NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Gaza strike: An Israeli air strike against a Gaza crew launching incendiary devices killed a member of the militant group Hamas and wounded three others, Israeli and Palestinian officials said Thursday. Palestinians launched mortars at Israel immediately after the strike and siren warnings of incoming rockets later wailed in parts of southern Israel close to the border. Israel deployed tank fire at Hamas positions in response, the military said. Israel has been struggling to deal with daily fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices launched by Palestinians in Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife.
_2 Syria war: All the residents of two Syrian pro-government villages in the country’s northwest — over 7,000 people — who were besieged by the rebels for three years were evacuated on Thursday to government-held territory, Syria’s staterun media reported. The emptying-out of the Foua and Kfarya villages was one of the largest population transfers in Syria’s civil war. It followed a deal negotiated between government forces and the rebels over the past few months. The Syrian government is expected to release a number of militants from its jails, in exchange. Meanwhile, reports said negotiators were nearing a deal to have rebels hand over the remaining pockets of opposition-controlled territory in southwestern Quneitra province near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the government after a monthlong military campaign by government forces, backed by Russia.
_3 Maoist insurgents: Security forces killed eight Maoist insurgents, including four women, in an exchange of gunfire early Thursday in their stronghold in central India, a police officer said. The two-hour gunbattle took place in Chhattisgarh state after security forces encircled the rebel hideout, police officer D.M. Awasthy said. The Maoist rebels, inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting the Indian government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers, the poor and indigenous communities. The government has called the rebels India’s biggest internal security threat. With thousands of fighters, the rebels control vast swathes of territory.
_4 Illegal weddings: Israeli police briefly detained a liberal rabbi in the city of Haifa over performing “illegal” Jewish weddings without authorization of the country’s chief rabbinate. Rabbi Dubi Haiyun, who belongs to the Conservative Judaism movement, wrote on Facebook on Thursday that police woke him at 5:30 a.m. and took him in for questioning. He says Haifa’s Orthodox rabbinical court “filed a complaint against me for performing weddings.” Jewish weddings in Israel can only legally be performed by the Orthodox rabbinate, which other streams of Judaism consider an impingement on religious freedoms. Opposition lawmakers denounced Haiyun’s arrest as a violation of religious freedom.
_5 Rescued boys: The Thai soccer boys and their coach began their first day back home with their families since they were rescued from a flooded cave with a trip to a Buddhist temple on Thursday to pray for protection from misfortunes. The 11 boys and the coach kneeled and pressed their hands in prayer to the tune of chanting monks. They were joined by relatives and friends at the Wat Pra That Doi Wao temple, overlooking Myanmar on Thailand’s northern border.