Mortar attack against Iraqi town kills 22

Five mortar rounds are fired into a busy market, a residential building and a parking lot in a town south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 50 others.

The attack took place at around 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Thursday against the town of Musayyib.

Police said it appeared the rounds came from the nearby town of Jurf al-Sakhar.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iraqi officials lay the blame on al-Qaeda-linked militants, who had carried out similar attacks in the past.

On Tuesday, a parked car bomb in the town killed five civilians and wounded 13 others, authorities said.

Also on Tuesday, several explosive-laden cars detonated across Baghdad, targeting the city's Shia districts.

One of the bombs ripped through a bus station in the capital's neighborhood of Baiyaa and another went off in a commercial area in the affluent district of Karrada.

US Congress mulls sanctions against Israel boycotters

A bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives that would cut federal funding to American academic institutions that boycott Israel.

The bipartisan legislation was introduced by Representatives Peter Roskam (R-Illinois) and Dan Lipinski (D-Illinois) in early February and is US lawmakers’ first effort at federal level against higher learning institutions that choose to boycott Israel, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.

A similar bill was also introduced by lawmakers in the state of New York and passed the state’s Senate earlier this year but stalled in the New York Assembly when three committees did not discuss or vote on the legislation.

Bahraini forces nab member of opposition group

Security forces in Bahrain have arrested a member of the nation’s main opposition group, al-Wefaq

Hussein Sehwan, who has been a representative of the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, was arrested ahead of a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

The meeting between the UN envoy and Bahrain’s civil society groups was scheduled for Thursday evening.

Al-Wefaq has condemned the arrest, blaming the regime for targeting what it calls the freedom of opinion and expression. The group says Sehwan has been arrested for participating in the February 15th anti-government rallies.

Syrian army launches operation to retake town

The Syrian army has launched an offensive in the strategic Qalamoun region to retake the town of Yabrud from al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Security sources say the army is advancing around the town and is expected to take control of it soon.

Yabrud has been under the control of militants since 2011.

It is the last major town in the Qalamoun region, which the army is fighting to retake.

نیروهای جنگ نرم در عرصه های جنگ سخت (( ستاد سایبری سردار شهید طهرانی مقدم ))

(( ستاد سایبری سردار شهید طهرانی مقدم ))