The Russian president Vladmir Putin and his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, recently announced that up to 16,000 combatants from the Middle East will join the war effort against Ukraine. As Ben Evansky and Benjamin Weinthal report, the Russian recruitment operation is primarily based in the Syrian Arab Republic. This may signal not only an increase in Russia’s numbers, but a change in their tactics, with the potential for heightened urban warfare and greater civilian casualties.

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—which provides educational and social services to the descendants of Palestinian refugees—recently predicted disaster if the organization is unable to raise $100 million in the next few months. Ruthie Blum explains why this official’s claim that UNRWA “is indispensable in the lives of Palestinian refugees” is simply false: