News in Brief - Sat, Sep, 3, 2015 - 21:30 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on October 2, 2015, for a peace summit on the Ukraine conflict with Western leaders. AFP
  1. Russia says its airstrikes inside Syria target ISIL positions, stressing that it will increase the intensity of the attacks. Moscow says the airstrikes significantly reduced the military potential of ISIL. Russia's air campaign has drawn strong criticism from the U-S and its allies.
  2. Foreign-backed militant groups in Syria have rejected a U-N plan to end the war in the Arab country. The groups include those backed by the U-S such as Division 101. The initiative aims to invite warring parties to form UN-led groups to discuss a roadmap to peace.
  3. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says a fact finding committee must determine the truth about the deadly catastrophe in Hajj pilgrimage. Rouhani made the comments in a ceremony paying tribute to Iranian victims who died in last week’s stampede. 4-hundred sixty-five Iranians lost their lives in the crush.
  4. Saudi airstrikes in the Yemeni province of Sa’ada has left three people dead and several more injured. Meanwhile, Yemeni forces took control of two villages in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan province in a retaliatory raid. Nearly six-thousand four-hundred Yemenis have been killed in the months-long Saudi attacks.
  5. The U-N High Commissioner for Human Rights says the U-S airstrikes on a hospital in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province may amount to war crime. The death toll from the aerial bombardment of the hospital, which belongs to medical charity Doctors Without Borders, has risen to 19.
  6. Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man in Jerusalem al-Quds after he allegedly launched a knife and gun attack on Israeli settlers. Two of the settlers died of their wounds. The Palestinians are increasingly angry at Israel’s violations and the settlers’ crimes in the occupied territories.
  7. Turkish journalists have marched in Istanbul to protest what they called the government-organized violence against media workers and diminishing press freedom. This came days after a prominent Turkish journalist was attacked outside his home. The main opposition party has warned of growing social tension under President Erdogan.
  8. Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia militias have begun pulling back small weapons from the front line in east Ukraine’s conflict zone. This comes a day after talks between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany. The withdrawal follows a peace deal reached in February.

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