Rebel

Syrian refugees exceed 1.5 million: UNHCR

Geneva: The number of Syrian refugees, who are either registered or awaiting registration, has surpassed 1.5 million, while the actual number is much higher, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The increasingly widening gap between needs and available resources is a growing challenge, reported Xinhua citing UNHCR's spokesperson Dan McNorton on Friday .

"Over the past four months, we have seen a rapid deterioration compared to the previous 20 months of this conflict," he said.

The UNHCR had continued to respond to the emergency needs of those in need inside Syria and in neighbouring countries....more    

Death toll in Syria likely as high as 120,000: Rights group

Beirut: At least 94,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict, but the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The group said that at least 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites, the sect of President Bashar al-Assad. Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said that the Alawite death figures were confirmed by eight different...  

Israeli airstrikes on Syria prompt threats, anger

Beirut: Israel rushed to beef up its rocket defenses on its northern border on Sunday to shield against possible retaliation after carrying out two airstrikes in Syria over 48 hours - an unprecedented escalation of Israeli involvement in the Syrian civil war. Syria and its patron Iran hinted at possible retribution, though the rhetoric in official statements appeared relatively muted. Despite new concerns about a regional war, Israeli officials signaled...  

Tension escalates after Israel warplanes strike Syria

Beirut: Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital on Sunday, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said. The attack, the second in three days and the third this year, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syrian state media...  

MTV Movie Awards: Rebel Wilson gets naughty

Controversial jokes and funny skits kept the tempo high at the MTV Movie Awards 2013. ...

50 Syrian soldiers desert Army and join rebels

Rome: At least 50 Syrian soldiers have deserted the army and joined rebel forces, Syrian activists said. A colonel was among the deserters who joined the rebels near the city of Qamishli in northeast Syria, amid raging battles in the area, Syria's Local Coordinating Committees opposition group said on its Facebook page. Fighters from the jihadist Al-Nusra Front - branded a terror group by the US State Department - are...  

Pak: 30 terrorists, 23 soldiers killed in clashes

Islamabad: Thirty terrorists and 23 soldiers have been killed during fighting between security forces and pro-Taliban rebels in the lawless Khyber tribal region of Pakistan, according to a media report on Monday. The fighting erupted after troops, including Special Services Group commandos, launched a "decisive operation" against terrorists in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Twenty-three soldiers, including commandoes, and an unspecified number of members of a tribal lashkar or militia...  

Assad says rebel victory would destabilise Middle East

Beirut: President Bashar al-Assad has warned that if rebel forces battling to overthrow him take power in Syria, they could destabilise the Middle East for decades. The Syrian leader, locked in a two-year conflict that he says has been fuelled by his regional foes, also criticised Turkey's leaders as "foolish and immature", and Arab neighbours who he said were arming and sheltering rebel fighters. "If the unrest in Syria leads...  

Andhra speaker issues notices to 18 Congress, TDP rebels

The Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker on Saturday issued notices to 18 rebel legislators of ruling Congress party and main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), asking them why they should not be disqualified. ...  

French regret 'inadvertent' killing of two Indians in Africa

French President Francois Hollande has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing regret over the "inadvertent" killing of two Indians in the Central African Republic, where a rebel leader seized power during the weekend. ...  

From graffiti to a country in ruins: Syria's two years of rebellion

On a cold winter's night in early 2011, some Syrian schoolboys drew a few slogans on a wall in a town the world had barely heard of. Two years on, more than 70,000 people have died in the bitter conflict that ensued, and calls for the West to give more help to the Syrian rebels are rising. ...  

Rahul shuts doors on rebels, no more re-induction into party

In a stern warning to rebels, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that from now on doors won't remain open for those who left the party and contested elections against official nominees as he would do away with the past practice of re-inducting such members. ...  

UN says has list of Syrian war crimes suspects

Syrians in "leadership positions" who may be responsible for war crimes have been identified, along with units accused of perpetrating them, United Nations investigators said on Monday. Both government forces and armed rebels are committing war crimes, including killings and torture, spreading terror among civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict, they said. ...  

Rebels launch surprise attack in Malian town of Gao

Islamist insurgents launched a surprise raid in the heart of the Malian town of Gao on February 10, battling French and local troops in a blow to efforts to secure Mali's recaptured north. ...  

Rebels attack in South Sudan leaves over 100 dead

More than 100 people have been killed in South Sudan in an attack by rebels and ethnic allies on a convoy of families from a rival tribe and their cattle, an official said on February 10. ...  

French planes pound terrorist camps in north Mali desert

French warplanes pounded Islamist rebel camps in the far north of Mali on Sunday, military sources said, a day after French President Francois Hollande was hailed as a saviour during a visit to the West African country. Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French army in Paris, said the overnight raids targeted logistics bases and training camps used by the al Qaeda-linked rebels near the town of Tessalit, close to the...  

Francois Hollande visits Mali, hailed as "liberator"

French President Francois Hollande is in Mali for a visit even as French troops continue to fight Islamist rebels attempting to overthrow the national government. The President was mobbed by cheering Malians as he pledged he would finish the job of restoring government control. ...  

Bangladesh on security alert after violence

Bangladesh on Tuesday intensified security and ordered stern action against "troublemakers" after activists of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami indulged in violence and attacked police to demand halting of the 1971 war crimes trial of their leaders. Dozens of policemen, 21 of them in Dhaka, were injured as the extreme right wing activists launched attacks with homemade bombs in the capital, in southwestern Chittagong and several northwestern districts on Monday. ...  

Syrian rebels free 300 prisoners from northern jail

Syrian opposition fighters have freed about 300 prisoners from a jail near the border with Turkey and found 30 others shot in the head, an opposition activist said on Saturday. Fighters from various brigades have been attacking the Idlib Central Prison for the last three days. ...