At least 44 people have been killed in a wave of attacks across Iraq, including soldiers at an army post and police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said.

Insurgents killed at least 44 people in a wave of attacks against Iraqi security forces on Sunday, gunning down soldiers at an army post and bombing police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said.

Sunday’s violence, which struck at least 11 cities and also wounded nearly 240 people, highlighted militant attempts to sow havoc in the country and undermine the government.

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Iran is intensifying its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad by sending 150 senior Revolutionary Guards commanders to Syria to help repel opposition attempts to overthrow the government.

Western intelligence officials say that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has personally sanctioned the dispatch of the experienced officers to ensure that the Assad regime, Iran’s most important regional ally, survives the threat to its survival.

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The Syrian army has continued to bombard Aleppo, the country’s biggest city.

Opposition groups said that at least five people died in the attacks on Tuesday.

Now residents say that food supplies are running out in the strategic city.

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Syrian rebels launched deadly attacks on the military Saturday in a campaign increasingly targeting its air power, as President Bashar Assad’s traditional ally Russia said it was “naive” to expect him not to fight back.

Rebel fighters captured the main air defense building in Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Right said, adding that “preliminary reports” suggested they had seized ground-to-air missiles that could boost their ability to down government aircraft.

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Syrian rebels attacked two military airports in the northern province of Idlib on Thursday, opposition activists said, dpa reported.

The rebels damaged at least five helicopters and more than six F16 fighter jets in the Taftanaz and Abu al-Zouhour airports.

Government forces were shelling areas around the airports from early Thursday, according to the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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