GENEVA: Adolescent boys are systematically being separated from their mothers in detention camps in northeast Syria, a UN expert said Friday, warning the practice was causing irreparable harm and violated international law.
Fionnuala Ni Aolain said that during a visit to the Kurdish-controlled camps, she had noted “the separation of hundreds of adolescent boys from their mothers without any legal procedure.”
This appeared in particular to be happening to so-called third-country nationals, from countries other than Syria and Iraq.

BEIRUT: The death of a 6-year-old girl believed to have been the victim of a brutal rape has sparked outrage in Lebanon, with her grandfather accused of carrying out the attack.

It is alleged the victim, Lynn Taleb, suffered internal bleeding leading to her death eight days after she stayed with her mother at her grandfather’s house in Al-Minieh, north Lebanon.

North Lebanon Prosecutor Mathilda Touma filed a complaint against Taleb’s grandfather on suspicion that he raped his granddaughter, and against her mother for covering up the attack.

DIMONA, Israel: For two years, Toveet Israel and dozens of other residents of the Village of Peace have lived in fear.
Dimona, a city on the edge of the nation of Israel’s Negev Desert, has been her home for 24 years. Her eight children were born here and know no other country. Now, she and 130 other undocumented members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem face deportation.
Receiving the order to leave two years ago was a “moment of disbelief” for Israel, 53. “I feel like the government has been merciless to me and my children,” she said.

DUBAI: A UN food agency staff member has been killed in an attack in Taiz province in southern Yemen, the organization and the health minister of the internationally recognized government said Friday.
Health minister Qasem Buhaibeh had tweeted his condolences to the World Food Programme staffer’s family, calling for security forces to “arrest the criminals” responsible for the killing.
A WFP spokesperson later confirmed the death to AFP, saying: “WFP is deeply saddened that a dedicated staff member was killed in Yemen today by unknown gunmen.

ANKARA: Ties between Ankara and Riyadh are improving as the bilateral relationship continues to warm following the signing of a significant defense export deal, analysts say.

During his official tour of the Gulf this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a number of agreements with Saudi Arabia late on Monday, which many experts viewed as sending a signal about the future of defense cooperation between the two countries.