Region

BAGHDAD — A wave of attacks in and around Baghdad on Tuesday killed at least 28 people as Iraqi security forces repelled an attack by Daesh terror group on the country's largest oil refinery, officials said.

The attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi met with President Barack Obama in Washington and appealed for greater support from the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against Daesh militants who captured a third of both Iraq and neighbouring Syria in a blitz last year.

Obama pledged $200 million in US humanitarian aid to Iraq to help those displaced by Daesh attacks — an offer of assistance that appeared to fall short of the Iraqi prime minister's request for greater military support.

Daesh other Sunni extremists carry out near-daily attacks targeting Iraq's security forces and the country's Shiite majority.

The deadliest of Tuesday's attacks came at night, when a car bomb explosion at a commercial street killed eight people, including two women, and wounded 21 in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Earlier in the day, seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a commercial area in the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, a police officer said. The car was parked in a mainly Shiite section of the town near a bakery and went off as people were standing in line to buy bread.

Thirteen civilians were wounded in that attack, the officer said.

In the afternoon, two car bombs went off simultaneously in Baghdad's southeastern outskirts, in Al Wihda area, killing six civilians and wounding 13, another police officer said. One of the cars was parked in a commercial area while the second was in a nearby parking lot.

Another car bomb exploded in a parking lot outside Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital on Tuesday morning, killing four civilians and wounding 10, police said. Three more civilians were killed and eight wounded when a bomb ripped through an outdoor market in Baghdad's northern Sabi Al Bor area, police added.

Medical officials in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release information.

The bombings came a day after attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 15 civilians.

Also Tuesday, the deputy governor of the northern Salahuddin province said Daesh militants had used suicide armored car bombs to try to break into the Beiji refinery over the past two days. Ammar Hikmat said security forces repelled the attacks and remain in control of the facility. He said more than 20 militants were killed during the clashes and that several security forces were killed or wounded, without elaborating.

"We call upon the central government to send reinforcements immediately. The soldiers defending the refinery are exhausted and they are in need of any kind of help in order to withstand the attacks," Hikmat said.

Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said Monday that Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, repelled an Daesh attack over the weekend on Beiji.

BEIRUT — Schools in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo city will be closed for at least a week after bloody air raids on civilian areas, a monitor and activists said Monday.

On Sunday, an air strike on a school in the city's opposition-controlled east killed five children, three women teachers and a man.

The rebel education authority in Aleppo called on schools and teaching centres to suspend their classes until the end of the week, according to a statement distributed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said the decision was made "out of concern for the safety of students and teachers, because the criminal regime is targeting gatherings, schools, and institutions".

An opposition activist at the Aleppo Media Centre confirmed to AFP that all schools in rebel-held parts of the city were closed "until further notice".

"The 135 schools as well as the markets are all closed," said the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Sunday, bloodstains and debris marked the entrances of the bombed-out school, and broken desks and glass were strewn across classroom floors.

"People are more afraid than usual and there are dozens of families who have fled to refugee camps in Turkey or are internally displaced in Aleppo," the activist added.

According to him and the Britain-based observatory, Syria's regime has intensified its aerial campaign against opposition-controlled areas in the city.

"For two months, the army didn't make a single real breakthrough on the battlefield," said observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"So it's trying to compensate by intensifying bombardments of rebel areas," he said.

Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been divided into government control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

Rebels regularly fire into the regime part of the city, and have also been accused by rights groups of indiscriminate bombing.

President Bashar Assad’s regime has suffered several setbacks in recent weeks, losing control over the northwestern city of Idlib, as well as a crossing along the border with Jordan and an ancient village in the south.

More than 215,000 people have been killed since the beginning of Syria’s conflict in 2011.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said Monday he will use a visit to the United States to seek increased air support and arms deliveries to aid Baghdad's battle against militants.

"Number one is a marked increase in the air campaign and the delivery of arms," Abadi told journalists when asked what he wants during a visit to Washington, where he is to meet President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

There has already been an increase, "but we want to see more", he said before boarding his plane.

Abadi also said that "we want strict measures to stop the flow of foreign terrorists to Iraq", and that international efforts are needed to curb oil and antiquities smuggling, by which the jihadists gain funding.

He is expected to ask that Iraq be allowed to defer payment for arms purchases, given its major shortage of funds because of a decline in oil prices and the cost of its war against Daesh terror group.

The United States is leading an international coalition waging a campaign of air strikes against Daesh and also providing arms and training for Iraqi security forces.

The jihadist group led an offensive that overran large parts of Iraq last June.

Multiple Iraqi divisions collapsed in the early days of the militant onslaught, but Iraqi forces and allied paramilitaries have since succeeded in retaking significant territory from Daesh.

However, large parts of two provinces — Nineveh in the north and Anbar in the west — remain under Daesh control.

The latest victory came earlier this month when Iraqi security and allied paramilitary forces retook most of Tikrit from jihadists.

The operation lasted a month and was slowed by a reluctance among the main players in the anti-Daesh camp to work, or be seen as working, together.

Some of the Shiite militias backed by Iran stressed that they did not want US-led coalition intervention in the battle, but Abadi's government eventually asked for it to break the military deadlock.

Washington was keen to claim its position as Iraq's top foreign partner and conditioned its air strikes on a greater role for the regular police and army forces in the battle.

"We have an interest in Iraq having good relations with the United States, a solid relationship based on the respect of Iraqi sovereignty and mutual respect," Abadi said at Baghdad airport.

It was initially thought that Iraqi security forces would continue to thrust north towards Mosul after retaking Tikrit, but Abadi last week announced that Anbar was next.

The vast western province is largely under Daesh control, and a large operation there would be yet another new challenge for Iraq's restructuring security forces.

"We need more support, especially because we have two main battles to kick Daesh out of Iraq," Abadi said.

"They are the battles of Anbar and Nineveh," he said, referring to the northern province, of which Mosul is the capital.

Abadi flew to Washington with a high-level delegation including the ministers of oil, finance, defence and higher education, as well as his national security adviser.

ADEN — Aid agencies warned Monday of a growing humanitarian crisis including food shortages in Yemen as Saudi-led warplanes hit rebel positions for a third week and rival forces clashed.

In Riyadh, Yemen's Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was sworn in as vice president at the country's embassy in front of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a day after his appointment, in a move welcomed by Yemen's Gulf neighbours.

Hadi accused Iran of fuelling a "campaign of horror and destruction" by the Shiite Houthi rebels, charging Tehran in an opinion editorial published in the New York Times of being "obsessed with regional domination".

Yemen's main southern city of Aden saw the heaviest fighting overnight, with medics and military forces saying at least 30 people were killed in clashes between rebels and supporters of Hadi.

Residents said warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition pounded the rebel-held presidential complex and other positions in Aden, Hadi's last refuge before he fled to neighbouring Saudi Arabia as the air war began on March 26.

The Houthis, who have joined with forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, advanced on Aden last month after seizing the capital Sanaa last year.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iran, the main Shiite power, of backing the rebel offensive and rallied support from regional allies for the coalition.

Western powers have also backed Hadi as Yemen's legitimate ruler, while the United Nations has called for a resumption of talks.

Heavy fighting in Aden on Sunday killed at least 13 civilians, 11 rebels and six pro-Hadi fighters, medical and military sources said.

'Mass exodus'

Humanitarian groups have struggled to deliver aid and said Monday the situation in Aden was deteriorating rapidly.

"Shops are closed. We have a problem of food," said Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, Yemen representative of Doctors without Borders (MSF).

Metaz Al Maisuri, an activist in Aden, said basic services had ceased and there had been a “mass exodus” from the city.

“Schools, universities and all public and private facilities have been shut,” he told AFP.

“Residents’ lives have become very difficult and complicated... They can no longer obtain the food they need,” he said.

Adwaa Mubarak, a 48-year-old Aden resident, said: “We are unable to leave our houses to buy what we need because of the Houthi snipers.”

She said several people were shot dead as they queued for bread.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned from Doha on Sunday of a huge humanitarian crisis as “civilian casualties are mounting and public infrastructure is being destroyed”.

Aid workers said Sanaa is also suffering, as air strikes hit rebel positions there and supplies dwindle.

“There is a food and water shortage. People are unable to move,” said Marie Claire Feghali, the Red Cross spokeswoman in Yemen.

The International Committee of the Red Cross flew more than 35 tonnes of medical aid and equipment into Sanaa on Saturday, after Friday’s first deliveries organised by the Red Cross and United Nations.

Foreigners evacuated

Thousands of foreigners have been trapped by the fighting, with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) saying more than 16,000 are stranded.

Some evacuations have taken place, with Russia on Sunday saying it had evacuated more than 650 people by air and sea.

The IOM said it had also flown a first planeload of 141 passengers out of Sanaa.

Riyadh has called on Iran to end its support for the rebels, accusing Tehran of assisting “criminal activities” in Yemen and giving the Houthis weapons and aid.

Iran has denied the allegation, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has condemned the coalition’s raids on Yemen as “criminal”.

Hadi in his opinion piece accused the rebels of being Iran’s “puppets”.

“Having a hostile government in a nation bordering the Bab Al Mandab strait — the highly trafficked shipping lane leading to the Suez Canal — is in no nation’s interest,” he wrote.

“If the Houthis are not stopped, they are destined to become the next Hizbollah, deployed by Iran to threaten the people in the region and beyond.

“The oil shipments through the Red Sea that much of the world depends on will be in jeopardy, and Al Qaeda and other radical groups will be allowed to flourish.”

Al Qaeda has exploited the chaos to seize areas including one provincial capital.

Before the violence escalated, Washington had waged a longstanding drone war against Al Qaeda in Yemen.

CAIRO — Separate militant attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula killed one soldier and wounded another Monday, a day after militants loyal to Daesh terror group killed 14 people in twin bombings.

Security officials said gunmen shot dead a soldier at a checkpoint in the Rafah area on the border with the Islamist-run Gaza Strip
Palestinian enclave.

They added that a second soldier at another checkpoint in the same area was wounded in a similar attack.

The army has sent in troops and armour to fight a dogged insurgency in the Sinai that has grown since then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks, but Ansar Beit Al Maqdis said it was behind Sunday's two bombings.

The first, a roadside bombing on an army vehicle near the town of Sheikh Zuweid, killed six soldiers.

Hours later, a suicide truck bombing at a police station in North Sinai's provincial capital El Arish killed eight people.

Ansar Beit Al Maqdis changed its name last year to the "Sinai Province" after pledging allegiance to Daesh.

It has claimed several sophisticated attacks in Sinai and the Nile valley and wants to establish a province of the self-declared Daesh "caliphate" straddling parts of Syria and Iraq.

TRIPOLI —  Authorities in the Libyan capital vowed Monday to boost security after twin attacks on foreign embassies but warned that a lack of international recognition was hindering their fight against jihadists.

The appeal came as political party leaders and activists gathered in the Algerian capital for a new round of UN-mediated peace talks aimed at reaching an accord to end the chaos and violence at home.

Since a 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Muammar Qadhafi, Libya has been politically divided, with two governments and two parliaments, as armed groups battle for its oil wealth and cities.

Most of the international community recognises the government and parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

A rival administration in Tripoli emerged after Islamist-backed militias seized the capital last August.

Feeding on the chaos, Daesh terror group which holds chunks of Syria and Iraq has gained a foothold in the North African country, where its has claimed several deadly attacks.

Gunmen opened fire on South Korea's embassy compound from a passing car on Sunday, killing two Libyans and wounding a third.

Hours later, a bomb exploded outside the Moroccan embassy, causing no casualties but damaging cars, a security official.

Both attacks were claimed by the Tripolitania branch of Daesh.

"We will strike with an iron fist the dens of terrorists and all those who undermine security in the capital," Mahmud Abdulaziz, a member of the Tripoli-based parliament, told AFP.

A security official said that "increasing numbers of checkpoints" would be set up across Tripoli in a bid to restrict the jihadists' ability to carry out attacks.

Abdulaziz appealed to the international community to "help us fight Daesh", using an Arabic acronym for Daesh.

"The world doesn't recognise us while we are fighting Daesh on behalf of the world," he said.

The government based in the eastern city of Tobruk condemned the attacks on foreign embassies, saying they indicate that Tripoli "has been hijacked by terrorist gangs".

Violence harms talks 

In Algeria, Libya's UN envoy, Bernardino Leon, warned in remarks to a meeting of political party leaders and activists that violence hinders peace efforts.

"We think we are close to a political solution for Libya," said Leon, stressing the importance of the meeting aimed at a "draft agreement" on setting up a national unity government.

"We still have to send a message to those fighting, they must give us a chance to try to find a political solution," he said, offering condolences to families of the Tripoli attack victims.

Foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States called in a joint statement on Libya's rival factions to agree on an "unconditional" ceasefire at their talks.

A source from the Tobruk government said the civilian killed in the attack on the South Korean embassy was the brother of Mahmud Jibril, who headed an interim government during the Libya revolt.

The South Korean foreign ministry said three of its nationals — two them diplomats — were in its compound at the time of the shooting.

The Moroccan foreign embassy condemned the bombing of its embassy — which was shuttered like many others in Tripoli — and demanded a probe into the "vile, criminal aggression".

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Monday opened the way for Russia's delivery of a sophisticated air defence missile system to Iran, a move that would significantly bolster the Islamic republic's military capability.

The decision was quickly welcomed by Tehran, while it worried Israel, which saw it as a sign that Iran already had begun to cash in on the nuclear deal with world powers that is expected to be finalised by the end of June.

Russia signed the $800 million contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007, but suspended their delivery three years later because of strong objections from the United States and Israel. Putin on Monday lifted that ban.

The preliminary agreement on settling the Iranian nuclear standoff reached earlier this month made the 2010 Russian ban unnecessary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a televised statement.

"The S-300 is exclusively a defensive weapon, which can't serve offensive purposes and will not jeopardise the security of any country, including, of course, Israel," he said.

Lavrov spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry over the phone Monday to discuss Iran-related issues, the situation in Syria, Yemen and other matters, the Foreign Ministry said.

The deal reached by Iran and six world powers is intended to significantly restrict its ability to produce nuclear weapons while giving it relief from international sanctions. The agreement is supposed to be finalised by June 30, and there is no firm agreement yet on how or when to lift the international sanctions on Iran.

The S-300 missile system, which has a range of up to 200 kilometres and the capability to track down and strike multiple targets simultaneously, is one of the most potent air defence weapons in the world. If deployed in big numbers, the system could provide a strong deterrent against any air attack.

If Israel decides to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, the S-300s would further complicate the already daunting task.

Israeli Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz said the framework nuclear agreement helped legitimise Iran and cleared the way for Monday's announcement by Russia.

Israel has harshly criticised the US-led nuclear deal, saying it would give Iran relief from sanctions while leaving its nuclear programme largely intact. Israel believes Iran still intends to develop a nuclear weapon.

"This is a direct result of the legitimacy that Iran obtained from the emerging nuclear deal," Steinitz said. He added that the arms deal shows that Iran plans to use the relief from economic sanctions to buy arms, not improve the living conditions of its people.

"Instead of demanding Iran stop its terror activities that it spreads in the Middle East and the entire world, it is being allowed to arm itself with advanced weapons that will only increase its aggression," Steinitz said.

Lavrov didn't say when Moscow could deliver the missiles. Russian officials previously said that the specific model of the S-300 that Russia was to deliver under the 2007 contract is no longer produced, and offered Iran a modified version of it called S-300VM, or Antey-2500.

In Tehran, Gen. Reza Talaeinik said the decision by Russia on delivery of the air defence system will help improve ties between Tehran and Moscow, the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to Iran's military, reported.

"With no doubt, this will boost ties and interactions between Iran and Russia," said Talaeinik. "When ties are based on mutual respect and observing rights, the ground will be paved for cooperation in other fields, too."

Back in 2010, Russia linked its decision to freeze the missiles' delivery to the sanctions the United Nations Security Council imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme, but Lavrov argued Monday that the Russian move was voluntary and not directly required by the UN resolutions.

"It was done in the spirit of good will in order to encourage progress in talks," Lavrov said. "We are convinced that at this stage there is no longer need for such an embargo, specifically for a separate, voluntary Russian embargo."

Iran responded to the Russian ban by filing a lawsuit with a court in Geneva seeking $4 billion in damages for breach of contract, but the court has not issued a ruling.

Lavrov said that Russia had to take into account "commercial and reputational" issues linked to freezing the contract.

"Because of the suspension of the contract, Russia has failed to receive significant funds," he said. "We see no need to continue doing that."

He added that Iran badly needs modern air defence systems because of a tense situation in the region, specifically in Yemen.

BEIRUT — Several Lebanese leaders on Monday warned that the lessons of the country's civil war should not be forgotten, 40 years after the 15-year conflict began.

Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the April 13, 1975 conflict, in which 150,000 people were killed before a peace deal was reached in 1990.

The war ravaged the country and left 17,000 people missing, but an amnesty law allowed many of its key protagonists to subsequently become leading political figures.

Among them is Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who acknowledged on Monday that his opinion on the conflict could not be considered "fair or objective".

"I was one of the factions driven by fanaticism and hatred," he wrote on his official Twitter account.

"My advice to [my son] Taymur and every Lebanese youth is to beware of violence and ignorance," he said.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi tweeted that the anniversary was a reminder of the war's "lesson to all Lebanese to protect their country and nation and reject violence and death".

Other leaders, including former prime minister Saad Hariri, whose father was a leading post-war premier who was assassinated in 2005, warned Lebanese citizens to ensure the conflict would not be repeated.

"Never again, we will never allow it to return," Hariri said in a statement, warning that Lebanon should be protected from "the furnace of Arab wars".

"We cannot protect Lebanon if we do not stop surrounding fires from reaching it, or worse, if we keep throwing ourselves into their flames," he said.

His father Rafiq Hariri led the reconstruction of Lebanon after the civil war and was killed in a massive bomb attack.

Hariri's killing is just one example of the violence that has continued to shake Lebanon in its post-war period, contributing to ongoing fragility.

In Beirut on Monday, former militiamen from the war joined with peace activists to launch the "Fighters for Peace" group, which said it would aim to prevent Lebanon from sliding into another war.

"There is no future without forgiveness and without uncovering the whole truth," said Assaad Chaftari, a former intelligence official with the Lebanese Forces militia during the war.

"If we don't do that, we will be setting up future wars for our children," he said.

Since the beginning of the conflict in neighbouring Syria, sectarian divides in Lebanon have been aggravated.

Many of Lebanon's Sunnis back the uprising against President Bashar Assad, while Lebanese Shiites, including the powerful Hizbollah movement, support the ruling regime in Damascus.

Lebanon's political class remains divided and stagnant, with stalemate in parliament meaning the post of president has been empty since May, when Michel Sleiman's mandate ended.

PARIS — France's prime minister revealed Monday that seven French nationals or residents, including six converts to Islam, had committed suicide attacks in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking in parliament as he defended controversial draft spy laws, Manuel Valls said that of the hundreds of French people who had made their way to Daesh-held territory, seven had died staging the suicide operations.

"The youngest was not yet 20," he said.

"Is Daesh deliberately sacrificing these types of people as a matter of priority? Do the candidates for suicide attacks have to prove their ideological zeal to vouch for their conversion?" Valls said.

"In any case, this illustrates Daesh's formidable ability to indoctrinate."

On Monday, MPs debated whether to allow spies to hoover up data from suspected jihadists.

Valls's comments came a day after French daily Le Figaro published an interview with EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, who said that an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Europeans were fighting with jihadist groups in Syria.

Daesh declared a "caliphate" in large swathes of territory stretching across the Syria-Iraq border last June. It has committed some of the worst abuses in Syria and Iraq's wars.

Khartoum — Sudan was voting Monday in elections boycotted by the mainstream opposition that are expected to extend the quarter-century rule of President Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted on war crimes charges.

With 15 little-known candidates running against him, 71-year-old Bashir is virtually unchallenged in the vote, which has already been criticised by the international community.

Voters will also choose national and state lawmakers in the three-day poll, with Bashir's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) expected to dominate.

The streets of the capital were quiet throughout the day, after the government declared a national holiday late the night before the vote.

Bashir voted early at the St Francis School, smiling and waving as he entered the polling station with one of his two wives amid heavy security. Journalists outnumbered voters.

As the polling station in the Al Daim school in Khartoum closed at 6:00pm (1500 GMT), there were around a dozen people waiting to cast their ballots.

But Babikir Al Mubarak, who owns a shop down the road from the school, said he would not vote.

"The National Congress has already won without competition," he said.

The elections are the second contested ballots since Bashir seized power in 1989.

Bashir toppled a democratically elected government in an Islamist-backed coup and is Sudan's longest-serving leader since independence.

He won a 2010 presidential election marred by an opposition boycott and criticised for failing to meet international standards.

Under Bashir, Sudan's economy has faltered, suffering from South Sudan's 2011 secession, which saw it lose nearly three-quarters of its oil resources.

Conflict has plagued South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011, and the Darfur region since 2003.

Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, and the following year for genocide.

Some 300,000 people have been killed in fighting Darfur, the United Nations says.

Rebels have said they will disrupt voting across the three war-torn areas.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, which is active in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, sees Bashir's potential reelection as the "continuation of war in Sudan and instability for the whole region”, its spokesman Arnu Lodi said.

Officials had said there would be no voting in one district of Darfur and seven in South Kordofan.

But an electoral official told AFP voting did not go ahead in another district in North Darfur due to a "logistical problem".

Al Hadi Mohamed Ahmed from the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said the district would vote for three days starting on Thursday instead.

The European Union has already said the elections cannot produce a "credible" result because Bashir's NCP snubbed a meeting with the opposition to organise a national dialogue last month.

Norway, the United States and Britain warned an environment conducive to "credible elections does not exist".

Khartoum released two leading political detainees on Thursday, a move their lawyer said was aimed at easing international pressure.

Amin Makki Madani and Farouk Abu Issa were arrested in December for joining an opposition alliance.

Human rights groups have accused security services of stifling dissent ahead of the elections.

Forty-four parties are standing for the state and national parliaments in the country of nearly 38 million people, the NEC said.

It said 15 international organisations are observing the process but the EU, which monitored the 2010 elections, declined to send a team.

Results are expected in late April.