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Report: CIA Provides Intelligence to Syrian Rebels

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has been feeding information to select rebel fighters in Syria to try to make them more effective against government troops, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed current and former U.S. officials, the newspaper said the new CIA effort reflected a change in the administration's approach that aims to strengthen secular rebel fighters.

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Syria Rebels to Address Arab Summit but Await Seat

Syrian opposition leaders are to address an annual summit of the Arab League for the first time in Qatar on Tuesday, but the bloc's members remain divided over whether to give them Damascus's vacant seat.

The Qatari hosts are vocal champions of the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's regime and said leaders of the armed opposition would definitely be joining Arab heads of state in Doha.

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U.S. Unblocks $500 mln for Palestinians

The United States has quietly unblocked almost $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority which had been frozen by Congress for months, a top U.S. official said Friday.

The news that the funds had finally been freed up came after U.S. President Barack Obama met top Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a landmark visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this week.

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U.N. Council Reaches Rare Syria Accord after Mosque Bomb

The U.N. Security Council on Friday set aside differences on the Syria conflict to agree a rare statement condemning a suicide bomb attack on a Damascus mosque without blaming it on any side.

"The Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in a mosque in Damascus," the statement said. More than 45 people, including a senior pro-government cleric, were killed in Thursday's blast.

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Britain, France Press Divided Europe to Arm Syria Rebels

Britain and France pressed reluctant European Union partners to supply weapons to Syria's rebels at talks Friday between the bloc's foreign ministers that appeared headed for stalemate.

As unseasonal wintry weather delayed the start of a likely showdown over the contested Franco-British push, ministers headed into Dublin's historic castle split over the consequences of lifting a nearly two-year-old embargo to tip the balance on the ground in favor of the insurgents.

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Obama in Jordan on Last Leg of Mideast Tour

President Barack Obama arrived in Jordan on Friday to face scrutiny over his Syria strategy, on the last leg of a Middle East tour after visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The U.S. presidential aircraft landed in Queen Alia Airport near Amman at 1445 GMT, and he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and other top officials.

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Syria Refugees Draining Jordan Water Supply

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan are stretching the kingdom's meager water resources "to the limit," two British aid agencies warned on Friday, calling for international help.

"The Syrian refugee emergency is highlighting one of Jordan's most pressing problems -- water," said Christian Snoad of Oxfam, in a joint statement with the British Red Cross.

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Shiites Protest in Bahrain Demanding Democracy

Thousands of Shiites demonstrated in Bahrain on Friday to demand democratic reforms in the Gulf kingdom ruled by a Sunni dynasty, witnesses said.

"Khalifa! Step down," chanted protesters, referring to Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman, an uncle of King Hamad who has been in office since 1971 and is widely despised by the country's Shiite majority, they said.

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Egypt Protesters Torch Brotherhood Nile Delta Office

Protesters set fire to the headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla of the Muslim Brotherhood Saturday as clashes took place at the Islamist group's offices in Cairo, the MENA news agency said.

Demonstrators threw petrol bombs at the building which then caught fire, the official news agency said.

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Ties Restored as Netanyahu Apologizes for Turkish Flotilla Raid

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday apologized to Turkey for a deadly 2010 flotilla raid and announced a full resumption of diplomatic ties as well as compensation for the families of those killed, his office said.

The breakthrough, which ends a nearly three-year bitter diplomatic rift, was engineered by U.S. President Barack Obama at the tail end of a historic three-day visit to the Holy Land, the first of his presidency.

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