Egyptian security forces spoke to Ma’an on Monday, alleging that members of the so-called Islamic State group executed on Monday a woman and kidnapped her husband and three children in Egyptian Rafah for allegedly cooperating with Egyptian security forces, like reported by maannews.com.

Hamas officials say the group’s leader will present a new political program that accepts statehood in parts of historic Palestine, but does not drop the quest for “liberating” all the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, including what is now Israel, like reported by ap.org.

The program is to be made public Monday in Qatar by Khaled Mashaal, the leader-in-exile of Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to reveal details to the media.

The five-page document adopts seemingly more moderate language in hopes of helping Hamas break out of its international isolation.

Hamas redefines itself as a national liberation group, distancing it from its parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Gaza neighbor Egypt.

Tunisian security forces killed a senior commander in an Islamist group who detonated his suicide belt as he was shot during a raid against militants planning attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, officials said according reuters .com.

Tunisia’s armed forces have been cracking down on militants allied to Islamic State and al Qaeda’s North Africa branch, especially since the country suffered four major attacks in the last two years, including two against foreign tourists.

The clashes came on Sunday when national guard special forces raided a house where the group had been under surveillance for weeks, after communications about a possible attack were intercepted, National Guard spokesman Col. Major Khelifa Chibani said.

Another militant was killed and three others arrested in the raid on a house in Sidi Bouzid, a town 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the capital, Tunis.

“National Guard special forces killed two terrorists, including a commander of Okba Ibn Nafaa … ” Chibani said by telephone. “They had been in the Sammama mountains, and planned attacks during Ramadan.”

He did not give any details on the potential attack, but Tunisia has been on alert since militant gunmen attacked the Sousse beach resort in 2015, killing more than 30 foreigners and badly damaging the vital tourist industry.

Another security source said the commander was an Algerian militant, but did not give his name.

The Okba Ibn Nafaa has mostly been based in remote Chaambi mountain range along the border with Algeria, where the army has been trying to flush them out for several years. Militants have in the past carried out raids on checkpoints and towns nearby.

They have mostly claimed loyalty to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al Qaeda’s North Africa branch still led by veteran Algerian militants hiding over the border in the mountains in eastern Algeria.

But Okba Ibn Nafaa brigade, which takes its name from an 7th century Arab general who led the Muslim conquest of North Africa, has split, with some of its fighters going to Islamic State ranks and hiding in the Sammama mountains, according to Tunisian security sources.

More than 3,000 Tunisians left over the last few years to fight for Islamic State and other militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and Tunisian authorities are trying to prepare for potential security threat from many of them returning.

Islamic State claimed most of major attacks in Tunisia, including the Sousse hotel attack and the Bardo museum attack, which killed dozens of foreign tourists in 2015, and raids by militants crossing from Libya into Tunisia’s Ben Guerdane in 2016.

Four Islamic terrorists have been eliminated and weapons have been recovered during a combing operation near Djebel Metlili (mountain), in Batna (435-km east of Algiers), on Saturday by a detachment of the People’s National Army, said the Ministry of National Defence in a statement, like reported by aps.dz .

“As part of the fight against terrorism and following tips, a detachment of the People’s National Army launched a search and combing operation near Djebel Metlili, in the commune of Tilatou, southwest of Batna (5^th Military Region). During the operation, the Army detachment killed, on the morning of 29 April 2017, four dangerous terrorists named B. Djamel, S. El Hadi, Ch. Toufik and K. Younes,” said the statement.

“Four Kalashnikov submachine guns and a quantity of munitions were recovered during this operation,” added the statement.

Another Army detachment “foiled, yesterday 28 April 2017, an attempt of three armed individuals to enter the country through the southern border of Tinkhiamine near Djanet (4^th Military Region), and recovered a Kalashnikov submachine gun, two loaded magazines and a quantity of munitions, in addition to foodstuffs,” said the Ministry’s statement.

In the video the al-Tarabeen tribesmen are heard threatening to burn and kill other ISIS members in response to a threat from the Takfiri group for cooperating with the army and police against them, Al-Arabiya reported.

One of the tribe members said to Al Arabiya, that they burnt one of the most important ISIS leaders, who previously killed and burnt three citizens and a police officer.

The tribe issued a statement on Thursday evening denying what ISIS and other Takfiris’ claim of killing 40 members of al-Tarabeen tribe.

They said that this was “completely false,” and asserted that they are going to fight ISIS “bravely and courageously as the sons of the tribe do not fear the battles.”

The statement called on all tribes in Sinai to unite with them, saying: “It is time to get together to face ISIS, which did not have mercy on the elderly or young, and filled the earth with corruption and destruction.”

“To anyone who supports ISIS by word, action or by monitoring, he has to surrender himself immediately,” the statement said.

Ibrahim al-Arjani, one of the elders of the tribe said that several tribes agreed to clear all Sinai from ISIS in coordination with the army under a tribal alliance lead by the presidency of Sheikh Abdul Majid al-Mainaei.

He added that ISIS members are centered in the areas of Mahdia, Shabana, al-Athraa, Jihad Abu Tabal, Al Mosama and other few areas in al-Arish.

Fighters of the Al Nusra Front, Al Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, or as the group now calls itself, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, have recently been posing a serious challenge to Hezbollah in the border area between Lebanon and Syria, a senior Arab intelligence official told like reported by breitbart.com.

“Dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been wounded in engagements over the last few weeks between the two sides,” the official stated. “The jihadists decided to switch their offensive from Syria to Lebanon. “

“In the area of Arsal and in other regions, they’ve continued to surprise Hezbollah and force the group to send many soldiers to the area.”

The challenge presented by the jihadists has forced Hezbollah to reconsider the positions of their troops in Syria and at home in Lebanon, according to the intelligence source. “According to intelligence reports, Hezbollah is taking the most recent engagements very seriously,” said the intelligence source.

“The slow stream of jihadists into Lebanon represents a disruption of the relative stability within the country’s borders, especially just before the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan next month,” said the source.

“Hezbollah understands that Al Nusra and the jihadists are trying to turn the month of Ramadan into a bloody month for the Shi’ite organization and the communities supporting it, and so, we are witnessing the reduction in age of volunteers and fighters being recruited by the organization and they’re continuing to go down and even now we can see that 16-year-olds are among the fighters.”

The intelligence source also said that, as far as Hezbollah is concerned, “The threat from Al-Nusra isn’t nearing its strongholds in Lebanon. The increased troop presence on the border comes at a direct cost to troop numbers in Syria.

“In any case, Hezbollah already conducted a new assessment of the deployment of its forces in Syria due to the American airstrike, but now the fear is double.”

According to the source, “Hezbollah’s fundraisers and recruiters are investing far more effort than in the past.  If Ramadan passes without any special attacks, it should be a month of fundraising that will help the organization deal with the need to expand its recruitment of volunteers.”

The source added that “the main deliberation within Hezbollah concerns the need to prepare for a direct attack on the organization from Israel or even the U.S. The organization understands that Hezbollah is in the cross hairs of the American government as a source of disruption of U.S. interests in the area.”

“Hezbollah is fundraising, recruiting volunteers and fighting for public opinion. The organization is preparing for a very difficult summer.”

Militants from the Salafist Jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra attacked positions of the Daesh in the border zone between Syria and Lebanon, an informed source told on Friday.

“The fighting between Nusra and Islamic State resumed in the Flitah area on the Syrian territory, very close to the Lebanese border. Nusra militants attacked Daesh positions,” the source said.

According to the source, both sides have incurred losses from the attack which started from disagreements over the control of mountain trails and gorges through which both terrorist sides smuggle arms and militants.

“The Lebanese army and Hezbollah fighters in the Aarsal area keep their part of the border under control and are ready to strike terrorists at any moment if the latter try to cross the border,” the source noted.

On Thursday, the Lebanese Armed Forces carried out an artillery strike against terrorists in the border zone with Syria.

The border town of Aarsal has been one of the most unstable of Lebanon’s inhabited areas during the last three years.

The Lebanese army, as well as the Shiite movement Hezbollah, regularly track the locations of militants in the mountainous canyons in the Aarsal and Ras Baalbek areas, shelling them in attempts to prevent terrorists from entering the Lebanese territory.

Libyan has requested the EU provide an extensive list of equipment and boats for its coast guard to stop migrants. The EU is concerned over a wave of migrants using chaotic Libya as a springboard to reach Europe, like reported by dw.com

EU defense ministers are meeting in Malta for a second day on Thursday, seeking ways to boost security and defense cooperation.

On top of the agenda is Libya, a hub for migrants from Africa trying to reach Europe.

The UN-backed Libyan government has requested the EU provide equipment, including 130 boats of various types for its navy and coast guard, according to EU diplomatic sources. EU defense ministers and the European Commission are currently evaluating the request.

The EU launched Operation Sophia in 2015 to crack down on human smugglers and stem a tide of migrants using the lawless and war-torn land as a springboard to reach Europe. But the EU naval operation is limited to patrolling in international waters.

The EU has therefore sought to build up Libya’s coastguard and navy. So far 93 Libyan sailors have completed EU training, including three crews for patrol boats. Another 40 sailors have been receiving training in Crete and Malta since January.

Protection of Libya’s coast has been hampered by the existence of Islamist militias and warlords challenging the internationally recognized government in the wake of the West’s military intervention ousting Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Chaos in the country and questions over how equipment will be used has raised doubts over handing military hardware to the government.

According to the EU border agency Frontex, so far this year some 28,000 migrants leaving Libya have been intercepted at sea and taken to Italy, 30 percent more than the same period last year.

After closing off the Balkan route to migrants and slowing crossings from Turkey to Greece last year, European governments are increasingly concerned about a new wave of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya with the onset of better summer weather.

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa fleeing war and poverty have created an opportunity for smugglers, who calculate migrants will be picked up by rescue boats after entering international waters 12 nautical miles off Libya’s coast. In many cases, the rescue calls come directly from unseaworthy boats.

Frontex has accused non-government groups rescuing migrants of encouraging smugglers and acting “like taxis.”

The Lebanese Army Command announced that it was intensifying its “preemptive” attacks against extremist bases and locations on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, like reported by aawsat.com.

The offensive coincided with the arrival of a new batch of American weapons to the army. The cargo was unloaded at the Riyaq airport.

The operations, which have been upped for a week, indicate that the Lebanese military has taken the decision to decisively end the presence of extremists on the outskirts of Arsal. The militants from groups, such as ISIS and al-Nusra Front, have taken up the mountainous border area as a safe haven.

Lebanese political forces informed on the operations told Asharq Al-Awsat that the preemptive measures “target the militant fortifications to prevent their expansion” into other areas and to “thwart their mobility.”

President Michel Aoun had highlighted to Army Commander Joseph Aoun and members of the Military Council last week the importance of the preemptive operations in order to prevent terrorist attacks in Lebanon, revealed the sources.

The army had carried out at dawn on Tuesday a wide military operation against ISIS positions in Lebanon’s eastern mountain range. The National News Agency said that 20 ISIS members were killed and wounded in the operation in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek.

An informed source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the army kicked off the operations with airstrikes against the militants. This was followed by drones that gathered information. Airstrikes were again carried out as ISIS was collecting its wounded.

The operations will continue as part of the preemptive army mission in the area, it stressed.

The army had carried out on Saturday a “complex” operation that saw the arrest of dozens of terrorists and the death of the religious judge of ISIS in al-Qalamoun.

In a related development, Fatah al-Sham booby-trapping official Abou Qassem al-Talleh was killed and his aide Ahmed Abou Daoud was wounded in a car bombing on the outskirts of Arsal. NNA said that Abou Daoud’s condition was critical.

The Internal Security Forces – Intelligence Bureau also announced the arrest in March of two Lebanese nationals, who confessed to belonging to ISIS and contacting the terror group’s leaders in Lebanon and Syria.