30/01/2013 | World

French troops deploy in last of Mali rebel strongholds

French troops have taken control of the airport in the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold in the north, the French army and a local official told reporters today.

05/02/2013 | World

French troops to begin Mali pullout in March, Foreign Minister says

France plans to begin pulling troops out of Mali from March and will focus its operations on flushing out Islamist rebels in the north of the country, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said today.

18/01/2013 | World

Mali army retakes town, Islamists flee French air raids

Islamist rebels in Mali abandoned the central town of Diabaly today after fleeing a French air strike, military sources said, while West African troops arrived in Bamako to take on the insurgents in Mali's north.

21/01/2013 | World

French troops take central Mali towns, rebels slip away

French and Malian armoured columns rolled into the towns of Diabaly and Douentza in central Mali today after the al Qaeda-linked rebels who had seized them fled into the bush to avoid air strikes.

28/01/2013 | World

French, Malians retake Timbuktu, rebels torch library

French and Malian troops retook control of Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, today after Islamist rebel occupiers fled the ancient Sahara trading town and torched several buildings, including a library holding priceless manuscripts.

14/01/2013 | World

Air strike near Damascus kills 20: opposition activists

An air strike on a rebel-held town southwest of the Syrian capital Damascus killed 20 people, resident opposition activists said.

16/01/2013 | World

French, Malian troops encircle Islamist rebels in central Mali

French ground troops deployed around the central Malian town of Niono today in a bid to halt any further advance by Islamist rebels who have seized the nearby village of Diabaly, Malian military sources said.

17/01/2013 | World

Mali army reinforces town near capital after Islamist sighting

21/12/2012 | World

Syrian rebels fight for strategic town in Hama province

Rebels began to push into a strategic town in Syria's central Hama province today and laid siege to at least one town dominated by President Bashar al-Assad's minority sect, activists said.

02/01/2013 | World

Syrian rebels attack military airport in northwest

Syrian rebels, some from Islamist units, fired machineguns and mortars at helicopters grounded at a northern military air base near the main Aleppo-Damascus highway, a monitoring group said.

03/01/2013 | World

Syria rebels in push to capture air base

Rebels battled today to seize an air base in northern Syria, part of a campaign to fight back against the air power that has given President Bashar al-Assad's forces free rein to bomb rebel-held towns

01/12/2012 | World

Syria rebels bombed as opposition open to peacekeepers

Syrian jets bombed rebel-held areas of Damascus, residents said, as the opposition indicated it could accept an international peacekeeping force if President Bashar al-Assad is forced from power.

03/12/2012 | World

Syria denies plans to use chemical weapons

Syria would not use chemical weapons, if it had them, against its own people, the foreign ministry said in a statement on state television today.

04/12/2012 | World

NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons

NATO told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today that any use of chemical weapons in his fight against encroaching rebel forces would be met by an immediate international response.

07/11/2012 | World

Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace

Syrian rebels fired mortars at President Bashar al-Assad's palace in Damascus today but missed, in an attack underlining the growing boldness of forces fighting to end his family's 42 years in power.

08/11/2012 | World

Syrian rebels hit official forces; I'd live and die in Syria,' Assad warns

Syrian rebels attacked army roadblocks in Midan district in the heart of Damascus today to relieve pressure on outlying rebel strongholds being pounded by air strikes and artillery, opposition activists said.

25/11/2012 | World

Syrian rebels take airbase in slow progress toward Damascus

Syrian rebels said they had captured a helicopter base east of Damascus after an overnight assault, their latest gain in a costly battle to unseat President Bashar al-Assad that is drawing nearer to his seat of power.

31/10/2012 | World

Syrian air force on offensive after failed truce

Syrian warplanes bombed rebel targets with renewed intensity after the end of a widely ignored four-day truce between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and insurgents.

04/11/2012 | World

Syrian rebels attack air base to secure north-south corridor

Syrian rebels attacked a military airport in the country's north in a push to cut off Syria's biggest city Aleppo from the capital Damascus, and secure a strategic north-south corridor.

05/11/2012 | World

Air strike kills 20 rebels in Syria

At least 20 Syrian rebel fighters were killed in an air strike in the northwest province of Idlib, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

17/10/2012 | World

Divided Syrian rebels agree on joint leadership

Syria's divided rebels have agreed to set up a joint leadership to oversee their battle to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, two insurgent sources said as fighting raged in cities across the country.

18/10/2012 | World

Peace envoy to visit Syria to work out Eid ceasefire

The international mediator on Syria will go to Damascus in the next few days to try to broker a brief ceasefire in the war between President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebels during the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival.

21/10/2012 | World

Assad tells Syria envoy arms flows to rebels must stop

A car bomb killed 13 people in central Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad told an international mediator seeking a truce in Syria's civil war that the key to any political solution was to stop arming rebels.

26/09/2012 | World

Syrian rebels bomb army command in Damascus

Syrian rebels bombed a military complex in Damascus, striking at the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's power and igniting a fire which gutted the army command headquarters.

07/10/2012 | World

Rebels seize Syrian army outpost at Turkey border

Syrian rebels have seized a government army outpost near the Turkish border province of Hatay and a rebel flag flew over the building, while clashes could be heard in the area of a nearby Syrian village, a witness and villagers said.

14/10/2012 | World

Assad forces accused of using cluster bombs as rebels gain

Syrian government forces have dropped Russian-made cluster bombs over civilian areas in the past week as they battle to reverse rebel gains on a strategic highway, Human Rights Watch said.

03/09/2012 | World

Syria says envoy can only succeed if rebels lose outside support

Syria said new UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi could only make headway if outside countries ceased helping rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad and instead declared support for a UN-backed peace plan.

05/09/2012 | World

Rebels hit army headquarters in Damascus

Syrian rebels said they planted bombs inside the Syrian army's General Staff headquarters in central Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad's forces bulldozed buildings to the ground in parts of the capital that have backed the uprising.

06/09/2012 | World

US urges Iraq to inspect Iran supply flights to Syria

US officials are questioning Iraq about Iranian flights in Iraqi airspace suspected of ferrying weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose conflict with rebels threatens to drag his neighbors into a regional struggle.

26/08/2012 | World

Assad's forces accused of massacre near Syrian capital

Syrian opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's army of massacring scores of people in a town close to the capital that it recently recaptured from rebels.

27/08/2012 | World

Syrian helicopter down under fire in Damascus

A Syrian military helicopter came down under fire and in flames in Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad's air force strafed and bombarded rebel-held districts in the capital and in Aleppo.

01/09/2012 | World

Syrian rebels hit back at Assad's air power

Rebels seized an air defence facility and attacked a military airport in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said, hitting back at an air force on which President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly relying to crush his opponents.

05/08/2012 | World

Assad's forces pound rebel stronghold in Aleppo

Syrian army tanks shelled Aleppo and a helicopter gunship strafed rebel positions with heavy machinegun fire as they fought for control of the country's biggest city and key battleground of the 17-month uprising.

07/08/2012 | World

Syrian forces encircle rebels in Aleppo stronghold

Syrian rebels trying to fight off an army offensive in Aleppo said today they were running low on ammunition as President Bashar al-Assad's forces encircled their stronghold at the southern entrance to the country's biggest city.

14/08/2012 | World

UN starts food airdrops in S.Sudan for Sudan refugees

The United Nations said it had started airdrops to deliver emergency food to a camp in South Sudan packed with people fleeing fighting on the Sudan side of the joint border.

04/06/2012 | World

Syria rebels say no longer committed to Annan plan

Syrian rebels are no longer committed to a UN-backed peace plan that has failed to end the violence and have launched attacks on government forces to "defend our people", a spokesman said today.

12/06/2012 | World

UN says Syrian helicopters fire on rebel strongholds

UN monitors said Syrian helicopters fired on rebel strongholds north of Homs and called for "immediate and unfettered access" to conflict zones where they had heard many women and children were trapped.

17/07/2012 | World

Syria fighting rages in capital

Clashes in Damascus between rebels and state forces raged for a third day, in the fiercest fighting to hit Syria's seat of power since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began 17 months ago.

24/09/2011 | World

Libyans fight for control of Gaddafi stronghold Sirte

Libyan provisional government forces backed by NATO warplanes swarmed into the city of Sirte but weathered heavy sniper fire as they tried to win control of one of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi's last bastions of support.

08/10/2011 | World

Snipers slow government attack on Gaddafi hometown

Transitional Libyan government forces swept into Sirte in one of the biggest assaults yet on Muammar Gaddafi's hometown, but had to seek cover when they drew fire from his diehard loyalists.

25/02/2012 | World

As violence rages, Syria holds referendum

Syria will hold a referendum tomorrow on a new constitution, dismissed by the opposition as a charade amid an intensifying crackdown on the 11-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

09/09/2011 | World

Libya fighters move on last Gaddafi bastions

Libyan fighters launched assaults on the final bastions of Muammar Gaddafi loyalists, with battles reported inside the holdout town of Bani Walid and near the ousted ruler's home town of Sirte.

16/09/2011 | World

Gaddafi loyalists put Libyan forces to flight

Diehard loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi fired barrages of rockets and mortars to repel an assault by Libyan interim government forces on one of their last bastions and also held off an advance on another.

19/09/2011 | World

Gaddafi spokesman says UK, French mercenaries caught

Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists said they had captured 17 mercenaries - some British and French - in what would amount to a severe blow to Libya's new rulers and their international backers.

24/08/2011 | World

France, partners working on new Libya UN resolution

France and its partners at the United Nations are working on a draft resolution that would enable Libyan assets to be unfrozen and sanctions to be unlocked, a French diplomatic source said.

27/08/2011 | World

Tripoli buries dead as battle toll emerges

A week after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, residents of Tripoli ventured out to begin the grim work of burying the dead in mass graves today, as evidence emerged of widespread summary killings during the battle for the Libyan capital.

03/09/2011 | World

Libyans say closing in on Gaddafi bastions

Libya's interim government said it was closing in on bastions of support for Muammar Gaddafi, although there were mixed signals of how quickly their forces were moving.

15/08/2011 | World

Rebels say Tripoli encircled; Gaddafi defiant

Libyan rebels said they had seized a second strategic town near Tripoli within 24 hours, completing the encirclement of the capital in the boldest advances of their six-month uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

21/08/2011 | World

Rebels enter Tripoli, crowds celebrate in streets

Rebel fighters streamed into Tripoli as Muammar Gaddafi's forces collapsed and crowds took to the streets to celebrate, tearing down posters of the Libyan leader.

22/08/2011 | World

Obama promises US aid for post-Gaddafi Libya

US President Barack Obama called for Muammar Gaddafi to end the bloodshed in Libya as pockets of his loyalist forces continued to fight.

25/07/2011 | World

UN envoy to meet Libya rebels over peace plan

The UN envoy to Libya will discuss with rebel leaders informal plans for a negotiated end to the war as Western powers ramp up diplomatic and military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to step down.

30/07/2011 | World

Libyan rebel commander killed by allied militia

Libyan rebels say the gunmen who shot dead their military chief were fighters allied in their struggle to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, raising questions over divisions and lawlessness within rebel ranks.

02/08/2011 | World

US relaxes limits on Somalia aid as famine looms

The United States is working to get more relief into famine-ravaged southern Somalia and is reassuring aid agencies they will not be penalized for programs in regions controlled by al Shabaab rebels, US officials said.

21/05/2011 | World

Libya rebels say goverment shells port city

Libyan government forces shelled residential areas on outside Misrata, a port city held by rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel website said.

12/06/2011 | World

UAE recognises Libya rebels, to open Benghazi office

The United Arab Emirates said it had recognized Libyan rebels as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the state news agency reported, becoming the second Arab state to take such a move.

21/07/2011 | World

Gaddafi rules out talks, rally emphasises divisions

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ruled out talks with the rebels trying to end his 41-year-rule, raising questions about whether a flurry of Western efforts to negotiate an end to the deepening conflict can succeed.

27/04/2011 | World

US helps Libyan rebels, fighting rages in west

The United States took steps to throw a financial lifeline to rebels controlling eastern Libya while forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi focused their firepower on pockets of resistance in the west.

02/05/2011 | World

Fighting rages in Libya's Western Mountains

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi stepped up their onslaught on rebel areas of Libya's Western Mountains, rebels said, and refugees said towns in the isolated region were on the brink of starvation

04/05/2011 | World

Libya coalition tries to help rebels raise funds

Ministers from the NATO-backed coalition against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi meet in Rome seeking ways to get money to rebels who are desperate to buy food and medicine and shore up their administration.

18/04/2011 | World

Libya: Rebels say 17 dead as Misrata hit by rockets

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi bombarded Misrata with rockets and artillery and 17 people were killed in the previous day's shelling of the besieged Libyan city, a rebel spokesman said.

20/04/2011 | World

France promises Libyan rebels it will intensify air strikes

In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged stronger military action at his first meeting with the leader of the opposition Libyan National Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the Elysee presidential office said in a statement.

24/04/2011 | World

NATO jets strike inside Gaddafi compound

A NATO airstrike flattened a building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound  in what a press official from Gaddafi's government said was an attempt on the Libyan leader's life.

01/04/2011 | World

Gaddafi bombards Misrata as rebels begin to lose hold

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are mounting an intense artillery bombardment of rebel-held Misrata and pro-Gaddafi troops are attacking shops and homes in the city centre, a rebel spokesman said.

07/04/2011 | World

Libyan rebels blame deadly strike on NATO mistake

Rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi said five of their fighters were killed when NATO planes mistakenly bombed a rebel tank column near the contested port of Brega in eastern Libya.

17/04/2011 | World

Gaddafi presses Libyan rebels, West says no troops

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi kept up an offensive on the rebels' eastern frontline outpost of Ajdabiyah, while the West again ruled out sending ground troops to help the rebel cause.

10/03/2011 | World

US spy chief says Gaddafi forces to prevail

Libyan rebels have lost momentum and are not likely to dislodge Muammar Gaddafi from power, top US intelligence officials said as Washington backed further away from any military action.

14/03/2011 | World

Libyan jets bomb rebels as no-fly diplomacy crawls

Muammar Gaddafi's jets bombed Libyan rebels in a counter-offensive that has pushed them back 100 miles in a week, far outpacing diplomatic efforts to impose a no-fly zone to help the rebels

30/03/2011 | World

Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert US government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials said.

09/03/2011 | World

Fierce fighting across Libya as government sends envoy

A Libyan insurgent said rebels had retaken the heart of the closest city to the capital from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in some of the fiercest fighting in almost three weeks of clashes.

10/03/2011 | World

Libya plans full offensive against rebels, Gaddafi's son warns

Libya is preparing full-scale military action to crush its rebellion and will not surrender even if Western powers intervene in the conflict, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's most prominent son said.

10/03/2011 | World

Gaddafi threatens offensive, ignores diplomatic moves

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son told rebels they faced a full-scale assault to crush their three-week-old uprising as troops, tanks and warplanes punched into the rebel-held east of the country.

25/02/2011 | World

Rebel control grows in Libya, UN Security Council to meet

The Libyan coastal town of Zawiyah was under the control of anti-government protesters, a witness said, bringing a popular uprising against Muammar Gaddafi within 50 km of the capital Tripoli. The UN Security Council was to meet today to discuss a proposal for sanctions against Libyan leaders.

05/03/2011 | World

Libyan rebels win battle in west, push on from east

Libyan rebels said they had repelled a fierce attack by Muammar Gaddafi's forces on the western town of Zawiyah and were pushing toward his home town Sirte from the east.

06/03/2011 | World

Gaddafi launches counter-offensive on Libya rebels

Troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi launched counter-offensives against rebel-held towns, increasing fears that Libya is heading for a civil war rather than the swift revolutions seen in Tunisia and Egypt.

31/01/2013 | Latin America

Colombia, rebels resume talks amid new tensions

Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels resumed peace talks today to end their half century-long conflict amid new tensions after the guerrilla group resumed kidnappings and attacks that sparked an angry government reaction.

02/02/2013 | Latin America

Colombia's FARC to free 3 kidnapped members of security forces

Colombia's FARC rebels today admitted to holding two police patrolmen and a soldier it seized last week and pledged to free them in an apparent goodwill gesture at the end of a tense week of peace negotiations with the government.

19/11/2012 | Latin America

Rebels call truce as peace talks start with Colombia

Colombia's FARC rebels said today they would call a two-month unilateral ceasefire, the first truce in more than a decade, as peace negotiators met in Cuba in the latest attempt to end the five-decade war.

22/11/2012 | Latin America

Colombia FARC rebels free 4 Chinese captives held since 2011

Colombia's FARC rebels freed three captive Chinese oil workers and their translator after holding them in jungle camps for more than a year, the defence ministry said today, an apparent goodwill gesture as the rebels seek to negotiate a peace accord to end five decades of war.

20/01/2013 | Latin America

Colombia's FARC rebels end ceasefire

A unilateral ceasefire declared by the Marxist FARC rebels at the start of peace talks with the Colombian government ended after the government refused to join the truce, the group said.

14/10/2012 | Latin America

Colombia tries peace talks with FARC to end long conflict

Colombia's government and rebels will sit down this week to start peace talks aimed at ending nearly half a century of conflict after a 10-year military offensive against the guerrillas failed to deliver a coup de grace.

16/10/2012 | Latin America

Colombia, FARC rebels set to start peace talks Wednesday

Colombia's government and Marxist rebels will start peace talks as planned on Wednesday in Oslo in a bid to end nearly half a century of conflict after logistical problems delayed departure of the delegates, Colombia's government said.

15/11/2012 | Latin America

Colombian rebels want constitutional assembly after peace deal

The top FARC rebel negotiator wants a national assembly to change the constitution once a peace deal is reached with the government, according to an interview on a left-wing website published today

27/08/2012 | Latin America

Colombia, rebels to begin peace talks soon, sources say

Colombia's government will soon begin talks that could lead to formal negotiations for peace with the country's biggest guerrilla group, known as the FARC, according to a Colombian intelligence source.

03/09/2012 | Latin America

Colombian rebels welcome peace talks 'without hatred'

Colombia's FARC rebel leader said the group would join peace talks with the government "without hatred or arrogance" in its first response to President Juan Manuel Santos' announcement of imminent negotiations.

05/09/2012 | Latin America

Colombia names team for peace talks with FARC rebels

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos unveiled a six-man team to negotiate with FARC rebels in the hope of ending almost 50 years of war.

04/07/2012 | Latin America

Colombian rebels kill five oil workers in south

Colombia's leftist guerrillas killed five oil contractors working for the state-run petroleum company Ecopetrol, hurting the country's image as a prime destination for oil and mining investment.

06/07/2012 | Latin America

Peru's Humala touts rebel capture after deadly protest

Peruvian police captured 11 Shining Path rebels and freed 10 children thought to be in combat training, President Ollanta Humala said on Friday after a string of military setbacks and a week of anti-mining violence.

22/07/2012 | Latin America

Colombian rebels blow up Cano-Limon oil pipeline

Colombia's largest rebel group has blown up a section of the 220,000-barrel-per-day-capacity Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline, Ecopetrol and the army said, in the latest in a series of attacks on oil infrastructure.

14/04/2012 | Latin America

Peru says hostages freed, clashes with Shining Path

Peru's Shining Path early on Saturday released 36 gas pipeline workers it took hostage six days ago in a remote jungle region in southern Peru, the government said, saying security forces had clashed with the rebels.

20/04/2012 | Latin America

Peru's army prepares for 'all-out' assault on rebels

Peru's army is preparing one of its largest offensives in two decades against Shining Path rebels, officials said, hoping to quash remnants of the group that embarrassed the government over the weekend.

27/04/2012 | Latin America

Peru rebels kill 3 security forces, injure 2 on army search

Shining Path rebels killed three members of Peru's security forces and wounded two others while they were searching for police who disappeared in an earlier ambush, the armed forces said.

27/11/2011 | Latin America

FARC rebels execute 4 military hostages

Colombian FARC rebels executed four members of the security forces during a botched mission to free them from a decade as hostages, the most violent act by the group since troops killed its leader Alfonso Cano this month.

26/03/2012 | Latin America

Colombian troops kill 35 rebels in new blow to FARC

Colombian troops killed 35 leftist FARC rebels in a remote jungle region, President Juan Manuel Santos said, the second blow to the drug-funded group in less than a week.

02/04/2012 | Latin America

Colombian rebels free 10 captives held more than a decade

Colombia's FARC rebels freed 10 members of the armed forces held hostage in jungle prison camps for more than a decade, the last of a group of captives the drug-funded guerrilla group has held as bargaining chips to pressure the government.

09/02/2011 | Latin America

Colombia's FARC rebels free politician

Colombia's FARC rebels have handed over a kidnapped local politician, the first of five hostages they plan to release in the next week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

07/08/2011 | Latin America

Colombia's Santos seeks new tactics against rebels

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos vowed to develop better strategies in the war on Marxist guerrillas who still manage regular small attacks despite being at their weakest in decades.

06/11/2011 | Latin America

Colombia rebels reject demobilization plea, vow fight

Colombia's FARC rebels scorned the "happy laughter" of their foes and rejected a plea to demobilize after the killing of their leader Alfonso Cano gave President Juan Manuel Santos his biggest military victory.