AMMAN: The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has held its fifth student parliament workshop in Amman, exploring topics such as human rights, democratic practices, leadership, communications, and advocacy. 

The four-day event was attended by students from all of UNRWA’s operational areas, including the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It allowed them to get to know each other, exchange experiences, and discuss future work plans.

QAMISHLI: The world breathed a collective sigh of relief in March 2019 when Daesh, the extremist group that had brought terror to vast swathes of the region since 2014, was finally defeated in its last territorial holdout of Baghouz, eastern Syria.

The battle for Daesh’s final enclave marked the end of the group’s so-called caliphate, which at its peak occupied an area spanning Syria and Iraq the size of Great Britain.

BEIRUT: Lebanon abstained from voting on a UN resolution to establish an independent institution focused on learning the fate of around 130,000 missing or forcibly disappeared persons during the civil war in Syria.

The resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Thursday evening, with 83 votes in favor out of 193, 11 against and 62 abstentions, including some Arab states.

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Thursday its Mossad intelligence service carried out an operation in Iran to capture the suspected leader of an Iranian plot to attack Israeli businesspeople in Cyprus and thwart the attack.
“In a unique operation on Iranian soil, the Mossad captured the head of the cell, who, during an investigation, gave a detailed confession that led to the exposure and dismantlement of the terrorist cell behind the Cyprus attack,” the Mossad said in a statement.
Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment.

CAIRO: The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had facilitated the release of 125 Sudanese army soldiers held captive by the country’s rival paramilitary force.

The soldiers walked free on Wednesday, the ICRC said, as the violent conflict between the army, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, enters its 11th week.