Yemeni troops and allied tribesmen have stormed and captured the strategic Al-Khanjer military base and surrounding areas in the northern province of Jouf.

The operation, supported by Saudi-led Arab coalition warplanes, is a heavy blow to Iran-backed Houthi militias and their control of much of northern Yemen, the army said.

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An explosives-laden truck ignited Tuesday on a busy street in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens, Turkey’s state-run news agency and Syrian opposition activists reported.

The blast in the town of al-Bab took place near a bus station where people often gather to travel from one region to another, according to the opposition’s Civil Defence, also known as White Helmets.

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Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi rebels agreed to exchange about 1,000 detainees and prisoners, including 15 Saudis, as part of trust-building steps aimed at reviving a stalled peace process, the United Nations said.

“I am personally extremely pleased to be here to announce that you have reached a very important milestone,” UN envoy Martin Griffiths told reporters on Sunday.

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Clashes in Syria between pro-regime forces and Islamic State group jihadists, along with air strikes, have killed at least 28 fighters in the northern province of Raqqa, a war monitor said Tuesday.

“IS has since Monday carried out several attacks on Syrian army and allied positions and checkpoints in the Badia (desert) of Raqqa, killing 13 members of regime forces,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Turkey struck two sites in the Sidakan sub-district of Erbil province in the early hours of Friday, according to Sidakan town’s mayor.

Turkish artillery fired at the Sari Zraran area of Sidakan’s Khalifan village, and a Turkish drone struck the nearby area of Birkma, mayor Ihsan Chalabi told Rudaw on Friday.

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