Israel warns Gazans to avoid border in Friday protest

File Photo showing an Israeli soldier aiming his gun at protesters. (AFP)
Updated 07 June 2018
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Israel warns Gazans to avoid border in Friday protest

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military says it has dropped leaflets across the Gaza Strip, warning residents to stay far from the Israeli border during a mass protest planned Friday.
Military officials are expecting a large turnout, raising the likelihood of bloodshed.
Over 115 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during near-weekly demonstrations fueled in large part by an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade.
Israel has come under heavy international criticism for its use of live fire against unarmed protesters. Israel accuses the Hamas militant group of using the protests as cover to carry out attacks.
“For your own benefit, it is better that you not participate in the violent riots at the fence, not attempt to breach it, and not permit Hamas to turn you into a tool,” the leaflet says.


Syria says detained senior Daesh jihadist in Damascus

Updated 58 min 56 sec ago
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Syria says detained senior Daesh jihadist in Damascus

  • The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities have arrested a senior Daesh group official in the Damascus region in a joint operation with a US-led international coalition, a security official said on Wednesday.
Taha Al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya, an Daesh leader in Damascus, was detained with several of his men, General Ahmad Al-Dalati was reported as saying by state news agency SANA.
The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers and a US civilian that Washington said was carried out by a lone Daesh gunman in central Syria’s Palmyra.
“Our specialized units, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate and and International Coalition forces, carried out a precise security operation targeting” an Daesh hideout, Dalati said.
On December 20, a Syria monitor said that five Daesh members were killed in US strikes in retaliation for the December 13 attack.
It was the first such incident since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and Syrian authorities said the perpetrator was a security forces member who was due to be fired for his “extremist Islamist ideas.”