40 dead in Islamic State-rebel clashes in SyriaApril 23, 2015 - 14:04 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - More than 40 people are reported to have been killed in clashes between Syrian Islamist rebels and Islamic State militants north of Damascus, according to BBC News. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting in the eastern Qalamoun mountains had left 30 rebels and 12 jihadists dead since Tuesday, April 21. The area is important because it straddles rebel weapons supply routes. IS had already cut off one route and aimed to take more to "suffocate" the rebels, the Syrian Observatory said. The western part of the Qalamoun mountains, which borders Lebanon, is mostly controlled by the government and fighters from the allied Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah. Meanwhile, 13 civilians have been killed in the north-western province of Idlib. Activists reported that a government air raid on the town of Maarat al-Numan had left a man and five children dead. They also said rebel shelling on government-held Jisr al-Shughour had killed seven others, including a couple and their four children. The city of Idlib was overrun by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, al-Nusra Front, and allied rebel groups last month. Since then, government forces have been trying to protect their supply route between Jisr al-Shughour and Ariha, to the east. Photo: AFP Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |