The National:

KOSOVO’S parliament has overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army, angering Serbia, which talked up the possibility of an armed intervention in response.

Nato’s chief called the move “ill-timed” and urged both sides to maintain peace in the war-scarred region.

The 120-seat parliament voted in favour of passing three draft laws to expand the existing 4000 Kosovo Security Force and turn it into a regular lightly armed army.

Ethnic-Serb community members boycotted the vote.

Serbia insists the new army violates a UN resolution that ended Kosovo’s 1998-99 war of independence. It has warned bluntly that it may respond to the move with an armed intervention in the former province, with prime minister Ana Brnabic saying it was “one of the options on the table”.

Nikola Selakovic, an adviser to the Serbian president, said the county could send in Serbian armed forces or declare Kosovo an occupied territory.

Serbian foreign minister Ivica Dacic described the move as “the most direct threat to peace and stability in the region and to the security of the Serbian people”, and said the country will seek an urgent session of the UN Security Council.

In Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, Serb leader Goran Rakic said the new army was “unacceptable” and “showed clearly that Pristina does not want peace”. He urged Serbs in Kosovo to show “restraint and not respond to provocations”.

Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct confrontation with thousands of Nato-led peacekeepers, including US soldiers, stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognised by Belgrade or its ally Russia.

Tensions have remained high between the two sides, and Nato and the European Union – which has led years-long talks to improve ties between the Balkan neighbours – expressed regret that Kosovo had decided to go ahead with the army formation.

“I reiterate my call on both Pristina and Belgrade to remain calm and refrain from any statements or actions which may lead to escalation,” Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg stated.

He said the alliance remains committed “to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo and to stability in the wider Western Balkans”, and will “re-examine the level of Nato’s engagement with the Kosovo Security Force”.

The new army will preserve its former name – Kosovo Security Force – but with a new mandate. In around 10 years time the army will have 5000 troops and 3000 reservists, essentially operating as a security force handling crisis response and civil protection operations.

The National:

Syrian Democratic Forces have driven Daesh from Hajin

TURNING our focus to an area of the world where threats of violence are a distant memory, Kurdish-led forces have captured the last town held by Daesh fighters in eastern Syria.

The fall of Hajin is a blow to the extremists. The town was their main stronghold in the last pocket of land they control in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border. Daesh still holds some villages nearby.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US, have been fighting to take Hajin and surrounding villages in Deir el-Zour province for more than three months. In recent weeks, the offensive intensified with the arrival of reinforcements from northern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the SDF took Hajin early in the morning after fierce fighting under the cover of air strikes by the US-led coalition.

It said some Daesh fighters withdrew to the villages and fighting is ongoing in the fields outside Hajin.

Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla, of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group, confirmed the town was taken, adding that some Daesh fighters are still holed up in small pockets on the edge of Hajin.

He said that disagreements over hierarchy in Daesh ranks helped to “speed up the collapse” of defences.

Nuri Mehmud, spokesman of the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG – the main component of SDF – said “intense fighting” is continuing in small parts of Hajin.

The area was home to 15,000 people, including 2000 Daesh gunmen who fought back with counter-offensives and suicide attacks.

In recent days, hundreds of civilians fled the enclave towards areas controlled by the SDF east of the Euphrates River and the government on the river’s west bank.

The Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the SDF, denounced Turkey’s threat of a military operation against the YPG and called on Syrians to unite ahead of a possible Turkish attack.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has intensified his criticism of US support for the Syrian Kurdish fighters, saying Turkey would clear the key northern town of Manbij.

Over the summer, the two Nato allies had struck a “road map” for Manbij to remove the YPG, which Turkey considers a terror organisation linked to an insurgency within its own borders.

The National:

Around 8000 officers are taking to the streets in Paris

BACK in Europe, thousands of officers are being deployed in France's capital as police prepare for a fifth straight weekend of violent protests.

Around 8000 officers and 14 armoured vehicles are expected to be stationed in Paris.

Police arrested more than 1000 people in the city last weekend and 135 people were injured, including 17 police officers A sixth “yellow vest” protester was killed this week, hit by a truck at a protest roadblock.

French president Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged he is partially responsible for the anger behind the anti-government protests.

He has announced a series of measures aimed at improving workers’ spending power but has refused to reinstate a wealth tax.

Many protesters have expressed disappointment at the measures and some trade unions are now calling for rolling strikes across the country.

The National:

Southwest Airlines passengers had to endure an unexpected delay

AND finally, an unusual item left on a commercial US flight forced pilots to perform a swift U-turn halfway through the flight.

The Southwest Airlines plane, travelling from Seattle to Dallas, turned back after a human heart was discovered onboard.

The organ, which had not been matched with a specific patient, arrived in Seattle on Sunday and was supposed to be processed at a hospital to have a valve removed for transplant.

However, it never made it off the plane and it was not until halway through the subsequent flight to Dallas that it was discovered.

Upon arrival in Seattle it was taken to a donor centre - reportedly within the required timeframe for future use.