Syrian forces battle rebels for 2 villages
BEIRUT -- Syrian government forces and insurgents fought fierce battles Friday that left dozens dead in the country's northwest as troops tried to regain control of two villages they lost earlier this month, state media outlets and an opposition war monitor said.
The state Syrian Arab News Agency said the army carried out "intense rocket and artillery strikes" on insurgent positions on the front line in the central province of Hama and nearby Idlib that is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria's civil war, now in its ninth year.
The news agency said the aim of the bombing is to destroy fortifications built by insurgents, many of them members of the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. It said the strikes were mostly near the villages of Jubayn and Tel Milh, adding that they inflicted many casualties among the insurgents.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said troops were trying to capture the villages of Jubayn and Tel Milh in an offensive that started around dawn Friday. The group said that during Friday's fighting alone, 51 troops and pro-government gunmen were killed as well as 45 insurgents.
Syrian government forces attacked the rebel-held territory in late April, leading to the collapse of a cease-fire negotiated by Turkey and Russia last year.
Italy says deal near on boat's migrants
ROME -- Italy's appeal to fellow European Union nations to take some of the 40 migrants still aboard a rescue ship anchored off a tiny Mediterranean island in a weeks-long standoff has obtained a "positive" response from five countries, the Italian foreign minister said Friday.
In a tweet, Enzo Moavero offered his "sincere thanks to the governments of Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal" for giving a "positive response" about the migrants aboard Sea-Watch 3, a German humanitarian organization's vessel that had rescued them more than two weeks ago.
Moavero also expressed gratitude to the EU migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, for his efforts in lining up countries willing to take in the asylum seekers.
Italy didn't immediately say if the migrants would now be allowed to disembark on Lampedusa, an Italian island south of Sicily.
Earlier, a German Interior Ministry spokesman said Germany would take in some of the migrants if other EU member states did, too.
Italy's hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, had declared that until countries are found to accept every one of the 40 asylum seekers, none would touch Italian soil.
Suicide attack targets Philippines base
MANILA, Philippines -- Two suicide attackers detonated bombs Friday in an army camp in the southern Philippines, killing three soldiers, two civilians and themselves, military officials said.
Twelve other soldiers were wounded in the attack by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants on the headquarters of an army brigade combat team in southern Sulu province's Indanan town, officials said. About 300 newly deployed soldiers were at the combat camp, they said.
The military has deployed large numbers of troops to predominantly Muslim Sulu to bolster a months-long offensive against remnants of Abu Sayyaf, which is listed by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for bombings, ransom kidnappings and beheadings.
Military officials initially provided few details of the noontime attack and refused to confirm that suicide attackers were involved as an investigation was underway.
Regional military spokesman Maj. Arvin Encinas later acknowledged two militants detonated the bombs in a rare suicide attack at the camp. Two military officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the attack, also corroborated Encinas' account.
Mosque bombed; airstrike kills Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A bomb blast inside a mosque wounded at least 11 people Friday in northern Samangan province, a provincial official said.
Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast took place during Friday prayers as dozens gathered in the mosque in Aybak, the provincial capital. He said the mullah of the mosque was in critical condition and was transferred to neighboring Balkh province.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Separately, the Taliban's shadow governor for eastern Logar province and two deputies were killed in an airstrike, the Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement. Afghan forces carried out the airstrike Thursday night in Charkh district, it said.
The Taliban made no immediate comment on the attack.
In eastern Ghazni province, the Taliban attacked Afghan security checkpoints, killing four police officers, said Arif Noori, the provincial governor's spokesman.
Noori said three other members of security forces were wounded and seven Taliban fighters were killed in Thursday night's battle in Dehyak district.
A Section on 06/29/2019