3Overnight clash in north Syria kills 15

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DAMASCUS, Dec 3 (agencies): Overnight clashes between security forces and army defectors in northern Syria left 12 soldiers and defectors and three civilians dead early Saturday, activists said. Fighting has become more intense as rebels increasingly often confront security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad who are trying to suppress the eight-month-old protest movement against his rule. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting broke out around midnight in the northern city of Idlib, near the Turkish border. "Seven were killed from the army and regime security forces, including an army officer," the group said. "Three civilians and five defectors were also killed." More than 4,000 people have died since protests broke out in March against the Assad family's 41-year rule, according to the United Nations, which says the violence in Syria looks like civil war. Islamist parties win Egypt's elections Two major Islamist political parties won about 60pc of the vote in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections, an election official told CNN Saturday. The Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, received 40pc and Al Noor Salafi Movement won 20pc, said Yousri Abdel Kareem, head of the executive office of the Higher Judicial Election council.Al Noor Salafi, a hardline group, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a more moderate movement, each claimed a lead after votes were cast on Monday and Tuesday. The Egyptian Bloc-Liberals won 15 and the Al Wasat, a moderate Islamist party, won 6pc. Most Egyptians voted this week This week's voting in Egypt marked the first round in a complex, multi-step process that will first pick members of the lower house of parliament. The elections for the lower house are scheduled to take place in three stages, based on geography. The last of the three stages is set to take place in January. Upper-house elections will run between January and March. Presidential elections will be held by June, according to the military. Egyptian parties, some of which were only formed after Mubarak's fall, had always feared that they would not have enough time to put up a credible challenge to their experienced and better-funded Islamist rivals. The liberal multi-party Egyptian Bloc has said it is on track to secure about a fifth of votes for party lists. Iraq says PM possible target in Green Zone bomb Iraqi authorities said on Friday a rare attack inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone this week was carried out by a suicide bomber in a car and may have targeted the country's prime minister. Reports a suicide bomber was able to penetrate the Green Zone, which houses the US and other embassies as well as parliament and some ministries, raised questions about security just as the remaining American troops leave Iraq. The attack took place a day before a visit by Vice President Joe Biden to Iraq's capital. Five Yemenis killed as clashes rage in Taez Five Yemenis, three civilians and two anti-regime gunmen, were killed on Saturday in shelling by government forces targeting the country's second city of Taez and in shootings, medics and witnesses said. Three members of one family were killed in shelling blamed on government forces, while two gunmen were shot dead during clashes with forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, witnesses said. The five bodies were taken to a field hospital in Al-Rawda neighbourhood in central Taez, which is under the control of anti-Saleh protesters.