Israeli surgical strikes have taken out a leader of islamist terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, after the terrorists launched rockets at Israeli civilians earlier this week.
Twenty Syrians, including 17 government soldiers have been killed in continued discontent there, as the protests begin the transition to an armed rebellion against the continued tyranny. Meanwhile, Syria has denied the IAEA access to the North Korean Nuclear site that Israeli jets destroyed in 2007.
Qaddaffi's son, Saif al-Islam, has resorted to consorting with mercernaries in an attempt to escape the Libyans his father once ruled.
Tunisians returned to the streets in protest over Islamists stripping a political party of its place in writing the new Constitution as the Islamist Party with the greatest number of seats attempts to convince liberals to put it in power.
Meanwhile, Yemen's top Police Commander was killed in the ongoing conflict with Al-Qaeda terrorists.
VoA: A Yemeni security official says a top police commander has been killed in a car bombing, the latest in a series of attacks in south Yemen during the popular movement to oust longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The official says at least two other people were wounded in the blast Friday in the coastal city of Aden.
On Thursday, an air strike killed three suspected terrorists and injured six others in southern Yemeni village of Shaqra. The village is part of a region where Yemeni security forces have been waging ongoing battles against al-Qaida-linked terrorists.
President Saleh's government has been trying to oust the militants from their southern strongholds.
Mr. Saleh has said several times he is willing to accept a proposal from the Gulf Cooperation Council that would give him immunity from prosecution if he handed power to a deputy within 30 days.
In each case, he has backed down without signing the measure.
Tunisians in the town that was the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings are emerging Saturday from the first night of a newly imposed curfew.
Officials announced an overnight curfew in Sidi Bouzid on Friday after demonstrators took to the streets for a second day to show their displeasure over the outcome of the country's first free elections.
The protests began after election officials invalidated seats won by the rival Popular List party, citing campaign violations.
On Friday, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Sidi Bouzid. Authorities say several buildings were damaged, including the local headquarters of the Islamist Ennahdha party – the party that secured the most seats in Sunday's voting.
Ennahdha leader Rachid Ghannouchi called for calm and said his party would work to form a new government in “friendliness” and “brotherhood.”
Election officials announced the final results Thursday. Ennahdha received more than 41 percent of the vote and will dominate the constituent assembly.
The assembly has been tasked with writing a new constitution, appointing a president and forming a caretaker government.
The International Criminal Court says intermediaries have been in touch with a fugitive son of the late Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, to discuss a possible surrender so he can face trial.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also said Saturday the court has learned that mercenaries are trying to help Seif al-Islam Gadhafi flee to an African country.
Moreno-Ocampo said his office could order an interception of a plane trying to take him to another nation. Recent reports have said Seif al-Islam was traveling through the Sahara to a neighboring country.
The ICC has charged Seif al-Islam Gadhafi with crimes against humanity. He is accused of killing civilian protesters during the uprising against his father's regime.
On Saturday, the Reuters news service quoted Moreno-Ocampo as saying Seif al-Islam told intermediaries he is innocent of the charges.
In other news, NATO is preparing to wrap up its seven-month-old Libya mission on Monday.
NATO ministers approved a resolution Friday that will terminate the alliance's air campaign. NATO made its decision a day after the U.N. Security Council voted to cancel its mandate that established the mission.
Diplomats say talks this week between Syrian officials and top U.N. nuclear inspectors yielded no immediate breakthrough in the probe into Syria's suspected nuclear sites.
One of the diplomats, who spoke to Western media on the condition of anonymity, says Syria denied a request by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Dair Alzour complex in the Syrian desert.
The IAEA has been seeking access to Dair Alzour, which Syria claims is a non-nuclear site.
The complex was destroyed when it was bombed by Israeli jets in 2007. U.S. intelligence reports say it was a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor intended to produce plutonium for nuclear bombs
At least 20 soldiers and civilians were killed in violence in Syria Saturday, following one of the deadliest days of the seven-month-old uprising against the government in Damascus.
Activists said at least three people died when security forces shelled parts of the restive northern city of Homs. Arab sat channels broadcast videos showing troops loyal to President Bashar al Assad bombing the Bab Amr district, destroying or damaging a number of houses.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 17 soldiers were killed in overnight clashes with suspected army deserters. Al Arabiya TV reported that 90 soldiers defected from the Syrian army in the Bab Amr district Thursday, causing pro-Assad troops to attack.
A Syrian opposition leader also told the TV the Syrian government is “worried that the rebel soldiers turn Homs into their capital, as Libyan rebels did with Benghazi.”
The United Nations and Arab League condemned the violence. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria to “immediately halt military operations and said the calls of the Syrian people for change must be answered with serious reforms, not repression and violence.”
The Arab League committee on Syria has sent an urgent message to Damascus, demanding that it “stop killing Syrian civilians.” Qatari Foreign Minister Fouad Ajami, who heads the committee, is due to meet with Syrian officials Sunday in Doha to try and start a dialogue with the opposition. But several opposition leaders called the meeting “a waste of time.”
Ajami said that many opposition protesters cannot abandon their fight because they have been identified by pro-government forces and will be killed if a ceasefire is called. He said it is still too early to say who is going to win the conflict, but he pointed out that “gravity is working against the regime.”
On Friday, security forces killed at least 40 people as anti-government protesters rallied across the country. Activists say most of the deaths occurred in the Homs and Hama regions.
Israeli air strikes on an Islamic Jihad base in the southern Gaza Strip killed seven terrorists Saturday.
Islamic Jihad said a commander of the Palestinian terrorist group was among those killed in the attacks.
The air raids prompted another rocket fire by Palestinian terrorists in which at least four Israeli civilians were wounded. Israeli police said militants in Gaza fired over 20 rockets into southern Israel.
The Israeli military confirmed the air strikes, saying those hit were responsible for firing rockets that landed in Israel on Wednesday.
In a statement Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said “Israel seeks no confrontation with the Palestinians and does not want to escalate the current situation, but it will not tolerate shelling after shelling without a response.”
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