Alawi

With Iraq rocked by months of protests against corruption and nepotism, the judiciary is investigating allegations ministeries are up for sale as politicians wrangle to form a new government.    

The death toll from anti-government protests in Iraq has risen to 556, Iraq's Independent High Commission for Human Rights said on Feb. 2.

A statement from the press office of Ali al-Bayati, a representative of the commission, said those who doubt the figure should reveal their evidence.

Iraq's president on Feb. 1 assigned the country's former communications minister to form a new government.

Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi announced President Barham Salih's mandate to form the new government on Twitter.

He also addressed protestors urging them to continue their demonstrations until a change was achieved in the country.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım congratulated his Iraqi counterpart, Haider al-Abadi, on Iraq's declared victory against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a phone call on July 19 and offered Turkey's help to rebuild the devastated city, Iraqi Ambassador to Ankara Hisham al-Alawi has said. 

Syrian rebels pressed on with a fresh advance in the central province of Hama, as they bid to take out its military aiport, a rebel commander and a monitor said Tuesday.
      
"The rebels are now nine kilometres (six miles) away from Hama military airport, which they want to put out of action," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.
      

A car bomb claimed by rebels killed at least 34 people on Friday in a government-controlled village in the central Syrian province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported.
      
More than 50 people were wounded in the attack in Al-Horra, SANA said, blaming the attack on rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
      

Syria's army said on June 15 it had recaptured the strategic town of Kassab, near the only border crossing with Turkey in Latakia province, after it fell to rebels almost three months ago.

Syrian government forces on June 15 recaptured the strategic town of Kassab, near the only border crossing with Turkey in northwestern province of Latakia, state television reported.