Islamic State seizes

Islamic State seizes last Syrian oilfield under government control, monitor says

Islamic State (IS) fighters have seized the last major oilfield under Syrian government control during battles over a vast central desert zone, a group monitoring the conflict says.

The Jazal field was shut down and clashes were ongoing east of Homs, with casualties reported on both sides, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, without giving dates or more details.

Syria's army said it had repulsed an attack in the same area but did not mention Jazal or comment on how much of the country's battered energy infrastructure remained under its sway.

It said it killed 25 fighters, including non-Syrian jihadists.

"The regime has lost the last oilfield in Syria," said the Observatory, which tracks violence through a network of sources on the ground.

Commentators on social media said fighting had surged in the last two to three days and the rebels had taken the oilfield on Sunday.

Jazal is a medium-sized field that lies to the north-west of the rebel-held ancient city of Palmyra, close to a region that holds Syria's main natural gas fields and multi-million-dollar extraction facilities.

The army, which has been fighting to retake the city and surrounding areas since they fell in May, had managed to SECURE the oil field's perimeter in June.

The Observatory also said US-led coalition bombingRAI DSin areas in the militant's de facto capital of Raqqa had killed at least 16 militants, including five foreign jihadists.

Islamist insurgents bombarded the heart of the Syrian capital Damascus and mortars killed at least one civilian and wounded scores, state television said.

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North and South Korea

North and South Korea begin talks for rare post-war family reunions

North and South Korean Red Cross officials have begun talks at a border village to organise the latest of rare reunions of families separated by the Korean War.

The discussions at Panmunjom were made possible after the two sides reached an agreement last month to end their latest military standoff.

The talks on Monday were expected to focus on confirming a date and venue for the event, with the most likely outcome a reunion at the North's Mount Kumgang resort sometime in early October.

Millions of people were separated during the 1950-53 conflict that sealed the division between the two Koreas.

Most died without having a chance to see or hear from their families on the other side of the border, across which all civilian communication is banned.

About 66,000 South Koreans — many of them in their 80s or 90s — are on the waiting list for an eventual reunion, but only several hundred can be chosen for each occasion.

The reunion program began in earnest after a historic North-South summit in 2000, and was initially an annual event.
























































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