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Fighters of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham cheer on a pickup truck after a Russian helicopter was shot down in the north of Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, Syria, August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah/File Photo
Syrian opposition activists are reporting intense clashes in the northwestern province of Idlib between two of Syria’s most powerful insurgent groups.
The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) alleged that on Friday morning the Burma Army launched air strikes from four fighter jets on its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
The Burma Army attacked Inkaren Hill in Waingmaw Township where KIA Battalion No. 252 was deployed, KIO information officer Lt-Col Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy.
Seven fighters were killed in clashes between rebels and loyalists in southwest Yemen today, a loyalist officer said.
Four rebels and three pro-government fighters died on the edge of Taez and Lahj provinces in fighting for control of an area overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, the officer said.
Islamist militant group al-Shabaab claimed the deaths of six Christians in an attack on a residential compound in northeast Kenya on Thursday.
“We are behind the Mandera attack in which we killed six Christians,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters.
Israel carried out airstrikes on Hamas posts in the Gaza Strip after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory landed in a street in the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Wednesday, the Israeli military said.
Tall plumes of smoke from the Israeli strikes rose up from Gaza following the rare series of airstrikes during daylight. There were at least nine Israeli airstrikes on Hamas posts and open spaces throughout the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian eyewitnesses, but there were no reports of injuries.
Fighting between the Afghan army and Taliban continued for the third consecutive day in the northern city of Kunduz on Wednesday, forcing thousands of residents to flee.
Kunduz’s provincial police chief, Gen. Qasim Jungalbagh, said that the Taliban launched a series of fresh attacks on Afghan forces early on Wednesday morning. “Once again insurgents attacked our forces from two different directions and heavy battles are taking place to the south and east of the city,” Jungalbagh said.
The Burma Army clashed with the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) over two days in central Shan State, after the Burma Army attacked a drug rehabilitation camp set up by the SSA-S in the Warn Lee area of Mong Kung Township on Saturday, according to SSA-S spokesman Lt-Col Sai Mein.
The Shan State Army-South, whose political wing is known as the Restoration Council of Shan State, was among eight ethnic armed groups that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) with the previous government in October last year. Since then, its relations with the Burma Army have been relatively positive.
“Without warning, the Burma Army attacked a drug rehabilitation camp in an area of our control and released criminals from the prison there. We did not deploy troops at the camp; it is managed by local villagers,” Lt-Col Sai Mein told The Irrawaddy.