Fatima Hajji is petite and elegant, her headscarf framing her face, her eyes shining beneath plucked eyebrows.

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"Right now, the Taliban are on the back foot, " said one of the village fighters, Hajji Abdul Ghanan.

WSJ: Attacks by Taliban Rise in Surge Areas

Al-Hajji said clashes raged for hours at various spots near the city center, including close to the presidential palace.

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In the hamlet of Hajji Musa Kala, villager Mohammad Idris is sending to one of these mosque schools his eight-year-old son and his six-year-old daughter.

WSJ: Emboldened Taliban Try to Sell Softer Image

Matiullah Asim, a teacher in the district's Hajji Jan Nisar village, says new classes are likely to be established in neighboring villages in the spring.

WSJ: Emboldened Taliban Try to Sell Softer Image

"During its weekly meeting on Sunday, the cabinet named two women to the municipal council for the first time in the history of Kuwait, " Social Affairs Minister Faysal al-Hajji said.

BBC: NEWS | Middle East | Women appointed to Kuwait council

Clashes raged for hours at various spots near the city center, some close to the presidential palace, said Bashir Al-Hajji, a spokesman for a Free Syrian Army brigade in Aleppo.

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