Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, a Lebanese Salafist cleric, is urging his followers to join Syrian rebels in their fight against troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Al Arabiya reported April 23.

At least 10 people were killed April 23 when mortar rounds landed on a Sunni mosque in the Diyala province town of Muqdadiya, unnamed police and medical sources said, Reuters reported.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has rejected Education Minister Mohammed Tamim's resignation, which came April 23 in protest of the army's intervention in public protests near Kirkuk, AIN reported, citing Iraqia Sat Channel.

Iraqi Education Minister Mohammed Tamim and Science and Technology Minister Abdulkarim al-Samarrai resigned in protest of the army's intervention during public protests near Kirkuk, Anatolia and NINA reported April 23.

The two suspects arrested and charged by Canadian authorities on April 22 for allegedly planning an attack on a passenger train in the greater Toronto area received direction and guidance from al Qaeda elements in Iran, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said at a news conference, CBC reported.