Kenyan troops which are part of the UN-backed Africa Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said Friday they had captured Somali strategic port city of Kismayo, the only remaining bastion of rebel al-Shabaab.

Kenya’s military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna said the port city was taken over by Kenya Defence Forces and Somalia National Army (SNA) on Friday in a combined operation involving Navy, ground and air operations.

“I can confirm the port city of Kismayo was taken over by KDF and SNA forces this morning (Friday) and the details of how the operation was conducted will come later,” Oguna told Xinhua by telephone.

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Rebels claim to have launched a “decisive attack” on Syria’s second city, Aleppo, as the UN refugee agency warned as many as 700,000 refugees could flee the country by year’s end.

“Tonight, Aleppo will be ours or we will be defeated,” Abu Furat, a rebel commander, told AFP as several thousand fighters went on the offensive in the key northern city that has been a battleground since July.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce combat in the early evening in the districts of Izaa and Saif al-Dawla in the southwest, involving “hundreds of rebel fighters”.

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A pair of powerful blasts targeting Syria’s military command headquarters rocked central Damascus early Wednesday.

It was the second consecutive day that bombs, apparently planted by rebels, hit the capital, highlighting insurgents’ ability to strike at the heart of the government of President Bashar Assad.

The attacks come as the United Nations General Assembly has been debating the crisis in Syria, though a deeply divided U.N. has failed in efforts to broker a cease-fire.

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Somalia has promised to find civilian jobs and training for rebels from the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab if they abandon their part in a six year old insurgency.

The new deal comes after around 250 fighters from the al-Qaeda linked group surrendered to pro-government forces over the weekend.

Interior minister Abdisamed Mohamed Hassan appealed to the estimated 6,000 militants occupying areas in the south of the country to give themselves up.

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The Syrian regime on Tuesday announced it had retaken the large Arkoub district of Aleppo, the country’s second city, but a watchdog reported there was still fighting between troops and rebels in the area.

A military source told an AFP correspondent in the northern city of Aleppo that ‘army operations have been completed in Arkoub,’ a large eastern district in the northern metropolis.

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A joint US-Israeli attack on the Islamic republic could trigger a third world war, a general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, has claimed, cited by ‘Digarban’ website.

“World War III could break out if the United States and Israeli forces decided to attack Iran,” said general Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commandar of the Revolutionary Guards’ airforce, cite by Digarban.

“Iran would be ready to launch strikes on US bases in the Gulf and US allies in the region in the event of an attack by the US together with its allies,” Hajizadeh said.

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Mali and a West African regional bloc preparing to send troops to help Bamako reclaim the Islamist-seized north reached a partial agreement Sunday over conditions for an eventual deployment, officials said.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been jostling for weeks seeking an end to the Malian crisis, which has raised concerns about regional stability and seen Mali split in two after Islamist extremists seized control of the north after a March coup.

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