Scud missiles fired into Saudi Arabia by Yemeni rebels in recent months came from North Korea, a South Korean intelligence official said Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has shot down about 40 percent of some 20 Scud missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, said the official, who is familiar with the issue.

He did not give further details on how South Korea reached the conclusion that the missiles originated from North Korea. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

North Korea is believed to have exported its missiles to some countries in the Middle East as part of its efforts to earn hard currency.

“North Korea has sold missiles to Yemen and sent missile engineers to that country in the 1990s,” said a former North Korean official, who was in a position to know about the arms deals.

The official, who later defected to South Korea, asked not to be identified, citing the issue’s sensitivity.

Two people have been killed in clashes between armed groups in a Palestinian refugee camp near Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon.

A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the AFP news agency, named the two killed in the Ain al-Hilweh camp as Talal Maqdah, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement, and Diab Mohammad, a juice seller.

He said another six people were wounded in the clashes late on Tuesday, including one man who was in critical condition.

“Armed men began shooting at two members of Jund al-Sham, and there was an exchange of fire between Jund al-Sham and the Fatah organisation,” the official said.

He said the six wounded individuals had been specifically “targeted”.

“The situation is very tense, and there are dozens of armed men spread out in the streets,” he added.

Dozens of Palestinian families, including some who had sought refuge in the camp after escaping violence in Syria, fled the camp during the clashes.

By 11pm, the fighting had lessened in intensity to intermittent bursts of gunfire.

Fatah official killed

The violence came three days after Fatah official Talal al-Ourdoni was shot dead by unidentified attackers while walking through the same camp.

Ourdoni headed a division within the Palestinian national security service in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon’s refugee camps.

Most Palestinians live in squalid conditions in the country’s 12 official camps.

The Lebanese army does not enter the camps, under a tacit deal agreed after the 1975-1990 civil war. Palestinian factions are responsible for security.

Ain al-Hilweh has become the scene of score-settling between several factions, and a breeding ground for armed groups that have flourished on the back of the poverty afflicting the camp.

Abu Hamza al-Zoubi, the leader of Shura Council in al-Nusra Front terrorist group – Al-Qaeda branch in Syria, was killed in a suicide attack he carried out in Sahl al-Ghab (valley of the forest) region in Syria, sources in the Lebanese Northern region in Tripoli city announced Tuesday.

“Now, I will take a rest from the group’s problems and internal splits, and will determine my destiny myself,” Zoubi said in his latest post on online social accounts.

Moreover, sources revealed that more than 16 Lebanese were killed in regional fighting during the last 24 hours. No more details were elaborated fearing of possible reactions of their parents.

Less than 5 hours after Zoubi’s attack, Abu Omar Al-Lubnani (the Lebanese) – another operative within al-Nusra ranks — was announced killed in a suicide attack in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from the northeastern city of Hassakeh Tuesday after more than a month of fighting, activists said.

ISIS “was expelled by the army from Zuhur, the last district in which it was present in Hassakeh, and its fighters have been pushed to the southern outskirts of the city,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Adel Rahman.

Control of Hassakeh is divided between Kurdish fighters and government troops, and both have battled to push ISIS out of the city since the jihadis entered last month.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday it was impossible to continue a peace process with Kurdish militants and that politicians with links to “terrorist groups” should be stripped of their immunity from prosecution.

“It is not possible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood,” Erdogan told a news conference ahead of his departure on an official visit to China.

Erdogan also said a “secure zone” in northern Syria, which Turkey and the United States are in talks about establishing, would pave the way for the return of 1.7 million Syria refugees currently being sheltered in Turkey.

The Co-President of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) Salih Muslim spoke to ANF regarding the war the Turkish state has started against Kurds under the pretext of fight against Islamic State group (IS).

Muslim remarked that Turkey actually waged a war against Kurds by pretending to be standing against IS and used IS as blackmail against Kurds. Muslim underlined that they would be resisting to all the policies Turkey would pursue against Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) or the Kurds in Jarablus region.

‘Suruç massacre was carried out against kobani’

Recalling the Suruç massacre which left 31 socialist people dead on July 20, Muslim said this massacre was carried out against Kobanê and gave a message of mass killing against those supporting and standing by Kobanê. Muslim said the Suruç massacre was perpetrated as part of Turkey’s policy against Kurds and Syrian Kurdistan.

‘AKP waged a war against kurds over is in the peace process’

Pointing out that AKP and Erdoğan actually pursued a different plan against Kurds by claiming to be making peace since 2013, Muslim said creation of IS and having it fight the Kurds within this process was also a part of this plan. Muslim stressed that AKP indeed prepared for war by arguing to be making peace, adding; “Within this process which was called peace, they created IS and made it fight against Kurds. Although not directly, their indirect acts proved this to be true.”

‘The so-called anti-is fight actually targets kurds’

Pointing out that Turkey was stuck in a difficult situation when the entire world started questioning who supported IS and provided a passage route for them, Muslim said; “Turkey would either stand by IS which it supported, or be on the side of those fighting IS. To smooth away the pressure it faced, it now wants to wage the actual war it had planned against Kurds by pretending to be standing against IS.”

Emphasizing that Turkey planned to combine the two processes it run with the PKK, and against Syria and Rojava, Muslim said that with its decision on IS, Turkey wanted to use IS as blackmail against the Kurds. Muslim said; “What Turkey implies to Kurds is that ‘Either you lay down arms or I sic IS on you’. Turkey has put this policy into practice with a massacre in Suruç.”

‘War with Qandil is taking sides with is and fighting against kurds’

Muslim, according to whom Turkey has started a war against Kurds under the pretext of fight against IS due to international pressure, strongly criticized the airstrikes Turkey has recently launched against the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones. “They are shelling the guerrilla who waged a struggle and fight against IS in Shengal, Kirkuk and many other places, and stopped their advance in all these regions. What sort of an anti-IS fight is it then, now that Turkey is shelling those fighting IS? So, it means this is a war waged against Kurds from the front of IS.”

Muslim also stressed that Turkey’s policies were clearly seen by the entire world now, no matter how hard it tries to cover them, adding that the NATO member countries to gather today also knew very well against whom Turkey actually waged a war. He said both NATO and the whole world was much aware of the fact that YPG and YPJ is the only force fighting IS today.

Noting that the concept of the agreement the U.S. has made with Turkey was not known well to anyone yet, Muslim underlined that YPG and YPJ would be fighting against all probable dangers against Syrian Kurdistan and Kurds in other regions.

‘Peoples will decide whose rule they want’

Answering a question regarding the recently emerging plans in line with the agreement between the U.S. and Turkey, which is to clear the 40-km area in Jarablus region of IS and to leave it to FSA, Muslim said it is the peoples living in that region that will decide who will have the control over there.

PYD Co-President said that YPG and YPJ were not present in that region for now, but that some forces fighting IS were already there, adding; “The local people, Kurds and Arabs living there have long waged a war against IS and they cannot be ignored. It is yet no certain whether Turkey will take sides with those forces or hit them in the event of entering that area.”

‘YPG and YPJ are there to protect the people’

Calling attention to Turkey’s policy against Syria and Syrian Kurdistan, Muslim said nobody would allow Turkey’s attempts towards these regions, saying they knew very well that Turkey wanted to choke the Syrian Kurdistan Revolution by putting its long-existing plans into practice by means of the agreement it has made with the U.S.

Muslim emphasised that they would be standing against the attitude Turkey would develop against Kurds in Jarablus and other regions under the pretext of fight against IS, adding; “Everyone should know very well that YPG and YPJ are there to protect the people. We will be resisting to all the policies anticipating to leave some certain regions to IS or its brother organizations and target the Kurds. Just like they resisted to the regime and IS so far, YPG and YPJ will continue resisting to anyone targeting them.”

A bomb attack killed two Bahraini policemen on duty in the mainly Shiite village of Sitra, south of the capital Manama, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday, days after the government said it had disrupted an arms smuggling plot linked to Iran.

“A terrorist bombing targeted policemen on duty in the Sitra area, resulting in the deaths of two of them and seriously wounding a third,” the Interior Ministry said on its Twitter account.

It added that five more policemen had received light to moderate injuries and were being treated in hospital.

On Saturday, the government said it had foiled an arms and explosives smuggling plot by two Bahrainis with ties to Iran, and recalled its ambassador to Tehran.

The Sunni-ruled kingdom often accuses Iran of stirring up unrest among the island kingdom’s Shiite majority. Iran denies interfering in Bahrain, but it openly supports opposition groups seeking greater rights for Bahrain’s Shiite community.

Bahrain was hit in 2011 by demonstrations demanding greater democracy and more rights for Shiites, many of whom say they are subject to political and economic discrimination.