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Turkey to Establish Military Base in Northern Iraq

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu (Reuters)
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu (Reuters)
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Turkey to Establish Military Base in Northern Iraq

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu (Reuters)
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu (Reuters)

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced plans to establish a military base in northern Iraq, similar to that in northern Syria.

Ankara will establish the base in the Metina area in the northern Iraqi region of Dohuk to block the movement of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters there, Soylu told members of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s executive board on Friday.

“The operations in northern Iraq will continue. Metina region is an important strategic place. Just like we did in Syria, we will establish bases and control the area,” Soylu stressed.

“This region is a route to Qandil mountains and we will control this route,” he added, referring to PKK hideouts in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.

Last week, the Turkish army launched a new ground and air offensive against outlawed Kurdish militants’ bases in northern Iraq.

Commando forces landed in the Metina region from helicopters while warplanes dropped bombs on PKK targets.

Turkey considers the PKK as a terror group. The Turkish army regularly conducts cross-border operations and air raids against PKK bases in northern Iraq.

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Arab World

Israel Military Issues Evacuation Warning for Tyre in South Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Military Issues Evacuation Warning for Tyre in South Lebanon

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike in Hanniyeh village of Lebanon, on April 5, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military warned residents of Tyre in southern Lebanon to evacuate on Wednesday as it continued to target the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

"Urgent and repeated warning to residents of the city of Tyre, specifically in Shabriha ... you must evacuate your homes immediately," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel said it supported the two-week ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran but maintained the deal "does not include Lebanon", where it has been fighting Hezbollah.

Tel Aviv has been battling the group since it launched rocket fire at Israel in March.

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction of Iran threatened by US President Donald Trump.

Arab World

Morocco Dismantles Terrorist Cell in 4 Cities

Moroccan security forces. AFP file photo
Moroccan security forces. AFP file photo
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Morocco Dismantles Terrorist Cell in 4 Cities

Moroccan security forces. AFP file photo
Moroccan security forces. AFP file photo

Moroccan security forces have dismantled a six-member terrorist cell, according to a statement released by the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ).

The suspects were apprehended during coordinated raids in Casablanca, Kenitra, Sidi Taïbi, and the Dar El Gueddari region of Sidi Kacem Province, BCIJ said on Tuesday.

Investigations revealed a criminal modus operandi centered on “legitimizing” the process of funding extremist activities through theft and money laundering.

The cell is accused of raiding livestock farms near Kenitra and Sidi Slimane, then reselling the stolen goods in markets across the Safi and Sidi Bennour provinces, BCIJ said in its statement.

During the operation on April 5 and 6, authorities seized extremist manuscripts, bladed weapons, and significant sums of Moroccan dirhams believed to be criminal proceeds.

Officers also confiscated equipment used in the robberies, including a balaclava, gloves, a motorcycle, and two vans used for transporting stolen livestock.

The BCIJ, operating under the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), confirmed that the suspects remain in custody.

The investigations, supervised by the Prosecutor General’s Office for terrorism and extremism, are seeking to uncover the full extent of the group’s criminal network and identify any remaining accomplices.

Arab World

Preliminary UN Probe Says Israel and Likely Hezbollah Responsible for Peacekeeper Deaths

A relative reacts next to the grave of Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, after the funeral ceremony at Cikutra Heroes Cemetery in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
A relative reacts next to the grave of Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, after the funeral ceremony at Cikutra Heroes Cemetery in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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Preliminary UN Probe Says Israel and Likely Hezbollah Responsible for Peacekeeper Deaths

A relative reacts next to the grave of Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, after the funeral ceremony at Cikutra Heroes Cemetery in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, April 5, 2026. (Reuters)
A relative reacts next to the grave of Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeper killed in Lebanon, after the funeral ceremony at Cikutra Heroes Cemetery in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, April 5, 2026. (Reuters)

The UN said that preliminary findings from its probe into the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon last month show one was killed by an Israeli tank projectile and two by an improvised explosive device most likely placed by Hezbollah.

"These are preliminary findings, based on initial physical evidence," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that ‌a full investigation ‌was continuing which included engagement with the ‌parties ⁠concerned.

Dujarric called the ⁠incidents "unacceptable" and said they could amount to war crimes under international law.

He added that the United Nations had requested that the cases be investigated and prosecuted by national authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon on ⁠March 29 and 30 after a ‌bloody weekend in which Lebanese ‌journalists and medics were also killed in Israeli strikes.

Indonesia has urged ‌the UN to thoroughly investigate in light of the ‌preliminary findings, Veronica Rompis, a senior foreign ministry official told reporters on Wednesday, adding that all perpetrators should be brought to justice.

Bombardment in southern Lebanon on Tuesday forced a ‌convoy of humanitarian aid organized by the Vatican's embassy for a besieged Christian town to ⁠turn back, ⁠a priest in the town told Reuters.

Also on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the peacekeeping force, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, said the Israeli military had blocked a UNIFIL logistics convoy and briefly detained one of its peacekeepers.

The spokesperson, Kandice Ardiel, said that any detention of a United Nations peacekeeper was a blatant violation of international law and that the Israeli military had informed UNIFIL it had launched an investigation into the issue.