Israel
Israeli planes killed three Palestinians in Gaza early on Saturday. The men were traveling to a refugee camp, and their car was hit by a missile. Witnesses said that they saw the men s burnt bodies being dragged from the car. The Israeli military said that the airstrike was a pre-emptive one. They were targeting a squad of ‘militants’ who were planning on kidnapping Israelis in the coming Passover holidays. Hamas - which controls Gaza – said that the three men were their members. They declined to comment on Israel s allegations. They called the airstrike a crime and warned of consequences. In the same area last Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian on a motorcycle.Violence had been rising last month, with Israel carrying out a series of airstrikes.
Syria
Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters in Damascus, killing nine people. At least eight protesters fell in Douma, 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of the Syrian capital when police opened fire after protesters emerging from a mosque pelted them with stones. The security forces fired tear gas at the protesters to disperse them before firing live rounds. The death toll could be more than 10, said a witness, but he only provided six full names for those killed: Ibrahim Mubayed, Ahmad Rajab, Fuad Ballah, Muhammed Alaya, Naeem al-Moqaddam and Ammar al-Tinawi as well as a person from the Khuli family and another from the Issa family. “Dozens of people were also wounded and the security forces arrested dozens of others,” the witness said, adding that police are arresting some of the wounded and preventing them from going to hospital for treatment. According to the witness in Douma, around 3,000 protesters took to the streets. Terrified residents cowered indoors as snipers on rooftops opened fire on anyone who went outside, the witness said, adding that security forces ringed Douma, letting in only residents with the right ID cards. Meanwhile, at least three people were killed in the southern village of Sanamen near the flashpoint city of Daraa, when security forces opened fire to disperse a protest, a human rights activist said.But he could identify only one of the victims, Dia al-Shumari, in his 20s, who was shot dead as he entered Sanamen with a group of protesters from two nearby villages, Ankhal and Jassem. Protests calling for major reforms and an end to nearly five decades of emergency law broke out in Syria in mid-March, with Daraa quickly becoming the hub of the protests.
Ivory Coast
Soldiers loyal to incumbent Ivory Coast president Gbagbo fight to retain control of main city. The soldiers were fighting against troops backing his rival Alassane Ouattara. There was fighting on Saturday around the presidential palace, in the Ivory Coast s main city of Abidjan, between forces backing presidential rivals Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara. The two sides are battling for control of the capital and there was more fighting reported around the state broadcaster, RTI, and military bases. Gunfire raged throughout the city. Gunbattles and the sounds of heavy weapons fire rang out across Abidjan as the country s former rebels pressed an offensive to oust Gbagbo, who has refused to concede power. Residents said they heard loud explosions near Agban base, the city s largest, in the Adjame neighbourhood near Cocody where Gbagbo has his official residence. Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross says that more than 800 people were killed in inter-communal violence in a town in western Ivory Coast. The town was the first of many in Ivory Coast to fall earlier this week to an armed group vying to install the country s democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara.
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