NEWS IN BRIEF

LEBANON PROTESTERS TRY TO BLOCK
CONFIDENCE VOTE

AFP, Beirut

Protesters in Beirut tried to stop a confidence vote in parliament yestreday on a new government they say fails to address their demands and cannot rescue Lebanon’s ailing economy. Security forces used tear gas and water cannon to break up groups of demonstrators who hurled rocks over the blast walls erected around parliament. The Red Cross reported 24 people had been hospitalised and 147 treated at the scene, even as the army called for the protests to remain peaceful.

 

IRAQ COMMEMORATES TOP COMMANDER KILLED IN US STRIKE

AFP, Baghdad

Iraqi officials yesterday commemorated Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the senior commander killed in last month’s US drone strike that targeted powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Muhandis was the deputy head of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a loose network of paramilitary groups formed in 2014 to fight jihadists that has since been absorbed into the Iraqi state.

 

SYRIA GOVT FORCES RETAKE KEY HIGHWAY

AFP, Beirut

Government forces battling rebels in northwestern Syria took full control yesterday of a key highway, over which they lost control in 2012, linking the country’s four largest cities. The latest gain marked another step in the government’s advance against Syria’s last rebel-held pocket, where intense fighting has displaced 700,000 civilians since December. The remaining rebel fighters and some three million civilians are being pushed ever closer to the Turkish border by the regime’s inexorable northward push.

 

YEMEN AID EFFORT THREATENED BY HUTHI ‘OBSTRUCTION’

AFP, Dubai

The massive aid operation for war-torn Yemen is under severe threat in the face of mounting obstruction from Huthi rebels, officials told AFP yesterday ahead of a crunch meeting expected to be held in Brussels. Humanitarian agencies describe a deteriorating situation in the Huthi-controlled north where aid workers face arrest and intimidation as they attempt to distribute food to millions

in dire need after five years

of conflict.

 

NEWS IN BRIEF

LEBANON PROTESTERS TRY TO BLOCK CONFIDENCE VOTE AFP, Beirut Protesters in Beirut tried to stop a confidence vote in parliament yestreday on a new government they say fails to address their demands and cannot rescue Lebanons ailing economy. Security forces used tear gas and water cannon to break up groups of demonstrators who hurled rocks over the blast walls erected around parliament. The Red Cross reported 24 people had been hospitalised and 147 treated at the scene, even as the army called for the protests to remain peaceful. IRAQ COMMEMORATES TOP COMMANDER KILLED IN US STRIKE AFP, Baghdad Iraqi officials yesterday commemorated Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the senior commander killed in last months US drone strike that targeted powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Muhandis was the deputy head of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a loose network of paramilitary groups formed in 2014 to fight jihadists that has since been absorbed into the Iraqi state. SYRIA GOVT FORCES RETAKE KEY HIGHWAY AFP, Beirut Government forces battling rebels in northwestern Syria took full control yesterday of a key highway, over which they lost control in 2012, linking the countrys four largest cities. The latest gain marked another step in the governments advance against Syrias last rebel-held pocket, where intense fighting has displaced 700,000 civilians since December. The remaining rebel fighters and some three million civilians are being pushed ever closer to the Turkish border by the regimes inexorable northward push. YEMEN AID EFFORT THREATENED BY HUTHI OBSTRUCTION AFP, Dubai The massive aid operation for war-torn Yemen is under severe threat in the face of mounting obstruction from Huthi rebels, officials told AFP yesterday ahead of a crunch meeting expected to be held in Brussels. Humanitarian agencies describe a deteriorating situation in the Huthi-controlled north where aid workers face arrest and intimidation as they attempt to distribute food to millions in dire need after five years of conflict.