Syria is sending the army into a town where some disputed fighting happened earlier this week.
A restive Syrian town awaited a threatened military crackdown on Tuesday after bloody events in which state media say over 120 security personnel were killed.
Exactly what happened in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour at the weekend is unclear, but it seems to have been one of the bloodiest episodes in nearly 12 weeks of popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
Residents said a column of Armored vehicles and troops, apparently heading for Jisr al-Shughour, had reached the town of Ariha, 25 km (16 miles) to the east, a day after Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar said the army would carry out its "national duty to restore security."
Official accounts say gunmen roaming the town and setting fire to government buildings had inflicted the extremely high death toll on security men, said to have been killed in an ambush and attacks on a post office and a security post.
Residents and activists dispute this, saying the casualties followed a mutiny among forces sent to quell civilian protests.
Syria has barred most foreign media from the country, making it hard to verify events. It has released no video footage to back its account of the Jisr al-Shughour bloodshed.
The BBC also talks about the preparations in the town.
The northern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour is bracing for an assault by the military after the government said 120 security forces personnel had been killed there by 'armed gangs'.
The government says it will act 'with force' to restore control.
Activists say the source of the violence is unclear, possibly involving a military mutiny.
Residents have posted messages on Facebook saying they fear a slaughter and appealing for help from outside.
Activists insist the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is peaceful and scorn the government's talk of armed gangs.
Dozens of Syrians who crossed the northern border into Turkey are being treated in hospitals in the south-east of the country for wounds they say they received in clashes with Syrian forces, Turkish officials say.
One man who crossed the border in a serious condition died from gunshot wounds, a Turkish diplomat has told the AFP news agency.
Al Qaeda has taken a city in Yemen as the country starts to fall apart.
Fighting flared on Tuesday in a southern Yemen city seized by al Qaeda and other Islamist militants, killing at least 15 people, after Washington urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power peacefully.
Saleh left for Saudi Arabia at the weekend for surgery on wounds suffered in an attack on his palace in Sanaa -- an absence that could be an opportunity to ease him out of office after nearly 33 years ruling the impoverished Arab nation.
Global powers worry that chaos would make it easier for the Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda to operate and multiply risks for neighboring Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers.
The Marines are out in California learning to farm before their next Afghanistan deployment.
At a university farm in California's crop-abundant Central Valley, a group of U.S. Marines trudged through muddy fields on Monday to learn how to tend pomegranate trees, a crop popular in war-torn Afghanistan where they will soon deploy.
The training at California State University, Fresno is part of the U.S. war effort, and the lessons learned could help Marines engage with wary Afghan civilians, a large majority of whom rely on farming to survive.
"We're building Afghans' capacity to make money for themselves," said 1st Lt. Karl Kadon with the Marines Civil Affairs Detachment, who participated in the training last spring and has used the information he learned in Helmand province.
The training, Kadon said, armed him with the understanding of agriculture and gave him the ability to ask questions and assist Afghan farmers with problems. It was so helpful, he said, that his 11th Marine Regiment Civil Affairs Detachment returned to Fresno State. The regiment helps military commanders by working with civil authorities and civilian populations.
During this week's training, Marines will learn first-hand and in the classroom about irrigation practices, soil salinity, plant recognition and livestock care, among other topics. Kadon helped create the training after doing intelligence work in Iraq and after working in civil affairs in Afghanistan.
Military officials chose Fresno State because of its expertise in agriculture and because crops such as almonds and pomegranates in the Central Valley are similar to those in Helmand.
The Iranians are pushing submarines into the Red Sea.
Iran has sent submarines to the Red Sea, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified source, in a move that could anger Israel.
"Iranian military submarines entered the Red Sea waters with the goal of collecting information and identifying other countries' combat vessels," Fars said.
It did not specify the number or type of vessels involved but said they were sailing alongside warships of the Navy's 14th fleet.
State-run Press TV said in May the 14th fleet, comprised of two vessels, the Bandar Abbas warship and Shahid Naqdi destroyer, had been sent to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
"The fleet entered the Gulf of Aden region in May and has now entered the Red Sea in the continuation of its mission," Fars said.
Two Iranian warships passed through the Suez Canal in February, the first such move since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, en route to Syria. Tehran said the mission was one of "peace and friendship" but Israel called it a "provocation."
Iran announced last August it had expanded its fleet of domestically built 120-tonne Ghadir-class submarines to 11 which it said would be used to patrol the Gulf and the Sea of Oman.
Meanwhile in Libya (yes, we know it's not CENTCOM) there are more explosions in Tripoli and the rebels are still "advancing".
Loud explosions shook Tripoli on Tuesday in what appeared to be stepped up NATO air strikes on the Libyan capital, a day after rebels seized a town in the west, driving out Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Several huge explosions shook the area around Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in central Tripoli, sending columns of grey smoke into the sky.
The blasts, shortly before noon, appeared to be a rare daytime attack by NATO on the compound. It has been struck several times in recent weeks, usually at night.
The smoke could be seen from a hotel near the compound where Reuters and other foreign journalists are based.
By: Brant
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