A rebel group is advancing on eastern Congo's largest city and over 100,000 people have fled

NZULO, Congo (AP) — The M23 rebel group's advance toward eastern Congo's largest city has displaced over 178,000 people in the past two weeks, the United Nations said, as the fighters closed in on Goma on the border with Rwanda.

The M23 has been making significant advances, though it was unclear whether the rebels will try to capture Goma, which they seized in 2012 and controlled for over a week. Congolese authorities said Tuesday its fighters seized the town of Minova, on a key supply route for Goma, a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.

Congo, the United States and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing the M23, composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army over a decade ago. Rwanda's government denies the claim.

The U.N. humanitarian agency said Tuesday the new mass displacement was caused by fighting around Minova in South Kivu province.

Thousands of people spilled out of packed wooden boats in Goma on Wednesday, some with bundles of belongings strapped around their foreheads.

Displaced people have filled the Nzulo camp on the outskirts of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and home to around 2 million people.

But some people were already leaving the camp as rebels approached.

David Kasereka fled on a motorbike with a child, barely stopping to speak. “We don’t know where we are going, because everywhere, the bombs are following us,” he told The Associated Press.

Nadège Bauma, like many in Nzulo, was first displaced due to intense fighting in the town of Sake. Inside the camp, the mother of six gathered what she could of her belongings and piled them into a minibus to flee again.

“We just learned that the M23 have arrived in Ngwiro (about 19 miles or 30 kilometers west of Goma) and we decided to leave the area because bullets and bombs are falling,” she said.

The provincial governor of South Kivu, Jean-Jacques Purusi, confirmed the capture of Minova, adding that the rebels have also taken the mining towns of Lumbishi, Numbi and Shanje along with the town of Bweremana in North Kivu province.

Congo’s military said in a statement Tuesday that the rebels made “breakthroughs” in Minova and Bweremana.

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

People fleeing M-23 rebel advances arrive by boat in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)