The French military confirmed it had launched its first ever armed drone strike this week, claiming to have killed at least 7 militants in Mali.

French president Emmanuel Macron said operations in the Mopti region “neutralised” at least 33 fighters, with the French military later adding that a follow-up drone strike killed a further 7 fighters.

“This is the first operational strike by an armed drone,” confirmed the French in a statement. It went on to claim that French commandos had come under attack by “a group of terrorists on motorbikes” and had opened fire with support from a. Reaper drone.

As many as 80,000 people are fleeing the Idlib province in Syria, as government forces launched a renewed offensive on the region this week.

Al Jazeera reports that at least 8 people, including 5 children, were killed as missiles hit a school that was sheltering civilians, according to opposition activists. Idlib remains their last stronghold in the country, which has been devastated by years of armed conflict.

Sudan has announced that it will open an inquiry into the crimes committed in Darfur by former President Omar al-Bashir as well as 51 members of his regime, who have been accused of committing genocide and war crimes.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, has accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of anti-semitism following the announcement of the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, that she would launch a full investigation into war crimes committed in Palestinian controlled land. 

The investigation would examine war crimes committed in the West Bank and will include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Speaking on the announcement, Netanyahu described the move as “pure anti-semitism”. He further stated; 

Nine more people died in the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday as Indian police clashed with thousands of protestors opposing the disputed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The latest deaths, which included an eight-year-old boy, have taken the nationwide death toll to 23, with dozens injured, as unrest over the CAA continue for a second week. The eight-year-old boy had died as a result of a stampede when police forces attempted to quell protestors.

The law, which will grant citizenship to persecuted immigrants of six non-Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, has been criticised for excluding Eelam Tamils and Muslims.

Donald Trump’s administration has rejected a US Senate resolution formally recognising the mass killings of Armenians between 1915-1923 as genocide, despite a unanimous vote by US lawmakers acknowledging it as such.  

Before the resolution was passed, the Trump administration requested Republican senators to block the passage several times on the basis that it would jeopardise negotiations and relationships with Turkey.

Baloch activists on Monday took to Twitter to campaign for the return of two disappeared students, abducted over sixth months earlier allegedly by Pakistani intelligence forces.

The two students Feroz Baloch and Jamil Baloch were reportedly made to disembark from a passenger bus by plain-clothes intelligence officers in May 2019.

A Twitter campaign initiated by the sister of Feroz Baloch saw thousands of users posting under the hashtag #RecoverFerozAndJamil, causing the campaign to trend in Pakistan.