Region

BEIRUT — An influential relative of Syrian President Bashar Assad, once infamous for smuggling, has been assassinated in a dispute over control of a key government stronghold, a monitor said Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Mohamed Al Assad was shot dead on Friday in Latakia province, the heartland of the president's Alawite community.

"Mohamed Al Assad, the son of one of the Syrian president's cousins, was killed by five bullets to the head in the village of Qardaha," observatory director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

He said the assassin was as yet unknown, but that the killing was thought to be the result of "a dispute over influence" in Qardaha, which is the ancestral village of the ruling Assad family.

There was no immediate mention of the death in Syrian state media.

Believed to be in his late 40s, Mohamed gained infamy in the 1980s as one of the founders of the government-linked mafia known as the "Shabiha".

The group prospered by engaging in smuggling and dealing in contraband, protected by its ties with the government.

The regime in turn used the Shabiha to put down political dissent, most notably since the uprising against the government that began in March 2011.

Known as "Sheikh Al Jabal" or "Lord of the Mountain", Mohamed amassed wealth between 1989 and 1994 from his role in the Shabiha, before going into business in the Qardaha area.

"He made hundreds of millions of Syrian pounds and is considered one of the leading members of the Assad family in Qardaha, with hired thugs in his pay," Abdel Rahman said.

The former smuggling kingpin was wounded in 2012 in a dispute with another local resident, giving rise to speculation about whether the conflict was feeding tensions in the pro-government bastion.

Assad's father Hafez was born in Qardaha, and Latakia province remains a stronghold of support for his government.

It is also a heartland for the Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam and the minority community to which Assad belongs.

More than 210,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict with anti-government protests in March 2011.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Three days ahead of Israel's general election, there was growing uncertainty Saturday over who will win the premiership even as polls showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing his centre-left rivals.

The final two voting surveys released Friday night by private television channels gave the Zionist Union, headed by Labour leader Isaac Herzog, a four-seat lead over Netanyahu's Likud.

A poll by Channel 10 showed Likud winning 20 seats compared with 24 for the Zionist Union while a survey issued by Channel 2 also showed Likud four seats behind, 22 to 26.

The results echoed surveys released earlier Friday — the final day that opinion polls could legally be published before the March 17 election — which both predicted a win for the Zionist Union.

But Israel's complex electoral system, where many parties are vying for power, means the task of forming a new government does not automatically fall to the winning candidate or list.

Israel's new prime minister will be the one who can build a coalition commanding a parliamentary majority in the 120-strong Knesset — at least 61 seats.

That task will be all the harder as there are at least 11 party lists to reckon with from across the political spectrum as well as ultra-Orthodox and Arab parties.

Under the proportional system, voters choose party lists rather than individual candidates, with seats distributed according to the percentage of the vote received.

Analysts believe that the next three days will be crucial as 20 per cent of Israeli voters have yet to decide who they will support.

But it could take weeks of negotiations before the name of the new prime minister is known.

Friday's polls had put The Joint List, a newly formed alliance of Israel's main Arab parties, in third place, with 13 seats and predicted that the centre-right Yesh Atid could win 12 seats.

'Dealing with victory' 

Although consistently trailing in the polls, Netanyahu has come out fighting, and analysts say he may be better placed than Herzog to form a coalition government.

Campaigning is due to close on Sunday night with a major rally planned in Tel Aviv by right-wing parties — a week after the centre-left mobilised thousands of supporters in the coastal city.

It is not clear if Netanyahu, who is trying to clinch a third consecutive term in office, will attend Sunday's rally.

But the feisty prime minister has stepped up public appearances in recent days, giving interviews to major newspapers and television channels to push the centrepiece of his campaign: security.

Netanyahu has warned that a win by the Zionist Union — a coalition of Herzog's Labour Party and centrist HaTnuah of former chief peace negotiator with the Palestinians Tzipi Livni — would impact security.

On Thursday he told The Jerusalem Post daily that a Zionist Union victory "will cause such a monumental shift in policy that it is a danger, and anyone who wants to stop it has to vote Likud to narrow the gap."

The premier warned such a result would mean Israel having to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians, who want to set up the capital of their future state in the mostly Arab eastern part of city Israel considers it eternal capital.

"I am not dealing with retirement. I am dealing with victory," Netanyahu said.

The Zionist Union has said if it wins Herzog and Livni would share the premiership, each serving two years.

Herzog has received endorsement by several prominent figures in Israel, including former president Shimon Peres who on Thursday endorsed Herzog for prime minister saying he was "level-headed".

On Friday, Youval Diskin, a former Shin Bet internal security agency chief, wrote on Facebook that Herzog should become the next premier "because Netanyahu has failed in almost every area".

BAGHDAD — The Kurdish government in Iraq said Saturday it has evidence examined by an independent laboratory confirming that Daesh terror group used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters.

The allegation by the Kurdistan Region Security Council, stemming from a January 23 suicide truck bomb attack in northern Iraq, did not immediately draw a reaction from Daesh, which holds a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared “caliphate”. However, Iraqi officials and Kurds fighting in Syria have made similar allegations about the militants using the low-grade chemical weapons against them.

In a statement, the council said the alleged chemical attack took place on a road between Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, and the Syrian border, as peshmerga forces fought to seize a vital supply line used by the Sunni militants. It said its fighters later found "around 20 gas canisters" that had been loaded onto the truck involved in the attack.

The Kurds say samples of clothing and soil from the site were analysed by an unnamed lab in an unnamed coalition partner nation, which found chlorine traces.

"The fact ISIS [Daesh] relies on such tactics demonstrates it has lost the initiative and is resorting to desperate measures," the Kurdish government said in the statement.

Chlorine, an industrial chemical, was first introduced as a chemical weapon at Ypres in World War I with disastrous effects as gas masks were not widely available at the time. While chlorine has many industrial and public uses, as a weapon it chokes victims to death.

In the Syrian civil war, a chlorine gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in 2013 killed hundreds and nearly drove the US to launch air strikes against the government of embattled President Bashar Assad. The US and Western allies accused Assad's government of being responsible for that attack, while Damascus blamed rebels.

There have been several allegations that the Daesh group has used chlorine as well. In October, Iraqi officials claimed Daesh militants may have used chlorine-filled cylinders during clashes in late September in the towns of Balad and Duluiya. Their disclosures came as reports from the Syrian border town of Kobani indicated that the extremist group added chlorine to an arsenal that already includes heavy weapons and tanks looted from captured military bases.

Insurgents have used chlorine gas in Iraq before. In May 2007, suicide bombers driving chlorine tankers struck three cities in Anbar province, killing two police officers and forcing about 350 Iraqi civilians and six US troops to seek treatment for gas exposure. Those bombers belonged to Al Qaida in Iraq, which later became Daesh.

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged the Security Council to take "determined measures" to end the war in Syria, as it entered its fifth year with little prospect for peace.

"The Syrian people feel increasingly abandoned by the world as they enter the fifth year of the war that has torn their country apart," Ban said in a statement.

The suffering continues "under the eyes of the international community, still divided and incapable of taking collective action to stop the killing and destruction", he said.

"I call upon the Security Council to take determined measures to resolve this crisis and on the way forward."

The Security Council has been divided over how to put Syria back on the road to peace, with Russia blocking moves to punish its ally President Bashar Al Assad in Damascus.

Ban's appeal for action came as more than 20 rights groups accused the Security Council of "failing Syria" despite three resolutions calling for peace efforts, access for humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians.

A plan by UN peace envoy Staffan De Mistura for a freeze in fighting in the northern city of Aleppo appears to be making little headway, as the death toll mounts.

Last year was the deadliest yet in the war, with at least 76,000 people killed out of more than 210,000 since it began on March 15, 2011 with peaceful demonstrations, inspired by the Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia.

More than four million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries and 7.6 million civilians are displaced within the country as Assad’s forces battle opposition rebels and extremists from Daesh terror group.

While world powers were rightfully mobilising to defeat Daesh extremists, “our focus must continue to be with the Syrian people”, Ban said.

He called on the international community to “unite and lend its full support” to UN efforts to forge a deal for a political transition in Syria and to bring those responsible for atrocities to justice.

“We have an obligation to the Syrian people to help ensure that serious crimes committed over the past four years do not go unpunished,” he said.

Russia and China last year vetoed a Security Council resolution on referring Syria to the International Criminal Court for war crimes prosecutions.

ALBU AJIL, Iraq — Thousands of Iraqi troops and militiamen laid siege to jihadist fighters holed up in Tikrit on Thursday, wary of rushing into streets littered with bombs and infested with snipers.

After making major gains in and around the city on Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against Daesh terror group was only a matter of time.

"Now we are moving to the second phase of our plan," Defence Minister Khaled Al Obeidi told reporters in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital.

"We are very keen for our losses to be as low as possible. Time is on our side, we have the initiative," he said on the 11th day of the offensive.

None of the fighting forces involved has provided casualty figures since the start of the operation to wrest back Tikrit, the largest since Daesh captured the city nine months ago.

Dozens of bodies are being driven south to Baghdad and the Shiite holy city of Najaf almost every day, however, and, while government forces have had the upper hand, Daesh has done damage with suicide car bombs, booby traps and snipers.

"We don't want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties," police Staff Major General Bahaa Al Azzawi told AFP in Albu Ajil, a village from which Tikrit can be seen across the Tigris River.

"Tikrit is sealed off from all sides," he said.

All towns and villages on the eastern bank of the Tigris were under the control of anti-Daesh forces Thursday, including Al Alam, Albu Ajil and Ad-Dawr.

Black and white Daesh flags painted on walls had been graffitied over with slogans cursing the jihadist group or praising Shiite militia groups.

Tikrit is on the west bank and, until military engineering units throw floating bridges across the river, the nearest bridge Iraqi forces can use is in Samarra, nearly 50 kilometres to the south.

Troops and police as well as volunteers from the Popular Mobilisation units moved deep into the northern half of Tikrit on Wednesday and finished securing outlying areas.

Sunni tribes fighting 

Tikrit was the hometown of executed leader Saddam Hussein, whose Baath Party collaborated with the jihadists when they took over almost a third of the country last June.

With crucial military backing from neighbouring Iran and a 60-nation US-led coalition, Baghdad has rolled back some of the losses.

It started with operations to secure the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf and bolster Baghdad's defences, then worked its way north, retaking Diyala province earlier this year.

Commanders see the recapture of overwhelmingly Sunni Arab Tikrit as a stepping stone for the reconquest of Mosul further north, Iraq’s second city, which once had a population of two million.

Analysts say the battle for Tikrit is also a key test of how well the regular army can work with the myriad of militia groups and prevent reprisal attacks against Sunnis.

The defence minister, who is himself Sunni, said he was impressed with the level of cooperation and played down concerns that victory in Tikrit could further alienate the minority community.

“What caught my attention and was very positive, was that I met a number of fighters, maybe more than 250, who are all sons of Tikrit,” he said.

“It sends a very positive message to the Iraqi people and lifts the spirit of the security forces,” Obeidi said.

Concern for civilians 

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi too hailed the advances made by government forces when he spoke to students at a technology institute.

“With our unity we achieve victory and the greatest example of this is today in Salaheddin and Anbar,” he said.

Daesh launched a spectacular attack on the government-held heart of Anbar’s capital Ramadi on Wednesday, using at least 12 simultaneous car bombs.

Seventeen people were killed, mostly members of the security forces, in addition to a minimum of seven suicide bombers.

An Australian teenager was reportedly one of the bombers, something which Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday described as “absolutely horrific”.

With Iraqi forces choking jihadist fighters hunkered down in Tikrit’s smouldering centre, it was unclear how many civilians might still be trapped there.

Shiite militia leaders had warned before the offensive began that it would be an opportunity to mete out revenge for the massacre by Daesh in June of hundreds of military cadets at a nearby base called Speicher.

They have since publicly urged their men to refrain from any acts that could tarnish a victory, and relatively few reports of abuses have surfaced in nearly two weeks.

However, Amnesty International cautioned it was still too early to tell if Tikrit had been a cleaner operation than usual.

“For now access to combat areas is restricted and information about abuses may take time to filter out,” the rights group’s senior crisis response adviser Donatella Rovera told AFP.

GAZA CITY — Gaza farmers exported produce to Israel on Thursday for the first time since Israel imposed its blockade on the Palestinian territory in 2006, officials and an NGO said.

Gaza's agricultural sector, once a key revenue source, has for eight years been paralysed by the Israeli blockade, which controls movement of goods and people to and from the coastal enclave.

Israel announced last week it would allow Gaza to export produce, both to help its farmers and to satisfy the religious needs of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Every seventh year on the Jewish calendar, observant ultra-Orthodox cannot consume produce grown by Jews in Israel.

Three truckloads of tomatoes and aubergines were allowed through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom goods crossing, Israeli rights group Gisha said in a statement — the first produce in eight years to leave the coastal enclave that is home to 1.8 million Palestinians.

Israel's coordinating body for government policy in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) said around 32 tonnes of the vegetables had crossed through Kerem Shalom.

COGAT said in a statement that "future stages" of export would let through up to 1,500 tonnes of vegetables per month.

Gaza is in financial dire straits, and home to 100,000 displaced Palestinians after a brutal summer war between Israel and Gaza rulers Hamas that killed nearly 2,200 residents of the strip and 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

The international community has warned that without rapid reconstruction of the decimated territory, another war could be just around the corner, and has stressed that apart from humanitarian aid, Gaza's economy needs to be resuscitated.

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State John Kerry left Thursday for a key economic conference in Egypt, before a new round of talks in Switzerland on Iran's suspect nuclear programme.

Kerry is due to arrive Friday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh to attend an international economic conference, set to burnish President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi's global credentials.

Egypt hopes the foreign investor conference will jump-start its battered economy while showcasing international support for Sisi as he battles radical Islamist opponents.

Kerry is due to meet with Sisi — a former general who led the army's ouster of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and then resigned from the military to stand in the 2014 elections. Kerry could also meet with other Arab and European leaders.

Angered by stalled Egyptian democratic reforms, Washington has frozen a chunk of its $1.5 billion in mostly military annual aid to Cairo since October 2013, insisting greater progress must be made.

Apache helicopters, however, have been delivered to the Egyptian military — a key ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Islamic militants sheltering in the Sinai peninsula.

From the divers' paradise of Sharm El Sheikh, Kerry will fly to Lausanne in landlocked Switzerland on Sunday for fresh negotiations with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Talks with global powers for a deal reining in Iran's suspect uranium enrichment programme in return for sanctions relief are reaching a critical stage as a March 31 deadline for a political framework accord looms.

With uncertainty still surrounding the deal, the State Department has not said how long Kerry will stay in Lausanne, nor when he is expected to return to Washington.

Zarif is also due to meet with EU partners Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Monday.

"There's no deal yet," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki insisted on CNN Thursday.

"The primary objective of any deal is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," she added.

Political stunt 

But the negotiations fuelled political tensions in Washington earlier this week when 47 Republican senators wrote to Iran warning that Congress could modify any deal struck with US President Barack Obama's administration.

Kerry hit out at that suggestion, saying it was "flat wrong", and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a visit to Washington also denounced the political stunt which he feared could undermine the talks.

"This is not just an issue of American domestic politics, but it affects the negotiations we are holding in Geneva," Steinmeier said before meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"Obviously, mistrust is growing on... the Iranian side if we are really serious with the negotiations."

Amid the fallout from the open letter, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned the country's top clerical body Thursday against "deceitful" world powers.

President Hassan Rouhani "has selected a nuclear [negotiating] team who are truly good, trustworthy and hardworking," he said, quoted by ISNA news agency, whereas "the other party is deceitful and stabs in the back".

SYDNEY — Australian authorities are investigating claims by Daesh terror group that an Australian teenage recruit died after blowing himself up in Iraq, and local media reported that bomb-making materials had been found at his family home in Melbourne.

A blog post believed to be written by 18-year-old Jake Bilardi, written under his pseudonym Abu Abdullah Al Australi, revealed how he had considered carrying out attacks on home soil.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters on Thursday that security agencies were trying to verify reports that Bilardi had carried out a suicide attack in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Daesh released an image on Wednesday claiming to show him getting ready to carry out the attack, as well as images of what appeared to be an explosion.

Iraqi officials said 13 vehicles attacked army positions in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. No details on casualties were given.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Thursday that Bilardi had left materials for improvised explosive devices at his family home before going to Syria.

Bishop said she did not want to comment on whether Bilardi was involved in planning an attack in Australia.

"These are matters we are currently seeking to confirm, and once I've had a briefing from our agencies on these issues, I will make a comment on it," she told reporters.

In a blog post purportedly written from Anbar in January, Bilardi said he tried to make contact with Daesh but fearing possible attempts by the "increasingly-intrusive" Australian authorities to prevent his exit he drew up a "Plan B".

"This plan involved launching a string of bombings across Melbourne, targeting foreign consulates and political/military targets as well as grenade and knife attacks on shopping centres and cafés and culminating with myself detonating a belt of explosives amongst the kuffar," the blog read, using a derogatory term for non-Muslims.

He gave up the plan, fearing it would be thwarted by the police, according to the blog.

Australian Federal Police said they were aware of the blog but declined to comment on its authenticity.

Australian security forces believe 90 citizens are fighting alongside Daesh, and 20 Australians are understood to have died.

Australia is on high alert for attacks by radicalised Muslims or home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East. In December, two hostages and a radical self-styled sheikh who had sought to align himself with Daesh were killed in a Sydney hostage siege.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey on Thursday said it had detained an intelligence agent working for one of the states in the US-led coalition fighting Daesh for helping three British teenage girls cross into Syria to join the jihadists.

The surprise revelation by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu appeared aimed at deflecting sustained criticism from Western countries that Turkey is failing to halt the flow of jihadists across its borders.

"Do you know who helped those girls? He was captured. He was someone working for the intelligence [service] of a country in the coalition," Cavusoglu told the A-Haber channel in an interview published by the official Anatolia news agency.

A Turkish government official told AFP that the agent was arrested by Turkey's security forces 10 days ago, and added that the person was not a Turkish citizen.

"We informed all the countries concerned," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's not an EU member, it's also not the United States. He is working for the intelligence of a country within the coalition," Cavusoglu added, without further specifying the nationality of the detained agent.

Cavusoglu said he had informed his British counterpart Philip Hammond of the development.

"He told me 'just as usual'," said Cavusoglu, without explaining further.

Close friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, crossed into Syria after boarding a flight from London to Istanbul on February 17.

They took a bus from Istanbul to the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa close to the Syrian border, from where they are believed to have crossed the frontier.

The disappearance of the girls — aged 15 and 16 — has alarmed Britain and raised questions about what motivates such young people to go to Syria.

'Turkey always a scapegoat' 

Turkey has long expressed irritation over the repeated criticism from the West that Ankara is not doing enough to stop jihadists and their sympathisers crossing into Syria.

The government official said the case of the missing girls showed closer cooperation was needed.

"Turkey is always blamed as a scapegoat but this case has shown that we need more cooperation in the fight against Daesh," the official said, using an alternative name for IS.

"The region's security cannot be put on Turkey's shoulders alone," the government official added.

Turkey accused Britain last month of a "reprehensible" delay in informing the Turkish authorities about the departure of the three teenage girls to its territory.

Along with the US and EU states, Arabian peninsula nations including Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been involved in the coalition against Daesh.

Turkey has played a limited role in the US-led coalition against Daesh terror group due to differences with Washington, which for the moment prefers to focus on battling the jihadists while putting off any potential confrontation with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

One consequence of the discord with the United States is Ankara's refusal to open its Incirlik air base in southern Turkey for use by coalition combat aircraft fighting Daesh militants.

Cavusoglu on Thursday said Turkey would evaluate all its options, including the use of Incirlik, based on a "comprehensive strategy”.

Ankara has repeatedly called for the creation of a safe zone inside Syria for refugees fleeing the government offensive.

Last month, the United States and Turkey signed a deal to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebel forces.

US special envoy John Allen, who is coordinating international efforts against Daesh, is due to travel to Ankara this week to meet with Turkish officials after a visit to Italy, the US State Department said in a statement.

BEIRUT — More than 50 regime soldiers and Islamist fighters were killed as they battled over a strategic hilltop in Syrian President Bashar Assad's home province, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

Government forces clashed with Al Qaeda-affiliated militants backed by other armed Islamist groups in a village in Latakia province in the northwest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting broke out Wednesday and raged through the night in Jabal Al Akrad district, a rare rebel stronghold in the province, which is the heartland of the ruling Assad clan.

Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al Nusra Front and its allies were seeking to recapture the village of Dourine, which overlooks their positions in one of the district's main towns, Salma.

They lost the village to Assad's forces last week after holding it for more than a year.

"The clashes on Wednesday led to 50 dead from both sides. There are many casualties because the fighters are facing off directly," said observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Al Nusra managed to retake parts of the village, but the regime still controls the hilltop that overlooks Salma," he said.

The mountainous district of Jabal Al Akrad, which translates to Mountain of the Kurds, is the main rebel stronghold in Latakia province

Despite its name, it is populated mostly by Sunni Arabs who were early supporters of the protests against the Assad regime in 2011.

Jabal Al Akrad lies close to villages populated by Alawites, who belong to the same offshoot of Shiite Islam as Assad.

The region is one of multiple fronts in the four-year Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 210,000 people.

In the central province of Homs, five regime soldiers were killed Thursday in a suicide attack on an army checkpoint, the Britain-based observatory said.

Daesh terror group claimed responsibility for the blast in a statement posted on a jihadist website, saying it was carried out by a Jordanian in an explosives-laden car.

Syria's state news agency SANA also reported the attack. It said four people were killed, without specifying whether they were soldiers or civilians.

Daesh claimed a similar attack near a gas facility in the area in late December.