ISIS has carried out a string of attacks centering on a popular restaurant on Iraq’s Highway 1, in Nasiriyah. The restaurant is popular with Shi’ite pilgrims and was crowded when gunmen disguised as Shi’te militia burst in shooting, followed by a car bombing outside. ISIS then also bombed a nearby checkpoint.

The death toll has been steadily rising through the day, and provincial health officials say 83 people have been killed, mostly inside the restaurant. Another 93 are reported injured, many of them severely so, meaning the toll could yet rise further.

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Four Yemeni security personnel, including a senior army officer, were killed Wednesday when Shia Houthi militants shelled army positions in the southwestern Taiz province.

The shelling targeted an army outpost in Taiz’s Mawzi district, Abdullah al-Shaabi, a spokesman for forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, told Anadolu Agency.

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Army units expanded their control on the southeastern outskirts of Deir Ezzor city, after inflicting heavy losses upon ISIS terrorists.

SANA reporter in Deir Ezzor said that army units that broke the siege imposed on Deir Ezzor Military Airport, in cooperation with the airport garrison, launched intensive operations during the past hours in the area surrounding al-Jafra village, achieving a new advance that will enhance security around the residential neighborhoods and the military points in the village.

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A number of Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Friday after they were ambushed by Peshmerga in northern Tal Afar, some 65 kilometres west of Mosul.

Peshmerga commander Badirkhan Zebari confirmed to BasNews that six jihadists were gunned down by the Kurdish forces while they were attempting to escape Tal Afar.

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Syria said Israeli airstrikes targeted a military facility in the west of the country, killing two soldiers.

Syria’s military confirmed in a statement that Israeli warplanes struck the site near the town of Masyaf after 2 a.m. on Thursday from Lebanese airspace. The statement warned Israel of “serious consequences” over the attack.

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