Pakistan has decided the to reopen its crossing with Afghanistan as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

The crossings were at first closed in February following attacks in Pakistan which authorities claim have links to Afghanistan [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered the immediate reopening of border crossings with Afghanistan, more than a month after they were closed.

Pakistan sealed the Torkham and Chaman crossings on February 16, after a string of suicide attacks killed more than 130 people across the country, blaming the violence on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other armed groups.

The closure left hundreds of thousands of people and lorries carrying food and other goods to Afghanistan stranded at the two major crossings of Torkham and Chammans.

“We have taken this decision on humanitarian grounds,” a statement from Sharif’s office said on Monday.

The statement said that, while the government had evidence that “anti-Pakistan elements” were present on Afghan soil, keeping the border closed was against the interests of ordinary people.

“We hope that the Afghan government will take all necessary steps to prevent the reasons why we undertook these steps [of closing the border] from recurring,” it said.

Pakistan had temporarily reopened the border crossings for two days in early March to allow visitors with valid visas on both sides to return home.

Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for giving sanctuary to Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders on its soil. Pakistan, though, accuses its northwestern neighbour of allowing Pakistani Taliban elements to operate in Nangarhar and other provinces.

Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Khwaja Asif said the border was being used “as a thoroughfare” by Pakistani Taliban fighters.

But Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal, argued that closing it served no purpose “except to harm ordinary people and traders on both sides”.

The Torkham and Chaman crossings are major arteries for $1.5bn in trade and commerce between the two neighbours. The Torkham crossing alone is used by about 15,000 Afghans every day.

Russian leader cautiously optimistic on Syria peace deal, hails Ankara’s ‘exceptional cooperation’ in keeping truce.

Erdogan’s apologies for the downing of a Russian fighter plane helped rebuild ties with Russia [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a truce in Syria is on the whole being observed, as he welcomed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow, adding that he is cautiously optimistic about the prospects of a deal to end the six-year Syrian conflict.

Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in Syria’s war, co-brokered a ceasefire in December that helped reduce the scale of fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition.

They also supported two rounds of talks this year between the government and the rebels, while a third set is scheduled for next week.

“Due to the active action of Turkey and Russia, we managed to bring the rival forces together and, due to our joint effort, the Syrian ceasefire continues,” Putin told reporters on Friday, hailing Ankara’s “exceptional cooperation” in keeping the truce.

For his part, Erdogan said that there are “no doubts” about the “very successful” Syria talks sponsored by the two countries, adding that Turkey was cooperating with Russia’s military.

“All parties need to work out towards a good resolution,” he said at the joint press conference in the Russian capital.

Erdogan also praised the two countries’ friendship, saying it is “strong enough to overcome their differences”, even as he urged Russia to lift all sanctions it imposed on Ankara following the downing of a Russian plane in 2015.

The increasingly close cooperation on Syria between Russia and Turkey marks a sharp turnaround for the two nations, which have also coordinated their operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group in Syria.

Russia has an active military presence in Syria in support of Assad’s forces, while Turkey, which backs anti-Assad groups, launched a military operation in August to create a safe zone along its border inside Syria.

A Russian air raid last month accidentally killed three Turkish soldiers, but the incident did not derail military coordination between the two countries.

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was also killed during an event in Ankara in December.

Earlier this week, the chief military officers from Russia, the US and Turkey met in the Turkish city of Antalya, in an apparent attempt to work out additional steps to prevent incidents.

Rebuilding ties

Relations between Moscow and Ankara had soured after Turkey downed the Russian jet, putting the two countries on the verge of a direct military conflict.

Moscow responded by barring the sales of package tours to Turkey and halting imports of agricultural products, moves that squeezed the Turkish economy.

Erdogan’s apologies for downing the plane helped rebuild ties, and Putin offered firm support to the Turkish leader in the wake of a failed coup attempt last July.

Despite the rapprochement, Russia has moved gradually to lift economic restrictions, keeping some in place as an apparent motivator for Turkey.

On the eve of the Kremlin talks, the Russian cabinet allowed the imports of Turkish cauliflower, broccoli and other produce.

Erdogan, who called the Russian leader his “dear friend”, urged Russia to lift all restrictions on Turkish business, restore visa-free travel and increase the number of commercial flights between the two countries.

The talks in Moscow also focused on how to help assuage mutual mistrust between Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces, US-backed Kurdish forces, and Russian-allied Syrian government forces – all fighting their way towards ISIL’s de-facto capital, Raqqa.

Putin scheduled a meeting of his security council, including top military and intelligence officials, later on Friday to follow the talks with Erdogan.

Former president acquitted of complicity in killings of hundreds of protesters during 2011 uprising that ended his rule.

Mubarak supporters gathered outside the military hospital where he is staying [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Six years after the uprising that ended his rule, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been acquitted over his alleged involvement in the killings of hundreds of protesters in 2011.

The Court of Cassation’s final ruling on Thursday could see Mubarak walk free.

After an all-day hearing, Judge Ahmed Abdel Qawi announced: “The court has found the defendant innocent.”

The Cairo-based court rejected demands by lawyers of the victims to reopen civil suits, leaving no remaining option for appeal or retrial.

Mubarak was accused of inciting the deaths of nearly 900 protesters in an 18-day uprising that ended when he stepped down on February 11, 2011.

He had been sentenced to life in 2012 but an appeals court ordered a retrial, which dismissed the charges two years later.

Mubarak, 88, has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011.

He arrived to court on Thursday on a stretcher.

In January 2016, the appeals court had upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges.

But the sentence took into account time served. Both his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed.

Uprising aftermath

Most of the charges brought against Mubarak’s government members have been dismissed while the country still recovers from the aftermath of the uprising.

Mubarak’s successor, democratically elected Mohamed Morsi, served for only a year before the military ousted and detained him in 2013, launching a deadly crackdown on his supporters.

Morsi and hundreds of his supporters have been sentenced in mass trials, although many of them are appealing the verdicts.

A former air force chief and vice president, Mubarak became president after fighters who had infiltrated the army shot dead president Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981, also wounding Mubarak.

He remained defiant throughout his trial.

Mubarak may be acquitted by the Egyptian Court of Cassation, but a release is no small matter. It would mean the military was wrong in 2011.

— Dr H.A. Hellyerد.إتش (@hahellyer) March 2, 2017

“I did nothing wrong at all,” he told a private broadcaster after receiving the life sentence in 2012. “When I heard the first verdict I laughed. I said: ‘Ha!’.”

Apparently referring to economic growth, he said: “The last 10 years showed more results than the 20 years before, including telephones and so on, and then they turned against us.”

Joint operation involving Russian air power and Shia militia forces ISIL to retreat again from historic city.

Syrian soldiers recaptured Palmyra from ISIL once before in April, 2016 [File: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Syrian army said it has recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIL for the second time in a year with help from allied forces and Russian warplanes.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group seized Palmyra in a surprise advance in December after having been driven out eight months before.

“With backing from the Syrian and Russian air forces, units of our armed forces recaptured the city of Palmyra, in cooperation with the allies,” the military said in a statement.

The army and Iranian-backed militia advanced inside Palmyra on Thursday as ISIL withdrew completely, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said.

ISIL retreated to areas in the east, the Syrian Observatory reported. Government forces took control of swathes of Palmyra and conducted combing operations to clear land mines, it said.

During ISIL’s first occupation, which ended in March last year, the armed group destroyed some of Palmyra’s priceless archaeological heritage. It is believed to have razed other parts of the historical ruins after regaining control in December.

The Syrian army is also fighting ISIL east of Aleppo city, where it is pushing to reach the Euphrates River, and in the city of Deir al-Zor, where it controls an enclave besieged by fighters.

ISIL is on the back foot in Syria after losing territory in the north to an alliance of US-backed Kurdish-led militias, and to Turkey-backed Syrian rebel groups.

Government and opposition delegations are attending UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, where the government’s chief negotiator hailed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for keeping his promise to retake Palmyra.

The Syrian opposition, however, declined to congratulate Assad on capturing Palmyra and suggested the city changing hands again was possible.

Before the civil war gripped Syria in 2011, Palmyra was a top tourist attraction, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Syrian state television broadcast footage showing troops near the town’s archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the historic citadel on Friday.

Archeologists have decried what they say is extensive damage to Palmyra’s treasured ruins.

Drone footage released by Russia’s Defence Ministry last month showed new damage ISIL had inflicted to the facade of Palmyra’s Roman-era theatre and the adjoining Tetrapylon – a set of four monuments with four columns each at the centre of the colonnaded road leading to the theatre.

ISIL has destroyed scores of ancient sites across its self-styled caliphate in Syria and Iraq, viewing them as monuments to idolatry.

Maamoun Abdu-Karim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Syria, told The Associated Press on Thursday this time around the damage to the ruins seemed less in magnitude.

“We had expected the worst. However, the damage, according to the available photos, appears limited,” he said.

But ISIL is not the only side in Syria’s civil war, now in its sixth year, that has damaged Palmyra.

A 2014 report by a UN research agency disclosed satellite evidence of looting while the ruins were under Syrian military control. Opposition fighters have also admitted looting the antiquities for funds.

At least 32 people killed – including army’s top spy – after brazen attacks on security offices in third-largest city.

by Al Jazeera

A series of suicide attacks on military installations in Syria’s government-held city of Homs have killed at least 32 people, including the army’s intelligence chief – a close confidante of President Bashar al-Assad.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that loud explosions and gunfire were heard following the assault in the western city.

“There were at least six attackers and several of them blew themselves up near the headquarters of state security and military intelligence,” Syrian Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency.

The governor of Homs province, Talal Barzani, said there were three blasts in total killing 32 people and wounding more than 20 others.

The Syrian Observatory said 42 people had been killed.

The attacks hit the heavily guarded Ghouta and Mahatta neighbourhoods and security forces locked down the city centre.

Syrian state television said the army’s intelligence chief General Hassan Daabul died and it paid tribute to the “martyrs” in Saturday’s bombings.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkey-Syria border, said it was unclear how the assailants could have pulled off such an audacious assault.

“Both areas are heavily guarded by the state police and also military so it was a really big and organised twin attack,” said Simmons.

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We’re also hearing that Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – that is the new name for the al-Nusra Front – is claiming responsibility. That’s according to state TV, which has not been confirmed anywhere else,” Simmons reported.

Homs has been under the full control of the government since May 2014 when rebels withdrew from the city centre under a UN-brokered truce.

But the city has seen repeated bombings since then. Twin attacks killed 64 people early last year.

The attacks come as peace negotiators continue talks for the second day in Geneva over Syria’s six-year-old civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

A Palestinian family, whose house was demolished by Israeli bulldozers, walk past a tent on April 21, 2015 in the southern West Bank. (AFP/File)

by Ma’an News Agency

UN officials visited the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem on Wednesday, which is under threat of forcible relocation by Israeli authorities who delivered demolition notices to every single house in the village on Sunday, and called the situation “unacceptable.”

Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and UN Development Activities for the occupied Palestinian territory Robert Piper and Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank Scott Anderson visited the small village located in Area C — the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli control and the site of frequent Israeli demolitions.

“Khan al-Ahmar is one of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank, struggling to maintain a minimum standard of living in the face of intense pressure from the Israeli authorities to move to a planned relocation site,” Piper said in a statement, adding that “this is unacceptable and it must stop.”

Over the past week, Israeli authorities delivered demolition notices to the village’s 40 homes and elementary school, including stop-work orders targeting various structures in the village. Locals told Ma’an at the time that Israeli forces imposed a military closure on the area before delivering the demolition warrants, as faculty and students of the school were prevented from accessing the building.

Despite the fact that the community, and the school in particular, has been threatened with demolition by the Israeli government for years, locals said the issuing of demolition warrants to every single house was an unprecedented blow.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that Israeli authorities confirmed the widespread issuance of demolition orders was unprecedented in the area, and that the raid was “a declaration of intention in advance of an attempt to evacuate the entire village.”

The demolition notices were issued on the basis of the community lacking almost impossible to obtain Israeli building permits, which the UN has said results from the discriminatory zoning and planning regimes implemented in Area C.

According to the statement released by the UN, the enforcement of these orders in Khan al-Ahmar would “directly impact the homes and livelihoods of over 140 Palestinian refugees, more than half of them children.”

The statement also highlighted that the orders have also targeted the village’s primary school, built out of tires and mud. The school was built with the help of international donors, and according to the UN serves some 170 Bedouin children in the area.

“The developments in Khan al Ahmar are not unique,” Piper said. “Thousands of families live in fear of demolitions at any moment, and entire communities exist in chronic instability.”

“When schools are demolished, the right to education of Palestinian children is also threatened. This creates a coercive environment that forces certain Palestinian communities to move elsewhere, ” he noted.

He added that the international community should work together to support and protect vulnerable communities like the Bedouin, while “insisting that international law is respected.”

Khan al-Ahmar, like other Bedouin communities in the region, is under threat of relocation by Israel for being located in the contentious “E1 corridor” set up by the Israeli government to link annexed East Jerusalem with the mega settlement of Maale Adumim.

Israeli authorities plan to build thousands of homes for Jewish-only settlements in E1, which would effectively divide the West Bank and make the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state — as envisaged by the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — almost impossible.

Rights groups and Bedouin community members have sharply criticized Israel’s relocation plans for the Bedouin residing near the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, claiming that the removal would displace indigenous Palestinians for the sake of expanding Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank in violation of international law.

The statement reiterated the UN’s longstanding condemnation of the forcible transfer of Bedouin communities without their free, prior, and informed consent.

“The entire existence of this community, the homes, animal sheds and school that we visited today, is under threat. I am gravely concerned about Israel’s continued pressures to force these Bedouin from their homes, destroying their livelihoods and their distinct culture,”Anderson said in the statement, adding that “many of these Palestine refugee families have already had their homes demolished several times within the last couple of years.”

“I urge the Israeli authorities to halt all plans and practices that will directly or indirectly lead refugees to be displaced once again,” he said.

The village is one of 46 villages comprising of a population of 7,000 — 70 percent of whom are Palestinian refugees — in the central West Bank that are considered by the UN as being at risk of forcible transfer by Israeli authorities to alternative sites, in violation of international law, the statement highlighted.

The demolition raids this past week were the latest in a years-long legal battle waged by the Israeli government and residents of illegal Israeli settlements surrounding Khan al-Ahmar to demolish and relocate the school, which was built in 2009 with the assistance of Italian NGO Vento Di Terra using ecological methods.

In August last year, after reports emerged that the Israeli prime minister’s office ordered the school to be closed down, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the state of Israel provide a formal opinion on the school the following week.

In October, the state postponed issuing a decision at the Supreme Court for four months.

Now, four months later, the status of case remained unclear. A spokesperson for the Israeli Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to Ma’an on a request for comment on the case.

On Wednesday, the European Union (EU) Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah also released a statement condemning Israeli demolition policies in Area C of the West Bank, saying that since the start of 2017, 218 Palestinians had already been displaced due to Israeli-imposed demolitions, confiscations, and evictions in Area C. More than half of those displaced were children, the statement added.

The statement went on to highlight the record-high amount of Israeli-enforced demolitions of Palestinian structures in 2016, saying that “6,088 Palestinians were affected by 872 demolitions in Area C, among whom 1,663 were children.”

Negotiations off to rocky start after opposition threatens to skip opening ceremony over disagreements.

UN envoy de Mistura pleaded to the sides of the Syrian conflict ‘to work together’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Geneva, Switzerland – UN-led negotiations on the war in Syria got off to a delayed start following disputes over the participation of the Syrian opposition delegation.

Opposition representatives nearly missed the opening ceremony of the talks on Thursday after threatening not to attend over disagreements on the make-up and format of the session. But in a last-minute turnaround, they arrived late and as one large delegation.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura formally began the fourth round of talks in Geneva in an opening session that brought the opposition and government delegations face-to-face at UN headquarters with expectations of a breakthrough low.

“I ask you to work together. I know it’s not going to be easy to end this horrible conflict and lay the foundation for a country at peace with itself, sovereign and unified,” de Mistura told the two delegations, who sat on opposite sides of the stage.

“It is your opportunity and solemn responsibility … not to condemn future generations of Syrian children to long years of bitter and bloody conflict.”

The talks are part of the latest political initiative to bring an end to a six-year war that has killed nearly half a million people, wounded more than a million, and forced more than 12 million – half of the country’s prewar population – from their homes.

Hopes for a ‘work plan’

In a news conference shortly after his opening speech, de Mistura said he would meet with each side on Friday in the hopes of setting a “work plan” for the remainder of the negotiations.

At the last Syria talks in Geneva 10 months ago, de Mistura had to shuttle between the government and opposition delegations in different rooms.

The opening ceremony on Thursday was delayed by several hours after disputes between the main opposition bloc – the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) – and de Mistura over the structure of the opposition delegation.

The bloated size of the delegation was due partly to de Mistura’s inclusion of two other groups – the Moscow and the Cairo platforms – in the talks. The envoy invited the two pro-Russia, government-tolerated opposition groups to sit separately from the HNC, an umbrella group of armed and political factions.

“You must have seen that there was, in particular, a very heavy [presence] on the side of the opposition in the room … they were including also the armed groups … because, as you know, peace is made between those who fight each other,” said de Mistura.

The idea of the opposition sitting at different tables riled the Saudi Arabia-based HNC, leading to hours of last-minute diplomacy ahead of the opening ceremony as diplomats scrambled to find a solution.

“Today, the real opposition that represents the Syrian people is the HNC. This delegation and the HNC, extends its hand to any national partner that adopts the will of the Syrian people,” Naser al-Hariri, head of the HNC delegation, told reporters ahead of the opening session.

“We hope that the Moscow and Cairo platforms will prioritise national interest and the interests of the Syrian people,” Hariri said.

“The HNC was in contact with the Cairo and Moscow platforms in previous meetings. There are ongoing efforts to join these platforms within the opposition delegation so that we are represented as one delegation.”

De Mistura said there had been “serious progress” made in the hours leading up to the opening ceremony in “forming a united political opposition,” but that there was still much work to be done.

Truce violations

The talks in Geneva came about after Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, a backer of the Syrian opposition, managed to forge a fragile nationwide ceasefire in place since December 30.

The Syrian government and the opposition agreed to participate in negotiations despite daily violations of the truce.

Much has changed on the ground in Syria since de Mistura suspended the last round of talks in Geneva last April after a previous ceasefire collapsed and heavy fighting resumed.

Russia’s September 2015 military intervention drastically changed the balance of power, propping up Assad’s embattled forces and helping them to retake key parts of the country.

With the help of Russian jets and Iranian-backed fighters, Syrian government forces dealt the rebels their biggest defeat in the conflict in December by retaking Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital before the war and a rebel stronghold since 2012.

The Russian-backed push on the battlefield has been coupled with a similar takeover by Moscow in the diplomatic arena – a move helped by confusion surrounding US President Donald Trump’s Syria policy.

While the Geneva talks are seen as the most serious diplomatic effort in months, disputes over the agenda and long-standing disagreements between the opposition and the government on the future of the country have cast doubts on whether any progress will be achieved.

A day before the talks began, de Mistura said he was not expecting any major breakthroughs, but added he was determined to maintain “proactive momentum” on UN Security Council Resolution 2254, a document that provides the backbone of the talks.

“254 lays out a clear agenda, including specific language on governance, constitutions, elections, and even for the way negotiations should be timed,” said de Mistura. “That is what must now be discussed.”

Though matters on the ground have shifted, the starkly different political objectives of the warring sides remain unchanged from previous rounds of negotiations.

For the Syrian opposition, a political transition that ensures the removal of Assad remains the only option for peace – an issue that the government in Damascus has consistently refused to consider.

De Mistura said the biggest challenge ahead of the delegates was a “lack of trust” as he appealed to the two sides to use the talks as an opportunity for peace.

“We do know what will happen if we fail once again – more deaths, more suffering, more terrorism, more refugees,” he said.

(Agencies)

At least seven killed and many wounded as powerful blast rips through market in city’s affluent Defence area.

Pakistani security officials inspect the scene of the bomb blast in Lahore [AP]

by Al Jazeera

At least seven people were killed and 17 wounded in a bomb blast at a market in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, government officials said.

Thursday’s blast follows a string of attacks across the country.

The bombing ripped through a building that was under construction at a commercial market in the affluent Defence area, replete with upmarket boutiques and cafes as well as an academy for the international hair salon Toni & Guy.

“It was a bomb attack,” Nayab Haider, a spokesman for the provincial Punjab police said. “It was a planted explosive device. We do not yet know if it was a timed device or remote detonated.”

No group has immediately claimed the attack.

Television footage showed a smouldering building and several crumpled cars with their windows blown out.

“My God, my God, I saw so many bodies,” Imtiaz Ali, a barber in the Toni & Guy salon, told the AFP news agency. “When I came out I first just saw smoke and dust … Bikes upturned. Cars destroyed. My own colleague’s car windows blown out. My clients’ cars blown out. I was close to fainting.”

According to police, 20kg of explosives were planted at the market.

Rescue official Rizwan Naseer told reporters: “Rescue operations have been completed, and all the wounded and killed have been taken to hospital. We suspect there may be one or two more bodies trapped under the rubble, which we are still investigating.”

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said the area was busy at the time of attack.

Reports of a second blast in the Gulberg area were later retracted by government officials, who said that a tyre blowout caused the loud sound.

Since mid-February, various armed groups have killed at least 130 people across the country and wounded hundreds more.

On February 17, Pakistan suffered the deadliest attack in more than two years as a suicide bomber killed at least 88 people and injured hundreds at a Sufi shrine. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) said it was behind that attack.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Pakistani Taliban-linked armed group, claimed responsibility for last Monday’s suicide attack targeting police at a protest rally in central Lahore. At least 13 people died in the blast.

Military response

Government and military officials have vowed extensive operations to hunt down fighters across the country and Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan has been shut down due to security concerns.

After the shrine bombing, Pakistani security forces said they had killed more than 100 suspected fighters in targeted campaigns across the country.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s army announced that it was launching a new military operation in response to recent violence.

Dubbed Radd-al-Fasaad, the operation by paramilitary forces in Punjab focuses on counterterrorism.

The Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous province, with Lahore its capital.

The operation aims to provide “more effective border security”, a military statement said.

The army has pursued a series of operations in the country’s tribal areas over the past 15 years.

Zarb-e-Azb, the latest, was launched in 2014 to target the Pakistani Taliban and their allies in North Waziristan, the group’s headquarters.

Last year North Waziristan was declared cleared of armed groups, but intelligence-based operations under the banner of Zarb-e-Azb continued across Pakistan.

Radd-al-Fasaad marks the first time the military has formally announced a security operation in Pakistan’s most populous province, which is also the political heartland of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The operation gives policing powers to the paramilitary Rangers force when pursuing suspects.

Iraqi forces storm ISIL-held Mosul International Airport as they continue offensive on western half of the city.

The operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city was officially launched in October and, in January, its eastern half was declared ‘fully liberated’ [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

US-backed Iraqi security forces closing in on the ISIL-held western half of Mosul have stormed the city’s airport and a nearby military base, state television said.

Counterterrorism service (CTS) troops and elite interior ministry units known as Rapid Response forces descended on the airport early on Thursday and the nearby Ghazlani military complex, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told state TV.

“This is one of the major achievements that the Iraqi forces were hoping to get in the first phase of going towards the Western side of the city,” said Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Erbil.

“This area is about 30 kms away from the western edge of the city, and Iraqi forces now say that they are in full control.

“They say that the two main buildings of the city have been destroyed by ISIL and they have found a number of car bombs parked on strategic locations in the entry points and along the runway of Mosul International Airport.”

The airport and military complex, which includes barracks and training grounds and sprawls across an area close to the Baghdad-Mosul highway was captured by ISIL fighters when they overran Mosul in June 2014.

The advances come days after Iraqi forces officially launched the operation to push ISIL out of Mosul’s western half.

The operation to retake Iraq’s second largest city was officially launched in October and in January its eastern half was declared “fully liberated.”

A US-led coalition has been providing close air support throughout the campaign to retake Iraq’s second-largest city.

US special operations forces are embedded with some Iraqi units and thousands of US troops are in Iraq providing logistical and other support.

US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis was holding discussions with US and Iraqi officials, a week before he is expected to present a new strategy to President Donald Trump for defeating ISIL .

Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate the group but has provided few details about how his approach might differ from that of the Obama administration, which had partnered with Syrian and Iraqi forces to drive ISIL out of several towns and cities.

The battle for western Mosul , the group’s last major urban bastion in Iraq, is expected to be the most daunting yet.

The streets are older and narrower in that sector of the city, which stretches west from the River Tigris, forcing Iraqi soldiers to leave the relative safety of their armoured vehicles.

The presence of up to 750,000 civilians also poses a challenge .

Two suicide car bombers struck army and paramilitary forces west of Mosul on Monday, killing and wounding a number of troops, two army officers said, without specifying the number of casualties.

A third suicide car bomber was blown up before reaching the troops, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

ISIL claimed responsibility for two attacks in an online statement, saying the attackers were British and Iraqi.