BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem s storied Church of the Nativity reopened to visitors on Tuesday, after a nearly three-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The church, built over the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born, was closed on March 5 as the first cases of the virus were reported in the West Bank. The church is one of Christianity s most sacred shrines and the closure came ahead of the busy Easter holiday season that typically draws tens of thousands of visitors and worshipers. Bishop Theophylactos, a Greek Orthodox cleric, called the reopening a day of celebration for Bethlehem since “all the people now can enter the church and pray like before.” The Palestinian Authority has reported some 400 cases of the coronavirus in the West Bank, with two deaths. Most of the cases were traced to Palestinians who worked inside Israel, which has been coping with a much larger outbreak. Israeli authorities have begun to gradually reopen schools, houses of worship and markets as the spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed. Israel s Health Ministry has reported over 16,700 confirmed cases of the disease and 279 deaths. More than 14,000 have recovered.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher reopened to visitors on Sunday after a two-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. The church, situated in Jerusalem’s Old City, is the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, entombed, and resurrected. The Christian authorities managing the site closed it to visitors in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but clerics maintained prayers inside the shuttered church throughout its closure. On Sunday, church authorities limited entrance to 50 people at a time, and required that those entering the cavernous site maintain social distance and avoid touching any of the church’s stones, icons or other religious items. A typical day before the virus outbreak would bring thousands of faithful who kissed or placed their hands along the church’s surfaces. As priests from the various Christian sects entered the church, a handful of faithful waited outside for the basilica’s church to open for the public. Israeli authorities have gradually reopened schools, houses of worship and markets as the spread of the novel coronavirus has slowed. Israel’s Health Ministry has reported over 16,700 confirmed cases of the disease and 279 deaths. More than 14,000 have recovered. Image: An Orthodox clergyman holds holy fire to transfer to predominantly Orthodox countries from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many Christians to be the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem’s old city after the traditional Holy Fire ceremony was called off amid coronavirus, Saturday, April 18, 2020. A few clergymen on Saturday marked the Holy Fire ceremony as the coronavirus pandemic prevented thousands of Orthodox Christians from participating in one of their most ancient and mysterious rituals at the Jerusalem church marking the site of Jesus’ tomb.(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar called on his forces on Saturday to rally against Turkey, which has helped his Tripoli-based rivals turn the tide of a military conflict around the capital. Recent advances by forces aligned with the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), including the seizure of a key air base, have thrown a year-long offensive on Tripoli by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) into jeopardy. They have also drawn a threat by the LNA, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, to carry out a massive air campaign in retaliation. On Saturday the GNA forces pressed forward in some outlying districts of Tripoli, where they say they have had to pick their way through mines and other explosive devices laid by the LNA. The LNA said it had withdrawn from some areas, but had also staged an ambush at Yarmouk military camp in Tripoli and killed or captured rival combatants. Haftar, in an audio message addressed to his forces, urged them to battle the “colonial” intervention by Turkey until its defeat, in a reference to one-time Ottoman control of Libya. “You are creating glory while fighting the odious colonizer greedy for our wealth,” he said. “And you are waging war on all fronts, a war in which there is nothing but victory.” Haftar’s comments were released as US President Donald Trump appealed for a rapid de-escalation of the conflict in Libya in a call with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said separately his country had “changed the balance” in Libya and averted a “full-blown civil war.” “The only solution in Libya is a political solution and Haftar needs to understand this,” he said in a TV interview.

CAIRO (Reuters) — The United Arab Emirates believes the only acceptable path forward in the Libyan crisis involves “an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire and a return to the political process”, the UAE s minister of state for foreign affairs said on Tuesday. “The UAE s position on the Libyan crisis has been firm and clear & shared by the majority of the international community,” Anwar Gargash said on Twitter. The UAE and Egypt back the forces of Khalifa Hiftar, based in eastern Libya, which are trying to take the capital Tripoli. Turkey, which backs Libya s internationally recognized government in Tripoli, has accused the UAE of bringing chaos to the region through its interventions in Libya and Yemen.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Palestinian Authority will no longer be committed to any signed agreements with Israel or the United States, following Israel s pledge to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank. It was not immediately clear how the announcement, which was made at a Palestinian leadership meeting late on Tuesday, would be implemented. The Oslo accords and other agreements in the 1990s created the Palestinian Authority and govern its political, economic and security relations with Israel. ``The Palestinian Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are no longer committed to all signed agreements and understandings with the Israeli government and the American government, including the security commitments,`` Abbas said. He said Israel would now have to ``uphold responsibilities before the international community as the occupying power. He also announced that the Palestinians would step up their campaign to join international organizations as a member state, in defiance of the U.S. There was no immediate reaction from Israel or the United States. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements in the West Bank in line with President Donald Trump s Middle East plan, which overwhelmingly favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians. Netanyahu formed a new Israeli government earlier this month with his chief rival, Benny Gantz, following three elections and more than a year of gridlock. The coalition agreement allows Netanyahu to present an annexation proposal to the government as soon as July 1. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state, but the Trump plan would leave them with scattered clusters of enclaves surrounded by Israel. Most of the international community is opposed to annexation, which many fear would make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state. A two-state solution based on the 1967 lines is still widely seen as the only way of resolving the decades-long conflict. It s unclear whether Abbas, who has made similar threats in the past, will follow through on the latest announcement. The security coordination serves the interests of both Abbas and Israel because it is largely aimed at the Islamic militant group Hamas, his main rival. Israeli forces are deployed across the West Bank and frequently carry out arrest raids in Palestinian cities and towns. They typically coordinate these operations with Palestinian security forces to prevent any clashes with them. Palestinian security forces, as well as senior officials traveling in armed convoys, must also coordinate with Israel in order to move around the West Bank or to enter and exit the territory via the crossing with neighboring Jordan, which is under Israeli control. Security coordination broke down during the 2000-2005 intifada, or Palestinian uprising. But Abbas has always been opposed to violence, and Palestinian forces are likely continue to act against any armed groups, even without formal coordination with Israel. The Palestinian Authority governs and provides basic services to heavily populated areas of the occupied West Bank. Dismantling it would risk chaos and leave tens of thousands of civil servants unemployed. But by referring to the ``state of Palestine, Abbas appeared to leave room for it to continue in its present form under a different, and contested, name. Still, the agreements with Israel govern nearly all its basic functions, including the issuance of passports and other official documents. Israel also collects taxes and customs duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, its main source of revenue.

A cabinet committee tasked with legalising the status of unlicensed Christian places of worship has licensed 70 churches and service buildings that had been operating without a permit, the cabinet said in a statement. This brings the total number of unlicensed Christian places of worship and service buildings that have been granted legal status to 1,638 so far, the cabinet said in a statement following a committee meeting on Tuesday. Christians make up around 10 percent of the 100 million population of Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country. In 2016, Egypt s parliament approved a long-awaited law regulating the building and renovation of churches. The committee to legalise the status of unlicensed churches was established in 2017 by the prime minister. The 10-member committee comprises one Christian representative, six government officials from several ministries, representatives from the national security apparatus, the intelligence apparatus, and the administrative control body. During its meeting on Tuesday, the cabinet also reviewed the situation of safety requirements for legalised churches.

The Coptic Orthodox Church said that at three am on Saturday a pedestrian threw a Molotov cocktail at the Virgin Mary and the Martyr St. George Church in Gabriel, Alexandria. No injuries were reported and the church building remained undamaged, the church clarified in a Sunday statement. It added that security services detained the perpetrator and church surveillance cameras recorded the details of the entire incident

CAIRO (AP) — Bombs hit a shelter for displaced people in Libya s capital Tripoli, killing at least seven people including a five-year-old child from Bangladesh, health authorities said Sunday. The shelling of the facility in the city s Furnaj district late Saturday also wounded at least 17 people, including a 52-year-old Bengali migrant and his five-year-old child, Malek Merset, a spokesman for the capital s ambulance services, said. The man is also the father of the dead child. It was the latest attack on civilians in the fighting over Tripoli between eastern-based forces under military commander Khalifa Haftar and an array of militias loosely allied with the UN-supported but weak government in the capital. A fire broke out in parts of the shelter housing people displaced by previous clashes in Tripoli, Merset said. The ambulance services did not say which side was responsible for the shelling. The self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, led by Haftar, launched an offensive to take Tripoli in April last year. In recent weeks, the fighting has intensified as foreign backers of the two sides stepped up their military support. Haftar is backed by France and Russia, as well as Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and other key Arab countries. The Tripoli-allied militias are aided by Turkey, which deployed troops and mercenaries to help shore up their allies earlier this year, as well as by Italy and Qatar. Mercenaries, mainly from the Syria battlefield, are now fighting on both sides and complicating an already complex proxy war. Earlier this year, Tripoli-allied militias took several western towns from Haftar s forces and stepped up their attacks using drones supplied by Turkey on a key military base and the town of Tarhuna. Haftar s LAAF said Saturday it shot down a Turkish drone that was trying to attack the al-Watiya airbase. The Tripoli-allied militias claimed they destroyed a Russian-made anti-aircraft system, a claim dismissed by the LAAF. Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when a civil war toppled and later killed long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country has since split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each backed by armed groups and foreign countries. The Tripoli fighting has threatened to push Libya into a major conflagration on the scale of the 2011 civil war.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States publicly threatened on Wednesday to trigger a return of all United Nations sanctions on Iran if the UN Security Council does not extend an arms embargo on Tehran that is due to expire in October under the Iran nuclear deal. US special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, confirmed the strategy two weeks after a US official, speaking on condition anonymity, said the United States had told Britain, France and Germany of its plan. Hook wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “one way or another” Washington would ensure the arms embargo remains. He said the United States has drafted a Security Council resolution and “will press ahead with diplomacy and build support.” A resolution needs nine yes votes and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain to be adopted by the 15-member Security Council. Russia has already signaled it is opposed to extending the arms embargo. “If American diplomacy is frustrated by a veto, however, the US retains the right to renew the arms embargo by other means,” Hook wrote, citing the ability of a party to the Iran nuclear deal to trigger a so-called snapback of all UN sanctions on Iran, which includes the arms embargo. Tehran was given sanctions relief under a 2015 deal with the United States, Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France that prevents Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The deal allowed for a return of sanctions if Iran violated the deal. US President Donald Trump quit the agreement in 2018, saying the accord from Barack Obama s presidency as “the worst deal ever.” But Washington argues it can trigger a return of UN sanctions because a 2015 Security Council resolution enshrining the deal still names the US as a participant. “This is ridiculous,” Russia s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Tuesday. “They are not members, they have no right to trigger.” Diplomats say the United States would likely face a tough, messy battle if it tries to spark a return of sanctions, though it was not immediately clear how or if a Security Council member could stop such a move. Iran has breached several central limits of the deal, including on its stock of enriched uranium, in response to the US withdrawal and Washington s reimposition of sanctions that have slashed Iran s oil exports. Britain, France and Germany are trying to save the deal, but have made little progress.

The Sahel state of Niger, which has been battling a bloody jihadist insurgency, said Wednesday around 75 Boko Haram combatants had been killed in the southeast and in neighbouring Nigeria. Twenty-five "terrorists" were killed on Monday south of Diffa, the main city in southeast Niger, while "about 50... were neutralised" the same day on Nigerian soil in the Lake Chad region, in two operations by a regional anti-jihadist force, the defence ministry said in a statement.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Militants stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off an hours-long shootout with the police and killing 14 people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses, Afghan officials said. While the battle was underway, Afghan security forces struggled to evacuate the facility, carrying out babies and frantic young mothers, according to images shared by the Interior Ministry. But the day s spasm of violence extended beyond Kabul. A suicide bomber in eastern Nangarhar province — a hotbed of the Islamic State group — targeted a funeral ceremony, killing 24 people and wounding 68. And in eastern Khost province, a bomb planted in a cart in a market killed a child and wounded 10 people. The violence could further undermine a peace process in the wake of a deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February, which envisages the start of talks among key Afghan figures, including government representatives, and the Taliban. Relentless, near-daily attacks have also left Afghan authorities ill-prepared to face the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 4,900 people in the country and killed at least 127. Soon after the Kabul attack started, black smoke rose into the sky over the hospital in Dashti Barchi, a mostly Shia neighborhood that has been the site of many past attacks by Islamic State militants. The Interior Ministry spokesman, Tareq Arian, said over 100 women and babies were evacuated from the building before it was over. Arian said 15 others, including women, men and children were wounded in the attack. Three foreign nationals were among those safely evacuated, he said, without elaborating. It was unclear why the maternity hospital in Dashti Barchi, a 100-bed facility, was targeted — an attack Arian said was an “act against humanity and a war crime.” No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul, where both the Taliban and the IS frequently target Afghan military and security forces, as well as civilians. The Taliban denied they were involved. Photos shared by the Interior Ministry during the Kabul attack show newborn babies and their mothers being carried out of the hospital by Afghan security forces. “The forces are trying to eliminate the terrorists and bring the situation under control,” said Arian while the battle was ongoing. By mid-afternoon, the ministry issued a statement saying three attackers had stormed the hospital and that one was shot and killed while the other two were still resisting arrest. The first floor of the clinic was cleared but the operation was ongoing to secure the rest of the building, the statement said. A few hours later, the ministry released another statement, saying all three attackers were dead and that the operation was over. In the evening hours, husbands, fathers and family members of the hospital s patients gathered around the site in Dashti Barchi, desperate for news of their loved ones. A man read out the names of those who had been evacuated to other hospitals. Neighboring Pakistan condemned the Kabul attack, calling it an “inhuman and cowardly terrorist attack.” The foreign ministry said both the Kabul hospital attack and the one on a funeral in eastern Nangarhar province “are particularly despicable as they take place in the holy month of Ramadan and at a time when Afghanistan is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.” In the Nangarhar attack, the suicide bomber targeted the funeral in Khewa district of a local pro-government militia commander and former warlord who had died of a heart attack on Monday night, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor. The Interior Ministry said the final casualty toll included 24 killed and 68 wounded. The casualties were brought to the Nangarhar provincial hospital, said hospital spokesman Gulzada Sangar. Khogyani added that the dead included Abdullah Lala Jan, a provincial council member, while his father Noor Agha, a lawmaker, was wounded in the attack. According to Zabihullah Zemarai, another provincial council member, dozens of people, including, lawmakers, provincial council members and locals had gathered for the funeral of Shaikh Akram, the militia commander. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted that the Taliban were not involved in the attack. Also, no group claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost, which killed a child and wounded 10 people. The bomb was placed in a cart at a local market and remotely detonated, said Adil Haidari, spokesman for the provincial police chief. The IS, meanwhile, claimed it was behind a spate of attacks on Monday in Kabul when four bombs, one placed under a garbage bin and the other three by the roadside, went off in the northern part of the city, wounding four civilians, including a child. The Afghan intelligence service said in a statement late Monday that the agency has arrested an IS leader in the region, Zia-ul Haq, also known as Shaikh Abu Omer Al-Khorasani.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Monday said its forces demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of being behind a deadly blast in the West Bank last year. Israel says 22-year-old Qassem Barghouti carried out the attack in August, which killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and wounded her father and brother as they were hiking down to a spring in the West Bank near the settlement of Dolev. The military said that as it was carrying out the demolition in the village of Kobar, near Ramallah, dozens of Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks and firebombs toward Israeli troops. It said the crowd was dispersed. Witnesses said several Palestinians were injured, including one that the Red Crescent said was hit in the head with a gas canister. Israel says demolishing the family homes of alleged militants deters violence. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment. The demolition was only carried out after Israel s high court rejected the family s petitions against the order. “Tonight, we settled a score with the despicable terrorist who took part in the murder of our dear Rina Shnerb. Destroying homes is an important tool in deterrence against terrorists,” said Defense Minister Naftali Bennett. “He who hurts us, we will harm him back. Jewish blood will not be spilled in vain.” Israel s Shin Bet security service launched a massive manhunt after the Aug. 23 bombing that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and seriously wounded her father and older brother. Such bombings, a hallmark of the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising, have been rare in recent years. Authorities blamed the attack on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, a leftist political party that has an armed wing. Israel, the US and the European Union consider it a terrorist group because of high-profile attacks going back decades, including plane hijackings and the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001. The Shin Bet was accused of torturing some of those it arrested in connection with the attack. Barshouti s lawyer says his client was bitten in his genitals by a security dog when authorities raided his home to arrest him.

Clashes in northwest Syria killed 22 regime fighters and jihadists Sunday in the highest such death toll since the start of a two-month-old ceasefire there, a monitor said. A truce since March 6 had largely stemmed fighting in Syria s last major rebel bastion of Idlib after a months-long regime assault that killed hundreds of civilians and forced almost a million to flee. But before dawn on Sunday rebels attacked the positions of pro-regime fighters on the western flank of the jihadist-dominated region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The clashes in the Sahl al-Ghab area killed 15 regime fighters as well as seven jihadists including from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Deen group, the Britain-based monitor said. "It s the highest death toll for fighters since the truce came into force," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman, who relies on sources inside Syria. "There had been intermittent clashes and mutual bombardment between both sides before, but this is the most violent attack yet." The Idlib region of some three million people is dominated by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group led by Syria s former Al-Qaeda affiliate, but other jihadists such as Hurras al-Deen and rebel groups are also present. The truce brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey has kept Syrian and Russian warplanes out of the region s skies, and largely held despite sporadic clashes or rocket fire. Tens of thousands have returned to their hometowns. Hundreds of thousands of others remain in crowded displacement camps or in temporary shelters near the Turkish border. Aid groups have warned that any outbreak of the novel coronavirus there would be devastating. Syria s war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Sudanese authorities say tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in the country s South Darfur province have left at least 30 people dead and a dozen wounded. A statement from the Prime Minister s office says the clashes erupted on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday but have since subsided. The fighting poses a significant challenge to efforts by Sudan s transitional government to end decades-long rebellions in areas of the country including Darfur. Tensions between the Arab and non-Arab tribes date back to the Darfur conflict that began in 2003, when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination. The government of former President Omar al-Bashir in the capital Khartoum at the time was accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and organizing them into a militia known as the Janjaweed and unleashing them on civilian populations. The militias became notorious for massacres and rapes.

The Israeli occupation army attacked military positions of the Islamist Hamas movement early Wednesday after militants in the Palestinian enclave fired a rocket at the Jewish state, the army said. "A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," the occupation army said in a statement. "In response, an (army) tank targeted three Hamas military posts in the northern Gaza Strip." A security source in Gaza confirmed three positions had been damaged, but reported no casualties. The Gaza rocket hit an open field near the border, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage, a military spokeswoman said. Wednesday s rocket was the first since March 27, and came as Israel was lifting restrictions imposed during the coronavirus outbreak. It also followed strikes on Iranian-backed militias and their allies in Syria that killed 14 fighters and are presumed to have been carried out by Israel. No Gaza group took responsibility for the Wednesday rocket fire. Separately on Wednesday morning, Hamas s military wing announced the death of a militant killed when a tunnel he was working in collapsed in Gaza the previous day.

It took 16 judges to convict Kurdish politicians Gultan Kisanak and Sebahat Tuncel of belonging to a terrorist organization last year. Their trial in Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey s largely Kurdish southeast, was concluded in just a dozen sessions, but during that time the three-judge panel was in constant flux. The women, who maintain their innocence, were brought to court only once — to hear the “guilty” verdict.

The “Islamic State” has taken advantage of a nationwide lockdown and withdrawal of US-led coalition troops to ramp up attacks. The remnants of the “Islamic State” (IS) terror group are becoming more active in Iraq and Syria amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Sunni Islamist rebel group was broadly defeated in 2017, but its sleeper cells have seen a spike in activity in the past month. On Saturday, IS killed 10 Iraqi paramilitaries in an ambush in a province close to the capital Baghdad. In the last week of April, a suicide bomber from the terror group killed three security guards outside a government building in Kirkuk. IS has also killed 32 Syrian soldiers and damaged two oil fields. “Combat operations have reached a level we haven t seen in a while,” Hisham al-Hashemi, a security expert on Iraq, told news agency AFP. He added that IS was also trying to re-establish its funding, smuggling routes and hideouts. US intelligence reports estimate that around 2,500-3,000 IS fighters remain operational in Iraq; intelligence officials in Baghdad say a further 500 fighters, some of whom had escaped from prison, recently slipped across the Syrian border. Qubad Talabani, the deputy prime minister of Iraq s Kurdish region, called a resurgence of IS a “real threat” in an interview with the Associated Press. “They are mobilizing and killing us in the north and they will start hitting Baghdad soon,” he said. IS taking advantage of redeployment of troops The resurgence of the IS comes at a time when US-led coalition forces have started to withdraw their forces from bases in Iraq and Iraqi troops are being redeployed to enforce a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Political uncertainty may also be playing a role, as Iraq is currently struggling to form a new government. However, according to some officials, the nature of the latest attacks have been “crude and elementary,” and do not necessarily point to the group being capable of reclaiming large chunks of territory as in 2014. Sam Heller, an independent analyst, told AFP that the recent activities were “seemingly indicative of the group s more aggressive posture, not necessarily new and impressive capabilities.” The “Islamic State” has taken advantage of a nationwide lockdown and withdrawal of US-led coalition troops to ramp up attacks. The remnants of the “Islamic State” (IS) terror group are becoming more active in Iraq and Syria amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Sunni Islamist rebel group was broadly defeated in 2017, but its sleeper cells have seen a spike in activity in the past month. On Saturday, IS killed 10 Iraqi paramilitaries in an ambush in a province close to the capital Baghdad. In the last week of April, a suicide bomber from the terror group killed three security guards outside a government building in Kirkuk. IS has also killed 32 Syrian soldiers and damaged two oil fields. “Combat operations have reached a level we haven t seen in a while,” Hisham al-Hashemi, a security expert on Iraq, told news agency AFP. He added that IS was also trying to re-establish its funding, smuggling routes and hideouts. US intelligence reports estimate that around 2,500-3,000 IS fighters remain operational in Iraq; intelligence officials in Baghdad say a further 500 fighters, some of whom had escaped from prison, recently slipped across the Syrian border. Qubad Talabani, the deputy prime minister of Iraq s Kurdish region, called a resurgence of IS a “real threat” in an interview with the Associated Press. “They are mobilizing and killing us in the north and they will start hitting Baghdad soon,” he said. IS taking advantage of redeployment of troops The resurgence of the IS comes at a time when US-led coalition forces have started to withdraw their forces from bases in Iraq and Iraqi troops are being redeployed to enforce a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Political uncertainty may also be playing a role, as Iraq is currently struggling to form a new government. However, according to some officials, the nature of the latest attacks have been “crude and elementary,” and do not necessarily point to the group being capable of reclaiming large chunks of territory as in 2014. Sam Heller, an independent analyst, told AFP that the recent activities were “seemingly indicative of the group s more aggressive posture, not necessarily new and impressive capabilities.”

Egypt s Interior Ministry announced in a Sunday statement that 18 militants have been killed in North Sinai by Egyptian police forces in shootouts near North Sinai s city of Bir al-Abd. According to the statement, the group was planning to carry out terrorist attacks targeting army and police personnel. The National Security Agency had been tipped off regrading the hideout of a terrorist group on the outskirts of Bir al-Abd, which they were using to plot out the attacks. Security forces and the militants exchanged fire at the location, leading to the deaths of 18 terrorists, the statement described. Police seized six automatic guns, three improvised explosive devices, and two explosive belts according to the Interior Ministry s statement. The statement added that the Interior Ministry is continuing to track down militant extremist groups seeking to carry out attacks in Egypt and abroad. Police filed a report on the militants deaths and referred it to the Supreme State Security Prosecution for further investigation. On Thursday military spokesman Tamer al-Refai said that an explosive device targeted an armored vehicle south of the city of Bir al-Abd, causing 10 casualties. Refai stated that 10 soldiers were either killed or wounded in the incident, but did not specify how many had died. There was at least one officer in the group. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave his condolences in a post on Facebook, praising the soldiers as “heroes” and “martyrs.” The Egyptian military has for years been waging a bloody insurgency against Islamist militants in Egypt. Violence escalated in 2013, following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi by the army. Scores of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in attacks, primarily by militants from a local affiliate of the Islamic State group. In 2018, Egyptian security forces launched a nationwide operation targeting militants, focusing on the restive North Sinai region. According to army data, at least 845 suspected militants have been killed in the region along with more than 60 security personnel.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church announced Thursday it will allow marriage ceremonies with a limited number of attendees to be held in churches and conducted in homes. “Pope Tawadros II decided to allow marriage prayers to be held at churches and at home, after the bride and groom sign a statement that they are committed to allowing only six guests to attend, alongside one priest and a deacon,” the church said in a statement. The Coptic Orthodox Church ordered last month all its churches to shut their doors and suspend mass as part of measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak. The church said the new decision was taken as marriage ceremonies take place more often during the Holy 50 Days which follow the Holy Great Fast of the Coptic Church that lasts for 55 days, and is followed by the Apostles Fast for more than month. All health guidance and prevention and safety measures will be strictly followed during the ceremonies, it added. Christians make up around 10 percent of Egypt s population of 100 million. The vast majority of the country s Christians are orthodox. Earlier this week, the church announced two coronavirus cases among its clergymen. Egypt has 5,268 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 380 fatalities. Some 1,335 previously confirmed cases have recovered.

At least 46 people were killed by a fuel truck blast in northern Syria on Tuesday. The explosion took place in a market in Afrin, a city controlled by Turkish-backed rebel fighters. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least six Turkish-backed rebel fighters were among the dead. There are fears that the death toll could rise as 50 people are reported to be wounded, with some in critical condition. While it s not clear who was behind the blast, the Turkish Defense Ministry blamed the Kurdish People s Protection Units (YPG) in a statement posted on Twitter. The YPG is viewed as a “terrorist” offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker s Party (PKK), which has been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. “The enemy of humanity PKK/YPG has once again targeted innocent civilians in Afrin,” the ministry said. According to activists, several people were burned to death in the blast, including some who were stuck inside their vehicles. Videos and photographs of the aftermath show charred bodies covered with blankets in ambulances and a hospital yard. Afrin, a mainly Kurdish enclave, was captured by the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebel fighters in 2018. In the last few months the city has witnessed a string of car bombings, but Tuesday s blast was one of the biggest.

BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in northern Lebanon Monday amid a crash in the local currency and a surge in food prices. Dozens of young men smashed the fronts of local banks and set fire to an army vehicle, as the protests turned into riots. The Red Cross said its teams were working on evacuating wounded people in Tripoli, Lebanon s second largest city and one of the most neglected regions in Lebanon. Scattered anti-government protests resumed last week as the government began easing the weeks-long lockdown to limit the spread of the new coronavirus in Lebanon, which has reported 710 cases and 24 deaths so far. The number of registered cases has dropped over the past two weeks, leading to the shortening of the nighttime curfew by one hour and allowing some businesses to resume work on Monday. The virus outbreak has exacerbated a severe economic and financial crisis gripping the country since late last year, the most serious to hit Lebanon since the end of its 1975-90 civil war. The Lebanese national currency hit a new record low over the weekend, with 4,000 pounds to the dollar on the black market while the official price remained at 1,507 pounds. Tripoli is the capital of northern Lebanon, where unemployment is among the highest in the country and poverty is widespread. Earlier Monday, scattered anti-government protests broke out in several parts of the country, leading to road closures that prevented medical teams from setting out from Beirut to conduct coronavirus tests across the country. The Health Ministry said its teams would try again on Tuesday, urging protesters to let the paramedics work to evaluate the spread of the virus in the tiny country of five million people. Around noon Monday, Lebanese troops forcefully removed dozens of protesters from a major highway in Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, and traffic resumed. Shortly afterward, it was blocked again with burning tires. The Lebanese army said it respects the people s right to protest as long as the protesters don t close roads or attack public and private property. “Our demands are simple and we are not asking for the impossible,” said protester George Ghanem in Zouk Mosbeh, citing early parliamentary elections and an independent judiciary. “We want to live in dignity […] we will continue and no one will remove us from the street.” A woman carried a placard reading: “My salary buys me two cartons of milk.” On Sunday night, the Central Bank of Lebanon issued a circular instructing currency exchange shops not to sell the dollar for more than 3,200 pounds. On Monday, most exchange shops were not selling dollars, saying clients who have dollars are refusing to exchange their hard currency at such a low price. Earlier over the weekend, several banks in northern and southern Lebanon were attacked, some with firebombs, reflecting rising public anger against banks that have imposed capital controls on people s accounts. In a sign of the deepening crisis, Lebanon s Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday accused the longtime Central Bank governor, Riad Salameh, of orchestrating the local currency s crash, and criticized what he called the governor s “opaque” policies that the premier said covered up major banking sector losses and capital flight. Also Monday, Lebanon s energy minister Raymond Ghajar said that initial results of drilling off the Lebanese coast show that there is gas on different depths in the first well ever dug in the country s waters. The minister added that it has not been proven yet if there is a reservoir in bloc 4 where drilling is taking place. Cash strapped-Lebanon has put high hopes on its first offshore exploratory drilling for oil and gas, launched in February. In 2017, Lebanon approved the licenses for an international consortium led by France s Total, Italy s ENI and Russia s Novatek to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of 10 blocks in the Mediterranean Sea, including one that is partly claimed by Israel. Lebanon is one of the world s most indebted countries and has been grappling with a liquidity crunch, an economic recession and rising unemployment.