Monday, January 19, 2015
Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State militant group in Syria’s Kobane have captured a strategic hilltop, giving them line of fire over the town, a monitor said Monday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish People’s People Units (YPG) had seized the Mishtenur hilltop after fierce clashes overnight. “The military operation led to the deaths of at least 11 Islamic State fighters, and the seizure of large quantities of weapons and ammunition,” the Observatory said.
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Yemeni authorities say a ceasefire deal has been reached following fierce clashes between army forces and Houthi Shia fighters near the presidential palace in capital Sanaa.
Gunfire and explosions were heard in the region around the palace for several hours.
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This aerial view shot by a drone shows the outline of an airplane in the snow at the Sergey Prokofiev International Airport damaged by shelling during fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian troops recaptured almost all the territory of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine they had lost to separatists in recent weeks, even as thousands gathered in Kiev for a state-sponsored peace march yesterday.
The offensive brought fighting close to the industrial city of Donetsk itself, the centre of a pro-Russian rebellion, while shelling intensified in other parts of the region which are known as the “Donbass”.
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Six Hezbollah fighters were killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan, including the son of assassinated senior commander Imad Mughniyeh.
The deaths were announced after an Israeli security source told AFP that an Israeli helicopter conducted a strike against “terrorists” near Quneitra, on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
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Sunday, January 18, 2015
An elderly man is aided by Kurdish security forces. Credit: Reuters
Around 350 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority have been freed by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.
The captives - delivered to safety in the Kurdish-controlled region - were almost entirely elderly, disabled or unwell, and included several infants with serious illnesses.
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