Israel attacks on Syria military camp, 3 killed

An Israeli attack on a Syrian training camp near the Golan Heights killed three members of a pro-government militia on Sunday, an official from the forces said.

The Al-Fawwar camp in Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province is used by the National Defence Forces (NDF), which command some 90,000 fighters across Syria.

The NDF official told AFP that two fighters were also wounded in the Israeli attack, but said it was unclear whether the damage was inflicted by an air strike or shelling.

Another Syrian source inside the training camp told AFP that around 6:00 am local time (0300 GMT), “security guards at the camp saw what looked like three fireballs coming towards the camp.”

“Then there were several consecutive blasts because of the explosion of ammunition warehouses” that firefighters worked hard to extinguish, the source said.

The source also said that they were “Israeli rockets” but could not specify what kind of missiles may have been used.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the attack had targeted a “weapons warehouse” in the camp.

Israel’s army declined to comment Sunday on the attack.

On Friday, the Israeli army said it targeted positions inside Syria in retaliation for mortar fire that hit the northern part of the Golan Heights.

At the time, Syria’s official news agency SANA said Israel had struck a Syrian army position in the province of Quneitra on the Golan plateau, “causing damage”.

The Syrian government labels rebel groups and jihadists fighting the regime as “terrorists” and accuses Israel of backing them.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

Around 510 square kilometres of the Golan are under Syrian control.

The two countries are still technically at war, although the border remained largely quiet for decades until 2011, when the Syrian conflict broke out.

The Israeli side is hit sporadically by what are usually deemed to be stray rounds, and Israel has recently taken to opening fire in retaliation.

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Rise of religious left

Rise of religious left

Since US president Donald Trump's election, monthly lectures on social justice at the 600-seat Gothic chapel of New York's Union Theological Seminary have been filled to capacity with crowds three times what they usually draw.

In January, the 181-year-old Upper Manhattan graduate school, whose architecture evokes London's Westminster Abbey, turned away about 1,000 people from a lecture on mass incarceration. In the nine years that Reverend Serene Jones has served as its president, she has never seen such crowds.

"The election of Trump has been a clarion call to progressives in the Protestant and Catholic churches in America to move out of a place of primarily professing progressive policies to really taking action," she said.

Although not as powerful as the religious right, which has been credited with helping elect Republican presidents and boasts well-known leaders such as Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson, the "religious left" is now slowly coming together as a force in US politics.

This disparate group, traditionally seen as lacking clout, has been propelled into political activism by Trump's policies on immigration, healthcare and social welfare, according to clergy members, activists and academics. A key test will be how well it will be able to translate its mobilisation into votes in the 2018 midterm congressional elections.

"It's one of the dirty little secrets of American politics that there has been a religious left all along and it just hasn't done a good job of organizing," said J Patrick Hornbeck II, chairman of the theology department at Fordham University, a Jesuit school in New York.

"It has taken a crisis, or perceived crisis, like Trump's election to cause folks on the religious left to really own their religion in the public square," Hornbeck said.

Religious progressive activism has been part of American history. Religious leaders and their followers played key roles in campaigns to abolish slavery, promote civil rights and end the Vietnam War, among others. The latest upwelling of left-leaning religious activism has accompanied the dawn of the Trump presidency.

Some in the religious left are inspired by Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic leader who has been an outspoken critic of anti-immigrant policies and a champion of helping the needy.

Although support for the religious left is difficult to measure, leaders point to several examples, such as a surge of congregations offering to provide sanctuary to immigrants seeking asylum, churches urging Republicans to reconsider repealing the Obamacare health law and calls to preserve federal spending on foreign aid.

The number of churches volunteering to offer sanctuary to asylum seekers doubled to 800 in 45 of the 50 US states after the election, said the Elkhart, Indiana-based Church World Service, a coalition of Christian denominations which helps refugees settle in the United States - and the number of new churches offering help has grown so quickly that the group has lost count.

"The religious community, the religious left is getting out, hitting the streets, taking action, raising their voices," said Reverend Noel Anderson, its national grassroots coordinator.

In one well-publicized case, a Quaker church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 14 took in a Honduran woman who has been living illegally in the United States for 25 years and feared she would be targeted for deportation.

'NEVER SEEN' THIS

Leaders of Faith in Public Life, a progressive policy group, were astounded when 300 clergy members turned out at a January rally at the US Senate attempting to block confirmation of Trump's attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, because of his history of controversial statements on race.

"I've never seen hundreds of clergy turning up like that to oppose a Cabinet nominee," said Reverend Jennifer Butler, the group's chief executive.

The group on Wednesday convened a Capitol Hill rally of hundreds of pastors from as far away as Ohio, North Carolina and Texas to urge Congress to ensure that no people lose their health insurance as a result of a vote to repeal Obamacare.

Financial support is also picking up. Donations to the Christian activist group Sojourners have picked up by 30 percent since Trump's election, the group said.

But some observers were skeptical that the religious left could equal the religious right politically any time soon.

"It really took decades of activism for the religious right to become the force that it is today," said Peter Ubertaccio, chairman of the political science department at Stonehill College, a Catholic school outside Boston.

But the power potential of the "religious left" is not negligible. The "Moral Mondays" movement, launched in 2013 by the North Carolina NAACP's Reverend William Barber, is credited with contributing to last year's election defeat of Republican Governor Pat McCrory by Democrat Roy Cooper.

The new political climate is also spurring new alliances, with churches, synagogues and mosques speaking out against the recent spike in bias incidents, including threats against mosques and Jewish community centers.

The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, which encourages alliances between Jewish and Muslim women, has tripled its number of US chapters to nearly 170 since November, said founder Sheryl Olitzky.

"This is not about partisanship, but about vulnerable populations who need protection, whether it's the LGBT community, the refugee community, the undocumented community," said Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

More than 1,000 people have already signed up for the center's annual Washington meeting on political activism, about three times as many as normal, Pesner said.

Leaders of the religious right who supported Trump say they see him delivering on his promises and welcomed plans to defund Planned Parenthood, whose healthcare services for women include abortion, through the proposed repeal of Obamacare.

"We have not seen any policy proposals that run counter to our faith," said Lance Lemmonds, a spokesman for the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Duluth, Georgia.

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Water pollution behind health woes in Gaza

More and more Gazans are falling ill from their drinking water, highlighting the humanitarian issues facing the Palestinian enclave that the UN says could become uninhabitable by 2020.

The situation has already reached crisis point in the war-scarred, underdeveloped and blockaded territory, says Monther Shoblak, general manager of the strip’s water utility.

“More than 97 percent of the water table is unfit for domestic use because of salinisation never before seen,” he said.

The United Nations puts scarcity and pollution of water resources at the forefront of Gaza’s scourges.

“If the catastrophe does not arrive this year, it will surely be here within three years,” said Zidane Abu Zuhri who is in charge of water issues at UNICEF, the world body’s children’s fund.

Almost all of the narrow coastal strip’s two million people depend upon its water table for their private or commercial needs, reaching their taps through a dilapidated public system or pumped privately from the ground.

The health of Gazans is suffering as a result.

“Each year we see a 13-14 percent increase in the number of patients admitted with kidney problems,” said Dr Abdallah al-Kishawi, head of nephrology at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

These kidney problems have “previously known origins, such as tension, diabetes and hereditary diseases, but there is no doubt that water pollution also plays a role”, he said.

High salinity, for example, can cause kidney stones and problems in the urinary tract.

Safe levels far exceeded

In 2012 and again in 2015, the United Nations listed the threats that could render the enclave uninhabitable by 2020.

It spoke of the ravages of three wars since 2008 and the decade-long Israeli blockade, an unemployment rate of almost 44 percent and food insecurity.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted on the territory run by Islamist movement Hamas. Israel says however that it is needed to keep Hamas from obtaining weapons or materials that could be used to produce them.

In a territory on the edge of the desert, bounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, where watercourses are reduced to mainly dry gulches, the water table is overexploited.

The level drops and seawater seeps in, raising salinity.

Brackish water is then used for cooking, showers, laundry and irrigation.

Pollution by ammunition

Well-off Gazans dig their own wells pumping water brought to the surface from dozens of metres (yards) below.

Sami Lubbad, in charge of environmental issues at the Gaza health ministry, says pollution is of two kinds, chemical and microbiological.

At the deepest part of the water table, these pollutants combine and raise the chloride and nitrate levels.

They can cause congenital cyanosis in babies “and also play a role in the development of cancers”, says university professor Adnan Aish.

“The prevalence of cancer is higher among people living near water treatment plants,” he adds.

Microbiological pollution is caused by bacteria of faecal origin, mainly from wastewater and agriculture runoff.

Chemical pollution is caused by pesticides but also, say experts, by the toxic remnants of ammunition fired during wars.

Lead and sulphur can cause kidney problems, says Dr Kishawi.

Diarrhoea and malnutrition

Gaza’s wars have severely damaged already-lacking infrastructure.

Much of the wastewater is not treated, allowing it to seep back into the soil and pollute water supplies.

“Around two-thirds of Gazans buy their water in the private sector,” often in bottles sold for two shekels (around $0.53) per 16 litres, says June Kunugi, head of UNICEF in the Palestinian territories.

But such water, often produced only by desalination, can also be polluted.

“Many children have parasites and worms and suffer from diarrhoea and malnutrition,” said Kunugi.

At the edge of the Mediterranean, desalination of sea water is one potential solution.

In January, the largest desalination plant in Gaza partially opened with the help of international aid.

It will supply 75,000 people with safe water, a number that will rise to 150,000 when a second phase is opened. Other plants are planned.

But radical changes in behaviour are also needed, including storing rainwater and reusing water, said Kunugi.

Experts stress that it is crucial to allow the water table to be reconstituted without touching it.

“If no solution is found by 2020, disaster will occur and man will be solely responsible for it,” warns Shoblak of the water utility.

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Bill for journalists' protection in Pakistan

Bill for journalists' protection in Pakistan

The Pakistani government is preparing a bill for the protection and welfare of journalists in the country, a top minister announced.

State minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb made the remarks on Friday while addressing a delegation from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists here.

"Democracy and media freedom go hand-in-hand and the independent media not only performs the functions of informing public but also empowers all members of the society by enhancing and nurturing democratic values," Dawn news quoted the minister as saying.

She added it is a "top priority of the democratic government", adding that a draft of the bill, titled Journalist Welfare and Protection Bill-2017, has been sent to various press clubs and media outlets seeking recommendations for improvement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organisation working to promote press freedom worldwide, in its special report launched in December 2016, had stated that no journalist was murdered in Pakistan "in retaliation for their work" in 2016 - a first since 2001.

The organisation classifies murder as "the targeted killing of a journalist, whether premeditated or spontaneous, in direct relation to the journalist's work."

However, many Pakistani journalists have resorted to self-censorship or have abandoned the profession altogether to avoid "grave risks", CPJ added.

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Trump ousted from his hotel once:One Direction

The previous kid band One Direction had an acrid involvement with US President Donald Trump when he showed them out of his inn for not meeting his little girl. 

Artist Liam Payne, an individual from the band, revealed to Rollacoaster magazine that Trump rang the band's administrator and did not give the band a chance to utilize the inn's underground carport, reports aceshowbiz.com. 

"Donald Trump showed us out of his inn once. You wouldn't trust it. It was about meeting his girl. He called up our director and we were snoozing. He stated, 'Well wake them up', and I resembled, "No," and afterward he wouldn't give us a chance to utilize the underground carport," Payne said. 

"Clearly in New York we can't generally go outside. New York is merciless for us. So he resembled 'Approve, I don't need you in my inn.' So we needed to leave," he included. 

The 23-year-old vocalist additionally talked about his fellowship with artist Justin Bieber. 

"He's an incredible person. Inside there's a better than average heart," Payne said. 

The vocalist additionally shared that he and Bieber once trusted in each different as they managed comparative "confused lives".

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South Sudan buys weapons during famine: UN

South Sudan’s government is spending oil revenue on weapons as the country descends into a famine largely caused by President Salva Kiir’s military campaign, a confidential UN report says.

The report obtained by AFP on Friday calls for an arms embargo on South Sudan—a measure that has been backed by the United States but was rejected by the Security Council during a vote in December.

“Weapons continue to flow into South Sudan from diverse sources, often with the coordination of neighboring countries,” said the report by a UN panel of experts.

The experts found a “preponderance of evidence (that) shows continued procurement of weapons by the leadership in Juba” for the army, the security services, militias and other “associated forces.”

South Sudan derives 97 percent of its budget revenue from forward sales of oil. From late March to late October 2016, oil revenues totaled about $243 million, according to calculations from the panel.

At least half—“and likely substantially more”—of its budget expenditures are devoted to security including arms purchases, the 48-page report said.

The government continued to sign arms deals as a famine was declared in Unity State, where 100,000 people are dying of starvation and a further one million people are near starvation.

“The bulk of evidence suggests that the famine in Unity State has resulted from protracted conflict and, in particular, the cumulative toll of repeated military operations undertaken by the government in southern Unity beginning in 2014,” said the report.

The government is blocking access for humanitarian aid workers, compounding the food crisis, while significant population displacement is also contributing to the famine.

An upsurge in fighting since July has devastated food production in areas that had been stable for farmers, such as the Equatoria region, considered the country’s breadbasket.

The total number of South Sudanese facing famine could rise to 5.5 million in July if nothing is done to address the food crisis, the experts said.

Weapons pour in

The report was released ahead of a special Security Council meeting on South Sudan on Thursday that will be chaired by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The meeting could once again revive calls for an arms embargo, which was rejected despite warnings from the United Nations of a risk of genocide in South Sudan.

While the previous US administration pushed for a ban on weapons sales, President Donald Trump’s government has yet to make clear its stance on ending one of Africa’s worst conflicts.

Borders with Sudan and Uganda continue to be key entry points for weapons supplies to South Sudanese forces and some shipments are also entering from the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the report.

The panel cited information from high-ranking South Sudanese military and intelligence officers that Egypt had shipped military equipment, small arms, ammunition and armored vehicles to South Sudan over the past year.

Experts are investigating the delivery this year of two L39 jets from Ukraine that were sold to Uganda, but may have ended up in South Sudan, as well as a contract with a Seychelles-based company for a very large quantity of armaments.

In comparison, opposition forces have received limited supplies of light weapons ammunition, the report said.

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, leaving tens of thousands dead and 3.5 million people displaced.

The United Nations is pushing regional leaders to exert pressure on Juba to end the violence that has turned tribal, pitting Kiir’s Dinka community against ethnic Nuer, Shilluk and other groups.

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Social Grants Crisis: Concourt pulls no punches to ensure social grants will be paid on April 1

Social Grants Crisis: Concourt pulls no punches to ensure social grants will be paid on April 1

Social grants are going to be paid on Gregorian calendar month one and also the minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini has fortnight to come back up with reasons why she shouldn't pay the value of this week's Constitutional Court application from her own pocket whereas entails her head grow louder. By JILLIAN inexperienced.

On weekday the Constitutional Court dominated that its earlier declaration of the invalidness of the previous contract between the South African Social Security (Sassa) Agency and money payer Services(CPS) would be suspended for twelve months. this implies that Hz would be liable for the payment of thuscial grants on April one and still do thus till another entity which may do so is found.

Justice Johan Froneman in reading out the judgement same the terms and conditions of the previous contract would still apply and any changes in what quantity Hz got paid would want to be done through the  National Treasury.ConCourt any ordered, among others, that:the Auditor-General or an establishment ordered by the court ought to put together administer and assess the payment of the grants;

the Social Development Department and Sassa report back thereto each 3 months on the progress of a replacement contract;Dlamini should give reasons by March thirty one why she shouldn't be command in person liable for the prices of the court application;CPS needs to file expenses, financial gain and profit it earns from the Sassa contract inside thirty days of the completion of the amount of the contract; andno party has any claim to profit off the invasion of people's rights.“The minister and Sassa tells United States that Hz is that the solely entity capable of paying grants for the predictable future when the thirty first of March.

“This court and also the whole country ar currently confronted with a state of affairs wherever the manager arm of presidency admits that it's not capable to satisfy its constitutional and statutory obligations to produce for the national assistance of its folks.“And within the deepest and most shaming of ironies, it currently seeks to accept a non-public company entity with no discernible commitment to transformative authorization to urge it out of this difficulty,” Froneman scan.

On Wed, the court detected Associate in Nursing application by the Black Sash for Associate in Nursing order that it exercise superior jurisdiction over any new contract to pay social grants and its implementation. Freedom underneath Law and Corruption Watch applied to be friends of the court within the matter.During that hearing, judge Mogoeng Mogoeng asked however Sassa and Dlamini came to show “absolute incompetence” within the means they handled the social grants payment debacle.

“How does one get to the extent wherever [your clients] create themselves appear as if they're incompetent and you can’t even justify however you bought to the present point? … however did we tend to get to the present level that may be defined as absolute incompetence?” he asked, adding, “[Dlamini] ought to are embarrassed and spent sleepless nights operating to rectify this.”

Chairman of Freedom underneath Law, retired choose Johan Kriegler same they were “delighted” by Friday's ruling.“The court created clear that the rule of law prevails.”

Kriegler same whereas he had solely detected the judgment, he believed there was little scope for maneuverability for Sassa, the ministry and Hz.

“The ConCourt has place the minister on terms...It (the potential of the award of prices against her) is a sign of its robust disapproval of the minister and also the clearest indication that it believes that the minister has not been frank with the court,” he said.Black Sash told the Daily Maverick it'd comment once it had absolutely studied the judgment.Following the judgment, Grindrod Bank, that provides bank services for seventeen million social grant services and that stands suspect of benefiting off having access to grant recipients information that it shared with third parties, denied any wrongdoing.“Grindrod has ne'er provided Sassa account info to any third party despite the terms and conditions contained within the agreement with the cardboard holders, and doesn't cross-sell any services to the SASSA account holders”, a press release from the bank same.Grindrod Bank nets some thirty cents profit per account per month on these Sassa accounts, that amounts to R3 million per month when tax.“Grindrod Bank confirms that the debit cards and also the connected bank accounts can still be useful so as to receive their SASSA grant payments when one April 2017,” same Grindrod Bank CEO, David Polkinghorne.

Meanwhile, the ANC known as on the department of Social Development to instantly initiate a method to completely go with the directives of the Constitutional Court and also the prescripts of the law.“The unfortunate events over the past few weeks were needless and will have not happened,” the statement same.

While not naming Dlamini directly, the party known as on government to “thoroughly investigate actions of these concerned and act resolutely against those responsible”.“It is unacceptable that such a essential facet of our Social Security web, moving the safety and resource of the foremost vulnerable in our country, wasn't treated far better during a speedy manner to avoid the needless panic and anxiety caused,” the statement scan.

“The ANC any imply harsh consequence management as a deterrent to a repeat of this matter.”The Save Republic of South Africa organisation was additional direct locution “Dlamini ought to do the proper issue for once – she ought to resign, immediately” however before she goes, she ought to pay the prices of the method from her own pocket, while not late attempting to justify her “shocking” conduct.

“The Minister has had quite enough opportunities to indicate respect for her oath of workplace, for the Constitutional Court and for the folks of Republic of South Africa. She has had quite enough time to prioritize the payment of social grants ... instead she has spent her time deceptive the poor and destitute, avoiding answerability in Parliament, and blaming people who need transparency and answerability – whereas smartly defensive her dodgy modify a extremely questionable service supplier, CPS,” it said.“It’s clear that the Minister is incapable of performing arts her key Constitutional operate, and he or she should go. And if she does not go voluntarily, the President ought to finally recognise that this can be so a crisis, which the Minister is so accountable. And he ought to get her out of presidency currently.”

And during a sign of however simply powerfully has tide turned, NET1's second biggest shareowner, Allan grey (15.58%) stated:“We asked Net1 in writing to form each effort doable to seek out Associate in Nursing interim resolution to confirm that grants ar paid by one April. As shareholders we'd be happy if this implies Net1 foregoes all profits on the contract extension. Allan Gray’s investment in Net1 isn't supported the renewal of the SASSA contract. it's supported the company’s log of with success implementing reliable and sturdy payment technologies, that well handle ample transactions, each on- and offline, across numerous totally different businesses and countries.

“We have additionally asked in writing for Net1 to think about cancelling all revenant monthly deductions to Net1 subsidiaries for airtime. and that we have suggested different enhancements, like causation 3 SMS messages per month for ensuing 3 months to any or all good Life policyholders, in their home language, giving an easy and straightforward means for the policyholders to cancel their policy.

“We have urged Net1 to publish a comprehensive statement clearly explaining their response to the allegations of illegitimate and improper behaviour.”In a gravity-defying statement, ANC Women's League welcome the Court's ruling and concluded with this:

“We would like to congratulate the ANC-led Government for making certain that the folks return initial, particularly else.

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Israeli warplanes hit targets in Syria

Israeli warplanes struck several targets in Syria early Friday, prompting retaliatory missiles launches, in the most serious incident between the two countries since the Syrian civil war began six years ago.

Syria's military said it had downed an Israeli plane and hit another as they were carrying out pre-dawn strikes near the famed desert city of Palmyra that it recaptured from jihadists this month.

"Our air defence engaged them and shot down one warplane over occupied territory, hit another one, and forced the rest to flee," the army said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

The Israeli army denied any planes had been struck and the Syrian government has made similar unfounded claims in the past.

"The safety of Israeli civilians or the Israeli air force aircraft was at no point compromised," army spokesman Peter Lerner told AFP.

The Israeli air force said earlier that it had carried out several strikes on Syria overnight, but that none of the ground-to-air missiles fired by Syrian forces in response had hit Israeli aircraft.

It was an unusual confirmation by the Jewish state of air raids inside Syria.

"Overnight... aircraft targeted several targets in Syria," an Israeli army statement said.

"Several anti-aircraft missiles were launched from Syria following the mission and (army) aerial defence systems intercepted one of the missiles."

None of the missiles fired from Syria hit their targets, the army added.

One missile was intercepted north of Jerusalem by Israel's Arrow air defence system, Israeli media reported.

It would be one of the first times the system has been used.

A Jordanian military source said shrapnel from one missile struck in the north of the kingdom without causing any casualties.

- Air sirens wail -

Both Israeli and foreign media have reported a number of Israeli air strikes inside Syria targeting arms convoys of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel and is now fighting alongside the Damascus regime.

The Jewish state does not usually confirm or deny each raid but may have been led to do so this time by the circumstances of the incident.

The missile fire prompted air raid sirens to go off in the Jordan Valley during the night, the Israeli army said.

In April 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for Hezbollah.

Israel and Syria are still technically at war, though the border had remained largely quiet for decades until 2011 when the Syrian conflict broke out.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been fighting inside Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad against the rebels.

While there has been periodic stray fire into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that has prompted retaliatory strikes, Israel has largely avoided getting sucked into the conflict directly.

Witnesses cited by the press also reported two explosions that could have been caused by the launch of the anti-missile system.

The Arrow 3 interceptor, designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, was handed to air force bases in Israel in January after successful testing by Israel and the United States.

Israel seized most of the Golan Hights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.

Israel pays close attention to developments in the Syrian conflict for fear that it could be exploited by its arch-rival Iran to install allies close to the armistice line on the Golan and Israel's borders.

In the summer of 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war that killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and about 160 Israelis, most of them troops.

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US airstrike kills 40 in Syria mosque

The US military said Thursday it carried out a deadly air strike on an Al-Qaeda meeting in northern Syria and would investigate reports that more than 40 civilians were killed when a mosque was struck in the raid.

“We did not target a mosque, but the building that we did target-which was where the meeting took place-is about 50 feet (15 meters) from a mosque that is still standing,” said Colonel John J. Thomas, spokesman for US Central Command.
According to a Centcom statement, “US forces conducted an airstrike on an Al-Qaeda in Syria meeting location March 16 in Idlib, Syria, killing several terrorists.”
The Centcom spokesman later clarified that the precise location of the strike was unclear-but that it was the same one widely reported to have targeted the village mosque in Al-Jineh, in Aleppo province.
“We are going to look into any allegations of civilian casualties in relation to this strike,” he added, when asked about reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that 42 people had died, most of them civilians.
“We take that very seriously,” he said, adding that Centcom had not received any direct reports of civilian casualties.
Thomas said the unilateral US strike “destroyed one half of a building in which the meeting was occurring.”
Al-Jineh is held by rebel and Islamist groups, but no jihadist factions are thought to be present.
The Britain-based Observatory said that raids by unidentified warplanes had targeted the village mosque during evening prayers.
It said more than 100 people were wounded, with many still trapped under the collapsed mosque.
ec/ch

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Dutch PM lost Turkey's friendship: Erdogan

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had lost the friendship of Ankara after a diplomatic row between the NATO allies over a ban on Turkish ministers speaking in the Netherlands.

Erdogan's comments, at a rally in the northwestern province of Sakarya, came a day after Rutte fought off the challenge of anti-Islam and anti-EU rival Geert Wilders in an election victory hailed across much of Europe.

Erdogan also slammed the European Union for its ruling allowing companies to ban staff from wearing Islamic headscarves under certain conditions.

"Shame on the EU. Down with your European principles, values and justice... They started a clash between the cross and the crescent, there is no other explanation," he said.

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