In brief: Israeli airstrike kills four near Syria border
JERUSALEM – In an escalation of tensions along the Israel-Syria border, an Israeli airstrike killed several suspected militants believed to be planting a bomb along the border, Israel’s military said Sunday.
A statement from the army said a group of armed men approached the border with an explosive device intended to be detonated against Israeli forces. An Israeli aircraft was launched and fired at the presumed cell, reportedly killing all four.
The incident occurred just east of Majdal Shams, a Druze village on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights that Israel captured from Syria in 1967. Fierce fighting between opposition forces and loyalists of the Syrian regime for control over the Golan strategic plateau in southern Syria has brought the fighting to the border area, now an open and lawless frontier.
Yemen street battles kill 20 civilians
SANAA, Yemen – Deadly street battles raged in Yemen’s third-largest city on Sunday, as airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels struck targets in several cities, security officials said.
The fighting in Taiz between government forces and rebels was heaviest around government and security buildings in the city center, killing some 20 civilians and wounding dozens more, they said, adding that indiscriminately fired mortar rounds hit several private residences and landed near a hospital at one point.
Reached by telephone, Taiz residents described relentless artillery, tank and heavy machine gun fire blasting through the city as families sought shelter wherever they could.
Fighting continued across the country on Sunday, with airstrikes hitting the capital, Sanaa, as well as the cities of Dhamar, Marib, Aden, Shabwa, Hajjah, Saada, Ibb and Lahj, the officials said. In the southern port city of Aden, officials said air raids targeted rebels as street fighting between them and forces loyal to embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi continued. West of Aden, military officials said the Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh captured an area leading up to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which overlooks the entrance to the Red Sea, a key global shipping route.
Japan premier in U.S. to promote alliance
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in the U.S. on Sunday for a weeklong visit to showcase the success of the alliance built from Tokyo’s defeat in World War II, while promoting a political agenda based on still stronger military and economic ties.
He arrived in Boston on Sunday night for a stop at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and a dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Abe was scheduled to speak at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government today. He will travel to Washington for talks with President Barack Obama.
On Wednesday, he will become the first Japanese leader to address a joint session of Congress, and likely will seek to tilt the balance in favor of Obama’s request for “fast-track” rules to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation, U.S.-led trade initiative. Recent ministerial-level talks between Japan and the United States have made progress, but officials say they don’t expect a major breakthrough during Abe’s visit.
Boko Haram attacks Niger army base
NIAMEY, Niger – Suspected Boko Haram fighters in motorized canoes attacked a Niger army base on an island in Lake Chad, the body of water touching all four countries that have been targeted by Nigeria’s Islamic insurgency, Niger’s defense ministry said Saturday.
The army may have suffered “heavy losses” in the attack on Karamga Island, said a Niger military source in the region who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
Casualty figures were not provided in a defense ministry statement broadcast Saturday night on state television.
In the latest attack, the assailants approached at dawn on Saturday in about 10 motorized canoes, the defense ministry statement said.
Soldiers clear ash near Chile volcano
SANTIAGO, Chile – Soldiers were sent to clear ash from towns and roads near Chile’s Calbuco volcano, which was quieter but continued to release columns of ash days after emitting twin spectacular eruptions.
Late Sunday, Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service said rainfall in the coming days could cause dangerous lahars, mudflows of debris, pyroclastic material and water that would flow down the volcano’s slopes and through valleys. Experts also said they feared the rain could cause the thick layer of volcanic ash to harden in place.
About 400 soldiers arrived in the region to help clean the ash off roofs and from streets and properties.