Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• U.N. Security Council to vote Sunday on Aleppo evacuation monitors
• Libya officially proclaims liberation of Sirte from IS
• Coalition strikes near Palmyra killed 38 jihadists: monitor
• Turkey's Erdogan blames Kurdish militants after bomb kills at least 13, wounds 56
• Car bomb kills 13 Turkish soldiers on bus; 7 suspects held
• Egypt church attack prompts fears of militant escalation
• Khamenei condemns Britain after PM May calls Iran a regional threat
• Khamenei slams UK for describing Iran as regional threat
• Kurdish group PKK behind Turkish bus attack that killed 13, Erdogan says
• Mosul battle leaving legacy of environmental damage

U.N. Security Council to vote Sunday on Aleppo evacuation monitors Posted: 17 Dec 2016 03:39 PM PST By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is due to vote Sunday on a French-drafted resolution aimed at ensuring that U.N. officials can monitor evacuations from besieged parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo and the protection of civilians who remain. The draft text, seen by Reuters on Saturday, also "emphasizes that the evacuations of civilians must be voluntary and to final destinations of their choice, and protection must be provided to all civilians who choose or who have been forced to be evacuated and those who opt to remain in their homes." A vote has been scheduled for Sunday morning, diplomats said. The evacuation of rebel-held areas of east Aleppo ground to a halt on Friday after demands from pro-government forces that people also be moved out of two Shi'ite villages besieged by insurgents.

Libya officially proclaims liberation of Sirte from IS Posted: 17 Dec 2016 02:44 PM PST Libya's unity government leader Fayez al-Sarraj on Saturday officially announced the end of military operations in Sirte, after the liberation from Islamic State group forces of what was the last significant territory they held in the country. Eight months after the start of the operations against IS in the coastal town of Sirte "I officially announce the end of military operations and the liberation of the town", Sarraj said in a televised speech two weeks after the announcement that the area was in control of forces loyal to the government. The capture of Sirte, first announced on December 5, boosts the authority of Sarraj's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), which was launched in Tripoli in March but whose legitimacy is contested by a rival administration based in eastern Libya.

Coalition strikes near Palmyra killed 38 jihadists: monitor Posted: 17 Dec 2016 11:31 AM PST At least 38 Islamic State group fighters have been killed in US-led coalition air strikes this week near Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, a monitor said on Saturday. The jihadists retook Palmyra in central Syria on December 11, just eight months after the army backed by Russia drove them out. A statement on Friday said the strikes destroyed an air defence artillery system, 14 tanks, three artillery systems, two IS-held buildings and two tactical vehicles.

Turkey's Erdogan blames Kurdish militants after bomb kills at least 13, wounds 56 Posted: 17 Dec 2016 11:11 AM PST By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Orhan Coskun ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) - A car bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded 56 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central Turkish city of Kayseri on Saturday, an attack President Tayyip Erdogan blamed on Kurdish militants. The blast near a university campus comes a week after deadly twin bombings targeted police in Istanbul and may further infuriate a public smarting from multiple attacks by Islamic and Kurdish militants this year, and a failed coup in July. It could also increase tension in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have waged a three-decade violent insurgency that has seen some of the worst fighting in the last year.

Car bomb kills 13 Turkish soldiers on bus; 7 suspects held Posted: 17 Dec 2016 09:09 AM PST ISTANBUL (AP) — A suicide car bomber set off an explosion Saturday that demolished a public bus transporting off-duty soldiers in Turkey's central province of Kayseri, killing 13 troops and wounding 56 other people, authorities said.

Egypt church attack prompts fears of militant escalation Posted: 17 Dec 2016 05:30 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — When a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Cairo church a week ago, it marked a bloody escalation by Egypt's jihadi militants, raising fears that an insurgency which for years largely focused on fighting in the Sinai and killing policemen may now turn to unleash attacks on civilians in the country's capital.

Khamenei condemns Britain after PM May calls Iran a regional threat Posted: 17 Dec 2016 05:17 AM PST Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned Britain on Saturday as a "source of evil and misery" for the Middle East after British Prime Minister Theresa May called Iran a regional threat. "Shamelessly, the British have recently called ... Iran a threat to the region, but everyone knows that ... it is the British who have always been the source of threats, corruption and misery," the state news agency IRNA quoted Khamenei as telling participants at an Islamic unity conference in Tehran. Khamenei called "policies and the actions of the British in the past two centuries a source of evil and misery for the peoples of the region", IRNA added.

Khamenei slams UK for describing Iran as regional threat Posted: 17 Dec 2016 04:16 AM PST TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has harshly criticized U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's recent comments about Iran posing a threat to the region.

Kurdish group PKK behind Turkish bus attack that killed 13, Erdogan says Posted: 17 Dec 2016 02:54 AM PST Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was responsible for a car bomb attack on a bus in the central city of Kayseri that killed 13 people and wounded 55 more, almost all of them soldiers. In a statement, Erdogan said the "separatist terrorist organization" was responsible for the attack, adding that such attacks were not independent of developments in Iraq and Syria. Erdogan frequently uses the term "separatist terrorist organization" to refer to the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.

Mosul battle leaving legacy of environmental damage Posted: 17 Dec 2016 02:30 AM PST The battle to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group is leaving a legacy of environmental damage and health risks that will pose dangers to people for years to come. Iraqis have already paid the initial price from burning oil wells and a sulphur factory that IS set alight south of Mosul, Iraq's last jihadist-held city which is the target of a major military operation launched two months ago. The fires, combined with water pollution and the potentially toxic remains of destroyed buildings, military equipment and munitions, will also present longer-term threats to people in areas around and inside Mosul.

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