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Residents walk through rubble in worn-torn Aleppo (Reuters)
Syria’s army advanced in east Aleppo Saturday in a devastating assault that has placed it in control of more than half the former rebel stronghold and sparked a civilian exodus.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled eastern neighborhoods of the battered city since President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began its latest offensive in mid-November.
Iraqi forces, supported by local Sunni militia, have opened a new front against ISIS in the Hawija Plains, north of the group’s stronghold of Hawija, 58 km southwest of Kirkuk.
Iraqi forces have so far liberated two villages north of Hawija, Shayyal al Abali and Shayyal al Imam, reported Rudaw’s Nabard Hussein who is embedded with the advancing troops.
Iraqi forces claim they are now in control of most of eastern Mosul.
The military has faced setbacks, reportedly battling ISIL snipers, suicide bombers and drones. But officers say progress is being made and Iraqi soldiers have killed around 1,000 jihadists in recent days.
At least ten members of the Shia Houthi militia and their allies were killed in Thursday clashes with pro-government forces in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province, according to a Yemeni military official.
“Yemen’s national army repulsed an attack by Houthi militiamen and their allies on an air-defense camp in western Taiz,” Colonel Abdu al-Saghir, leader of the army’s 17th Division, told Anadolu Agency.
Clashes broke out on Monday between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish army forces near the border, military sources reported.
The Turkish military forces and allied rebels of the Euphrates Shield Brigades launched an offensive on SDF positions west of Manbij city in northern Aleppo, using heavy artillery and mortar fire. At least five SDF fighters were killed and several others were wounded in the attack.