Syrian forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, are in full control of Yabroud after clearing out rebels holed up in the strategic Syrian town for months, Syrian state media and opposition activists have reported.

Capturing Yabroud, the last major rebel bastion near the Lebanese border north of Damascus, will help President Bashar al-Assad secure the land route linking his Mediterranean coastal stronghold with the capital Damascus, and choke off a cross-border rebel supply line from Lebanon.

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Militants in Gaza launched a fresh barrage of rocket fire into southern Israel today after overnight Israeli airstrikes, underscoring the fragility of an unofficial 16-month ceasefire with Hamas. The latest escalation in tensions began yesterday when Islamic Jihad, another Gaza militant group, fired rockets into Israel.

No Israeli casualties were reported from either of the rocket attacks that targeted the towns of Ashkelon and Ashdod. But the exchange has stirred new fears of escalating tit-for-tat violence at a time when the US is brokering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

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The Israel Air Force struck an Islamic Jihad cell in southern Gaza on Tuesday minutes after it was identified as being behind an attack on an IDF unit on the Gaza-Israel border.

According to military sources, the terrorists fired a mortar shell at soldiers who were conducting routine security measures near the frontier.

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A day after President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi announced a change in ministerial position, in a bid to address Yemen’s deteriorating security crisis and instigate a change in policy at the oil ministry, the country’s founding economic block; military officials confirmed that al-Qaeda had yet again targeted a military base in the southern province of Abyan, in Lawder.

It is important to note that Abyan was turned in 2012 into an al-Qaeda hub after the terror group managed to exploit Yemen’s power vacuum by establishing several strongholds at the heart of the region. Strong in its positions al-Qaeda proclaimed the cities of Zinjibar and Jaar, Islamic Caliphates.

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Syrian government forces seized a town from rebels near the Lebanese border on Saturday, their latest attempt to cut off opposition fighters’ fluid supply lines from the country, state media and activists said.

The fighting in Zara came as President Bashar Assad marked the 51st anniversary of his ruling Baath party’s ascent to power, vowing to strengthen relations with international allies that have provided his main backing over the past three tumultuous years.

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