US President Donald Trump told Russia in an early morning tweet to prepare for “nice and new and ’smart!’” missile attacks in Syria after an alleged gas attack on the last rebel stronghold in the country.

The tweet came after the Russian ambassador to Lebanon said in an interview on Tuesday with Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV that “if there is a US missile attack, we - in line with both Putin and Russia’s chief of staff’s remarks - will shoot down US rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles”.

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At least 4 communist rebels were killed while 5 others were captured after clashes with the military in Camarines Sur, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Luzon Command (Solcom).

Separate clashes erupted in two towns there as the government and the communist rebels were trying to resume peace talks.

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Russia’s Defense Ministry has blamed Israel for the missile attack that left at least 14 dead in Syria early Monday morning, USA Today reported.

But Syrian media blamed the U.S. for the attack.

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At least 150 people were killed in the city of Douma, east of Damascus, after the Assad army’s air force bombed the area.

According to reports, there is a suspicion that chemical weapons, including the sarin nerve agent, were used in the bombing. Opposition sources report that airplanes dropped barrels of chemical materials on the city and its residents.

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A Tunisian military squad clashed with militants in the mountains of the north-western province of El Kef, Saudi state-news agency SPA reported.

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Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians as thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border on Friday, a week after a mass demonstration led to violence and the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

Gaza’s health ministry also reported that 408 Palestinians had been taken to hospitals and medical centers for treatment. The dead included a 16-year-old, it added.

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French and Malian troops killed about 30 Islamist insurgents during a gunbattle in a region near the border with Niger, where Islamic State are known to be active, the French army said on Thursday.

West Africa’s arid Sahel region has seen a rise in violence by militant groups, some with links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, that is drawing an increasingly aggressive response from countries including France and the United States.

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