Syrian troops celebrate as they take control of the village of Haydariyah, some seven kilometers outside the rebel-held town of Qusair

The Syrian military, backed by Hezbollah, pounded the rebel-held town of Qusair on Sunday, killing at least 13 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“After two days of calm, planes bombed the town of Qusair in the early hours of the morning,” the watchdog’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

At least 13 people, including rebels, were killed in these raids and in artillery and mortar fire by the army.

“It seems that this is preparation for a major operation,” he said.

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The Horn of Africa has been ravaged by war and famine for decades, and now one of Somalia’s regions, hopes to become an independent state.

Somaliland sits on the Gulf of Aden and is officially regarded as an autonomous region of Somalia. The two were, however, separate until 1960. During the civil war in the 1980s, 40,000 people from Somaliland were killed, and nearly half a million fled.

The region then declared independence in 1991. Since then, it has held four peaceful elections.

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At least 21 people killed in Borno state as army launches offensive against Boko Haram strongholds in the northeast.

A security official in northeast Nigeria says soldiers have shelled suspected camps of armed groups in the region, killing at least 21 people.

The official said on Friday that the fighting happened on Thursday in the Sambisa Forest Reserve, just south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

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The Afghan and coalition security force wounded a Taliban leader and killed two other insurgents during an operation in Qush Tepah district, Jowzjan province, yesterday.

The leader has operational control over a group of fighters responsible for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in multiple districts throughout Jowzjan.

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According to reports, there’s been a new clash between the Syrian rebels and the pro government Syrian army in the flashpoint of the northern city of Aleppo around a prison. The prison is holding around 4,000 inmates. Activists have revealed that, using air raids and tank shells government forces have counter-attacked the rebels.

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Nigeria has announced a “massive deployment of men and resources” to combat Islamist militants in the country’s border territories.

A statement said the drive was aimed at “asserting the nation’s territorial integrity” and “enhancing security”.

On Tuesday President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three north-eastern states after a series of deadly attacks by militant groups.

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Syrian rebels including the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front have counter-attacked east of Damascus to retake a town that served as a conduit for arms from Jordan into the capital before it was seized by government forces last month, rebel sources said.

The rebels’ struggle to end four decades of Assad family rule has been complicated in part by internal divisions along ideological and political lines, as well as a shortage of heavy weaponry that could decisively turn the tide of conflict.

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