Iraqi security forces wearing masks and black plainclothes opened fire at protesters in the Shia holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds, security officials said, in one of the deadliest single attacks since the country was engulfed by protests this month. The attack, which happened overnight, came as Iraqis took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day, protesting their government s corruption, lack of services and other grievances. The protests, leaderless and largely spontaneous, have been met with bullets and tear gas from the first day. At least 72 protesters _ not including the latest fatalities in Karbala _ have been killed since anti-government protests resumed across Iraq on Friday, after 149 were killed during an earlier wave of protests this month. Also, in the Karbala attack alone, more than 800 people were wounded, according to one official. Security officials said Tuesday s attack happened in Karbala s Education Square, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Imam Hussein Shrine, where protesters had set up tents for their sit-in. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. An eyewitness said hundreds of protesters were in the encampment when live bullets were fired toward them from a passing car. Then, masked gunmen in black plainclothes arrived and started shooting at the protesters, the witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. Tents caught fire, igniting a blaze, he added. Karbala, as Baghdad and other cities in Iraq s southern region, has been gripped by a wave of deadly anti-government protests which have often turned violence, with security forces shooting at the protesters and protesters setting fire to government buildings and headquarters of Iran-backed militias. The demonstrations are fueled by anger at corruption, economic stagnation and poor public services. Despite its vast oil wealth, Iraq suffers from high unemployment and crumbling infrastructure, with frequent power outages that force many to rely on private generators. The protests have grown and demonstrators are now calling for sweeping changes, not just the government s resignation. Iraq s Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi has promised a government reshuffle and a reform package, which the demonstrators have already rejected. Authorities on Monday announced a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. in the capital, as renewed protests there and across the south raged. A senior security official estimated that 25,000 protesters took part in the demonstration in the capital. Thousands of students joined Iraq s anti-government protests on Monday, as clashes with security forces firing tear gas canisters killed at least three demonstrators and wounded more than 100. Students skipped classes at several universities and secondary schools in Baghdad and across Iraq s majority-Shia south on Monday to take part in the protests, despite the government ordering schools and universities to operate normally. One of those killed was a 22-year-old female medical student, the first woman to be killed since the protests began earlier this month. Seventeen students were among the wounded.

Students and schoolchildren hit the streets of Baghdad and southern Iraq on Monday to join escalating calls for the government to quit, defying the education minister, legal threats and even their parents. "No school, no classes, until the regime collapses!" protestors shouted in Diwaniyah, 180 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital. The capital and the country s south have been rocked by a second wave of rallies over perceived government corruption, unemployment and poor services. The resulting clashes have often turned deadly, with more than 70 killed since Thursday.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed in a U.S. military operation in Syria, sources in Syria, Iraq and Iran said on Sunday, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to make a "major statement" at the White House. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Baghdadi was targeted in the overnight raid but was unable to say whether the operation was successful. A commander of one of the militant factions in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib said Baghdadi was believed to have been killed in a raid after midnight on Saturday involving helicopters, warplanes and a ground clash in the village of Brisha near the Turkish border. Two Iraqi security sources and two Iranian officials said they had received confirmation from inside Syria that Baghdadi had been killed. "Our sources from inside Syria have confirmed to the Iraqi intelligence team tasked with pursuing Baghdadi that he has been killed alongside his personal bodyguard in Idlib after his hiding place was discovered when he tried to get his family out of Idlib towards the Turkish border," one of the Iraqi officials said. U.S. magazine Newsweek, which first reported the news, said it had been told by a U.S. Army official briefed on the raid that Baghdadi was dead. It said the operation was carried out by special operations forces after receiving actionable intelligence. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley announced late on Saturday that Trump would make a "major statement" at 9 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) on Sunday. Gidley gave no further details. The president gave an indication that something was afoot earlier on Saturday night when he tweeted without explanation, "Something very big has just happened!" Trump has faced withering criticism from both Republicans and Democrats alike for his U.S. troop withdrawal from northeastern Syria, which permitted Turkey to attack America s Kurdish allies. Many critics of Trump s Syria pullout have expressed worries that it would lead the Islamic State militancy to regain strength and pose a threat to U.S. interests. An announcement about Baghdadi s death could help blunt those concerns. For days, U.S. officials had feared that Islamic State would seek to capitalize on the upheaval in Syria. But they also saw a potential opportunity, in which Islamic State leaders might break from more secretive routines to communicate with operatives, potentially creating a chance for the United States and its allies to detect them. Baghdadi was long thought to be hiding somewhere along the Iraq-Syria border. He has led the group since 2010, when it was still an underground offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq. On Sept. 16, Islamic State s media network issued a 30-minute audio message purporting to come from Baghdadi, in which he said operations were taking place daily and called on supporters to free women jailed in camps in Iraq and Syria over their alleged links to his group. In the audio message, Baghdadi also said the United States and its proxies had been defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the United States had been "dragged" into Mali and Niger. At the height of its power Islamic State ruled over millions of people in territory running from northern Syria through towns and villages along the Tigris and Euphrates valleys to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. But the fall in 2017 of Mosul and Raqqa, its strongholds in Iraq and Syria respectively, stripped Baghdadi, an Iraqi, of the trappings of a caliph and turned him into a fugitive thought to be moving along the desert border between Iraq and Syria. U.S. air strikes killed most of his top lieutenants, and before Islamic State published a video message of Baghdadi in April there had been conflicting reports over whether he was alive. Despite losing its last significant territory, Islamic State is believed to have sleeper cells around the world, and some fighters operate from the shadows in Syria s desert and Iraq s cities.

Protests in Lebanon entered a second week on Thursday with demonstrators blocking main roads in Beirut and other parts of the country, AFP correspondents and Lebanese media reported. Sparked on October 17 by a proposed tax on calls made through messaging apps, the protests have morphed into a cross-sectarian street mobilisation against a political system seen as corrupt and broken. On Thursday morning, demonstrators set up roadblocks around the capital. One major east-west artery was blocked by a dozen young protesters, who pitched tents in the middle of the road. Sitting on the pavement with a red and white keffiyeh on his shoulders, a 30-year-old who had trained as a chef, said he had been protesting since the first day. "We re here closing the main road to stop some movement in this country," he said, asking not to be identified. "People think we re playing but we re actually asking for our most basic rights: water, food, electricity, healthcare, pensions, medicine, schooling," he told AFP. Embattled Prime Minister Saad Hariri has presented a package of reforms, including cutting ministerial salaries, but the rallies have continued, crippling Beirut and other major cities. President Michel Aoun was expected to speak later in the day. On Wednesday, Hariri held meetings with security and military leaders, stressing the need to maintain security and open roads, the state-run National News Agency reported. Washington on Wednesday called on Lebanon s leaders to meet the "legitimate" grievances of citizens. More than a quarter of Lebanon s population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Almost three decades after the end of Lebanon s civil war, political deadlock has stymied efforts to tackle mounting economic woes which have been compounded by the eight-year civil war in neighbouring Syria.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the United States had betrayed and abandoned the Syrian Kurds and advised the Kurds to withdraw from the Syrian border as per a deal between Moscow and Ankara or be mauled by the Turkish army. The comments by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to Russian news agencies followed a deal agreed on Tuesday between Russia and Turkey that will see Syrian and Russian forces deploy to northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey. Peskov, who was reported to be reacting to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump s special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey, complained that it appeared that the United States was encouraging the Kurds to stay close to the Syrian border and fight the Turkish army. "The United States has been the Kurds closest ally in recent years. (But) in the end, it abandoned the Kurds and, in essence, betrayed them," Peskov was cited as saying. "Now they (the Americans) prefer to leave the Kurds at the border (with Turkey) and almost force them to fight the Turks." If the Kurds did not withdraw as per the deal between Moscow and Ankara, Peskov said that Syrian borders guards and Russian military police would have to withdraw, leaving the Kurds to be dealt with by the Turkish army.

European Council President Donald Tusk is condemning Turkey s invasion of northern Syria and is calling on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pull his troops out of the region. Tusk told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday that "no one is fooled by the so-called cease-fire agreement made last week by the U.S. and Turkey. Turkey expects the Syrian Kurdish fighters to pull back from a border area. Tusk says that Turkey, which is a candidate for EU membership, "needs to end its military action permanently, withdraw its forces and respect international humanitarian law. He says that "any other course means unacceptable suffering, a victory for Daesh, and a serious threat to European security.

Lebanon s cabinet is expected to approve reforms including halving ministers wages on Monday in a bid to ease an economic crisis and defuse protests that have been the biggest show of dissent against the ruling elite in decades. Protesters blocked roads for a fifth day of demonstrations fuelled by the crippling economic conditions and anger at perceived corruption of the political elite that has led Lebanon into the crisis. Officials told Reuters on Sunday that Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri had agreed a package of reforms with his government partners to tackle the crisis that has driven hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets. The government is due to meet at 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) at the presidential palace in the Beirut suburb of Baabda. In central Beirut, scene of the largest protest, people prepared for another day of demonstrations. "If we get reforms, for a start it’s good, to calm down the storms, people are angry ... but on the long term, I don’t know if it will make a change," said Rida Jammoul, football coach, who was helping to clean-up in Beirut. Another protester, Ziad Abou Chakra, said he would continue to protest until the government was toppled. "We will stay here and we won t open the roads whatever happens," he said, manning a road block in the Zouk Mikhael area north of Beriut. The reform plan includes a 50% cut in salaries of current and former presidents, ministers and lawmakers, as well as reductions in benefits for state institutions and officials. It also includes the central bank and private banks contributing $3.3 billion to achieve a "near zero deficit" for the 2020 budget. The government also aims to privatise the telecommunications sector and overhaul the costly and crumbling electricity sector, one of the biggest strains on Lebanon s depleted finances. Hariri, who leads a coalition cabinet mired in sectarian and political rivalries, gave his feuding government a 72-hour deadline on Friday to agree reforms to ward off crisis, hinting he might otherwise resign. The deadline expires on Monday. A chorus of voices, from union leaders to politicians, has joined calls for Hariri s government to resign. The protests have spread across the country since Thursday. Banks were closed on Monday and the main labour union went on strike, threatening further paralysis. "The message to the politicians is don t ever underestimate the power of the people because once they unite they will explode - peacefully," said Hiba Dandachli, 36, a social entrepreneur who was helping to organise the clean-up. "There are children, families, all from different religions and backgrounds," she said. "If the politicians learn from this they will learn how to lead the country much better."

US forces withdrew from a key base in northern Syria Sunday, a monitor said, two days before the end of a US-brokered truce to stem a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces in the region. An AFP correspondent saw more than 70 US armoured vehicles escorted by helicopters drive past the town of Tal Tamr carrying military equipment. Some flew the American stars-and-stripes flag as they made their way eastwards along a highway crossing the town, he said. The Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights said the convoy was evacuating the military base of Sarrin. It appeared to be heading to the town of Hassakeh, further east, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside war-torn Syria for its information. Sarrin "is the largest American military base in the north of the country," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. It is situated on the edges of a planned "safe zone" on the Syrian side of the border that Turkey wants to keep Kurdish forces away from its frontier, he explained. Sunday s pullout was the fourth such withdrawal of American forces in a week and left Syria s northern provinces of Aleppo and Raqa devoid of US troops, Abdel Rahman said. The Kurds have been a key ally to Washington in the US-backed fight against Islamic State group jihadists in Syria, but Ankara views them as "terrorists" linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil. A week ago, the Pentagon said US President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria as Turkish troops advanced into Syrian territory. Turkey launched a cross-border incursion into Syria on October 9, after Trump said he would pull back US special forces in the Kurdish-held north. After the violence killed scores from both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, a US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday. Turkey has given the Syrian Democratic Forces, the de facto army of the Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria, until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a 30-kilometre strip of Syrian land along its southern border. Both sides accuse each other of violating the truce.

The embattled Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria on Thursday accused Turkey of resorting to banned weapons such as napalm and white phosphorus munitions. The use of such weapons since the start of the cross-border assault by Turkey and its Syrian proxies could not immediately be confirmed independently. In a statement issued eight days into the deadly offensive, the Kurdish administration said Turkey had resorted to their use because of unexpectedly stiff resistance by Kurdish fighters in the key border town of Ras al-Ain. "The Turkish aggression is using all available weapons against Ras al-Ain," the Kurdish statement said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far ignored international pressure to halt the offensive, which has killed dozens of civilians and displaced more than 300,000 people. "Faced with the obvious failure of his plan, Erdogan is resorting to weapons that are globally banned such as phosphorus and napalm," the statement added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group with a wide network of sources on the ground, could not confirm the use of napalm or white phosphorus. But Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said there had been a spike in burn wounds over the past two days, mostly casualties brought in from the Ras al-Ain area. Kurdish officials posted a video on social media showing children with burns one doctor in Hasakeh province argues are consistent with the use of banned weapons. Made notorious by their widespread use by US forces in the Vietnam War, napalm and related chemicals are mixtures of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical used in incendiary bombs. White phosphorus can be used to create a smoke screen or as a battlefield marker, but it can also be deployed as a deadly incendiary weapon, a use prohibited under international law. A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces -- the autonomous Kurdish region s de facto army -- called on international organisations to send in experts. "We urge international organisations to send their teams to investigate some wounds sustained in attacks," Mustefa Bali said on social media. "The medical facilities in NE Syria lack expert teams," he added.

Turkey remained defiant against mounting international pressure to curb its military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria, raising tensions with Washington as Vice President Mike Pence headed for Ankara on Wednesday to demand a ceasefire. Battles raged in the key Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain as dawn broke on Wednesday, with Kurdish fighters trying to hold off the onslaught by Turkish-backed forces, now in its second week. The fighting has triggered a flurry of diplomacy among major powers, with US President Donald Trump dispatching Pence along with his top diplomat Mike Pompeo to Turkey amid the greatest crisis in relations for decades between the NATO allies. The Kremlin said it would host President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the coming days, to ensure the operation does not turn into an all-out war between Turkey and Syria. Russia has stepped into the void caused by Trump s withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria, deploying patrols to prevent clashes between Syrian and Turkish forces. Trump -- facing mounting criticism in Washington over his decision to pull 1,000 troops out of the conflict zone, as well as an unrelated impeachment inquiry -- has hit back at Erdogan, slapping sanctions on three cabinet officials and raising tariffs on Turkish steel. Pence said he would meet with Erdogan on Thursday and "voice the United States commitment to reach an immediate ceasefire and the conditions for a negotiated settlement", his office said in a statement. He reiterated that Trump will pursue "punishing economic sanctions" until a resolution is reached. But Erdogan remained unfazed by the pressure, telling reporters: "They tell us to declare a ceasefire . We can never declare a ceasefire." The operation has widespread support in Turkey, where decades of bloody insurgency by Kurdish militants has killed tens of thousands of people. But Western powers are spooked that the operation is endangering the battle against the Islamic State group, which was led on the ground by Kurdish forces. Thousands of IS prisoners are held in Kurdish-run camps in the region. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday that the camps were not "currently" under threat from the operation, but Europe has taken an increasingly tough line with Turkey. Britain and Spain became the latest powers to suspend military exports to Turkey on Tuesday. Canada made a similar move. - Kurds try to defend border - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have mounted a desperate defence to the east of Ras al-Ain, using tunnels, berms and trenches. An AFP correspondent said clashes around the town were ongoing on Wednesday despite Ankara s repeated claims it had captured the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Kurdish fighters had launched "a large counterattack against Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies near Ras al-Ain" on Tuesday and reported "fierce combat" in the west of the town as well as in Tal Abyad. Since launching their assault on October 9, Turkish-backed forces have secured more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) of border, but Ras al-Ain -- Siri Kani in Kurdish -- has held out. Erdogan, who like Trump faces political difficulties at home, wants to create a buffer zone stretching 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border into Syrian territory. He wants to destroy Kurdish hopes of an autonomous enclave that could serve as a launching pad for attacks in Turkey, as well as resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees it is hosting. "God willing, we will quickly secure the region stretching from Manbij to our border with Iraq," Erdogan said. The offensive has killed dozens of civilians, mostly on the Kurdish side, and displaced at least 160,000 people. - Russia fills void - Syrian forces have returned to the region for the first time in years, raising their flag in Manbij as part of a deal with the Kurds. Russia said its military police were patrolling a zone separating regime and Turkish troops, in cooperation with Ankara. With Trump s critics saying that he handed over US allies and stretches of Syria to Russia, the United States tried to play down Moscow s role. "The number of Russians is very, very limited. But it only takes a few Russians with a big Russian flag to get everybody to pay attention," a senior administration official told reporters in Washington. Meanwhile, at least three French women escapees were "retrieved" by IS, according to messages they sent to their lawyer seen by AFP. An SDF official on Twitter Tuesday said more IS relatives had tried and failed to escape the overcrowded camp of Al-Hol in eastern Syria.

Russian Vladimir Putin has arrived in the United Arab Emirates on his first visit to the small but wealthy country in over a decade. Putin landed Tuesday in Abu Dhabi after earlier visiting Saudi Arabia. He was met at the airport by Abu Dhabi s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. While in Saudi Arabia, one topic of discussion was oil production. Russia is now working with OPEC, as are other nations not part of the cartel, to control production to help raise energy prices. Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the region, amid a standoff between the U.S. and Iran over President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing America from Tehran s nuclear deal with world powers over a year ago. Putin last visited the UAE in 2007.

European Union leaders are looking to broaden an arms embargo against NATO ally Turkey to protest its offensive against Kurdish forces in neighboring Syria. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said Monday ``it is against international law to invade a neighboring country and Turkey should as every other country abide by international law. Blok was speaking at the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg. Germany, France and the Netherlands have already suspended arms sales to Turkey. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that he also wanted a ``a strong position on the export of arms to Turkey. But Le Drian also called on the United States ``above all to call for a meeting of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, over alarm that the chaos caused by the Turkish offensive was reviving the threat of IS. Syria s Kurds were key allies in a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group. Syria s state news agency says government forces have entered the northern town of Tal Tamr that is close to Turkey s border. SANA said Monday morning that the Syrian army moved into the area to ``confront the Turkish aggression, without giving further details. The report says residents of Tal Tamr that is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Turkish border welcomed the troops. It did not say from which area the Syrian army marched toward the town. The move toward Tal Tamr came a day after Syria s Kurds said Syrian government forces agreed to help them fend off Turkey s invasion _ a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos.

Tunisians cast votes three times in the past two months in presidential and parliamentary elections. On Sunday, they will be voting in the presidential run-off elections. The public mood, eight years after the overthrow of the Ben Ali regime, is obviously leaning towards those with little history in political life. From the 26 candidates who competed during the first round of the presidential elections in September, a law professor, Kais Saied, 61, and a media mogul, Nabil Karoui, 56 made it to the run-offs. The presidential winner will succeed Beji Caid Essebsi, who died in July at the age of 92. In the first round, Saied took 18.4 percent of the votes, while Karoui received 15.6 percent. The presidential candidate of the Islamist Ennahda Party, Abdelfattah Mourou, came in third with 12.9 percent of the votes. Meanwhile, in the parliamentary elections, Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia Party came second (38 seats) after Ennahda Party 52 seats out of a total of 217 seats. Ennahda, which won 17 less seats than those it earned during the 2014 parliamentary race, backs Saied. This provides further evidence of the growing interest in backing new political forces, especially amid rising divisions and tensions among the secular forces that built Essebsi’s Nidaa Tounes. Both Saied and Karoui speak about themselves as political outsiders, though there are obvious differences between them. Karoui was detained in August ahead of the first round of presidential elections on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. on Wednesday, an appeals court freed the business tycoon, pending investigations. Tunisia’s electoral commission had warned that Karoui s imprisonment could negatively affected his chances in getting in touch with voters, which could annul the results. Tunisia’s interim president Mohammed Ennaceur also cautioned last week that the credibility of the elections was damaged by Karoui s detention. The election-observing institutions shared similar standpoints. The way the judicial process will be run is yet unclear, especially in case he was elected president. If he Karoui loses in the runoff, according to his lawyers, he will challenge the result in court on the basis of being denied an equal opportunity to campaign for himself. Some critics of Karoui accuse him of being corrupt. However, for his supporters, Karoui represents the forces of secularism and liberalism and is also a staunch backer of the poor. Karoui’s Nessma TV and charity activities have significantly helped him win support among the poorer sects of Tunisia. Nessma TV had played a key role in mobilizing voters’ support for the secular parties during Tunisia’s parliamentary elections in 2014. Unlike Saied, Karoui vowed to increase the powers of the president in Tunisia, holding the parliamentary system accountable for "paralyzing the country." On the other hand, the independent candidate Saied — who stopped campaigning last week in respect of the notion of equal opportunities — had a weak campaign with very limited funding and media exposure. The legal scholar presents himself as someone who defends the principles of the 2011 revolution of Tunisia, slamming party politics and stressing the need to decentralise power. Described by his backers as the “professor”, Saied is a politically conservative figure. He became popular through his regular TV comments on the constitution-drafting process in 2014. He is pro-death penalty, an opponent of homosexuality, and calls for a law that punishes unmarried couples for the public display of affection. Moreover, though many see that Saied is not a supporter of political Islam, and having vowed to defend women s rights, he still rejects recent changes in Tunisia’s inheritance law which establishes equal rights between men and women in inheritance matters. Meanwhile, Karoui portrays himself as a “modernist liberal” and has promised to implement neoliberal economic policies. “My programme is the total opening of the economy with the reforms necessary to attract foreign investment,” he said. The race for presidency in Tunisia comes amid social and economic challenges facing the country, including high unemployment, especially among the youth, deteriorating public services, hiking prices and harsh austerity measures passed under a programme signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Moreover, Tunisia s tourism sector, a major source of income for the North African country, has not been able to recover from a string of attacks on tourist destinations in recent years. On Friday, many Tunisians closely watched a televised debate between Saied and Karoui. However, many found the encounter did not properly tackle major concerns of the Tunisians, mainly those about the security, economy and inheritance law.

Iran called Thursday for an immediate halt to Turkey s offensive on Kurdish-ruled northeastern Syria, citing concern for the dangers to civilians in the conflict zone. "Iran... emphasises (the need for) an immediate halt to the assault and the departure of Turkish military units from Syrian territory," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Iran is a close ally of the Syrian government, which has sought to exploit the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces that were the mainstay of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria to win the region back to central government control.

The Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria called up civilians on Wednesday to defend the region against a feared Turkish assault, believed to be imminent. "We announce three days of general mobilisation in northern and eastern Syria," it said in a statement, urging all civilians to "head to the border with Turkey... to resist during this delicate historical moment". It also called on Kurds in Syria and abroad to protest against Ankara s planned offensive. Ankara said on Tuesday it would "shortly" begin an offensive into northern Syria, as it sent more armoured vehicles to the border. Turkey s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, wrote in the Washington Post that Kurdish forces can either "defect" or Turkey will "have no choice but to stop them from disrupting our counter-Islamic State efforts". US President Donald Trump has blown hot and cold since a surprise announcement on Sunday that Washington was pulling back 50 to 100 "special operators" from Syria s border with Turkey. After appearing to give a green light to the Turkish invasion, he later threatened to "obliterate" Turkey s economy if it went too far. He also insisted the United States had not abandoned its Kurdish allies by pulling forces out of the area. On Wednesday, the Kurdish administration said it would hold its US ally and the whole international community responsible for any "humanitarian catastrophe" that unfolds in the territory under its control. Kurdish forces took heavy losses in the US-backed campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria which they spearheaded. In March, they declared the territorial defeat of IS after overrunning the jihadists last redoubt in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria. Ankara strongly opposed Washington s support for Kurdish forces in Syria citing their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought a deadly insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Turkey has already carried out two cross-border offensives into Syria, including one in 2018 that saw it and allied Syria rebels overrun the majority-Kurdish Afrin enclave in the northwest.

Turkey s preparations for an offensive in northern Syria have been "completed", the defence ministry said Tuesday, after confusing signals from the US over whether it would allow an operation. US President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Turkey s border with Syria on Sunday after a phone call with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish militants in northern Syria due to their ties with separatists in his own country. "All of the preparations for an operation have been completed," the Turkish defence ministry tweeted, hours after US forces withdrew from the border area. Erdogan had earlier said the operation could come at any moment "without warning". Trump s move was seen by critics as an abandonment of Kurdish forces which had been the key US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group. But there was confusion later on Monday when Trump tweeted that he would "obliterate" Turkey s economy if it went too far. Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay responded to Trump s threat on Tuesday, warning that "Turkey is not a country that will act according to threats". "As our president always stresses, Turkey will always set its own path and will take matters into its own hands," Oktay said in a speech in Ankara. Turkey says it wants a "safe zone" along northern Syria to act as a buffer against Kurdish forces and also allow the return home of up to two million Syrian refugees. It has previously launched two cross-border offensives against IS in 2016 and the YPG in 2018, with the support of Syrian rebels.

The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives. A U.S. official said American troops had withdrawn from two observation posts on the border, at Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain, and had told the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that the United States would not defend the SDF from an imminent Turkish offensive. "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria," the White House said after President Donald Trump spoke to Turkey s President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial "Caliphate", will no longer be in the immediate area," it added in a statement. Turkey has long argued for the establishment of a 20-mile (32 km) "safe zone" along the border, under Turkish control, driving back the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia - which is the dominant force in the SDF alliance and which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation and a threat to its national security. The United States helped the YPG defeat Islamic State militants in Syria, and had been seeking a joint security mechanism with Turkey along the border to meet Turkey s security needs without threatening the SDF. The SDF accused Washington on Monday of reneging on an ally which spearheaded the fight against Islamic State in Syria, and warned that it would have a "great negative" impact on the war against the jihadists. "The American forces did not fulfill their commitments and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey, and Turkey is now preparing for an invasion operation of northern and eastern Syria," it said in a statement. SDF official Mustafa Bali said U.S. forces were "leaving leaving the areas to turn into a war zone". Islamic State captives The White House statement appeared to hand over to Turkey responsibility for captured Islamic State jihadists who are currently held in SDF facilities to the south of Turkey s initially proposed safe zone. "Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years," it said. The statement also made pointed reference to Washington s European allies, saying many of the captured IS fighters came from those countries, which had resisted U.S. calls to take them back. "The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer," the White House said. In the first Turkish comment following the statement, Erdogan s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey s "safe zone" plan was within the framework of Syria s territorial integrity. "The safe zone has two aims: to secure our borders by clearing away terrorist elements and to achieve the return of refugees in a safe way," Kalin wrote on Twitter. "Turkey is powerful and determined," he added. Turkey says it wants to settle up to 2 million Syrian refugees in the zone. It currently hosts 3.6 million Syrians sheltering from the more than eight-year-old conflict in their homeland. After the statements, Turkey s lira was trading weaker at 5.7150 against the U.S. dollar, compared with a close of 5.70 on Friday. After the Erdogan-Trump phone call, the Turkish presidency said the two leaders had agreed to meet in Washington next month. It said that during the call Erdogan had expressed his frustration with the failure of U.S. military and security officials to implement the agreement between the two countries. The NATO allies agreed in August to establish a zone in northeast Syria along the border with Turkey. Turkey says the United States moved too slowly to set up the zone. It has repeatedly warned of launching an offensive on its own into northeast Syria. Ties between the allies have also been pressured over Turkey s purchase of Russian S-400 defence missiles and the trial of local U.S. consulate employees in Turkey.

Tunisians began voting on Sunday for a parliament that must address chronic economic problems at a moment when political newcomers are mounting a challenge to the established parties. Voters queued outside polling stations in the capital Tunis, only eight years after a popular uprising that inspired the "Arab Spring". But the failure of repeated coalition governments that grouped the old secular elite and the long-banned moderate Islamist Ennahda party to address a weak economy and declining public services has disillusioned many voters. Sunday s vote for parliament is sandwiched between two rounds of a presidential election in which turnout has been low and which advanced two political newcomers to the runoff at the expense of major-party candidates. It is not clear what that may mean for Sunday s election, in which Ennahda is one of several parties hoping to emerge with most votes, including the Heart of Tunisia party of media mogul Nabil Karoui. While the president directly controls foreign and defence policy, the largest party in parliament nominates the prime minister, who forms a government focused on most domestic policy. *This story was edited by Ahram Online.

Iraqi security forces imposed a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad and fired live rounds and tear gas on Thursday to disperse anti-government protests that have gripped the country since earlier this week, killing 21 people so far. In a desperate attempt to quell the demonstrations, which were spontaneous and mostly spurred by woes over deteriorating economy and lack of jobs and services, authorities have cut internet access across much of Iraq.

Talks to form a national unity government in Israel hit a further snag on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s centrist election rival called off a meeting with the embattled leader. Netanyahu said on Sunday he would make a final effort this week to reach an agreement and would likely meet with his challenger Benny Gantz on Wednesday after further negotiations between their parties. On Sunday, Blue and White said it would "hold any meeting and spare no effort" to form a broad unity government. But on Tuesday the party said conditions were not ripe yet to hold effective negotiations between the parties and their leaders. An inconclusive ballot on Sept. 17, the second this year, has created a political deadlock and left Israel s longest-serving prime minister weakened. Netanyahu, facing a looming indictment on corruption allegations he denies, has failed to secure a clear election victory twice in six months. His right-wing Likud party came second with 32 seats in the 120-member parliament, against 33 for former military chief Gantz s centrist Blue and White party. The parties negotiators had met on Sunday without success, with each side blaming the other for the stalemate. With neither party leader appearing able to put together a coalition with a ruling majority on his own, Israel s president last week tasked Netanyahu with forming the next government in the hope of securing a power-sharing deal between the Blue and White party and Likud. If Netanyahu fails to clinch a deal, President Reuven Rivlin is then likely to ask Gantz to try to form a government, though he, like Netanyahu, also has no clear path to power. Gantz has pledged not to serve in a government under a premier facing criminal charges. His party has accused Likud of stalling in the talks in the hope of triggering yet another election. Israel’s attorney-general is due to hold a pre-trial hearing this week on his announced intention to indict Netanyahu on fraud and bribery charges in three corruption cases. Netanyahu, who says he is a victim of a political witchhunt, can argue at the session against prosecution. A final decision by the attorney-general on an indictment is expected by the end of 2019.