip.

The Security Council met on Thursday afternoon for an emergency session on Syria after deadly violence in the south and a wave of Israeli airstrikes that reportedly hit military sites and key locations in Damascus. Khaled Khiari, a senior UN political affairs official briefed ambassadors, warning that renewed bloodshed could derail prospects for a credible, inclusive political transition and widen regional fault lines. UN News App users can follow here.

Pakistan’s monsoon emergency deepened on Thursday as authorities declared disaster zones across parts of eastern Punjab state after lethal cloudbursts and flash floods killed dozens in a single day.

A group of Indigenous youth from the United States, some as young as seven, visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York this week for the first time.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk has deplored deadly attacks in Sudan’s Kordofan region this week, his office said in a statement on Thursday.

As years of war in Ukraine have left millions without unreliable heating and limited means to pay rising utility costs, the UN and humanitarian partners launched this Thursday a $277 million appeal to support the most vulnerable people during the coming winter.

From makeshift furniture in Gaza to metro classrooms in Ukraine and solar-powered tablets in Sudan, the UN is working to bring education to millions of crisis-affected children.

UNITED NATIONS, July 16 (IPS) - The US is apparently contemplating the possible creation—either a formal or an informal– security alliance in the Asia-Pacific region on the lines of the longstanding collective defense pact, the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).