Middle East Updates / Iraq strikes kill 17 in ISIS

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Latest updates:

11:40 A.M. Islamic State sets off suicide bombs on Turkey border

Islamic State fighters set off two suicide bombs on the Turkish border with the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on Saturday amid clashes that have killed at least 30 fighters, a monitoring group said. (Reuters)

00:02 Syria says U.S.-led strikes have not weakened Islamic State

Syria's foreign minister said U.S.-led air strikes had failed to weaken Islamic State it in Syria and the jihadist group would not be tackled unless Turkey was forced to tighten border controls.

A U.S.-led alliance started attacking Islamic State targets in Syria in September as part of a wider effort to destroy the al Qaeda offshoot that has seized large areas of the country and neighboring Iraq.

'All the indications say that (Islamic State) today, after two months of coalition air strikes, is not weaker,' Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV broadcast on Friday.

The Syrian government has said it was willing to join the fight against Islamic State, but the United States refuses to deal with President Bashar Assad, who it says has lost legitimacy and must leave power. (Reuters)

Friday:

9:13 P.M. Yemen's Shi'ite, Sunni rivals hold rare meeting

Yemen's main Sunni Islamist party says its top leaders have met with the powerful Shi'ite rebels who have been battling it for months and control the capital, in a rare meeting that might help ease the country's political deadlock.

The Islah party says in a statement Friday that a delegation met with Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of Shiite group known as the Houthis, on Thursday. The statement says the meeting was aimed at easing tensions between the rival groups.

The Houthis captured the capital in September after sweeping down from their northern stronghold and routing fighters loyal to the Islah party and its tribal allies. Opponents of the Houthis view them as a proxy of Shiite Iran determined to take over the country, charges the rebels deny. (AP)

5:57 P.M. Five Islamists, security personnel killed in Egypt anti-gov't protests