 | Wars in the World |
Daily News on Wars in the World and on New States
| FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK X FLIPBOARD TELEGRAM |
Fierce clashes between Libyan Islamist militiamen and rival forces loyal to a renegade general have killed 31 fighters on both sides, a Libyan security official said Tuesday.
The fighting erupted late on Monday, with forces and fighter jets belonging to Gen. Khalifa Hifter pounding positions of Islamist militias called The Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council, said the official.
The Islamic State armed group (ISIS) is committing crimes against humanity on a historic scale in northern Iraq. According to London-based Amnesty International, who have people on the ground there, “entire communities are at risk of being wiped off the map of Iraq”.
Amnesty International interviewed hundreds of witnesses, survivors, and victims, including the families of those who were killed or abducted, and many others displaced by the violence of the Islamic State in its new report, Ethnic cleansing on historic scale: the Islamic State’s systematic targeting of minorities in northern Iraq.
Islamist rebels clashed Monday with Syrian government forces in the province of Quneitra, close by the Israeli- controlled Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The observatory said in a statement that fighting continued throughout the day between Syrian army units and insurgents including the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliated group.
Ukrainian forces were given orders to retreat from the airport in Luhansk, the second-largest rebel-held city, in the face of an intensifying assault, Ukrainian National Security Council spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said on Monday, blaming the assault on “professional artillery gunmen of the Russian armed forces.”
Russia consistently denies allegations that it has sent troops or equipment into Ukraine. But Lysenko said Monday that “not less than four battalions and tactical groups of the Russian armed forces are active in Ukraine.”
Islamist rebels blew up a car bomb on Sunday at a national-intelligence site in Somalia’s capital where suspected militants are held, and gunmen then attacked the site, officials and the rebel group said.
Seven militants were killed in the attack and in fighting at the Mogadishu facility, according to an intelligence officer, who asked that he be identified only as Nur. He gave no details on casualties among the security forces, if any.
Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite militias and U.S. airstrikes have reportedly entered the northern town of Amerli, where Islamic State militants have laid siege to the town for weeks, prompting fears of a sectarian massacre.
Reuters and BBC report that Iraqi Army and volunteer fighters entered the town on Sunday after defeating the Sunni rebels, also known as ISIS or ISIL, east of the city. The Islamic State, which claims to enforce a pure version of Islam, has apparently targeted Amerli because of its large Shiite Turkmen population, seen by them as apostates.
Somaliland forces seized Sool region town of Saah Dheer after heavy fighting erupted in the early hours of Thursday morning according to officials, Garowe Online reports.
Somaliland armed forces Commander-in-Chief Gen. Ismael Shaqale confirmed to BBC Somali service that they took over Saah Dheer in clean-up operation.