Violent clashes despite cease-fire

BEIRUT – Syrian warplanes bombed rebel areas near Damascus on Thursday as President Bashar Assad’s troops battled opposition fighters for control of the road linking the capital to the country’s largest airport. Assad’s forces are trying drive out rebels who have established enclaves in the suburbs. While the government has lost control of large swaths of territory in the country’s north and east, including parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the capital remains tightly secured.

Syrian troops backed by tanks entered a border zone sending hundreds of people fleeing into Turkey as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of a possible escalation of the conflict.Clinton said the troop build-up was "worrisome" as it could increase the chances of a border clash and spell fresh misery for refugees fleeing a crackdown following pro-democracy protests, which hit the 100-day mark on Thursday.Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed the border village of Khirbet al-Joz, where many of the displaced had massed, an activist at the scene told AFP.

Syrian troops backed by tanks entered a border zone sending hundreds of people fleeing into Turkey as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of a possible escalation of the conflict.Clinton said the troop build-up was "worrisome" as it could increase the chances of a border clash and spell fresh misery for refugees fleeing a crackdown following pro-democracy protests, which hit the 100-day mark on Thursday.Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed the border village of Khirbet al-Joz, where many of the displaced had massed, an activist at the scene told AFP.

In a major step toward ending one of the world’s longest, bloodiest insurgencies, the Kurds’ jailed rebel leader called Thursday for a “new era” of peace that includes an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of thousands of his fighters from Turkey.

UNITED NATIONS — A group of armed fighters linked to the Syrian opposition detained more than 20 U.N. peacekeepers Wednesday in the increasingly volatile zone separating Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights. The U.N. Security Council demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

Syrian troops backed by tanks on Thursday stormed a village along the Turkish border, where thousands fleeing a violent crackdown on dissent have massed, an activist at the scene told AFP.Syrian security forces entered the northern village of Khirbet al-Joz in the early morning, the activist told AFP in Nicosia by telephone.Across the border, in Turkey, witnesses told AFP they saw soldiers and tanks approach the frontier.

JERUSALEM — Gaza militants on Tuesday fired a rocket into Israel for the first time in three months, rattling a cross-border truce that has held since Israel’s last major military offensive against the Hamas-run territory. Militants claiming affiliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement took responsibility for the attack, saying they fired the rocket to avenge the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody.