IS Claims Responsibility For Attacks On Indonesian Churches

Islamic state claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks on three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya on Sunday that has killed 11 people, the Islamist militant group’s Amaq news agency said, without providing any evidence.

Israel Launches Immense Military Strike Against Iranian Targets In Syria

MOUNT BENTAL, Golan Heights Israeli warplanes bombed dozens of Iran-linked military facilities in Syria, the Israeli military said Thursday, as tensions soared after Israeli positions came under fire from a barrage of rockets fired from Syrian territory.

The army said in a statement that its fighter jets targeted Iranian intelligence and logistics sites around Damascus, as well as munition warehouses, observation and military posts. A top official said the strikes hit most of Iran’s facilities in Syria.

The attacks followed a wave of overnight rocket strikes directed at Israeli positions in the Golan Heights all of them apparently intercepted that Israel blamed on Iran.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited China this week and met President Xi Jinping, the state media of both countries said on Tuesday, their second encounter in two months amid warming ties between the Cold War allies, Reuters reports. 

A Ho Chi Minh City court has sentenced a man to four and half years in prison for writing anti-state social media posts, Vietnam’s state media reported on Thursday. Bui Vo, 56, was found guilty on Wednesday of “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’’ in his Facebook posts, criticising the ruling Communist Party and government officials, according to Vietnam News (VNS).

Israel has given a Human Rights Watch director two weeks to leave the country, accusing him of promoting a boycott, in a move the rights group said sought to muzzle criticism. The interior ministry said Tuesday it had terminated the residency permit of HRW’s Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir, a US citizen, over accusations that he supported a boycott of Israel.

The Iraqi air force on Sunday said it has attacked ISIL positions in Syria that were reportedly used by the group's commanders. Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi's office confirmed the attack in a statement released on Sunday morning. According to the statement, one of the strikes targeted a position south of the town of Deshaisha. It explained that ISIL commanders used the base, situated near the city of Deir Az Zor in the country's east.