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Israel conducted airstrikes on the central Gaza Strip early on Thursday, according to journalists and witnesses, hours after the military said it intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory.
New rounds of rockets were fired from Gaza after these strikes, and fresh explosions could be heard from Gaza City about 3.15am local time, Agence France-Presse journalists reported.
At least 20 people were killed and several others injured in intense clashes between Yemen’s government forces and tribal fighters in the country’s oil-rich province of Marib, a security official said.
“Heavy fighting continued between government troops and scores of tribal fighters during the past 24 hours, leaving 12 soldiers and eight armed tribesmen killed and several others injured from both sides,” the official told Xinhua news agency.
The Islamic State group (ISIS) said on Wednesday that its leader Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has been killed in battle and announced a replacement, AFP reported.
A spokesman for the terror group said Hashimi, an Iraqi, was killed “in combat with enemies of God”, without elaborating on the date of his death or the circumstances. Speaking in an audio message, the spokesman identified the group’s new leader as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.
Turkey will attack militants with tanks and soldiers soon, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, signalling a possible ground offensive against a Kurdish militia in Syria after retaliatory strikes escalated along the Syrian border.
His comments came as Turkish artillery kept up bombardment of Kurdish bases and other targets near the Syrian towns of Tal Rifaat and Kobani, two Syrian military sources told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia recently warned the US of an imminent attack by Iran on targets in the kingdom and in Erbil, Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The US military and other militaries in the Middle East have raised their alert level in response to the warnings, according to the report.
