At least 9 dead in Iraq bombings

Baghdad (CNN) -- Violence hit Iraq on Thursday and caused deaths and injuries, police said.

At least seven people were killed and 23 others were wounded in a car bomb and roadside blasts in Baghdad's Shulaa neighborhood. In Shurta al-Raba in Baghdad, two roadside bomb exploded on a busy road and wounded eight people.

In Mahmoudiya, about 40 kilometers south of Baghdad, five roadside bombs exploded, police officials in Baghdad told CNN. At least two people were killed and five others wounded.

Iraq and its capital, Baghdad, have endured spurts of violence over the last year in what is an atmosphere of sectarian and political unrest.

Egyptian court orders destruction of Gaza tunnels

Palestinian workers in Gaza hoist goods out of a tunnel from the Egyptian side of the border last year

Read a version of this story in Arabic.

(CNN) -- An Egyptian court ordered authorities Tuesday to destroy tunnels between the country and Gaza -- the latest sign of a crackdown on underground smuggling networks.

It's unclear what Egyptian authorities will do to comply with the court's decision, but it appears to fall in line with a recent push to put a stop to the tunnels.

Egyptian security forces began sending sewage through the tunnels earlier this month as part of a new campaign to flood them, two senior intelligence sources said.

The sources, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said security forces were using the new tactic as part of a stepped-up effort to stop smuggling.

There are hundreds of underground tunnels -- big and small -- in the vast Sinai Desert area.

In Gaza, many describe the tunnels as a vital lifeline. Thousands work in what has become a key trade route for the Hamas-controlled territory.

Iran, world powers agree to expert talks on Tehran's nuclear program

Almaty, Kazakhstan (CNN) -- Diplomats emerged Wednesday from an unusually secretive round of talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program with a joint announcement to hold a follow-up meeting within weeks.

In a joint statement, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and the chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, announced that technical experts would meet in Istanbul on March 18.

Political directors would later reconvene in this snowbound Kazakhstani city for a two-day meeting on April 5.

Citing the delicacy of the negotiations, representatives of the so-called P5+1 -- the six-nation diplomatic bloc consisting of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia -- did not reveal details of a new proposal submitted to the Iranians at Almaty.

 

The chief negotiator from Iran, however, said the six nations had been forced to make concessions to Tehran since the last talks in Moscow in May.

"Despite the behavior that they have shown over the last eight months, it was them who actually tried to get closer to our viewpoints, and we see that as a positive step," said Jalili, speaking to journalists at a news conference in a hotel ballroom.

"If Dr. Jalili has said it is positive, then I'm pleased," said Ashton, when she addressed journalists separately in the same room moments later. "But we have to look at the results."

Read more: Is Iran installing advanced centrifuges ahead of talks?

She said that the P5+1 countries remained "absolutely unified in seeking a diplomatic resolution to international concerns regarding Iran's nuclear program."

A written statement from a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations said there is still much negotiating ahead.

U.N. official wants probe into death of Palestinian prisoner

(CNN) -- A U.N. official is calling for a probe into the death of a Palestinian prisoner "while undergoing interrogation in an Israeli facility."

"The death of a prisoner during interrogation is always a cause for concern, but in this case, when Israel has shown a pattern and practice of prisoner abuse, the need for outside, credible investigation is more urgent than ever," said Richard Falk, the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.

 

Quoted in a U.N. release on Wednesday, Falk said the "best approach might be the creation of an international forensic team under the auspices of the U.N. Human Rights Council."

Falk said the Palestinian Authority's chief pathologist observed the autopsy carried out inside Israel, and found "clear signs of torture" on the body of "previously healthy" Arafat Jaradat, 30, who died Saturday. Israeli officials had initially claimed Jaradat died of a heart attack, but the preliminary autopsy findings did not include a cause of death, the United Nations said.

A rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel on Tuesday, the first such attack since a cease-fire took hold in November between Israel and militants in Gaza. Militants recently warned there would be retaliation if a prisoner died or was harmed while in Israeli custody.

French journalist killed while covering Syrian civil war

Journalist Olivier Voisin died from injuries suffered while working in Syria. Here is one of his photos from Aleppo's Old City.

 

(CNN) -- French journalist Olivier Voisin has died from injuries suffered while working in Syria, the office of French President Francois Hollande said Sunday.

Voisin suffered a head wound and later died at a hospital in Turkey, French officials said in a written statement.

Voisin, a photographer, was working for Reporters Without Borders and was embedded with a Syrian opposition group. The media organization said Voisin was covering the civil war in Idlib when he was wounded in an explosion Thursday.

"His death is a tragic reminder of the risks taken by journalists to inform our fellow citizens, regardless of the dangers. This exemplary commitment deserves recognition for all," the French statement said.

 

The violence in Syria continues after nearly two years of fighting with no end in sight.

On Sunday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said 57 people were killed in fighting across the country. Of the casualties, 23 civilians were killed in the capital of Damascus or one of its suburbs, according to the group.

CNN cannot confirm casualties as access to the country has been severely restricted.

Bahrain police acquitted in protester death cases

 A court in Bahrain has acquitted two policemen charged in the shooting death of a protester.

The decision on Tuesday came just two days after a court confirmed the acquittal of two other policemen in the deaths of protesters in February 2011.
The rulings threaten to fuel more unrest in the kingdom, which is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet.
Anti-government protests erupted across Bahrain two years ago, drawing a crackdown by security forces.

On 15 February 2011, Fadhil al Matrook was hit by birdshot at close range and died within minutes.

Mr Matrook was attending the funeral of a protester who had been shot the day before.

The Ministry of Interior said that police had come under attack from a hostile crowd and had fired warning shots in the air before firing the lethal blast.

Mr Matrook's family says he was hit while bending down to assist a mourner who had been overcome by tear gas.

An independent inquiry chaired by the Egyptian lawyer Cherif Bassiouni cited the death of Mr Matrook and noted "[it] can be attributed to the use of excessive force by police officers".

However the court of appeal rejected defence arguments that the officers should be found guilty of murdering Mr Matrook.
'Sad day for justice'
The court, presided over by a member of the ruling al Khalifa family, decided there was no intention to use lethal force.
Jalila al Sayed, a Bahraini human rights lawyer, described the verdict as "a very sad day for justice in Bahrain".
"The police claim self-defence but the evidence was crystal clear, he was shot in the back and the evidence presented by the police is not at all credible," he said.

 

 The acquittals followed the death of two protesters and a police officer in a week of violence that flared earlier this month during demonstrations marking two years of anti-government protests.

Mahmood Aljazeeri, 20, died in hospital on Friday, seven days after being struck by a tear gas canister, according to a statement released by the opposition political society al Wefaq.
Another member of Mr Aljazeeri's family was shot and killed by police, and a police officer died after being attacked during protests marking the anniversary of the occupation of Pearl Roundabout in the capital, Manama, by pro-democracy activists.
On 14 February 2011, peaceful protesters took over an iconic Bahraini monument, Pearl Roundabout. Three days later security forces cleared the site using tear gas, batons and birdshot.
As violence escalated 35 people, including five police officers, were killed, hundreds more were hurt and thousands jailed in February and March 2011.
The vast majority were Shia Muslims in a country ruled by a minority Sunni royal family.
Since then, opposition and human rights activists say more than 50 people have died, a figure which the government disputes.
(Chasity M.)

Responding to prisoner’s death, Gaza militants fire rocket at Israel

JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday fired a rocket into Israel for the first time since a cease-fire reached three months ago ended an Israeli offensive against the militant Islamist group Hamas, police said.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility. It called the firing a response to Saturday’s death in custody of a Palestinian who was being interrogated by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.

A Grad rocket landed on a road outside the southern city of Ashkelon, causing damage but no casualties, said Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman. The attack was the first since rockets were fired deep into Israel in November during an eight-day Israeli military campaign to halt such attacks from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army said that in response to Tuesday’s attack, the Kerem Shalom border crossing, through which goods are shipped from Israel to the Gaza Strip, would be closed. In addition, the severely limited movement of people out of Gaza through the Erez border crossing would be further restricted and permitted only to medical patients traveling to Israel for treatment or other “exceptional cases,” the military said.
The death of the Palestinian prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, has heightened tensions in the West Bank after days of street protests in support of four other Palestinian inmates, who are on extended hunger strikes. Preliminary findings of an Israeli autopsy did not determine a cause of death, but a Palestinian forensic pathologist who attended the examination said it showed that Jaradat had been tortured.

Saudi Health Ministry under fire in case of girl and alleged HIV-tainted blood

By Schams Elwazer, Mohammed Jamjoom and Samya Ayish, CNN

updated 8:52 AM EST, Wed February 20, 2013

(File photo) Red ribbons, the universal symbol of awareness and support for those living with HIV.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- The case of a 12-year-old girl who reportedly received a transfusion of HIV-positive blood has sparked outrage across Saudi Arabian society, with angry calls for the health minister to resign.

In this ultraconservative Islamic kingdom, where HIV and AIDS remain taboo subjects and open criticism of government officials is relatively rare, the case of Reham al-Hakami has prompted unprecedented widespread discussion of both issues.

Mohammed Almadi, of the government-backed Human Rights Commission that is investigating the case, said Reham, who has sickle cell anemia, received a blood transfusion on February 12 at the main hospital in Jazan, her village. A few hours later, a team from the hospital came to her house to tell the family that the blood was HIV-positive.

She was then airlifted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. It remains unclear whether Reham has tested positive for HIV.

"This was a case of negligence," Almadi said.

Widespread online chatter and subsequent discussions in the Saudi media prompted the Health Ministry to issue a statement Monday calling the incident a "critical error" and apologizing to the girl, her family and Saudi society.

The ministry says it is investigating the matter. On Twitter, it said it was "acting on behalf of the family as the legal guardian in seeking compensation and to ensure that the legal procedures and the decisions made by the legal health councils will be carried out in her case."

In a widely circulated six-second online video, Reham, wearing a bright pink T-shirt, says, "I need you to stand by me and pray for me."

Seven ministry officials were sacked and some were fined, including the coordinator of the region's AIDS program, said the statement, which does not mention HIV. It is an unusual move in the heavily bureaucratic kingdom where government institutions usually remain silent in the face of criticism.

Daoud al-Sharian, a well-known television presenter on the Saudi-owned MBC channel, called on Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah to resign.

"I wish, just once, that a minister would resign over (his ministry's) mistakes" al-Sharian said Sunday on his talk show, which hosted the girl's father and uncle as well as a Health Ministry official. "If a case like this happened in other countries, not just one minister but several ministers would resign."

A local Saudi paper reported that the minister visited the girl in a hospital Saturday and gave her an iPad, a gesture that sparked mocking comments on social media.

The line "hey sorry about what happened so take this ipad and download some apps while you're waiting to die" was posted multiple times by various Twitter users.

An Arabic tweet by Saudi preacher Adel Al-Kalabani said, "this should go into the Guinness Book (of world records) as the cheapest compensation ever." It has been retweeted almost 4,000 times.

Al-Rabiah defended himself on a television program Tuesday, saying the gift was not compensation.

"I couldn't go empty-handed to the hospital to visit her for the first time," he told Saudi news channel Al-Ekhbariya. He said he asked ministry officials who visited Reham every day at the hospital what she wanted, and they told him she wanted an iPad so she could listen to the Quran, Islam's holy book.

"So I asked my colleagues to prepare an iPad and put some games on it as well as the Quran. As a father, if I visited her without bringing anything with me, I would have blamed myself," al-Rabiah continued.

Ibrahim al-Hakimi, the family's lawyer, said the family plans to sue the Health Ministry "starting from the most senior official and including all employees involved in this medical mistake." He said the family was still in shock over what happened.

Palestinians Dispute Israel’s Findings on a Prisoner’s Death

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Health Ministry said Sunday night that preliminary autopsy findings could not determine the cause of death of a 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner, which Israeli officials had at first attributed to a heart attack. But Palestinian officials said the lack of heart damage coupled with bruising on the man’s chest, back and neck suggested that he was tortured during interrogation.

Palestinians amid clashes with Israeli soldiers and border police officers in Hebron on Sunday.

“The signs that appeared during the autopsy show clearly that he was subjected to severe torture that led immediately to his death,” Issa Qaraka, the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, said at an evening news conference in Ramallah, after being briefed by a Palestinian pathologist who attended the autopsy of the prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, who died Saturday.

“I hold Israel fully responsible for killing Arafat Jaradat,” added Mr. Qaraka, who earlier on Sunday called for an international investigation into the death. “The Israeli story was forged and full of lies.”

The 4,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails refused meals on Sunday to protest Mr. Jaradat’s death, and hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in several cities and villages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

After days of such demonstrations, which have included violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers and settlers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy, Isaac Molho, sent a message to the Palestinian leadership on Sunday that Israeli officials described as an “unequivocal demand to restore quiet.” Israel also transferred to the Palestinian Authority $100 million in tax revenue it had been withholding.

But a senior Israeli official said the government would not accede to Palestinian requests to release four prisoners who have been on a long-term hunger strike or 123 people who have been detained since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. “Some of these people are accused of very heinous crimes,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the news media. “They’re saying that every Palestinian hunger striker should have a get-out-of-jail-free card. You can’t have a system like that. It’s not sustainable.”

After weeks of intensifying protests in solidarity with the hunger strikers, attention turned Sunday to Mr. Jaradat, who relatives said worked at a gas station, was the father of a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, and came from a family in which all the men had spent time in Israeli jails. He was arrested last Monday over throwing stones at Israeli cars near a West Bank settlement during November’s conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

 Palestinian officials said that Mr. Jaradat admitted the stone-throwing but denied heaving fire bombs. He also confessed to tossing rocks in a 2006 protest, they said. His detention was extended 12 days at a hearing on Thursday, during which his lawyer said that Mr. Jaradat complained of severe pain in his back and neck that he attributed to his interrogation.

“When he was under interrogation, the interrogator told him, ‘Say goodbye to your kids,’ ” Mr. Jaradat’s uncle, Musa, said at a news conference on Sunday morning.

Saudi Health Ministry under fire in case of girl and alleged HIV-tainted blood

By Schams Elwazer, Mohammed Jamjoom and Samya Ayish, CNN

updated 8:52 AM EST, Wed February 20, 2013

(CNN) -- The case of a 12-year-old girl who reportedly received a transfusion of HIV-positive blood has sparked outrage across Saudi Arabian society, with angry calls for the health minister to resign.

In this ultraconservative Islamic kingdom, where HIV and AIDS remain taboo subjects and open criticism of government officials is relatively rare, the case of Reham al-Hakami has prompted unprecedented widespread discussion of both issues.

Mohammed Almadi, of the government-backed Human Rights Commission that is investigating the case, said Reham, who has sickle cell anemia, received a blood transfusion on February 12 at the main hospital in Jazan, her village. A few hours later, a team from the hospital came to her house to tell the family that the blood was HIV-positive.

She was then airlifted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. It remains unclear whether Reham has tested positive for HIV.

"This was a case of negligence," Almadi said.

Widespread online chatter and subsequent discussions in the Saudi media prompted the Health Ministry to issue a statement Monday calling the incident a "critical error" and apologizing to the girl, her family and Saudi society.

The ministry says it is investigating the matter. On Twitter, it said it was "acting on behalf of the family as the legal guardian in seeking compensation and to ensure that the legal procedures and the decisions made by the legal health councils will be carried out in her case."

In a widely circulated six-second online video, Reham, wearing a bright pink T-shirt, says, "I need you to stand by me and pray for me."

Seven ministry officials were sacked and some were fined, including the coordinator of the region's AIDS program, said the statement, which does not mention HIV. It is an unusual move in the heavily bureaucratic kingdom where government institutions usually remain silent in the face of criticism.

Daoud al-Sharian, a well-known television presenter on the Saudi-owned MBC channel, called on Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabiah to resign.

"I wish, just once, that a minister would resign over (his ministry's) mistakes" al-Sharian said Sunday on his talk show, which hosted the girl's father and uncle as well as a Health Ministry official. "If a case like this happened in other countries, not just one minister but several ministers would resign."

A local Saudi paper reported that the minister visited the girl in a hospital Saturday and gave her an iPad, a gesture that sparked mocking comments on social media.

The line "hey sorry about what happened so take this ipad and download some apps while you're waiting to die" was posted multiple times by various Twitter users.

An Arabic tweet by Saudi preacher Adel Al-Kalabani said, "this should go into the Guinness Book (of world records) as the cheapest compensation ever." It has been retweeted almost 4,000 times.

Al-Rabiah defended himself on a television program Tuesday, saying the gift was not compensation.

"I couldn't go empty-handed to the hospital to visit her for the first time," he told Saudi news channel Al-Ekhbariya. He said he asked ministry officials who visited Reham every day at the hospital what she wanted, and they told him she wanted an iPad so she could listen to the Quran, Islam's holy book.

"So I asked my colleagues to prepare an iPad and put some games on it as well as the Quran. As a father, if I visited her without bringing anything with me, I would have blamed myself," al-Rabiah continued.

Ibrahim al-Hakimi, the family's lawyer, said the family plans to sue the Health Ministry "starting from the most senior official and including all employees involved in this medical mistake." He said the family was still in shock over what happened.

Israeli hospital treats wounded from Syria

Ziv Medical Center Director Oscar Embon said the hospital treated people regardless of religion, race or nationality.

Jerusalem (CNN) -- An Israeli hospital is treating people wounded in Syria, where civil war has killed thousands and wounded thousands more.

Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, "cannot confirm" whether the seven Syrians being treated are from the Syrian opposition or the military, said Dr. Oscar Embon, the hospital's director.

"We treat patients regardless of religion, race, nationality and give the best care we can provide," Embon said.

The Syrians are under guard for their own protection, he said.

Lebanese women take on Muslim judges who call rape a 'marital right'

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanese women are taking to the streets to demand that the government takes domestic violence seriously, by introducing laws to protect women from abusive partners.

Nadine Mouwad, a founder of feminist collective Nasawiya, says the prevalence of unveiled, glamorous women in Beirut can create the impression that Lebanon is more liberated from patriarchal cultural attitudes than neighboring countries.

But that's merely an illusion, she says.

Syrian official: 'We have already won'

Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- As both sides in Syria's bloody civil war claimed advances, one high-ranking member of President Bashar al-Assad's regime expressed confidence in ultimate victory.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad, in an interview Wednesday, said the battle is going very well for the regime.

"We are winning. We have already won," al-Maqdad told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. "You are in Damascus, you are aware of what is happening around Damascus. (The rebels) threatened to have Damascus more than one year ago, and they are not there. We are still here."

Rebel leaders and fighters see it differently.

Comedian Sarah Silverman's sister, niece detained at Israel's Western Wall

Israeli police arrest American Rabbi Susan Silverman (L) and her teenage daughter Hallel Abramowitz (C) on Monday.

(CNN) -- Anat Hoffman had no idea who comedian Sarah Silverman was until Silverman's sister and niece were detained with her Sunday in Jerusalem for wearing prayer shawls as they prayed at the Western Wall.

Police detained 10 women for "performing a religious act contrary to the local customs." The group of women, who call themselves the Women of the Wall, went to pray in Jewish shawls known as tallitot that Israeli law says only Jewish men can wear there.

Iraq intelligence academy chief Ali Aouni killed

Continue reading the main story

Struggle for Iraq

• Balancing act
• Exploiting fragility
• Iraq's dilemma
• Message of hope

The head of Iraq's intelligence academy and two bodyguards have been killed in a suicide blast in the northern town of Tal Afar, police say.

Gen Ali Aouni is believed to be the most senior Iraqi military officer to be killed this year.

Official sources told the BBC that the intelligence chief was not the intended target of the attackers.

Gen Aouni lived next door to another military figure in the town, who was unhurt in the explosion.

Two suicide bombers launched the attack on Saturday but one was shot dead by his neighbour's bodyguards, the BBC's Nahed Abuzeid reports.

As Gen Aouni emerged from his home, the second bomber, who had been wounded by the guards, detonated an explosives belt.

General Ali Aouni was head of the central college of military staff officers.

His neighbour Lt Habib Amin Ilias, who was described as a rapid response force commander, had been targeted before, our correspondent says.
Fallujah attack
No group has yet admitted carrying out the attack. But Tal Afar was a major battleground between US forces and Iraqi insurgents in 2005 and has since seen infrequent but bloody militant attacks.

The intelligence chief is the second prominent Iraq figure to be murdered so far this year, after an opposition member of parliament was killed in the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar.

A bomber approached 37-year-old Sunni MP Eifan Saadoun al-Issawi last month and blew himself up, also killing two bodyguards.

Scores of people have been killed in a series of deadly attacks across Iraq since the start of the year.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence.

Tal Afar is located about 150km (90 miles) east of the Syrian border and 420km north-west of Baghdad.

Observers say the town, which has a mixed population of Sunni Arabs and Turkmen, is an area used by insurgents crossing the Syrian border in both directions.

Although sectarian violence has decreased in Iraq since the height of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common.

Tensions have also been building up in the lead-up to parliamentary elections, due to be held in March.

Earlier this month, at least 33 people were killed and about 100 injured in a spate of car bombings in mainly Shia areas of Iraq, local officials said.

The attacks took place as thousands of Sunnis held protest rallies in several cities against the Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, accusing him of monopolising power.

Syria death toll probably at 70,000, U.N. human rights official says

 

(CNN) -- The death toll in Syria is probably now approaching 70,000, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Tuesday.

In early January, Pillay said that 60,000 people in Syria had died, a figure that she called "truly shocking." She blamed the international community for failing to act.

At that time, CNN tried to put the number in perspective. Sixty thousand people is roughly the population of Terre Haute, Indiana; or Cheyenne, Wyoming. It's how many people would fit in Dodger Stadium, and it's more than the 50,000-plus U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam.

The war in Syria has been raging since March 2011 when protesters, partly inspired by Arab Spring uprisings in the region, began demonstrating for more freedom. That movement quickly morphed into a movement against President Bashar al-Assad, who was appointed president by Syria's rubber-stamp parliament in 2000 after his father died.

 

The largely amorphous group of anti-al-Assad rebels who have been trying to oust al-Assad, the Free Syrian Army, has had many casualties, but many innocent civilians have died.

No area of the country seems safe. The opposition activist organization Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCCS) said 136 people were killed in war-related violence across Syria on Tuesday, including 47 in Damascus and its suburbs, and 32 in Aleppo. CNN cannot independently verify those figures.

In mid-January, Aleppo University was the scene of horrific violence. One student described to CNN his dizzying attempt to help another after bombs exploded at the school, saying that he reached out his hand to help only to wind up grasping a fellow student's severed hand.

Every day looks the same in Syria. Al-Assad's forces bombard neighborhoods. Body counts are recorded by anti-government rebels and activists.

United Nations envoys -- two of them so far -- have tried to negotiate to end to the fighting.

In late January, envoy Lakhdar Brahimi tried to persuade the U.N. Security Council to do something.

"Syria is being destroyed bit by bit and, in destroying Syria, the region is being pushed into a situation that is extremely bad and extremely important for the entire world," he said after meeting with the body in private.

Throughout the war, there have been several instances in which observers have surmised that the bloodshed might be near an end.

They've been wrong every time. Al-Assad has made those predictions seem even more foolish when he's given speeches in which he says all his government is doing is fighting back "terrorists."

There are Syrians who still very much support al-Assad, too.

For example, in a recent CNN exclusive, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported from Saidnaya, a predominantly Christian town outside Damascus that is standing firmly behind al-Assad.

"I don't know why, but we love the president very much," said Housam Azar, a Saidnaya resident and organizer of the town's militia. "Sure, there have been mistakes, but we love the president a lot."

Syria rebels claim northern airbase takeover

UN says the number of Syrians who have fled the conflict in Syria could hit 1.1 million by June [YouTube]

Syrian rebels have captured a military airbase in the north and geared up for a major battle against regime forces as the opposition says it refuses to accept President Bashar al-Assad in talks on the 23-month conflict. The rebels on Friday said they overran the base in the town of Sfeira, east of Aleppo international airport, and captured a large stockpile of ammunition. Activists reported intermittent clashes around the Aleppo airport itself as well as around Nayrab airbase and another military complex, as the two sides squared up for a major fight. "The army shelled the area around Aleppo international airport and Nayrab air base on Friday morning, while rebels used home-made rockets to shell Nayrab," Rami Abdel Rahman, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. The Syrian army "is preparing a large-scale operation to take back control of Base 80", he said, referring to a military complex tasked with the security of both Nayrab and Aleppo airports. Rebels seized the base on Wednesday after a battle that left at least 150 dead from both sides, among them senior army officers, according to the Observatory. Assad role rejected On the political front, the opposition Syrian National Coalition said it refused to accept Assad in any talks, as part of an eight-point "framework" it has drawn up for solutions to the conflict. The group issued the framework after a meeting in Cairo to discuss a proposal by its chief, Mouaz al-Khatib, for peace talks with regime representatives, a move that ruffled feathers in the umbrella opposition group. "Bashar Assad and security leadership who are responsible for the current destruction of the country are outside the political process and must be held accountable for their crimes," it said in a statement issued in English. Meanwhile, Syrian government has written to the UN attacking Turkey's "destructive" role in the conflict, state media reported. "Turkey supports and publicly justifies terrorist, destructive acts" against Syria, the foreign ministry wrote in letters addressed to both the UN Security Council and Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general. "Turkey has turned its territory into camps used to house, train, finance and infiltrate armed terrorist groups, chief among them the al-Qaeda network and the al-Nusra Front." Also on Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had stepped up aid operations across the shifting front lines in Syria to bring food and medical assistance to civilians in rebel-held areas. ICRC aid workers reached opposition-held Houla in Homs province for the second time in two weeks on Thursday, delivering medical supplies with government consent after being shut out for three months. "I've come back from Syria convinced that we must expand operations in coming weeks and months and that we can and must build on our increasing presence in the most delicate regions including those under opposition control," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations, announced in Geneva, Switzerland. He later told Reuters news agency: "Our priority areas are Idlib and Aleppo in the north, where it is very unstable and fluid. Also the circle around Homs and Hama." The ICRC has been aiding some 1.5 million Syrians, via the Syrian Arab Crescent, in a conflict that the UN says has left some 70,000 people dead. The UN has also said the number of Syrians who have fled the country could hit 1.1 million by June. Customs officers in Finland, meanwhile, said they had seized spare parts for tanks in a container en route from Russia to Syria on board a Finnish ship docked at Helsinki's Vuosaari port in January. The European Union has banned all sales, delivery, transfers and exports of weapons to Syria.

French, Mali troops recover cache of explosives in northern Mali city of Gao

GAO, Mali — French soldiers on Wednesday recovered an enormous stash of explosives that authorities believe radical Islamic fighters were using to make bombs for attacks on northern Mali’s largest city, a Malian military spokesman said.

Meanwhile, officials in the capital said the army captain behind a coup last year that paved the way for radical Islamic militants to take over the north will be tasked with reforming the military.

France has said it intends to eventually hand over its mission to oust the Islamists to the Malian military and other African soldiers. The move is likely to heighten international concerns about whether Mali’s army is up to the task.

Malian military spokesman Daouda Diarra said that the French military removed some 800 kilograms (1,700 pounds) of explosive materials from a house in Gao. The find raised further fears that jihadists could be preparing to stage devastating attacks on civilian centers.

The explosives had been discovered several days earlier, and the team had returned to the site in the morning, Diarra said.
French military officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Radical Islamic fighters withdrew from Gao on Jan. 26 after imposing their harsh interpretation of Shariah law in the most populous city in northern Mali for nearly 10 months.
Since their retreat, the Islamic extremists have launched two suicide bombings in the last week and invaded the city for a five-hour-long gun battle Sunday in the center of the city. Sunday’s brazen assault marked the first time the jihadists ha
 d penetrated the city of mud-walled buildings since they fled.
Last week soldiers combing abandoned jihadist hideouts also found a stash of NITRAM 5 explosives hidden inside rice bags that were left in a communal trash area. The explosives are manufactured for use in mining, but can cause considerable damage when used as bombs.

Attack kills at least 5 at Iranian exile camp in Iraq

Baghdad (CNN) -- A camp housing Iranian dissidents in Iraq was attacked Saturday morning, leaving at least five dead and 40 wounded, Iraqi police said.

The rocket and mortar attack occurred at Camp Hurriya, a onetime U.S. base formerly known as Camp Liberty, which is now the home of the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq.

Accounts of the number of people killed and wounded in the attack vary.

Shahriar Kia, an MEK spokesman, said the incident left six dead and more than 100 injured, some of them critically.

He blamed one of the deaths on delays in getting the injured to the hospital.

The U.S. State Department also listed six fatalities. It urged the Iraqi government to investigate the attack promptly and take all appropriate measures to enhance camp security.

"The terrorists responsible for this attack must be brought to justice," said department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Residents at the camp were vulnerable both because the attack happened when most were asleep and because many lack adequate shelter, said Kia.

The residents are "squeezed into a small area, without shelter," said Kia. Protective concrete walls have also been removed from the site, he said.

It's not yet known who is responsible for the attack.

MEK last year moved from Camp Ashraf in Diyala province to Camp Hurriya in Baghdad. Leaders of the dissident group had been reluctant to move to the new camp because of the conditions there, calling it more of a prison than a home when they first arrived.

The group's move to the base is intended as a temporary measure before members are resettled in third countries.

Residents and their representatives and lawyers have appealed to the U.N. Secretary-General and U.S. officials to let them return to Ashraf, which they say has concrete buildings and shelters that offer more protection.

The United States has been working with the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees on the resettlement project.

Martin Kobler, special representative for Iraq of the U.N. secretary-general, strongly condemned the attack on the camp, which "led to the killing and injury of several residents."

Several Iraqi police officers were also wounded, he said in a statement.

Kobler urged the Iraqi authorities to ensure that those who were injured get the medical care they need.

He also called for the government to ensure the safety and security of the camp residents, as stipulated by the 2011 resettlement agreement, and promptly to investigate the attack and bring those behind it to justice.

MEK was removed from a U.S. State Department terror list in September, following a decision by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The group was put on the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, which includes more than 50 groups like al Qaeda and Hezbollah, in 1997 because of the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attempted attack against the Iranian mission to the United Nations in 1992.

However, since 2004 the United States has considered the group, which spent more than 25 years at the Ashraf camp, "noncombatants" and "protected persons" under the Geneva Conventions.

Iran still considers the group to be a terrorist organization.

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Iran claims released footage is from downed U.S. drone

(CNN) -- Iran says it has decoded and released footage from a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago.

The black and white aerial footage, which Iran claims was from a RQ-170 spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.

A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the footage.

Key U.S. official defends use of drones

"This aircraft has carried out many operations in the countries around Iran," the narrator says. "In the operations taken place in Pakistan, this aircraft guided many of the clashes ..."

The narrator also says that some of the footage shows the drone near Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.

Ayatollah rejects US offer of direct talks

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected a US offer of direct talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme a day after Washington stepped up sanctions on the Islamic republic.

By News Wires (text)

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Thursday a US offer to negotiate one-on-one on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme so long as Washington continues to impose sanctions on Iran.
"You (Americans) want to negotiate when you are pointing the gun at Iran. The Iranian nation will not be intimidated by such actions," Khamenei told air force commanders, according to excerpts of his speech posted on his website.
"Some rejoice at the offer of negotiations ... (but) negotiations will not solve anything," he said.
The all-powerful Khamenei has final say on all key issues in the Islamic republic, including Iran's sensitive nuclear activities and foreign policy.
"I am not a diplomat but a revolutionary," he said. "The US policies in the Middle East have failed and the Americans are in need of a winning hand. That is bringing Iran to the negotiating table."
He made the remarks in response to an offer put forward by US Vice President Joe Biden to engage Iran directly to resolve the nuclear issue provided "the Iranian leadership, supreme leader, is serious."
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Biden said: "We have made it clear at the outset that... we would be prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership.
"That offer stands, but it must be real and tangible, and there has to be an agenda that they're prepared to speak to. We are not just prepared to do it for the exercise," Biden said.
Khamenei's remarks came a day after the US tightened sanctions on Iran to further choke off its oil income.
The two foes are locked in a tense showdown over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, which the West and Israel suspect are aimed at military objectives, despite Iran's denial.
Washington broke off relations with Iran in 1980 in the aftermath of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran, which led to 52 American diplomats being taken hostage by Islamist students.
Since then, the US has been vilified by the Islamic republic as the "Great Satan".

Protesters clash with police in Cairo

Water cannons fired at protesters as opposition holds rallies to mark second anniversary of Hosni Mubarak's overthrow. Last Modified: 11 Feb 2013 23:34 inShare Email Print Share Feedback

Two years later, many are angry the main goals of freedom and social justice have not been achieved [Reuters]

Egyptian police have fired tear gas and used water cannons at stone-throwing protesters outside the presidential palace as the opposition held rallies to mark the second anniversary of Hosni Mubarak's overthrow. The clashes on Monday broke out after several hundred protesters marched to the palace, the site of increasingly frequent clashes, on a day of marches against Egypt's current president, Mohamed Morsi. Opposition groups called for the protests to demand that Morsi fulfil the goals of the revolution which brought him to power along with his long-banned Islamist  group, Muslim Brotherhood. Among their key demands are a new unity government, amendments to a controversial constitution and the sacking of Egypt's prosecutor general. Follow spotlight coverage of the struggling young democracy Activists are also furious that no one has been held accountable for the deaths of dozens of protesters in past months in clashes with police. "Down with Brotherhood rule," the protesters chanted as they made their way to Cairo's Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of protests that toppled Mubarak. Other marches converged on the palace. Earlier, protesters briefly blocked a major bridge as well as trains in a central Cairo metro station, scuffling with passengers and metro police, witnesses and state media reported. Two years ago, Egyptians poured onto the streets to celebrate after an aide to Mubarak announced the veteran president's resignation, buoyant that democratic change was within reach. Mubarak's fall from grace on February 11, 2011, after an 18-day popular revolt sent shock waves across the Middle East and beyond. But two years later, many are angry the main goals of freedom and social justice have not been achieved and that Egypt is polarised between Morsi's supporters and a broad opposition. Egypt has witnessed deadly violence, insecurity and price hikes, heightening the political turmoil gripping the country.

Israel detains women over prayer shawls

Ten women arrested at Jerusalem's Western Wall over religious garb that Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men. Last Modified: 11 Feb 2013 12:56 Tweet inShare0 Email Print Share Feedback

Silverman said the tradition barring women from wearing the shawls amounted to 'spitting on Sinai' [GALLO/GETTY]

Israeli police have detained 10 women at one of Judaism's holiest sites for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, authorities confirm. Among those detained on Monday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City was Susan Silverman, a reform rabbi who is a sister of the famous US comedian Sarah Silverman, and her teenage daughter, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld has said. Two other US citizens and Israeli members of "Women of the Wall", a group that campaigns for gender equality in religious practice, were also detained. The group routinely convenes for monthly prayer sessions at the Western Wall, revered by Jews as a perimeter wall of the Biblical Temple in Jerusalem. Some of its members have been detained by police in the past for wearing prayer shawls at the site and released without charge. The Western Wall is administered under strict Orthodox ritual law, which bars women from wearing the religious garb or publicly reading from the holy scriptures. 'High Court' ruling Rosenfeld said the women had acted "against regulations set by the High Court", citing a decision of a decade ago upholding Orthodox rules at the site to avoid tension between worshippers. The incident highlighted the divisions between the more liberal branches of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that traditionally limit the role of women in prayer. Susan Silverman, who immigrated to Israel from Boston, said police escorted the group to a station after they refused to remove prayer shawls. She said in a telephone interview from the police station where the group was held that they had been among more than 100 women attending the hour-long prayer session. "They [police] said 'take off your prayer shawls', and we said 'no'," Silverman said. Once the prayers were over they were escorted away, Silverman said. Silverman also said the Orthodox tradition barring women from wearing prayer shawls amounted to "spitting on Sinai", naming the site where the Bible says God handed the ancient Israelite leader Moses the 10 Commandments. "All Jews are in a covenant with God," regardless of their gender, she said.

Israel detains women over prayer shawls

The Western Wall is administered under strict Orthodox ritual law, which bars women from wearing the religious garb or publicly reading from the holy scriptures.  

'High Court' ruling

Rosenfeld said the women had acted "against regulations set by the High Court", citing a decision of a decade ago upholding Orthodox rules at the site to avoid tension between worshippers.

The incident highlighted the divisions between the more liberal branches of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that traditionally limit the role of women in prayer.

Susan Silverman, who immigrated to Israel from Boston, said police escorted the group to a station after they refused to remove prayer shawls.

She said in a telephone interview from the police station where the group was held that they had been among more
than 100 women attending the hour-long prayer session.

"They [police] said 'take off your prayer shawls', and we said 'no'," Silverman said. Once the prayers were over they were escorted away, Silverman said. 

Silverman also said the Orthodox tradition barring women from wearing prayer shawls amounted to "spitting on Sinai", naming the site where the Bible says God handed the ancient Israelite leader Moses the 10 Commandments.

"All Jews are in a covenant with God," regardless of their gender, she said.