INTERNATIONAL
In today’s global news:
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The New York Times is tracking global vaccine distribution.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
According to The New Arab, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has seized control of “areas in and around the city of Afrin” amid reports of “fierce fighting” with the Turkish-backed “Syrian National Army” rebel coalition. A colonel in the SNA has apparently told the service’s Arab-language site that the rebels withdrew from the city to avoid street-to-street fighting but has been able to stand its ground outside the city. It’s unclear when this fighting began but it seems to have stabilized somewhat on Friday, with scattered clashes but also prisoner swaps between the two groups. HTS already controls most of Idlib province and clearly has designs on other parts of rebel-held northwestern Syria.
