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Anti-Islamist General Named Libya Army Chief

A once-retired general leading a sweeping offensive against Islamists has been named Libyan army chief, an official said Monday, in a move expected to deepen divisions in the conflict-riven country.

"I've chosen Major General Khalifa Belgacem Haftar for the post of commander-in-chief of the army after promoting him to the rank of lieutenant general," Aguila Salah, the speaker of the internationally recognized parliament, told Agence France-Presse.

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Iraq's Tikrit: From Saddam to the Islamic State Group

Executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown and last bastion, Tikrit has become one of the Islamic State group's main strongholds.

Government forces have been working their way north in recent months, notching up key victories against the jihadists, who seized Tikrit last June.

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Kerry in Staunch Defense of Israel at U.N. Rights Gathering

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday launched a staunch defense of Israel at the U.N. rights body, despite strained ties with the Jewish state over nuclear negotiations with Iran.

The Human Rights Council (HRC) has long been accused of bias towards Israel, which is the only country to have a specific agenda item obliging participants to discuss the Jewish state's rights record at every session held.

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IS Executes Four Iraqis from Tikrit

The Islamic State jihadist group released a video on Monday in which four Sunni tribesmen from the Tikrit region are executed for allegedly collaborating with the government.

The video was released on the day some 30,000 government forces launched a huge operation to retake Tikrit, which the jihadists have controlled for almost nine months.

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3 Israelis Indicted for Smuggling Goods to Gaza's Hamas

Three Israelis were on Monday charged with smuggling goods into the Gaza Strip knowing they would be used by Hamas to bolster its military infrastructure, officials said.

Micha Peretz, Yehoram Alon and another man whose name has not been released were indicted at Beersheba District Court for trade worth millions of dollars with a Palestinian merchant in Gaza, while fully aware he was transferring the materials to Hamas.

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Saudi Diplomat Held by Qaida in Yemen Freed

A Saudi diplomat kidnapped in Yemen almost three years ago and handed to al-Qaida has been freed and returned to the kingdom, the interior ministry said Monday.

Abdullah al-Khalidi, deputy consul in the southern port city of Aden, who was kidnapped on March 28, 2012, was freed following "intense efforts" by the Saudi intelligence services, a ministry statement carried by the official SPA news agency said without elaborating.

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Syrian, Kurdish Forces Battle IS in Key Border Area

Syrian regime forces and Kurdish militia fought separate battles with the Islamic State group on Monday in a strategic area near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, a monitoring group said.

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) launched uncoordinated offensives against IS in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Beleaguered Hamas Struggles to Mend Damaged Iran Ties

After years of strained relations over the Syrian conflict, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is looking to mend ties with its traditional backer Iran. But reconciliation is proving far from simple.

The outbreak of Syria's civil war nearly four years ago provoked a rupture between Hamas and Iran, after the movement threw its support behind rebels fighting President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Tehran.

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Iraq Launches Major Assault to Retake Tikrit from IS

Some 30,000 Iraqi troops and militia backed by aircraft pounded jihadists in and around Tikrit on Monday in the biggest offensive yet to retake one of the Islamic State group's main strongholds.

Government forces have battled their way north for months, notching up key victories against IS, but Tikrit has been their toughest target yet with the jihadists having resisted them several times.

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New Drone Strike Kills 3 Qaida Suspects in Yemen

An overnight drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen, a country where the United States is the only power operating the unmanned aircraft, a tribal source said Monday.

The late Sunday strike in the Markha district of the southern province of Shabwa also wounded another three suspected militants, the source told Agence France Presse.

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