At least two Grad rockets fired from the Sinai area hit Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat on Wednesday morning, causing no injuries but some damage.

An Islamist militant group in the Sinai Peninsula Magles Shoura al-Mujahadin claimed responsibility for the attack on its website on Wednesday saying it targeted Eilat with two Grad missiles and then withdrew safely.

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A spate of bomb attacks, including 23 car bombings, struck Iraqi cities, killing at least 20 people and wounding 195 in the latest escalation of violence, just five days ahead of the country’s provincial polls.

The deadliest attacks occurred in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad when seven car bombs separately ripped through the city during the morning rush hour, killing 10 people and wounding some 52 others, an Interior Ministry told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

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The Syrian air force struck on Sunday a rebel’s suburb east of the capital Damascus, activist groups said.

The suburb of Subaineh was raided four times on Sunday, activists said, alleging that the strikes targeted residential buildings. But the account could not be verified independently.

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The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said his group had trained and funded fighters from Syria’s al-Nusra Front - which is blacklisted by the United States - since the early days of the two-year-old uprising.

He said in a statement posted on Islamist websites and seen by Reuters on Tuesday that the two groups would operate under the joint title of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

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Syrian rebels said they overran an army garrison that defends the main southern border crossing with Jordan on Friday and vowed to press on to take control of the major transit route.

Fighters from the Free Syrian Army said they captured the Um al-Mayathen post on the main Damascus-Jordan highway in heavy fighting overnight that ended a siege that lasted more than a week. Dozens died in the clashes they said.

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