http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232781.html
Two children have been killed in an attack carried out by an armed group on a bus in the western Syrian city of Homs, the country’s SANA news agency reports.
An armed terrorist group attacked the vehicle transporting passengers in the Qusur neighborhood of Homs on Wednesday, the news agency said.
Medical sources in Homs said three other civilians were also injured during the Wednesday attack.
In addition to attacks in the restive city of Homs, armed groups have also made abductions in the city over the past weeks, and the whereabouts of many abductees, including children, are still unknown, SANA said.
The Wednesday attack comes a couple of days after the news agency said Syrian authorities intercepted a car loaded with various weaponry made largely in the United States and Israel on a highway in Homs on March 15.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.
On March 20, Human Rights Watch said armed groups in Syria have carried out “serious human rights abuses” over the past months.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”
Syrian officials seize arms, ammunition in Hama
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232734.html
Syrian authorities have confiscated a large cache of weapons and ammunition and have raided an explosive manufacturing workshop in the western city of Hama.
The Syrian officials intercepted the weapons, some of which made by Israel, while chasing armed terrorist groups in the al-Hamidiyah neighborhood in the city on Wednesday, the official SANA news agency reported.
The weapons confiscated included assault rifles, pump-action shotguns, machineguns, RPG launchers, as well as offensive and defensive grenades.
The authorities also recovered private and state-owned vehicles, which the terrorists had stolen towards criminal purposes.
In the same neighborhood, the Syrian forces raided a house, which was used by terrorists as a workshop to manufacture explosives.
Also on Wednesday, the Syrian Army cleared the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr of armed groups after heavy clashes with terrorists operating in the area near the Iraqi border.
In recent days, terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have repeatedly called on the countries supporting chaos in Syria, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to send in more weapons, saying that they are losing the battle to government over lack of guns and ammunition.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces.
Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the government of killing protesters.
Syria drives armed rebels out of Dayr al-Zawr
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/232661.html
The Syrian army has cleared the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr of armed groups after heavy clashes with terrorists operating in the area near the Iraqi border.
The rebel Free Syrian Army has also confirmed that the army has taken full control of Dayr al-Zawr and that rebel fighters were forced to flee the city.
Some reports, however, suggest that the terrorists are now taking shelter in homes and apartments, using civilians as human shields.
Dayr al-Zawr is the third rebel stronghold to fall to government control. Syrian troops had earlier defeated Free Syrian Army in Homs and Idlib.
In recent days, terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have repeatedly called on the countries supporting chaos in Syria, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to send in more weapons, saying that they are losing the battle to government over lack of guns and ammunition.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have said that they support the idea of sending weapons to anti-government groups, who have been fighting against the Syrian government since last year.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi has also said that arming the Syrian rebels might be a possible alternative if the international community fails to end the violence in the country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March and many people, including security forces, have lost their lives in the violence.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Syrian troops shell Damascus suburbs after attacks
MICHAEL JANSEN
SYRIAN TROOPS reportedly shelled the Damascus suburbs of Harasta and Irbin yesterday in response to a rebel attack on an intelligence compound. Opposition activists said artillery and anti-aircraft guns had been firing into these districts, retaken by government forces in January.
Beirut-based Hadi Abdullah, of the opposition Syrian Revolution General Commission, said the army also bombarded the Homs districts of Khaldiyeh, Qosour and Bayada, where civilians had taken refuge during the month-long siege of Bab Amr which ended when rebels pulled out on March 1st.
Since these three districts constitute the “last front left” in Homs, government forces are likely to press their attack until rebels are routed.
In the northeastern Idbib province troops are said to be mopping up rebels who held the small town of Taftanaz, the site of the most important helicopter base in northern Syria. The town also sits astride the main highway from the Turkish border to Syria’s commercial hub, Aleppo.
Opposition activists reported 52 deaths, most in Homs.
Ousted from their strongholds in northern Syria, the rebels are said to be regrouping in northern Lebanon to review tactics. If this is true, Lebanon’s army, which has stepped up efforts to seal the county’s border with Syria, could be compelled to prevent cross-border raids.
Turkey, which hosts refugees and fighters, has so far refused calls to establish a buffer zone on the Syrian side of its frontier, enabling rebels to mount attacks on government targets from safe bases.
The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News has pointed out that Ankara could be constrained by anti-US feeling and concern among Turkey’s Alevis for Alawite co-religionists in Syria if Ankara backs the Sunni revolt against the Alawite-led regime in Syria.
Already alienated by Sunni fundamentalism, Alevis are believed to number 10 to 20 million out of a population of 75 million.
The fighting took place as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon announced that UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan would return to Damascus “very soon” to pursue his plan to end the conflict.
Russia and China, which vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions on the Syrian situation, have supported a presidential statement expressing “gravest concern” over the “deteriorating situation in Syria”, without apportioning blame.
The statement supports Mr Annan’s plan, which calls for all sides to engage in dialogue, halt fighting, withdraw troops and rebel gunmen from urban areas, ensure delivery of humanitarian relief to contested locations, release prisoners, grant freedom to journalists, and guarantee the right to demonstrate peacefully.
The statement “will consider further steps” if Mr Annan reports implementation of his plan is obstructed. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the text “reflects the reality in Syria and supports Annan’s aims”.
UN Security Council backs Annan peace plan
http://www.rt.com/news/human-rights-syria-rebels-156/ video at link.
Renegade Malian soldiers say they have toppled the government of President Amadou Toumani Toure and seized power in the West African state.
"We are in control of the presidential palace," AFP quoted one of the rebels as saying on Thursday.
The rebellion ignited Wednesday afternoon over criticism against the government’s handling of a Tuareg insurrection in the north and turned into an apparent coup.
Following an armed conflict, the rebels seized the presidential palace and arrested several ministers, including Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and Interior Minister Kafouhouna Kone, the report said.
Toure, however, has managed to escape from the premises, an independent source said.
Lieutenant Amadou Konare, the spokesman of the soldiers, calling themselves National Committee for the Establishment of Democracy, appeared on television and announced the dissolution of state institutions and suspension of the constitution.
Konare also said a curfew will be in place from midnight to six a.m. local time.
He added that upon consultations with all the Malian political factions, a national unity cabinet will be formed in the coming days and the transitional government will run the country until power is ceded to a civilian government after “free and transparent” elections in near future.
The spokesman cited the former government's security failures in northern Mali and its “inability” to fight terrorism as well as threats to national unity, and the uncertainty shadowing general elections in 2012 as some of the major reasons behind the mutiny.
Twelve people have been killed after the Turkish army launched a massive operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists in southeastern Turkey.
Security sources said on Thursday that six Kurdish rebels and six policemen were killed in the anti-PKK operation that started on Tuesday.
Thousands of police and army forces, backed by helicopters and fighter jets, have the offensive, Turkey’s largest such operation so far in 2012.
Clashes between the Kurdish militants and government troops were still continuing on Thursday on the outskirts of Mount Cudi in Sirnak Province, near the Syrian and Iraqi border.
Turkey launched a large-scale air and land offensive against the armed separatists in October in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq after 24 of its troops were killed in an overnight terrorist attack.
In December, Turkish air strikes killed 34 Kurdish smugglers, mostly teenagers, near the Iraqi border when commanders mistook them for PKK fighters.
Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives since PKK terrorists embarked on an armed struggle against Ankara in 1984 in a quest to form an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international communities, including Turkey, Iran, the European Union, and the United States.
Kenyan fighter jets have killed at least 37 al-Shabab fighters in the southern Somali town of Diff along the Somalia-Kenya border, Press TV reports.
According to local residents, four fighter jets began hitting several of the group's military compounds in Diff from late Tuesday until early Wednesday.
“The aircraft destroyed military capabilities of al-Shabab, including armored vehicles and weapons,” a local resident told a Press TV reporter.
Meanwhile, al-Shabab sources confirmed that over 37 of its members were killed in Kenyan jets’ bombardments in the outskirts of Diff.
This comes just one day after the fighters captured the town from the government-allied forces.
The aerial bombardments are helping the Kenyan forces who have made significant gains on the ground to make further advances.
Kenya has beefed up security along its border with Somalia since it dispatched soldiers over its border into the conflict-plagued country last October to chase al-Shabab militants, which it accuses of being behind the kidnapping of several foreigners on its territory.
However, al-Shabab has denied involvement in the kidnappings.
Germany has announced that it will sell Israel a sixth Dolphin-class submarine capable of carrying nuclear warheads with an operating range of 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles).
German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced the decision on Tuesday in a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Berlin.
"A further boat will be delivered to Israel and there will be financial help," said Maiziere, confirming that Germany would shoulder part of the cost of the submarine.
In November, a German government source had said that the country would pay a contribution of 135 million Euros ($178 million), a third of the cost.
Three earlier-model Dolphin submarines had been delivered to Israel between 1998 and 2000.
In 2006, Israel placed its fourth and fifth orders for two more advanced subs.
The fourth one is scheduled for delivery by 2013. The fifth and the sixth orders are due for delivery in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
This is while Israel is the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and it has never allowed inspections of its nuclear facilities nor has it joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty based on its policy of nuclear ambiguity.
A survey conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) in twelve Arab countries reveals that 51 percent of the respondents believed Israel to be the first major threat to the Arab world, while 22 percent considered the US.
Another survey conducted in 2011 by the Berlin-based Friedrich Ebert Foundation shows that more than 50 percent of European people believe Israel is the most serious threat to global security.
Germany has recently sold heavy weaponry to autocratic regimes in the Middle East, including 200 Leopard tanks worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, a regime which has helped suppress the popular protests in Bahrain.
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