Monday, 4 January, 2016

The Islamic State (IS) group has captured the Libyan town of Ben Jawad, close to the country’s vital oil ports, the militants said Monday.
The ultra-hardline group, which has taken advantage of years of chaos to grab territory in Libya, made the claim in an online statement. There was no one from Libya’s authorities immediately available to comment on the town’s capture.
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The fight’s not over, says the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), which celebrated its 22nd anniversary yesterday with events in Oventic, Chiapas.
In a statement, the revolutionary organization said its indigenous communities have neither the new digital televisions given away by the federal government, nor late-model vehicles and concrete homes.
But their residents have a better quality of life than those “who have sold themselves” to the different political parties.
It was on January 1, 1994 that the ELZN, under the leadership of Subcommander Marcos, took up arms in its war “against the Mexican state.” Armed rebels seized several towns and cities in Chiapas.
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Sunday, 3 January, 2016

The 12-day holiday truce between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is set to end Sunday night with the military reiterating its call for the rebels to renounce violence and live peaceful lives.
With the end of the ceasefire, the military can resume offensive operations against the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP.
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Islamic State group militants continue to launch a series of counterattacks against Iraqi government forces on the edges of the western city of Ramadi days after the militant group was driven out of the city center, according to the U.S.-led coalition.
“The majority of these are outside downtown Ramadi to the north and east,” and so far Iraqi government forces have successfully repelled every attack, said Baghdad-based coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren.
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Saturday, 2 January, 2016

The ceasefire between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Houthi rebels ended on Saturday, just over two weeks after the two entities entered the deal.
Saudi state news agency SPA released a statement charging the Houthi rebels with breaching the truce by launching several “blatant attacks on the territory of the Kingdom by the launch of ballistic missiles toward Saudi cities,” obstructing relief efforts to distribute food and medical supplies to Yemeni civilians, and targeting Saudi border zones.
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The Israeli air force early Saturday morning launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas facilities after rockets were fired from the besieged enclave, officials said.
Official sources in Gaza told Ma’an that Israeli warplanes targeted training grounds used by the military wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades.
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Four terrorists and three Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were killed in an attack on an air force base in Punjab’s Pathankot district early on Saturday morning, setting alarm bells ringing across the country.
Gunshots rocked the facility around 3:30am on the second day of a new year as a group of at least five men in army-style clothing - believed to be operatives of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group - launched the daring operation less than 24 hours after an alert was sounded in the state over the assault of a top police officer by suspected Pakistani terrorists.
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