Airstrikes said to kill eight civilians in Yemen; Saudi king relieves another minister as he reshuffles cabinet.
Saudi Arabia dismissed Iranian calls for an end to its air strikes on neighbouring Yemen on Sunday, saying Tehran should not interfere in the conflict.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began air strikes against Iranian-allied Houthi militia fighters in Yemen more than two weeks ago, to try and prevent them making further advances.
“How can Iran call for us to stop the fighting in Yemen … We came to Yemen to help the legitimate authority, and Iran is not in charge of Yemen,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said in the Saudi capital Riyadh at a press conference with French counterpart Laurent Fabius. (Reuters)
3:23 P.M. Sinai Province claims attack that killed six in Egypt
A Twitter feed that describes itself as the official account for Sinai Province, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the bomb detonated on northern Sinai which killed six people and wounded two others.
The army said in a statement that “terrorist and extremist elements” were behind the roadside attack on an armored military vehicle in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. Two of those killed were officers, it said.
The Sinai Province renamed itself from Ansar Beit Al Maqdis last year after swearing allegiance to Islamic State, the ultra-radical Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, drawing U.S.-led airstrikes. (Reuters)
3:00 P.M. At least 9 said killed in Syrian government airstrikes on Aleppo
A Syrian government air raid struck near a school in an opposition-held neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least nine people, including five children, activists said.
The Aleppo Media Center and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air raid hit the opposition-held Ansari neighborhood. The bloodshed comes a day after rebel shelling and government airstrikes killed more than 30 people on both sides of the divided city, which is carved into government- and rebel-controlled areas.
The Observatory said at least nine people were killed in Sunday’s airstrike, and warned that the tally could rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition. The Aleppo Media Center put the death toll at 10 and said dozens of people were wounded. (AP)
12:45 P.M. Blast in Egypt’s North Sinai kills five soldiers
An explosion targeting a military vehicle killed five soldiers near the town of Sheikh Zuweid in Egypt’s North Sinai on Sunday, a security source said, a region beset by Islamist militant violence.
North Sinai is the epicenter of an insurgency that has killed hundreds of members of the security services mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after mass protests against his rule.(Reuters)
12:28 P.M. Gunmen attack South Korea embassy in Tripoli, two guards killed
Unidentified gunmen fired shots at the South Korean embassy in Tripoli on Sunday killing two local security guards, a South Korean official in Seoul said.
The gunmen fired from a car at the embassy compound, killing two security officers who were Libyan government employees and wounding another, the South Korean foreign ministry official said, asking not to be identified.
The official said the embassy is staffed by two foreign service officials and one administrative staff member.(Reuters)
12:12 P.M. Medical source: Air strikes kill eight civilians in Yemen
Saudi-led airstrikes targeting a military camp killed eight civilians in the central Yemeni city of Taiz on Sunday, a medical source said.
The air raids were aimed at a site held by soldiers loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who have joined up with Iranian-allied Houthi rebels against local militias in the south, the source said. (Reuters)
12:07 P.M. Yemen rebels pushing to capture oil-rich province
Yemen’s Houthi rebels were locked in a fight on Sunday with loyalists of embattled President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi for the eastern province of Mareb, a key oil-producing area.
The fight erupted after Houthi insurgents set up a checkpoint in the town of Serwah, about 40 kilometers west of Mareb, to use it as a launch pad for overrunning the province, local tribal sources said.
“Clashes are still under way. The Houthis have suffered unspecified casualties,” a source said on condition of anonymity. (DPA)
10:57 A.M. Iraqi minister confirms Islamic State destroyed ancient ruins
An Iraqi Antiquities Ministry official, speaking Sunday on condition of anonymity, said all the items that Islamic State militants bombed at the ancient Iraqi city of Nimrud were authentic.
An online video, posted late Saturday, purported to show militants using sledgehammers, jackhammers, a bulldozer and ultimately explosives to level the site, located near the militant-held city of Mosul.
Some of the figures in the video appeared to have rebar, ribbed bars of steels designed to reinforce concrete that are a technique of modern building. In March, both Iraqi and United Nations officials warned the site had been looted and damaged. (Associated Press)
8:21 A.M. Saudi king relieves health minister, second in a month
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has relieved Health Minister Ahmed al-Khatib of his post, removing a second minister handling social welfare issues in the space of a month as he reshapes the cabinet soon after coming to the throne.
Mohammed bin Abdulmalik bin Abdullah Al Al-Sheikh will be acting health minister, state news agency SPA said in a brief report on Saturday. It did not say why Khatib was relieved.
In early March, Salman removed the housing minister, a day after pledging to speed efforts to end a shortage of homes in his first address to the nation since becoming monarch in late January.
This followed a cabinet reshuffle in late January in which Salman appointed new ministers to several portfolios including agriculture, education and information. He also reorganized the policy-making apparatus, abolishing some committees and creating a new economic council chaired by his son. (Reuters)
3:00 A.M. Obama: Framework deal is best way to prevent Iran from getting bomb
President Barack Obama said Saturday that partisan wrangling over the emerging nuclear agreement with Iran and on other foreign policy matters has gone beyond the pale, singling out two senior Republican senators for particularly harsh criticism. “It needs to stop,” he declared.
Obama said he’s still “absolutely positive” that the framework agreement is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And he added that if the final negotiations don’t produce a tough enough agreement, the U.S. can back away from it. (Associated Press) Full story
12:30 A.M. Egypt court sentences U.S.-Egyptian citizen to life in prison
An Egyptian criminal court sentenced a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen on a monthslong hunger strike to life in prison Saturday on charges of financing an anti-government sit-in and spreading false news.
Mohammed Soltan, the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in August 2013, when security forces came looking for his father at his house. They didn’t find the father at the time, but arrested him instead, Soltan’s family said. His father, Salah, was detained later.
Mohammed, a 27-year-old Ohio State University graduate and former Barack Obama campaigner, has been on a hunger strike over his detention for more than 14 months, and his health is rapidly deteriorating, his family said. (Associated Press)
(Source: Haaretz)
