Tag: Militant groups

U.S. retaliates in Iraq after three U.S. troops wounded in attack

U.S. Army soldiers watch as fellow Coalition soldiers pass by near the entrance to the International Zone on May 30, 2021 in Baghdad, Iraq.

John Moore | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.S. military carried out retaliatory air strikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day by Iran-aligned militants that left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two other U.S. personnel, officials said.

The back-and-forth clash was the latest demonstration of how the Israel-Hamas war is rippling across the Middle East, creating turmoil that has turned U.S. troops at bases in Iraq and Syria into targets.

Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel’s campaign in Gaza and hold the United States partly responsible.

At President Joe Biden’s direction, the U.S. military carried out the strikes in Iraq at 1:45 GMT, likely killing “a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants” and destroying multiple facilities used by the group, the U.S. military said.

“These strikes are intended to hold accountable those elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks. We will always protect our forces,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, in a statement.

A U.S. base in Iraq’s Erbil that houses U.S. forces came under attack from a one-way drone earlier on Monday, leading to the latest U.S. casualties.

The base has been repeatedly targeted. Reuters reported on another significant drone attack in October on the barracks at the Erbil base on Oct. 26, which penetrated U.S. air defenses but failed to detonate.

The Pentagon did not disclose details about the identity of the service member who was critically wounded or offer more details on the injuries sustained in the attack. It also did not offer details on how this drone appeared to penetrate the base’s air defenses.

“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The White House National Security Council said Biden was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options against those responsible.

“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way. The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

Still, it is unclear if the latest U.S. retaliation will deter future action against U.S. forces, who are deployed in Iraq and Syria to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State militants.

The U.S. military has already come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.

The U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad also came under mortar fire earlier in December, the first time it had been attacked in more than a year, in a major escalation.

The latest unrest came less than a week after Austin returned from a trip to the Middle East focused on containing efforts by Iran-aligned groups to broaden of the Israel-Hamas war.

That includes setting up a U.S.-led maritime coalition to safeguard Red Sea commerce following a series of drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that more than 20 countries have agreed to participate in the new U.S.-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.

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December 25, 2023
Israeli aircraft hit Gaza after rocket fire

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli aircraft struck several military sites in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, hours after Palestinian militants fired a missile into southern Israel in a move apparently linked to rising tension in the occupied West Bank, Israel said.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted a weapons manufacturing facility and an underground tunnel belonging to Hamas, the militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007. The military said more projectiles were fired over the border while warplanes were hitting the Gaza sites.

No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the Saturday evening rocket, which landed in an open area near the Gaza-Israel fence. The border has been quiet since August’s three-day blitz between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a powerful Gaza group that is smaller than the dominant Hamas.

Hamas and other factions have largely honored the unofficial understandings that have kept the situation in the impoverished territory calm in exchange for thousands of Israeli work permits. Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade on Gaza to prevent Hamas from stocking up weapons.

“The strike overnight continues the progress to impede the force build-up” of Hamas, the Israeli army said.

Critics of the blockade say it is a form of collective punishment that harms Gaza’s 2.3 million people.

While Gaza remained quiet, tension has been boiling for months in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exerts limited self-rule in parts of the territory.

Israel carried out near daily raids that it says targets wanted Palestinians involved in planning or taking part in attacks, prompted by a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the spring that killed 19 people.

The military says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks, but the Palestinians say they entrench Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56th year. A recent wave of Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets killed an additional nine people.

More than 140 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting this year. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli army incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

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December 3, 2022
US-Iran match mirrored a regional rivalry for many Arab fans

BAGHDAD — The U.S. team’s victory over Iran at the World Cup on Tuesday was closely watched across the Middle East, where the two nations have been engaged in a cold war for over four decades and where many blame one or both for the region’s woes.

Critics of Iran say it has fomented war and unrest across the Arab world by supporting powerful armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories. Supporters view it as the leader of an “axis of resistance” against what they see as U.S. imperialism, corrupt Arab rulers and Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.

The divide is especially intense in Lebanon and Iraq, where heavily armed Iran-backed political factions vie for political influence with opponents more oriented toward the West. In those countries, many believe Iran or the U.S. are due for comeuppance — even if only on the pitch.

Others wished a plague on both their houses.

“Both are adversaries of Iraq and played a negative role in the country,” Haydar Shakar said in downtown Baghdad, where a cafe displayed the flags of both countries hanging outside. “It’s a sports tournament, and they’re both taking part in it. That’s all it is to us.”

A meme widely circulated ahead of Tuesday’s match between the U.S. and Iran jokingly referred to it as “the first time they will play outside of Lebanon.” Another Twitter user joked that whoever wins the group stage “takes Iraq.”

The Iran-backed Hezbollah was the only armed group to keep its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. It says its arms are needed to defend the country from Israel and blames Lebanon’s economic crisis in part on U.S. sanctions. Opponents decry Hezbollah as an “Iranian occupation,” while many Lebanese accuse both the U.S. and Iran of meddling in their internal affairs.

In Iraq, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion led to years of intense violence and sectarian strife, and Iran-backed political factions and militias largely filled the vacuum. While U.S. forces and Iran-backed militias found themselves on the same side against the Islamic State extremist group, they have traded fire on several occasions since its defeat.

Both Lebanon and Iraq have had to contend with years of political gridlock, with the main dividing line running between Iran’s allies and opponents.

In Yemen, the Iran-aligned Houthi militia captured the capital and much of the country’s north in 2014. The Houthis have been at war since then with an array of factions supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two U.S. allies.

In Syria’s civil war, Iran supported President Bashar Assad’s government against rebels, some supported by the West. In the Palestinian territories, it backs Hamas and Islamic Jihad, militant factions that do not recognize Israel and have carried out scores of attacks over the years.

Interviews with soccer fans in Beirut and Baghdad revealed mixed emotions about the match.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, a center of Hezbollah support, young men draped in Iranian flags gathered in a cafe hung with a “Death to America” flag to watch the match.

“We are against America in football, politics and everything else,” Ali Nehme said. “God is with Lebanon and Iran.”

Across the city on the seafront promenade, Beirut resident Aline Noueyhed said, “Of course I’m not with Iran after all the disasters they made. Definitely, I’m with America.” She added, however, that the U.S. also was “not 100% helping us.”

The post-game reaction in the streets of Beirut after the U.S. defeated Iran 1-0, eliminating it from the tournament and advancing to the knockout round, was far more subdued than after the previous day’s win by Brazil — a fan favorite in Lebanon — over Switzerland.

In Baghdad, Ali Fadel was cheering for Iran, because “it’s a neighboring country, an Asian country.”

“There are many linkages between us and them,” he added.

Nour Sabah was rooting for the U.S. because “they are a strong team, and (the U.S.) controls the world.”

In Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north, fans also gave mixed reactions.

Twenty-seven-year-old Zainab Fakhri was rooting for the U.S. to beat Iran “to punish the Iranian regime that has been oppressing the women’s revolution,” referring to recent protests there.

At the same cafe, Aras Harb, 23, was backing Iran. “We prefer them because my family were able to flee there during the war, and the Iranian people are kind.”

Saad Mohammad, 20, had been hoping for a tie, fearing that a win could worsen an already alarming security situation. If locals celebrate the win, he said, “I fear Iran will launch rockets at us.”

Although the Iran supporters were visibly upset at their loss, the crowd filed out after the game without incident.

Regional politics hovered over the last matchup, at the 1998 World Cup, when Iran famously defeated the U.S. 2-1, eliminating it from the tournament. That came less than two decades after Iran’s Islamic Revolution toppled the U.S.-backed shah and protesters overran the U.S. Embassy, leading to a prolonged hostage crisis.

French riot police were on site at the stadium in Lyon that year, but they weren’t needed. The teams posed together in a group photo, and Iran’s players even brought white roses for their opponents.

In this year’s matchup, allegiances have been scrambled by the nationwide protests gripping Iran, with some Iranians openly rooting against their own team. The players declined to sing along to their national anthem ahead of their opening match, in what was seen as an expression of sympathy for the protests, but reversed course and sang ahead of their next one.

In some neighborhoods of Tehran, people chanted “Death to the dictator!” after the match, even though it was past midnight local time.

Danyel Reiche, a visiting associate professor at Georgetown University Qatar who has researched the politics of sports, said World Cup fandom is not necessarily an indicator of political affiliation, even in countries with deep divisions.

Local sports in Lebanon are “highly politicized,” with all the major basketball and soccer clubs having political and sectarian affiliations, he said. But when it comes to the World Cup — where Lebanon has never qualified to play — fans latch on to any number of teams.

That’s true across the region, where fans sporting Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo jerseys can be found from Gaza to Afghanistan.

“This is one of the few spheres where people have the liberty and freedom to choose a country that they simply like and not the country where they think there’s an obligation for them to be affiliated with it,” Reiche said.

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Sewell reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Fadi Tawil and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Irbil, Iraq and Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario contributed to this report.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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November 29, 2022
Israeli filmmaker comments on Kashmir film stoke controversy

NEW DELHI — Israel’s envoy to India on Tuesday denounced a filmmaker from his country after he called a blockbuster Bollywood film on disputed Kashmir a “propaganda” and “vulgar movie” at a film festival, stoking a debate about recent history that fuels the ongoing conflict.

Naor Gilon, Israel’s ambassador to India, said he was “extremely hurt” by comments made by filmmaker Nadav Lapid in which he said the movie “The Kashmir Files” was unworthy of being screened at the highly acclaimed International Film Festival of India. The event, organized by the Indian government in western Goa state, ended Monday.

“The Kashmir Files” was released in March to a roaring success and is largely set in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when attacks and threats by militants led to the migration of most Kashmiri Hindus from the Muslim-majority disputed region. Many film critics and Kashmiri Muslims have called the film hateful propaganda, while its fans and proponents, including India’s many federal government ministers, see it as essential viewing of the plight of Kashmiri Hindus, locally called Pandits.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim the territory in full. In 1989, tens of thousands of mostly Kashmiri Muslims rose up against Indian rule, leading to a protracted armed conflict in the region.

On Tuesday, Gilon tweeted at Lapid, saying: “YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED.”

“I’m no film expert but I do know that it’s insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India because many of the involved are still around and still paying a price,” Gilon tweeted. He also accused Lapid of inflicting damage on the growing relationship between India and Israel.

The festival jury has distanced itself from Lapid’s remarks and called them his “personal opinion.” An internationally acclaimed director, Lapid’s movies “Synonyms” and “Ahad’s Knee” have won awards at major festivals.

At the time of its release, “The Kashmir Files” was endorsed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and promoted by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party by offering it tax breaks in some states governed by it.

The film, however, set off heated debates. Its supporters praised it for speaking the truth about Kashmiri Hindus, while critics said the film was aimed to stoke anti-Muslim sentiments at a time when calls for violence against India’s minority Muslims have increased.

Nonetheless, the film was a blockbuster. Made on a budget of $2 million, it has earned more than $43 million so far, making it one of India’s highest-grossing films this year.

The filmmakers of “The Kashmir Files” have repeatedly said it exposes what they call the “genocide” inflicted on the region’s Hindus and likened it to Hollywood’s ″Schindler’s List″ that tells the story of the Holocaust. But many critics, including some of Bollywood’s top directors, have called it divisive, full of factual inaccuracies and provocative.

Hindus lived mostly peacefully alongside Muslims for centuries across the Himalayan region of Kashmir. In the late 1980s, when Kashmir turned into a battleground, attacks and threats by militants led to the departure of most Kashmiri Hindus, who identified with India’s rule, Many believed that the rebellion was also aimed at wiping them out. It reduced the Hindus from an estimated 200,000 to a tiny minority of about 5,000 in the Kashmir Valley.

Most of the region’s Muslims, long resentful of Indian rule, deny that Hindus were systematically targeted, and say India helped them to move out in order to cast Kashmir’s freedom struggle as Islamic extremism.

According to official data, over 200 Kashmiri Hindus were killed in the last three decades of the region’s conflict. Some Hindu groups put the number much higher.

Tensions in Kashmir returned in 2019, when India’s Hindu nationalist government stripped the region’s semi-autonomy, split it into two federal territories administered by New Delhi and imposed a clampdown on free speech accompanied by widespread arrests. Kashmir has since witnessed a spate of targeted killings, including that of Hindus. Police blame anti-India rebels for the killings.

On Tuesday, “The Kashmir Files” actor Anupam Kher, who plays a protagonist, called the criticism of the film “preplanned.”

“If the Holocaust is right, then the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is also right,” Kher said in a video posted on Twitter.

“The Kashmir Files” is directed by Vivek Agnihotri, whose previous film “The Tashkent Files” alleged a conspiracy in the death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The film was heavily criticized for presenting unproven conspiracy theories as facts.

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November 29, 2022
Al-Shabab extremist group attacks hotel in Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali security forces were attempting to flush out armed assailants from a hotel in the Somali capital, a police spokesman said Sunday, after the extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been no immediate word of any casualties.

Al-Shabab said in a broadcast on its own radio frequency Sunday that said its fighters attacked the hotel Villa Rose, which has a restaurant popular with government and security officials.

Scores of people were rescued from the hotel and security forces have launched an operation to remove the assailants, police spokesman Sadik Dodishe told state media.

Abdi Hassan, a government worker who lives near the hotel, told the Associated Press that he believes several government officials were inside the hotel when the attack started. Some were seen jumping the perimeter wall to safety while others were rescued, he said.

The hotel isn’t far from the presidential palace in central Mogadishu, where a blast was heard, followed by gunfire.

Such militant attacks are common in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa nation.

The latest attack comes amid a new, high-profile offensive by the Somali government against al-Shabab, which still controls large parts of central and southern Somalia.

Extremist fighters loyal to the group have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for the government offensive, and attacks on public places frequented by government officials and others persist.

Hotels and restaurants are frequently targeted, as are military bases for government troops and foreign peacekeepers.

Last month at least 120 people were killed in two car bombings at a busy junction in Mogadishu. Al-Shabab, which doesn’t usually claim responsibility when its assaults result in a high civilian death toll, carried out that attack, the deadliest since a similar attack at the same spot killed more than 500 five years ago.

Al-Shabab opposes Somalia’s federal government, which is backed by African Union peacekeepers, and seeks to take power and enforce a strict version of Sharia law.

The United States has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations and targeted it with scores of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel have returned to the country after former president Donald Trump withdrew them.

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November 27, 2022
Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion

QAMISHLI, Syria — The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria said his group is prepared to repel a ground invasion by Turkey.

SDF head Mazloum Abdi told the The Associated Press that his group has been preparing for another such attack since Turkey launched a ground offensive in area in 2019 and “we believe that we have reached a level where we can foil any new attack. At least the Turks will not be able to occupy more of our areas and there will be a great battle.”

He added, “If Turkey attacks any region, the war will spread to all regions…and everyone will be hurt by that.”

Turkey has carried out a barrage of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s military struck infrastructure facilities in northeast Syria, including a telecommunication tower and oil and gas fields, according to SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. He added that one of the strikes hit near Jerkin prison near Qamishli where scores of members of the Islamic State group are held. Another strike destroyed a school in the village of Kuran near border town of Kobani, Shami said.

The strikes came a day after shelling the town of Azaz, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing five people and wounding five others. The shelling came from positions of the SDF and Syrian government forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.

On Wednesday, the bodies of three people killed in Azaz were brought to the northwestern province of Idlib for burial. Local officials in the area said that the dead were displaced by Syria’s 11-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, Turkish officials said that suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.

Turkey has threatened to escalate from airstrikes to a ground invasion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, “We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones. As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”

Erdogan added that the measures were for “the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”

Turkey’s allies have attempted to dissuade such measures. Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

Mazloum called on Moscow and Damascus, as well as on the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria, with which the SDF is allied, to take a stronger stance to prevent a Turkish ground invasion, warning that such an action could harm attempts to combat a resurgence of IS.

The Turkish airstrikes, which have killed a number of Syrian army soldiers operating in the same area as the SDF forces, have also threatened to upset a nascent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara. The two have been on been on opposing sides in Syria’s civil war but in recent months have launched low-level talks.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut and Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria contributed to this report.

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November 23, 2022
Turkey hints new Syria offensive; Russia urges restraint

ANKARA — Turkey’s president again hinted at a possible new ground offensive in Syria against Kurdish militants on Tuesday, as Syrian forces denounced new airstrikes and Russia urged restraint and called on Ankara to avoid an escalation.

Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria, where tensions heightened over the weekend after Turkish airstrikes killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers.

Lavrentyev — whose country is a strong ally of the Syrian government — expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces later said fresh Turkish airstrikes on Tuesday struck a base the group shares with the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State group. The base is just outside the town of Qamishli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Turkish border. Two SDF fighters were killed and three were wounded, the group said.

Turkey carried out airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq over the weekend, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

The airstrikes also hit several Syrian army positions in three provinces along the border with Turkey, and killed and wounded a number of Syrian soldiers, Syrian officials said.

“We will, of course, call on our Turkish colleagues to show a certain restraint in order to prevent an escalation of tension, and an escalation of tension not only in the north, but also in the entire territory of Syria,” Lavrentyev was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agencies in the Kazakh capital, Astana, ahead of talks on Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey’s actions would not be limited to aerial strikes, suggesting a possible new incursion — a position he reiterated on Tuesday.

“We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones,” Erdogan said. “As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”

Erdogan continued: “From now on, there is only one measure for us. There is only one border. (And that is) the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”

Turkey has launched three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016 and already controls some Syrian territory in the north.

Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, according to Turkish officials. Three more rockets were fired on Tuesday, but caused no damage or injuries, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

While Kurdish-led forces in Syria have not claimed responsibility for the attacks, the SDF on Monday vowed to respond to Turkish airstrikes “effectively and efficiently at the right time and place.”

The Turkish warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG on Saturday night and on Sunday. Turkish officials claimed that 89 targets were destroyed and many militants were killed.

A Syria war monitoring group said 35 people were killed in Turkish airstrikes over the weekend — 18 Kurdish fighters, 16 Syrian government soldiers and a journalist.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Moscow views Turkey’s security concerns “with understanding and respect” but also urges Ankara to “refrain from steps that could lead to a serious destabilization of the situation in general.”

“It can come back as a boomerang,” Peskov said.

Also Tuesday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reiterated during a joint news conference with her Turkish counterpart that Berlin stands with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, but said Turkey’s response to attacks must be “proportionate” and mindful of civilian populations.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, however, defended Turkey’s actions.

“They want to establish a terror state around us, we cannot allow that. It is our duty to protect our borders and our nation,” he said.

Turkey’s defense minister meanwhile, renewed a call for the United States and other nations not to back the Syrian Kurdish militia group, YPG, which Turkey regards as an extension of the PKK.

“We express at every level that ‘PKK equals YPG’ to all our interlocutors, especially the United States, and constantly demand that all support to terrorists be cut,” Hulusi Akar told a parliamentary committee.

Ankara and Washington both consider the PKK a terror group, but disagree on the status of the YPG. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG has been allied with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

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AP reporters Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.

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November 22, 2022
Suspected Kurdish militants fire at Turkish border town

ANKARA, Turkey — Suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired five rockets into a border town in Turkey Monday, killing at least two people and injuring six others, an official said.

The rockets struck a high school and two houses in the town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province, as well as a truck near a Turkish-Syria border gate, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Gaziantep’s Gov. Davut Gul said at least two of the injured were in serious condition.

The rocket attacks came days after Turkey launched deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for a Nov. 13 bomb attack in Istanbul. The Turkish warplanes attacked bases of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, officials said.

Syrian Kurdish officials have reported civilian deaths from the airstrikes.

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November 21, 2022
Palestinians join huge Fatah rally in Gaza Strip amid rift

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Turning a huge park in Gaza City into a sea of yellow flags, tens of thousands of Palestinians on Thursday commemorated the anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — a rare public show of support for the Fatah faction in the heartland of its Islamist rival Hamas.

The rally passed without incident, though Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers have in the past blocked and violently dispersed demonstrations in solidarity with President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party. The Palestinian parties have been bitterly divided between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip for 15 years.

Crowds marched to Gaza City’s Katiba park, waving the yellow flags of Fatah, which Arafat founded in the 1960s. They also raised photos of Abbas, Arafat’s successor.

Arafat died in 2004 at a hospital in France after two years of an Israeli siege on his West Bank headquarters. Palestinians accuse Israel of poisoning him but have offered no proof, adding to the mystery surrounding the death.

For Fatah, the ability to mobilize the masses serves as a referendum on its popularity in Hamas-run Gaza. In 2007, Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized the territory after a bloody week of street fighting.

The reputation of Hamas, which administers Gaza under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade and the threat of repeated destructive conflicts with Israel, has suffered among Palestinians in recent years. The group has hiked taxes on residents but struggled to provide even basic services. Four wars with Israel and the 15-year blockade have devastated Gaza’s economy.

In a recorded message played at the rally, Abbas called for Palestinian unity to ease the blockade. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Hamas from stockpiling arms. Critics view it as a form of collective punishment, confining the territory’s 2 million people to what Palestinians often refer to as the world’s largest open-air prison.

“We feel the suffering of our people under the oppressive siege,” Abbas said. “This pain and agony will not end unless the division, which took our cause backward, ends.”

Hamas does not easily grant permits for such Fatah demonstrations in its territory. In 2007, a few months after taking over Gaza, Hamas attacked Arafat’s anniversary rally and killed six Palestinians. In 2014, authorities prevented Fatah from holding another gathering.

But at the height of Egyptian efforts to reconcile the Palestinian factions and end the enduring political and geographical schism in 2017, Hamas allowed Fatah to hold an Arafat celebration.

Last month, officials from Hamas and Fatah held a new round of reconciliation talks in Algeria and signed an outline for an agreement that would pave the way for elections. But few are optimistic the factions can overcome their differences, as they have failed to implement past deals.

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November 10, 2022
4 Palestinians killed in flare-up as Israel counts votes

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in separate incidents on Thursday, including one who had stabbed a police officer in east Jerusalem and three others in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank.

The violence flared as Israel tallied the final votes in national elections held this week, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected to lead a comfortable majority backed by far-right allies.

Israeli troops operating in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, a militant stronghold, killed at least two Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said one of those killed was a local commander. Residents said he was killed while at the butcher, where he was preparing meat ahead of his wedding this weekend.

The army said the militant, Farouk Salameh, was wanted in a number of shooting attacks on Israeli security forces, including the killing of a police officer last May. It said Salameh was killed after opening fire at soldiers, fleeing the scene and pulling out a gun.

Earlier Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank. Israeli police said it happened during a raid in the territory and alleged the man threw a firebomb at the forces.

Late Thursday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched a rocket into southern Israel, setting off air-raid sirens in the area. The army said the rocket appeared to have been intercepted. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but in the past, Islamic Jihad has fired rockets in response to the killings of its members.

In a separate incident Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City, police said, and officers opened fire on the attacker, killing him. The officer was lightly wounded.

The violence came as a political shift is underway in Israel after national elections, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to return to power in a coalition government made up of far-right allies, including the extremist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in response to the incidents said Israel would soon take a tougher approach to attackers.

“The time has come to restore security to the streets,” he tweeted. “The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be taken out!”

The violence was the latest in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that has killed more than 130 Palestinians this year, making 2022 the deadliest since the U.N. started tracking fatalities in 2005.

The violence intensified in the spring, after a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people, prompting Israel to launch a months-long operation in the West Bank it says is meant to dismantle militant networks. The raids have been met in recent weeks by a rise in attacks against Israelis, killing at least three.

Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But youths protesting the incursions and people uninvolved in the fighting have also been killed.

Also on Thursday, Israel said it was removing checkpoints in and out of the city of Nablus. Israel had imposed the restrictions weeks ago, clamping down on the city in response to a new militant group known as the Lions’ Den. The military has conducted repeated operations in the city in recent weeks, killing or arresting the group’s top commanders.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and has since maintained a military occupation over the territory and settled more than 500,000 people there. The Palestinians want the territory, along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem, for their hoped-for independent state.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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November 3, 2022
4 Palestinians killed in flare-up as Israel counts votes

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in separate incidents on Thursday, including one who had stabbed a police officer in east Jerusalem and three others in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank.

The violence flared as Israel tallied the final votes in national elections held this week, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expected to lead a comfortable majority backed by far-right allies.

Israeli troops operating in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, a militant stronghold, killed at least two Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said one of those killed was a local commander. Residents said he was killed while at the butcher, where he was preparing meat ahead of his wedding this weekend. The Israeli military did not immediately provide details on the operation.

Earlier Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank. Israeli police said it happened during a raid in the territory and alleged the man threw a firebomb at the forces.

In a separate incident Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City, police said, and officers opened fire on the attacker, killing him. The officer was lightly wounded.

The violence came as a political shift is underway in Israel after national elections, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to return to power in a coalition government made up of far-right allies, including the extremist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in response to the incidents said Israel would soon take a tougher approach to attackers.

“The time has come to restore security to the streets,” he tweeted. “The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be taken out!”

The violence was the latest in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that has killed more than 130 Palestinians this year, making 2022 the deadliest since the U.N. started tracking fatalities in 2005.

The violence intensified in the spring, after a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people, prompting Israel to launch a months-long operation in the West Bank it says is meant to dismantle militant networks. The raids have been met in recent weeks by a rise in attacks against Israelis, killing at least three.

Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But youths protesting the incursions and people uninvolved in the fighting have also been killed.

Also on Thursday, Israel said it was removing checkpoints in and out of the city of Nablus. Israel had imposed the restrictions weeks ago, clamping down on the city in response to a new militant group known as the Lions’ Den. The military has conducted repeated operations in the city in recent weeks, killing or arresting the group’s top commanders.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and has since maintained a military occupation over the territory and settled more than 500,000 people there. The Palestinians want the territory, along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem, for their hoped-for independent state.

___

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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November 3, 2022
Somalia car bombs death toll up to 120, some still missing

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The death toll from twin car bombings in Somalia’s capital has reached 120 and could rise further because some people are still missing, the country’s health minister said Monday.

Ali Haji said more than 320 others were wounded in Saturday’s midday explosions at a busy junction in Mogadishu, and over 150 of them are still being treated at hospitals.

It was Somalia’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot killed more than 500 people five years ago. It is not clear how vehicles loaded with explosives again made it through a city full of checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.

The al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the bombings and said it targeted the education ministry, which it accused of turning youth away from Islam.

Somalia’s government under the recently elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been engaged in a new offensive against al-Shabab, including efforts to shut down its financial network. The government has said the fight will continue.

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October 31, 2022
Somalia’s president says at least 100 killed in car bombings

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday’s two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. “We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can’t send all the victims outside the country for treatment,” he said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry. It claimed the ministry was an “enemy base” that receives support from non-Muslim countries and “is committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith.”

Al-Shabab usually doesn’t make claims of responsibility when large numbers of civilians are killed, as in the 2017 blast, but it has been angered by a high-profile new offensive by the government that also aims to shut down its financial network. The group said it is committed to fighting until the country is ruled by Islamic law, and it asked civilians to stay away from government areas.

Somalia’s president, elected this year, said the country remained at war with al-Shabab “and we are winning.”

The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss expanded efforts to combat violent extremism and especially al-Shabab. The extremists, who seek an Islamic state, have responded to the offensive by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade grassroots support.

The attack has overwhelmed first responders in Somalia, which has one of the world’s weakest health systems after decades of conflict. At hospitals and elsewhere, frantic relatives peeked under plastic sheeting and into body bags, looking for loved ones.

Halima Duwane was searching for her uncle, Abdullahi Jama. “We don’t know whether he is dead or alive but the last time we communicated he was around here,” she said, crying.

Witnesses to the attack were stunned. “I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground due to the (number of) fatalities,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. He said the first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where street vendors and money changers were located.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The blasts demolished tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area of many restaurants and hotels.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first. The Aamin ambulance service said the second blast destroyed one of its responding vehicles.

It was not immediately clear how vehicles loaded with explosives again made it to the high-profile location in Mogadishu, a city thick with checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.

The United States has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations and targeted it with scores of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel have returned to the country after former President Donald Trump withdrew them.

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October 29, 2022
Two explosions rock Somalia’s capital, leaving “scores” dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Two car bombs exploded Saturday at a busy junction in Somalia’s capital near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties” including children, national police said. The attack came five years after a massive blast at the same location.

The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss combating violent extremism, especially by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group that often targets the capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Al-Shabab rarely claims attacks with large numbers of civilians killed, as in the 2017 blast.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw “many” bodies and said they appeared to be civilians traveling on public transport. He said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The blasts left crushed tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area of many restaurants and hotels.

The Aamin ambulance service told the AP they had collected at least 35 wounded. One of the ambulances responding to the attack was destroyed by the second blast, director Abdulkadir Adan added in a tweet.

“I was 100 meters away when the second blast occurred,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. “I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground due to the (number of) fatalities.” He said the first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where street vendors and money changers were located.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first.

The attack occurred at Zobe junction, which was the scene of a huge al-Shabab truck bombing in 2017 that killed more than 500 people. Police said the new attack occurred at the exact spot as the 2017 one.

Somalia’s government has been engaged in a high-profile new offensive against the extremist group that the United States has described as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described it as “total war” against the extremists, who control large parts of central and southern Somalia and have been the target of scores of U.S. airstrikes in recent years.

The extremists have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for that government offensive.

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October 29, 2022
UN: Almost 1 million drought-hit Somalis in al-Shabab areas

A woman walks past makeshift shelters at a camp for the internally-displaced on the outskirts of Baidoa, in the South West State of Somalia, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. The World Food Programme said Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 it is delivering life-saving food and nutrition assistance to over 4 million people a month to prevent famine in the face of the region’s worst drought in over 40 years. (Geneva Costopulos/WFP via AP)

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October 26, 2022
US: French cement firm admits Islamic State group payments

NEW YORK (AP) — French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty Tuesday to paying millions of dollars to the Islamic State group to keep a plant operational in Syria — at a time when the militant group was engaged in torturing kidnapped Westerners — and agreed to pay roughly $778 million in penalties.

The Justice Department accused the company of turning a blind eye to the conduct of the Islamic State, negotiating a revenue-sharing agreement with the militant group as it was acquiring new territory and as Syria was mired in a brutal civil war. The company’s actions, already investigated by French law enforcement authorities, occurred before it merged with Swiss company Holcim to form the world’s largest cement maker.

Justice Department officials described it as the first case in which a company has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Lafarge and a long-defunct Syrian subsidiary entered the plea in federal court in Brooklyn, agreeing to criminal fines of $90.78 million and a forfeiture of $687 million.

“There is no justification – none – for a multi-national corporation authorizing payments to a designated terrorist group. Such payments are egregious violations of our laws, justify maximum scrutiny by U.S. authorities, and warrant severe punishment,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official.

Prosecutors say the company paid through intermediaries nearly $6 million to IS and al-Nusrah Front, another militant group, in 2013 and 2014. The fixed monthly payments weren’t because of the company’s ideological alignment with the groups, the Justice Department said, but made purely in pursuit of an economic advantage.

The company had constructed a $680 million plant in northern Syria in 2011, and facing competition from cheaper cement imported from Turkey, regarded the payments to IS as a way to ensure the continued operations of the plant and to protect its employees and the transport of raw materials into the facility.

The Justice Department accused the company of using fake contracts and falsified invoices to hide the partnerships, and of committing to a revenue-sharing agreement with IS in hopes that it would incentivize the group to protect the company’s interests.

In one message, a company executive told colleagues that “we have to maintain the principle that we are ready to share the ‘cake,’ if there is a cake.’”

And after Lafarge evacuated the plant in September 2014, IS took possession of the cement that the company had produced and sold it at prices that would have yielded the group about $3.21 million, prosecutors say.

The payments came at a time when other companies were pulling operations out of the region and at a time when beheading videos released as publicity by IS made clear to the world the Islamic State’s barbaric actions.

Charging documents, for instance, quote an Aug. 20, 2014, email exchange in which company officials describe their negotiations with IS, with one talking about the need to check with a company lawyer about “the consequences of this kind of deal.” One day earlier, IS had released a grisly video of the murder of freelance American journalist James Foley.

“Make no mistake: Lafarge and its leadership had every reason to know exactly with whom they were dealing — and they didn’t flinch,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday.

“Instead,” she added, “Lafarge forged ahead, working with ISIS to keep operations open, undercut competitors, and maximize revenue. And all the while, through their support and funding, Lafarge enabled the operations of a brutal terrorist organization.”

The allegations involve conduct that was earlier investigated by authorities in France. Lafarge had previously acknowledged funneling money to Syrian armed organizations in 2013 and 2014 to guarantee safe passage for employees and supply its plant.

In 2014, the company was handed preliminary charges including financing a terrorist enterprise and complicity in crimes against humanity.

A French court later quashed the charges involving crimes against humanity but said other charges would be considered over payments made to armed forces in Syria.

That ruling was later overturned by France’s supreme court, leading another French court earlier this year to state that Lafarge must face charges of complicity in crimes against humanity.

No date for a trial of Lafarge and eight of its executives has been set yet in France.

The wrongdoing precedes Lafarge’s merger with Holcim in 2015, though the Justice Department said the transaction was completed without a thorough examination of Lafarge’s past activities in Syria.

In a statement, Holcim said that when it learned of the allegations from the news media in 2016, it voluntarily conducted an investigation and disclosed the findings publicly. It fired the former Lafarge executives who were involved in the payments.

“None of the conduct involved Holcim, which has never operated in Syria, or any Lafarge operations or employees in the United States, and it is in stark contrast with everything that Holcim stands for,” the company said. “The DOJ noted that former Lafarge SA and LCS executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim before and after Holcim acquired Lafarge SA, as well as from external auditors.”

Lafarge said in its own statement that it has “accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved.” It added: We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter.“

It said the “conduct occurred during a period of intense violence and coercive pressure from terrorist groups,” as the company “tried to manage the grave security challenges in the area surrounding its cement plant during the Syrian civil war.”

The Islamic State group is abbreviated as IS and has been referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

___

Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

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October 18, 2022
Assailants fatally shoot Hindu man in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India — Assailants on Saturday fatally shot a Kashmiri Hindu man in violence police blamed on militants fighting against Indian rule in the disputed region.

Police said militants fired at Puran Krishan Bhat, who is from the minority community of Kashmiri Hindus, at his home in southern Shopian district. He was taken to a hospital where he died, police said in a statement.

Police and soldiers cordoned off the area and launched a search for the attackers.

In August, a local Hindu man was killed and his brother injured in Shopian in a shooting that police also blamed on insurgents.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.

Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

Kashmir has witnessed a spate of targeted killings since October last year. Several Hindus, including immigrant workers from Indian states, have been killed. Police say the killings — including that of Muslim village councilors, police officers and civilians — have been carried out by anti-India rebels.

The spate of killings come as Indian troops have continued their counterinsurgency operations across the region amid a clampdown on dissent and press freedom, which critics have likened to a militaristic policy.

Kashmir’s minority Hindus, who are locally known as Pandits, have long fretted over their place in the region. Most of an estimated 200,000 of them fled Kashmir in the 1990s, when an armed rebellion against Indian rule began. Some 4,000 returned after 2010 as part of a government resettlement plan that provided them with jobs and housing.

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October 15, 2022
Calls mount for Filipino ex-senator freedom after jail riot

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights activists pressed their call Monday for the immediate release of a former Philippine opposition senator after she was taken hostage in a rampage by three Muslim militants in a failed attempt to escape from a maximum-security jail.

Police killed three Islamic State group-linked militants behind Sunday’s violence in which a police officer was stabbed and former Sen. Leila de Lima was briefly taken hostage. The militants tried to escape from the jail for high-profile inmates at the national police headquarters in metropolitan Manila, police said.

National police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. acknowledged there were security lapses in the detention center and said its commander has been removed as part of an investigation.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch separately expressed deep alarm over the violence and the hostage-taking of de Lima. The groups call for her immediate release.

“That she has had to endure this traumatizing and frightening experience on top of being arbitrarily detained for over five years now is the height of outrage, negligence and injustice,” Amnesty International Philippine director Butch Olano said.

About two dozen supporters held a protest for de Lima, who was brought to a metropolitan Manila trial court Monday for a hearing, which was postponed.

“We condemned what happened yesterday,” said protester Charito del Carmen. “It’s painful for us because if she got killed what would happen to the fight for justice that we’ve been waging for her?”

One of the three inmates stabbed a police officer who was delivering breakfast after dawn in an open area, where inmates can exercise outdoors. A guard in a sentry tower fired warning shots then shot and killed two of the prisoners when they refused to yield, police said.

The third inmate ran to de Lima’s cell and briefly held her hostage, Azurin said.

De Lima, 63, told investigators the hostage-taker tied her hands and feet, blindfolded her and pressed a pointed weapon to her chest and demanded access to journalists and a military aircraft to take him to southern Sulu province, where the Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf has long had a presence.

The man continually threatened to kill her until he was gunned down by a police negotiator, she told investigators.

Following the jail violence, Filibon Tacardon said he and other de Lima lawyers were hoping the court would now grant her appeal for bail. There have also been appeals to place de Lima under house arrest.

De Lima has been detained since 2017 on drug charges she says were fabricated by former President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials in an attempt to muzzle her criticism of his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. It left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead and sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.

She has been cleared in one of three cases, and at least two witnesses have retracted their allegations against her.

Duterte, who has insisted on de Lima’s guilt, stepped down from office on June 30 at the end of his turbulent six-year term.

Newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. talked to de Lima, who was confined in a hospital, by telephone and asked if she wanted to be transferred to another detention site but she rejected the offer, Azurin said.

Even before the jail violence, the European Union Parliament, some American legislators and United Nations human rights watchdogs have demanded that de Lima be freed immediately.

———

Associated Press journalist Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

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October 10, 2022
Syria official: US drone attack kills IS member in northeast

BEIRUT — A U.S.-led coalition drone strike in northeastern Syria on Monday killed an Islamic State group militant, a Kurdish-Syrian security official said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, the official told The Associated Press that the strike targeted the IS member driving a motorcycle in the village of Hamam al-Turkman. The village is controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces near Tel Abyad. No other casualties were reported.

Photos from local media surfaced on social media showing what is reportedly the remains of the militant’s body next to the destroyed motorcycle.

U.S. Central Command did not immediately issue a statement on the drone attack, and did not immediately respond to an Associated Press inquiry on the matter.

The U.S. last week announced it killed three IS leaders in two separate operations, including a rare ground raid in a part of northeast Syria under government control.

There are some 900 U.S. forces in Syria supporting Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against the Islamic State group. They have frequently targeted IS militants mostly in parts of northeastern Syria under Kurdish control.

Despite their defeat in Syria in 2019, when IS lost the last sliver of land its fighters once controlled, the extremists’ sleeper cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq. IS fighters once held large parts of the two countries.

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October 10, 2022
Palestinians: 2 killed in Israeli military raid in West Bank

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians on Saturday in an exchange of fire that erupted during a military raid in the West Bank, according to Israeli and Palestinian accounts, in the latest confrontation that has made 2022 the deadliest year of violence in the occupied territory since 2015.

The raid occurred in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, the site of repeated clashes between Israeli forces and local gunmen and residents. The camp is known as a stronghold of Palestinian militants and the army often operates there.

Palestinian officials said soldiers entered the camp early Saturday and surrounded a house. In videos circulated on social media, exchanges of fire could be heard. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported two dead and 11 wounded, three of them critically. The official Wafa news agency said both of the dead were 17-year-old boys.

The Israeli military said it had arrested a 25-year-old operative from the Islamic Jihad militant group who has previously been imprisoned by Israel. It said the man had recently been involved in shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers.

It said soldiers opened fire during the raid when dozens of Palestinians hurled explosives and opened fire. “Hits were identified,” the statement said, giving no further details.

Just before noontime, the Israeli forces appeared to withdraw from the area.

The killing occurred a day after two Palestinian teenagers, ages 14 and 17, were killed by Israeli fire in separate incidents elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. Rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, without being held accountable. The Israeli military says it opens fire only in life-threatening situations.

Israel has been operating throughout the territory, especially in the northern West Bank, since a spate of deadly attacks in Israel last spring. Some of the attacks were carried out by Palestinian assailants from the area.

Israel says it is forced to take action because Palestinian security forces, who coordinate with the military in a tense alliance against Islamic militants, is unable or unwilling to crack down. Palestinian security forces say the military raids have undermined their credibility and public support, especially in the absence of any political process. The last round of substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ended in 2009.

Most of those killed are said by Israel to have been militants. But local youths protesting the incursions as well as some civilians have also been killed in the violence. Hundreds have been rounded up, with many placed in so-called administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold them without trial or charge. Over 100 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting this year.

The violence is also fueled by deepening disillusionment and anger among young Palestinians over the tight security coordination between Israel and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, which work together to apprehend militants.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in some 130 settlements and other outposts among nearly 3 million Palestinians. The Palestinians want that territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for their future state.

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October 8, 2022