People attend Christmas celebrations at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Reuters)

People are dressed as Santa during the illumination of a Christmas tree in Beirut. (Reuters)

Members of the Christian expatriate community attend a mass on Christmas eve at Santa Maria Church in Dubai. (Reuters)

People walk out of Mega Mart supermarket as Santa Claus figure is displayed at the entrance in Manama. (Reuters)

Jordanians attend a mass that was held at the Catholic Latin Church in the city of Fuheis near Amman. (Reuters)

An Egyptian woman walks in front of Santa Claus toys in a Christmas decorations shop in Cairo. (Reuters)

Iraqi Christians attend a mass on Christmas Eve at the Grand Immaculate Church in al-Hamdaniya, near Mosul. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

In the Syrian city of Raqqa, children wear hats, scarves and coats to guard against the winter cold as they struggle to catch up on years of lost learning in a classroom with no doors or glazed windows. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

ISIS kept schools shut as it tried to impose its ultra-radical vision of Islam through its own education system. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

Since ISIS' defeat there in October 2017, 44 schools have reopened with 45,000 children enrolled. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

ISIS used Raqqa's schools - like much of the city - for military purposes, digging tunnels under some of them. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

In Raqqa, UNICEF is providing textbooks to more than 121,000 children so they can get a start while waiting for a classroom, said Juliette Touma, UNICEF s regional chief of communications. (Reuters)

School in the ruins of Raqqa

School children stand in line at a playground of a school in Raqqa, Syria November 5, 2018. As winter sets in, the dilapidated state of the schools is leading some children to miss out on yet more lessons. (Reuters)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

Women whose sons went missing look at the shoreline in the town of Ras Jabal, Bizerte, Tunisia. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

As global migration has soared to record highs, far less visible has been its toll: The tens of thousands of people who die or simply disappear during their journeys, never to be seen again. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

Migrant child's jacket which was retrieved by artist Mohsen Lahzib. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

The father of Majdi Al Barhoumi, who went missing in 2011, holds photos of him, at their home in the town of Ras Jabal, Bizerte, Tunisia. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

Migrants' shoes which were retrieved by artist Mohsen Lahzib, who tries to create beauty out of sorrow, at his space in the southern port town of Zarzis, Tunisia. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

The "Cemetery of the Unknown" where migrants who were found dead on nearby shores are buried, in at the southern port town of Zarzis, Tunisia. The bodies are retrieved by retired fisherman Chamsedding Marzouk, who has made it his life's work to provide a proper burial to the foreigners even though they die without a name. (AP)

Those pictures tell the stories of missing Tunisians

Often the tides of the Mediterranean bring ashore instead the bodies and belongings of others who attempted a similar migration _ those from distant countries who hoped that the beaches of North Africa would be their last stop before Europe. (AP)