Syrian troops battle rebels near Lebanon border

AL-QASR, LEBANON (AP) — Syrian forces battled rebels in the central province of Homs near the border with Lebanon on Friday as part of a counteroffensive aimed at regaining control of territory around the country and along strategic border areas.

With a fresh influx of weapons, opposition fighters have made significant gains in the past weeks, particularly in the southern province of Daraa, where rebels have been advancing in the region between the Jordanian border and the capital, Damascus.

The province of Homs and its capital of the same name were the scenes of some of the heaviest fighting during the first year of Syrian conflict. The violence has escalated there in recent weeks, withSyrian war planes hitting the city daily.

In the past two days, troops have clashed with rebels on the edges of the province along the Lebanese border in some of the worst fighting in the area in months.

On Friday, sporadic explosions inside Syria could be heard from the Lebanese side of the border and an Associated Press reporter said Syrian warplanes carried out at least one airstrike inside Syrian territory.

The border area is strategically important to both sides fighting in Syria's civil war and battles there have been frequent in past weeks, particularly in and around the town of Qusair in Homs province. The area is considered vital to the Syrian regime because of its location along a road linking Damascus with the city of Homs, a strategic supply route for the military.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday's clashes between soldiers and opposition fighters were concentrated around Qusair. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Overlooking Qusair from the Lebanese side are villages populated mostly by Shiite Muslim supporters of the Hezbollah militant group, who have supported Assad's regime during Syria's two-year conflict. The rebels fighting to topple Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect, are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. The Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

In the Lebanese village of al-Qasr, which is on the opposite side of the border from Qusair, residents said they had gotten used to the shelling.

"Yesterday, the explosions were nonstop," Ali Nasereddine said, sitting in the garden of his two-story house, fewer than 100 meters (yards) from a Syrian army post.

A funeral was held for Riyad Kinyar, a Shiite Syrian soldier who was wounded in the fighting Thursday and died upon arrival in a hospital in al-Qasr. Later Friday, the soldier was taken across the border to his hometown of Matraba for burial. Shooting in the air — a sign of mourning — could be heard across the border.

The Syrian conflict started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war that has increasingly taken sectarian overtones. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.

Also on Friday, Syrian warplanes carried out airstrikes around the country, hitting targets in Daraa in the south, in Hasaka province in the north east near the border with Turkey and in the northern city of Aleppo, parts of which have been under rebel control since last summer.

The airstrikes come a day after a U.S.-based human right group accused the Syrian air force of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas around the country — attacks the group claims amount to war crimes. More than 4,300 people have been killed in aerial bombardments since last summer, Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday.

In Tehran, Iranian state broadcaster Irib said an Iranian journalist was wounded on Thursday in a shooting near Damascus.

The Irib report on Friday blamed "terrorists" for the attack — a term the Syrian regime uses for rebels. Iran has backed Assad's regime in the civil war.

Irib says the unidentified journalist was shot in the abdomen and was treated in a hospital in the capital.

An Iranian official in Damascus told The Associated Press that the journalist was driving his car on a highway linking the city with the Damascus airport when he was shot. The official identified the journalist as Mohsen Khazaei of Iran's TV News Network Shabake Khabar.

He was treated in a hospital and released on Thursday, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information on the incident.

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Syrian troops widen offensive in border areas

FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013 file photo, Syrian man carries his sister who was wounded in a government airstrike hit the neighborhood of Ansari, in Aleppo, Syria. President Bashar Assad has exploited his greatest advantage on the battlefield _ his air power _ to push back rebel advances and prevent the opposition from setting up a rival government in its northern stronghold. Along the way, fighter jets and helicopters bombed bakeries, makeshift hospitals and residential areas, according to a new report by a U.S.-based rights group released Thursday, April 11, 2013 accusing the regime of committing war crimes with indiscriminate airstrikes that have killed more than 4000 since summer. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin, File)

Members of the Lebanese pro-Syrian Popular Committees stand on the Lebanon-Syria border, Lebanon, Friday, April 12, 2013. The Popular Committees are backed by the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, staunch supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad who have been accused by rebels of fighting alongside the regime and launching attacks targeting rebels from inside Lebanese territory. The committees say they are defending Syrian villages across the border that are inhabited by Lebanese Shiite Muslims, who say they were attacked by rebels. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

AL-QASR, LEBANON (AP) — Syrian soldiers backed by warplanes battled rebels for control of strategic hilltop villages near theLebanese border on Friday, as government troops step up counterattacks against opposition forces threatening regime supply lines on the country's frontiers.

Bomb blasts and shots fired into the air to mourn a fallen Syrian government soldier could be heard on the Lebanese side of the border as fighting raged around Qusair, a contested central Syrian town near a key highway between Damascus and the coast.

The battles there came as government forces launched a second offensive against rebels in the province of Daraa on the Jordanian border, where the opposition has been making steady advances in recent weeks.

While President Bashar Assad's forces are stretched thin and much of the country has been allowed to slip into the hands of the rebels, the government is still fighting hard to keep control of airports, seaports, and roads linking them to the capital Damascus that are seen as essential to its survival.

Also on Friday, activists said rebels clashed with troops in the northeastern border city of Qamishli, two kilometers (miles) away from the border with Turkey. Fighting is rare in the predominantly Kurdish and Christian city, where rebels usually maintain a truce with the government.

It was not clear what prompted the clashes, which according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights included members of the Islamic extremist Jabhat al-Nusra group.

Syria's rebels have gained momentum and made significant gains in the past weeks, largely due to an influx of arms. Arab officials and Western military experts say Mideast powers opposed to Assad have stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels, with Jordan opening up as a new route.

While much of the recent fighting has focused in Daraa, rebels have also made advances in Homs province near Lebanon. The province saw some of the heaviest fighting during the first year of the Syrian conflict, which erupted in March 2011, and intermittent episodes of violence since.

On Friday, sporadic explosions inside Syria echoed across the Lebanese side of the border and an Associated Press reporter said Syrian warplanes carried out at least one airstrike inside Syrian territory near the town of Qusair.

Six people in the area, including two children, were killed when a shell struck their home, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Four rebel fighters were also killed.

The region overlooks a highway running between Damascus, Homs, and a coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawites, the minority Shiite offshoot sect to which Assad belongs, and is also home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.

Overlooking Qusair from the Lebanese side are villages populated mostly by Shiite Muslim supporters of the Hezbollah militant group, which has backed Assad's regime. The rebels are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

Syrian TV reported Friday that armed forces "restored peace and security" to Tal al-Nabi Mindo, a village that it described as occupying the highest hill in the region. Activists say it was taken a month ago by rebels.

Members of the Popular Committees, a Hezbollah-backed group that has fighters in the border villages, told the AP that the Syrian army captured Tal al-Nabi Mindo on Thursday after a day of heavy fighting. They said there were casualties on both sides. A commander who for security reasons identified himself only by his first name Mahmoud said the strategic hilltop village overlooks several towns and villages as well as the road that links Tartus to the central city of Homs and thereafter toDamascus.

Hezbollah has been accused by rebels of fighting alongside Assad's troops and launching attacks on rebels from inside Lebanese territory. But the border is porous and largely ignored by locals. The Popular Committee fighters, some of whom have lived in Syria for years, say they are defending their fellow Lebanese Shiites living in border villages there that were attacked by rebels.

In the Lebanese village of al-Qasr, which is on the opposite side of the border from Qusair, residents said they had gotten used to the shelling.

"Yesterday, the explosions were nonstop," said resident Ali Nasereddine, sitting in the garden of his two-story house, fewer than 100 meters (yards) from a Syrian army post.

A funeral was held for Riyad Kinyar, a Shiite Syrian soldier who was wounded in the fighting Thursday and died upon arrival in a hospital in al-Qasr. Later Friday, the soldier was taken across the border to his home town of Matraba for burial. Shooting in the air — a sign of mourning — could be heard from Syrian territory.

Analysts say a successful rebel attack on the regime's supply infrastructure could be a fatal blow to Assad.

"If the airports are destroyed and the ports that serve Damascus and Aleppo are lost to the regime, this would definitely speed up Assad's fall," said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma.

The Syrian conflict started with largely peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war that has increasingly taken sectarian overtones. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.

Syrian warplanes carried out airstrikes elsewhere around the country on Friday, hitting multiple targets in Daraa, in the northern province of Raqqa whose province capital became the first to fall to rebel hands in March, and in the northern city of Aleppo, parts of which have been under rebel control since last summer.

In the northeastern city of Qamishli, rebels including the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra clashed with Syrian soldiers. Activists said the fighting appeared to break an undeclared truce that had spared the region the violence that has wracked other cities during the two-year-old civil war.

The government has informally handed over security to local Kurdish militias, who are mostly neutral in the civil war, on the understanding that rebels would not launch attacks there.

It was not clear what prompted the fighting at the entrance to Qamishli and near its airport. The Observatory said there were casualties on both sides.

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AP writers Zeina Karam and Barbara Surk in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Egypt army chief warns against slandering military

CAIRO (AP) — With the Islamist President by his side, Egypt's army chief warned against slandering the military, denying in remarks broadcast Friday that the military committed any abuses againstprotesters during the turbulent transition of the past two years.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi spoke following a late night meeting Thursday between the country's top brass and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The meeting appeared to have been prompted by recent media leaks of parts of a report by a fact-finding mission commissioned by Morsi to investigate the deaths and abuses of protesters during and after the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The mission, whose report was finalized in late December but has yet to be made public, reportedly found that the army unlawfully detained protesters and was possibly involved in killings of some during the uprising and during the military's nearly 17-month rule of Egypt after Mubarak's ouster.

The Guardian, the British newspaper, quoted parts of the report it obtained, describing the military's torturing of detained protesters, its role in the forced disappearance of others, and its possible responsibility for a number of killings of some who went missing and then turned up dead with signs of torture and beatings during the 18-day protests against Mubarak.

The leaked findings are consistent with previous allegations against the military by international and local rights groups. But the leaks provide specific testimonies and details of abuses, which the military has always denied.

Such findings would be potentially embarrassing for the military, which has presented itself as a supporter of the anti-Mubarak uprising. They would also be sensitive for Morsi, who has vowed to bring justice for slain protesters but also has sought to maintain good ties with the powerful military.

Any attempt to prosecute members of the military, however, would likely bring a backlash from the generals. At any rate, newly adopted, Islamist-backed constitution protects much of the independence and privileges of the military and ensures that only it can prosecute its own members.

On Friday, Human Rights Watch urged Morsi to release the report, saying it would be an acknowledgement of two years of military and police abuse, and a way to stem a culture of impunity.

But el-Sissi and Morsi's comments late Thursday appeared to rebuff such calls, though they did not directly mention the fact-finding mission's report or the media leaks.

"You must understand the armed forces is a very, very honorable institution, and very loyal and very careful of its nation," el-Sissi said, standing next to Morsi and a line of the country's top brass.

"I swear by God the armed forces since January 25 (2011), and I swear by God, didn't kill or order any killing, didn't cheat and didn't order any treachery, didn't betray and didn't order any betrayal."

"I want to tell all those who listen to me that they must really watch out before defaming the military and its forces," el-Sissi said. "It is honorable, nationalist and loyal and is very affected by any defamation it is subjected to."

Morsi came to the defense of the military, saying, "I will not ever allow slanders in any way, shape or form or ... any means to attack any member of the armed forces starting from its leaders ... to its smallest member."

"This is something I tell the whole society. Any slandering of any member of the armed forces is a slandering for us all," he said.

Morsi said Egyptians appreciate the role of the military.

"I tell the world about the great role the armed forces played in protecting the security and safety of this nation inside and outside from any aggression, and its role during a period we all know for in protecting its internal security and it still does," he said.

Morsi also announced the promotion of the heads of Egypt's air force, air defense forces and navy to the rank of lieutenant-general during the meeting with the generals.

Trying military officers, as well as police, for alleged abuses during and after the uprising remains a top demand by many revolutionary groups. During the uprising, the military declared it was neutral and it refrained from widely cracking down on the protesters demanding Mubarak's ouster. Since then, it has touted its role protecting the uprising.

When the fact-finding mission first handed its report over to Morsi's office in late December, a member of the panel that drafted it told The Associated Press that it included details of killings and torture of protesters by the military. The leaked parts of the report also had testimonies of abuses by the military during its rule, before it handed over power to Morsi, following presidential elections in June 2012.

The elected leader's relations with the military have been a subject for much speculation, because it is the first time Egypt is ran by a civilian president. Morsi's office and military have repeatedly denied reports of strained relations between the two sides.

Off-duty paramedic rescues man who sawed arms

Off-duty paramedic springs to action when man saws own arms to bone in California Home Depot

Associated Press -

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fire Capt. Art Hurtado was making an off-duty visit to a home improvement store when he encountered a horrific sight — a man had deliberately cut his own arms to the bone with handsaws.

As others screamed, the veteran paramedic used materials from store shelves to stanch the bleeding.

"I kind of MacGyver-ed it," Hurtado said Thursday, referring to the old TV drama about a secret agent who used whatever materials he could find to solve problems.

The incident occurred Wednesday inside a Home Depot Inc. store in West Covina, a suburb east of Los Angeles. The man was all by himself when he injured himself, West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez said.

The victim of the self-mutilation remained hospitalized as investigators tried to determine why he hurt himself. As of now, the incident is being investigated as an attempted suicide.

The man, whose name wasn't released, underwent surgery and was in intensive care. Doctors were able to reattach his arms but will have to wait to see how effectively they were able to reconnect blood vessels and muscle as the man recovers, Lopez said.

"We don't know anything about his history, motive, concerns at this point," Lopez said. Police declined to release the man's identity.

Police said the man had grabbed several small saws, including one meant to cut drywall.

Hurtado, 51, who works for the Pasadena Fire Department, had stopped by the store with his wife to pick up material to replace the trim on his daughter's house.

He noticed police cars as he arrived. When officers pulled on medical gloves, Hurtado followed them into the store.

"It's just mayhem in there," he recalled. 'Somebody's screaming in there as they're approaching the door that there's blood everywhere."

Hurtado saw blood in several aisles and people running around hysterically.

He walked down an aisle and saw police officers next to a man lying face down in a pool of blood.

"It looks like a crime scene to me, a dead body," he said. "There's splatter everywhere, I'd say another 50, 75 feet of blood."

Hurtado told the store manager that he was a paramedic, and he was allowed to move in. He and the officers flipped the man over. He was barely breathing and had no neck pulse.

Hurtado knew he had to do something.

"I'm not on duty, I don't have all the equipment that I normally have," he said.

The 21-year veteran called for quarter-inch rope and said he would have used his shoelaces if none was available. Somebody grabbed a package of rope from a store shelf. Hurtado had a police officercut 24-inch sections and he used it and shop towels to make a tourniquet for one arm.

The man started to come around, moaning, and arriving West Covina paramedics took over.

Hurtado, who was working without protective gloves, cleaned up with hand sanitizer.

He said the man had cut through nerves, tendons and arteries to the bone above both elbows. Without fast medical help, he could have died, Hurtado said.

"It's just things you do instinctively. I'm here to serve," he said. "Any one of my brothers and sisters in the department would have done the same thing."

Hearing for Colo. teen in slaying of schoolgirl

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado community sent into a panic over the kidnapping, killing and dismembering of a 10-year-old girl last fall may learn whether the teenager charged with the crime asks for a trial Friday despite his alleged confession.

Austin Sigg, 18, is to enter a plea in the Oct. 5 disappearance and slaying of Jessica Ridgeway in the Denver suburb of Westminster and a May attack on a 22-year-old jogger at a lake in Jessica's neighborhood.

Sigg originally was to enter a plea on March 12. Defense attorney Katherine Spengler asked for more time to study the evidence and analyze his mental state at the time of the crime. Judge Stephen Munsinger granted the request.

Sigg is charged with murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery. Prosecutors added three counts of sexual exploitation of a child because child pornography was allegedly found during the investigation. Sigg denied to investigators that he sexually assaulted Jessica.

Sigg also faces an attempted kidnapping charge for the jogger attack.

Sigg cannot face the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the slaying. He faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years if convicted. If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he could be confined indefinitely to a mental hospital.

Jessica, a fifth grader, disappeared after she left her house to meet a friend two blocks away on their way to school. Hundreds of police and residents searched for her, and parents escorted their children to and from school. The FBI asked residents to report suspicious behavior by friends, neighbors and even family members. Her torso was found in a secluded park Oct. 10.

A resident contacted authorities Oct. 19 to report Sigg because he reportedly had a fascination with death, Westminster police Detective Luis Lopez testified at a preliminary hearing. Two FBI agents took a DNA sample from Sigg. His mother called 911 on Oct. 23, saying he wanted to confess. Lopez said Sigg's DNA was found on Jessica's clothing.

Investigators said Sigg told them that some of Jessica's remains were hidden in a crawl space in his mother's home, where he lived.

Detectives said he described how he abducted Jessica as she walked past his car, bound her arms and her legs, drove around for a little bit then took her to his house. There, he told investigators, he tried to strangle her and then used his hands to kill her. He also told investigators that he dismembered Jessica in a bathtub.

Lopez testified that Sigg attended a community college and took classes in mortuary sciences.

Jessica's father lives in the Kansas City, Mo., area.