News in Brief
EL-ARISH, Egypt:
Egypt said Saturday that security forces killed 21 militants in two separate raids in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.
The Interior Ministry said the militants were plotting attacks during the Eid el-Fitr holiday, which begins Sunday and marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
It said two Egyptian officers were wounded in the raids.
It said security forces exchanged fire with Islamic militants as they stormed a farm used as a hideout, killing at least 14 militants. In a simultaneous raid, security forces killed seven militants in a shootout as they stormed a house used as a hideout in another area, the ministry said. It added that police found weapons, explosive devices and suicide belts.
The details could not be independently corroborated as Egyptian authorities heavily restrict access to that part of Sinai.
The ministry did not say when the raids occurred. Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said the raids were launched early Saturday. (AP)
BEIRUT:
Traffic returned to a major highway in northeastern Syria for the first time in seven months on Monday, following Russian mediation to reopen parts of the road captured last year by Turkey-backed opposition fighters.
Syrian Kurdish media and a Syrian Kurdish official said several vehicles accompanied by Russian troops began driving in the morning between the northern towns of Ein Issa and Tal Tamr. The two towns are controlled by government forces and Syrian Kurdish fighters while the area between them is mostly held by Turkey-backed opposition fighters.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters captured parts of the highway known as M4 in October, when Ankara invaded northeastern Syria to drive away Syrian Kurdish fighters. The M4 links Syria’s coastal region all the way east to the Iraqi border.
Four convoys will drive on the M4 every day with two leaving from Tal Tamr and two from Ein Issa, according to the Kurdish ANHA news agency. The report said a convoy will leave from each town at 8 a.m., and another set of convoys will do the same, three hours later. (AP)
CAIRO:
The military commander of eastern Libya-based forces said Saturday that they will continue fighting forces loosely allied with the U.N.supported government in Tripoli, even though his campaign has suffered setbacks in recent weeks.
Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, has been waging a campaign for over a year trying to capture the capital. The military tide has been reversed in recent weeks, and his forces lost several towns and a key airbase.
Hifter’s side controls the country’s east and most of the south, while the U.N.-supported government controls areas in the west, including Tripoli.
In a two-minute audio speech addressed to his forces, Hifter said they “will fight and fight” against what he called “Turkish colonialism.”
Turkey is aiding the embattled government in Tripoli. It has recently stepped up its military support with armored drones, air defenses and Syrian mercenaries with links to extremist groups. That has helped turn the tide against Hifter’s forces, which are backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russian mercenaries. (AP)
CAIRO:
Libya’s coast guard intercepted about 400 Europe-bound migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast over the past two days, and brought them to the capital of Tripoli from where they were taken to a detention center, the U.N. migration agency said Monday.
Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration said the migrants were taken to the al-Nasser detention center in the town of Zawya, west of Tripoli, she said.
Mselhi said departures from Libya have increased, which is “especially worrying amid a sharp decrease in ... search and rescue capacity.”
Libya, which descended into chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has emerged as a major transit point for African and Arab migrants fleeing war and poverty to Europe. (AP)