Opposition source: Syrian rebels get U.S.-organized training in Jordan

(CNN) -- Syrian rebels claim that hundreds of their fighters are being given sophisticated-weapons training organized and authorized by the United States at a camp in Jordan.

A senior rebel spokesman, who did not want to be named discussing a sensitive matter, would not comment on the nature of the personnel conducting the training, such as whether the personnel were military troops or contractors. But he said that 300 fighters had already completed the course and crossed the border into Syria on Thursday.

Bus overturns killing 9 in Lebanon

(CNN) -- A bus overturned in Lebanon early Friday, killing nine people and injuring 29 more on a highway 8 miles east of the capital Beirut, according to state news agency NNA.

The bus with a Syrian license plate, flipped on the Kahaleh Highway, the Lebanese Red Cross said.

Red Cross rescuers have taken the injured to a hospital as well as the bodies of those killed.

Blasts, suicide bombers strike busy central Baghdad, killing at least 18

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Four massive explosions -- at least one set off by a suicide bomber -- rocked a busy area of Baghdad on Thursday. The blasts came in quick succession around 1 p.m. not far from the fortified area known as the Green Zone, where international and government employees work.

Black smoke filled the sky as fires raged for nearly two hours and frantic Iraqis shouted out for their loved ones. One woman screamed, "My son!"

Israel's new government excludes ultra-religious

President Shimon Peres (C) sits with Shas Party leaders at the President's residence on January 31, 2013, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli politicians have reached an agreement on a new government that excludes ultra-religious parties, which have almost always been a part of the ruling coalition.

The main ultra-orthodox Shas Party will join the Labor Party in the opposition rows of the Knesset, Israel's parliament. It leaves the governing coalition with no party that traditionally trumpets the concerns of the poor.

The cost of war: 2 million Syrian children afflicted by trauma, disease, malnutrition

(CNN) -- The horrors of war are best illustrated in the drawings.

In one sketch, a child details a helicopter and warplane firing over a tank shooting a missile.

Underneath, men fire guns at each other as a stick figure lies on the ground nearby.

The Syrian civil war has taken a massive psychological and physical toll on the most innocent of victims -- the children.

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.

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.

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.

U.S. official: Israeli jets strike convoy in Syria

(CNN) -- Israeli fighter jets struck a Syrian convoy suspected of moving weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

Fighter jets struck the vehicles because they were carrying SA-17 missile parts, a Russian-made, medium-range delivery system, and other equipment that could have been used to attack Israel, another source told CNN.

Lebanon's state-run NNA news agency dismissed the report. "The news circulated by media about an Israeli raid on the Lebanese-Syrian borders are sheer rumors," it said.

Syria, meanwhile, reported an Israeli strike targeting a research facility near the capital city of Damascus. State-run media said the attack killed two workers and injured five others.

"Israeli warplanes penetrated our airspace at dawn today and directly bombed one of the scientific research centers responsible for raising the level of resistance and self-defense in the area of Jimraya in the Damascus countryside," the military said in a statement aired on state-run TV Wednesday. "This comes after multiple failed attempts over months by terrorist groups to enter and seize the mentioned site."

It was not certain whether the U.S. and Syrian accounts of Israeli attack referred to the same or different incidents.

Syria warns Israel of 'surprise' retaliation

Michael Eisenstadt, an ex-US military analyst, discusses Wednesday's Israeli air raid outside Damascus

Syria has threatened to retaliate for an Israeli air attack while its ally Iran says there will be repercussions for Israel over the attack. Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, said in Damascus on Thursday that Syria "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation". Ali said he could not predict when Syria would retaliate. It was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place, he told Al Ahad, a website of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group closely allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran. It is unclear what the exact nature of the target of Wednesday's Israeli air raids was. Syrian state media said the attacks targeted a military research centre near the Syrian capital, while regional security sources told the Reuters and AP news agencies that the target was a convoy of lorries allegedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Syrian military has denied the existence of any weapons shipment.

Syria: Israel bombed research facility

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2013/01/31/seg-syria-airstrike-claim.cnn

Iran, Syria warn of retribution for Israeli airstrike

(CNN) -- Shouting condemnation and promises of retaliation, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah on Thursday condemned Israel's decision to send warplanes into Syria, calling its airstrike a day before "inhuman" and "barbaric."

Russia also condemned Wednesday's attack, saying it would represent an unprovoked violation of United Nations charter if confirmed.

Syria's Foreign Ministry summoned the commander of U.N. forces in the Golan Heights on Thursday to formally complain about the incident, while Iran's deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, warned the attack would have "dire consequences" for Israel, according to Iran's semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

Just last week, Abdollahian warned that Iran would consider any attack on Syria as an attack on itself, Mehr reported at the time.

Syria confirms Israeli airstrike

Michael Eisenstadt, a former analyst for the US military, spoke to Al Jazeera about the recent events in Syria

The Syrian army has confirmed that Israeli jets crossed into Syria below radar level at dawn and carried out airstrikes against military targets. It is unclear, however, what the exact nature of the target of Wednesday's air strikes was. Syrian state media said that the strikes targeted a military research centre near Damascus, while regional security sources told the Reuters and AP news agencies that the target was a convoy of trucks allegedly carrying anti-aircraft missiles for Hezbollah in Lebanon. "Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence," the army's general command said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA on Wednesday evening. The strike came "after terrorist groups made several failed attempts in the past months to take control of the site," the statement added, using the term President Bashar al-Assad's government uses for rebel fighters. The jets entered the Syrian airspace via Mount Hermon, or Jabal el-Sheikh in Arabic, the army said. "They... carried out an act of aggression, bombarding the site, causing large-scale material damage and destroying the building," state television quoted the military as saying. The army added that two site workers were killed in the strike, and five others wounded.