Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria

Today's three stories you should know

Sudan

Two children were killed and 13 wounded in a drone strike on a mosque in central Sudan, a Sudanese doctors’ association said, as similar attacks surged across the region. The Sudan Doctors Network said the attack was carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and that it happened at dawn as the children were studying the Quran at the Sheikh Ahmed al-Badawi Mosque. The United Arab Emirates-backed RSF, which has been at war with Sudan’s army for almost three years, launched a wave of suicide drone strikes at civilian targets last weekend, including hospitals and U.N. convoys.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Afghanistan

The U.S. has begun paying Afghan refugees in Qatar to return home despite many having fled the ruling Taliban because of their links to the U.S. military. More than 1,100 people have been held at the former U.S. Army base Camp As Sayliyah since President Donald Trump halted resettlement to the U.S. for Afghans at risk of retribution. Shawn VanDiver, head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups, told Reuters that people were offered $4,500 for a main applicant, plus $1,200 per additional relative. Though U.S. officials said the scheme was voluntary, VanDiver said refugees were being urged to accept the offer by staff who told them resettlement to a third country was uncertain.

More from Reuters here.

Syria

Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the interior and foreign ministers were targeted by five failed assassination attempts last year, the U.N. said in a new report on the threat ISIS poses in the region. The assessment appears to prove the group, though largely defeated in 2019, remains a significant problem for the government as it struggles to unite the country after 14 years of civil war. U.N. counter terrorism experts said ISIS still operates in Syria’s north and northeast, where it launches attacks on security forces, and that it has an estimated 3,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria. Al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda leader, in November agreed to join an international coalition to fight the group.

More from the New Arab here.