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DAMASCUS -- At least 22 people were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes which targeted a rebel-held town in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, a monitor group reported.
Half of those killed where children, as the airstrikes targeted a schools compound in the town of Hass in the countryside of Idlib, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Syria-airstrikes)
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JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday decided to recall the ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), protesting the organization's condemnation of Israel's policy in holy sites in East Jerusalem.
The Prime Minister's Office said that Netanyahu will call back the Israeli ambassador to the UNESCO, Carmel Shama, "for consultations." (Israel-Recall-Ambassador-UNESCO)
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DAMASCUS -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied the government forces' use of chemical weapons during the ongoing battles in the war-torn country, according to the state news agency SANA.
The ministry statement denied what it said "accusations" made recently in a report inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which blamed the Syrian forces for carrying out a gas attack against rebels in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib in March 2015. (Syria-Chemical weapon-1st LD)
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MOSUL, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces on Wednesday inched to the eastern fringes of the city of Mosul, and made progress on other routes around the city preparing for the major battle to storm the city and drive out the Islamic State (IS) militant group from its last major stronghold in Iraq, a security source said.
On the 10th day of the offensive to free Iraq's northern province of Nineveh and its capital Mosul, the counter-terrorism commandos recaptured al-Khaznah village, some 5 km in east of Mosul, the nearest area reached by the troops to eastern edge of Mosul, a source from the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. (Iraq-Mosul-Battles) Enditem
