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Fury in Egypt as IS 'Beheads 21 Christians' in Libya

Egypt's leader vowed to punish the "murderers" responsible for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians after the Islamic State group in Libya released a video on Sunday purportedly showing the mass killing.

A visibly angry President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt "reserves the right to respond in a suitable way and time" in a televised speech, and declared seven days of mourning after the video was distributed by jihadists on social media.

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Report: Japan to Give $15mn to Fight Terror in Mideast, Africa

Japan, reeling from the murder of two nationals by Islamic State extremists, will offer an extra $15 million in aid to fight terrorism in Middle East and Africa, a report said Sunday.

Japan hopes to demonstrate its resolve not to cave in to terrorism with the fresh assistance, which will be announced at a global counter-terrorism conference starting on Wednesday in Washington, the Sankei Shimbun said.

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'100 Killed' in Week of Clashes in South Syria

Nearly 100 fighters on both sides have been killed in a week of fighting in southern Syria between regime forces and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.

The army, backed by fighters from Lebanon's Hizbullah, began an offensive at the beginning of the week in Daraa, the province bordering Israel that was the cradle of the revolt against President Bashar Assad.

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Drug Factory Raided in Bekaa as Area of Security Plan Widens

The joint security force raided on Saturday the town of Maqne in north Baalbek as the army cracked down on a narcotics factory in the region, on the third day of an unprecedented security plan.

“Following a series of raids in the al-Hammoudiyeh area and other towns, army forces discovered a factory for manufacturing drugs and seized machines and a quantity of narcotics,” the Army Command said in a statement.

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In Battle for Kobane, U.S. Crews Recount Heavy Bombing

That's when a warplane drops every bomb on board. And air crews for the B-1 bomber told Agence France Presse it was not uncommon in the battle for the Syrian town of Kobane, recaptured by Kurdish forces last month.

The airmen, recently returned from a six-month stint flying combat missions over Syria and Iraq, recounted how American aircraft relentlessly pounded Islamic State jihadists fighting the Kurds in Kobane.

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Assad 'Part of the Solution' in Syria, Says U.N. Envoy

Any resolution to the fighting in Syria must involve President Bashar Assad, the United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said Friday in the first such acknowledgment by the U.N.

"President Assad is part of the solution," de Mistura told a joint press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in Vienna. 

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Khalil Aims at Replacing Customs with Tax on Consumption

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil revealed on Friday that he is mulling a long-term “revolutionary idea” to terminate customs and replace it with tax on consumption, except on national industries.

“I know those who are corrupt in name... Their turn will come,” Khalil said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

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Poll: Aleppo Residents Favor 'Freeze' in Fighting

Most residents in opposition-held areas of Syria's Aleppo favor the U.N.'s proposal of a "freeze" in fighting, but are skeptical that a truce will hold, a survey published Thursday said.

The poll said 53 percent of people surveyed favored a lull in fighting, with 38 percent saying a freeze would allow humanitarian aid to reach war-torn areas of Syria's second city.

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Snowstorm Slows Hizbullah-led Advance in South Syria

Regime troops shelled rebel-held villages in southern Syria Thursday, as a snowstorm slowed an advance led by Hizbullah near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a monitor said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the army shelled Jizeh and the west of Atman village in the southern province of Daraa.

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U.N. Security Council Adopts Resolution to Choke Off IS, Nusra Financing

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at choking off millions of dollars in earnings from oil smuggling, antiquities trafficking and ransom payments to the Islamic State group.  

The resolution was co-sponsored by more than 35 countries in a show of international resolve to confront the threat posed by the jihadists who overran parts of Syria and Iraq nearly a year ago.

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