COMMISSION TO PROBE CIVIL WAR DISAPPEARANCES

Lebanon’s parliament on Monday approved the formation of an independent commission to help determine the fate of thousands of people who went missing during the country’s civil war, which ended nearly three decades ago.

The law would empower a commission to gather information about the missing, collect DNA samples and exhume mass graves from the 1975-1990 conflict. Families and rights groups have been campaigning for the law since 2012, when it first went to parliament.

The Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons says more than 17,000 people are estimated to have gone missing during the Lebanese civil war.

LBC TV said lawmakers initially protested, saying calls for accountability may affect current officials. Many of Lebanon’s parties are led by former warlords implicated in some of the war’s worst fighting.