Middle East Aggregator

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.

Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. 'They are men and know what honour is,' he said.

Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British soldier, 22, known only as Paul.

She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab. Indeed, her 'relationship' with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to have consisted of snatched conversations over less than four months. But the young, impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding her feelings and daydreams to Zeinab, 19. (Guardian)

Labels: Iraq

I went to cover a demonstration in West Beirut yesterday morning – yes, please note the capital W on "West" – and then I get a text from a Lebanese woman on my mobile phone, asking if she will have to wear a veil when she returns to Lebanon. How do I reply? That the restaurants are still open? That you can still drink wine with your dinner?

That is the problem. For the war in West Beirut is not about religion. It is about the political legitimacy of the Lebanese government and its "pro-American" support (the latter an essential adjective to any US news agency report), which Iran understandably challenges.

A few days ago, I went to view an exhibition – here, in Beirut – of posters of the terrible 15-year civil war which cost the Lebanese and Palestinians 150,000 lives. It was called "Signs of Conflict: Political Posters of Lebanon's Civil War, 1975-1990", and I came to the conclusion that there would never be a civil war in Lebanon again. How could a people who were prepared to show such outrageous placards re-fight this hopeless conflict? But, am I not seeing almost identical posters in the streets of West Beirut?

So let us start at the beginning (be that the Ottoman, French, post-Versailles beginning of Lebanese history). Or let us begin yesterday, when it was broadcast that two Hizbollah members (for which read Shia Muslims) were knifed to death in Aley by Druze Muslims. Outrageous, if true. So let us begin with the statement that the Lebanese army command has decided to let Brigadier General Wafiq Chucair remain in command of security at Beirut airport. And that the Lebanese army commander – General Michel Sulaiman (the favourite for president if parliament, after 18 sittings, decide to choose one) – was determined to restore "law and order". (Independent)

Labels: Lebanon

A power plant in Gaza City has shut down, affecting 500,000 local inhabitants and forcing local hospitals to run on reserve fuel.

Large parts of the Gaza Strip, particularly Gaza City, were in darkness after the main power station shut down its generators on Saturday.

The Hamas government's energy department said that about 55 per cent of Gaza City and 35 per cent of the territory's other areas had power outages as a result of the shutdown.

With hospital generators running out of fuel, it is feared that medical equipment that will stop functioning soon.

An estimated 60 per cent of Gaza's power supply comes from its own power station and the rest from Israel. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Israel, Palestine

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it was revoking measures taken by the government against the Shiite Hezbollah movement and called for all armed militants to withdraw from the streets.

It said that the head of airport security, who had been reassigned from his job, would remain in his post and that the army would look into a communications network set up by the militant group.

The military said it had taken these decisions in the light of a government wish that it rule on these matters. The army's statement came shortly after Prime Minister Fuad Siniora made a televised address to the nation.

Tuesday's government decision to reassign the head of airport security and launch a judicial probe into the communications network sparked bloody clashes between supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed ruling bloc. (AFP)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called on the army to restore order on Saturday after a fourth straight day of violence between government and opposition supporters left another 11 people dead.

In his first reaction to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah's takeover of much of west Beirut, Siniora decried what he called a "poisonous sting" to democracy and vowed that Lebanon would not succumb.

He called for a minute's silence on Sunday to commemorate the 29 killed in sectarian fighting between mainly supporters of the Western-backed government and Shiite members of the opposition, raising fears of a new civil war.

The prime minister said he wanted to see gunmen off the streets and removal of Hezbollah-led protester camp set up outside his government's headquarters in December 2006.

"I call on the army to impose security on everyone in all areas and to clear armed elements from the street immediately," he said in a televised address to the nation.

"I have already asked the army command to ensure civil peace.

"The dream of democracy... has been dealt a poisonous sting," Siniora said. (AFP)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

Shiite militants agreed on a ceasefire in Baghdad's embattled neighborhood of Sadr City, an aide to a high level cleric said Saturday, holding out hope that weeks of clashes in the capital could be at an end.

In the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi army commander announced the start of a long anticipated offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq's last urban stronghold.

Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, an aide to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the cease-fire will go into effect Sunday.

The cease-fire may not necessarily end seven-week-old clashes in Sadr City, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. The U.S. military has blamed clashes on groups who broke away from the main organization. It remained unclear who will abide by the cease-fire deal.

It is not believed that the bulk of the 60,000-string Mahdi Army has participated in the clashes, but mostly just splinter groups that have refused to honor a general cease-fire ordered by al-Sadr last August. Al-Sadr has directed his supporters to only fight when attacked.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military on the reported deal. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh refused repeated requests for comment. (AP)

Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.

An aide to Muqtada al-Sadr has lashed out at Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, for keeping silent over clashes that have killed hundreds in Baghdad.

Fifteen people were killed and dozens wounded in fighting in the Sadr City district of the capital on Friday, US and Iraqi officials said.

The area is home to some of the poorest Shia in Iraq, and forms the bedrock of support for al-Sadr and his al-Mahdi Army militia.

US forces have killed 25 fighters in two days of clashes in the area.

Hospitals in Sadr City said they had received four bodies and treated 51 wounded by Friday morning, but gave no further casualty figures after that. Children were among the wounded. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army

Syrian President Bashar Assad rejected Israel's demand that Syria cut its ties with Iran and Hizbullah.

He said that detaching his country from the two was "irrelevant" to reviving peace talks.

In an interview published Friday with the Italian magazine L'Espresso, Assad went on to emphasize that his country was offering peace in return for the Golan Heights - captured from Syria in 1967 and then again in 1973 after recurrent Syrian cross-border attacks.

The Syrian president said it would be possible to advance the peace process when the new US president was elected.

Syria maintains ties with both Hizbullah and Iran, an extremist Shi'ite terror organization and a dominantly-Shi'ite state respectively, which both seek Israel's destruction. (JPost)

Labels: Hezbollah, Iran, Syria

An adviser to a US general helping revamp Palestinian security forces has made several trips to Gaza, even though Washington considers the Hamas rulers of the territory terrorists, Palestinian officials said on Friday. A Canadian colonel who advises Lieutenant General Keith Dayton has made at least three recent visits to the Gaza Strip, security officials said.

Washington refuses to have any official contact with Hamas, an Islamist movement.

A senior Western official with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified, said the adviser also worked for the office of the military attache at the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv, and insisted he traveled to Gaza "in that capacity, on some Canadian national business." "It had no official connection with the Dayton team."

The Canadian met with Hamas officials in Gaza, a Palestinian official said.

He also met with a senior officer of the security services loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that have been inactive in Gaza since Hamas seized power in June. (AFP)

Labels: Hamas, Palestine, U.S.

Iran's former top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has taken the helm of the Principalist United Front which has cemented its hold on parliament, the Mehr news agency reported on Friday.
At a meeting of principalists lawmakers, who dominated the new parliament during legislative elections in March and April, Larijani was chosen as the head of the front, it said.
The bloc won 69 percent of the 290 seats in parliament, while reformists took only 16 percent.
In recent days the local media has reported that Larijani would like to become speaker of the new parliament, which is due to hold its first session on May 27.
Current speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel has also expressed interest in staying on in the job.
Larijani last year stepped down as Iran's top nuclear negotiator. (Alalam)

Labels: Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday ruled out sending a US envoy to Tehran to present a new offer from the big powers to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment. "Once we have this all wrapped up in terms of some final details, then we'll be happy to talk about it more. Until that point, I will say that we are not going to be going to Tehran," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We have laid out our conditions ... for having discussions with the Iranians," he said, referring to the demand that Iran halt of all its enrichment and processing of uranium. The six powers involved in the nuclear talks - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - decided May 2 in London to present a new offer to the Iranian government. The six did not say how and when they would present the package to Tehran but diplomatic sources said negotiations are under way with Iran to send foreign ministry political directors from the six countries to Tehran. They said the United States would not join the group led by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana who would probably leave next week. Asked about the rumors, the State Department's acting political director, Daniel Fried, did not rule out that such a delegation would travel to Tehran, but said he would not be part of it. "No way will I go with them. Never was in the cards," Fried told AFP. (Daily Star)

Labels: Iran, U.S.

Israeli air raids on the Palestinian territory have killed five people after an Israeli farm worker died in a Palestinian rocket attack.

The first Israeli air raid on Friday killed two Hamas security men in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a police spokesman and ambulance workers.

A second Israeli air attack targeted a Hamas police base in the town of Khan Younis in the centre of the strip and killed two Palestinians, a source said, without specifying if the victim had been a Hamas members. Three others were wounded in the attack.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the earlier rocket attack on Israel, which struck the Kfar Aza collective farm in the southern part of the country.

Israeli ambulance workers said the civilian killed in the rocket attack was a middle-aged man. Three other people were wounded. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Hamas, Israel, Palestine

The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a 3.65-billion-dollar loan to Turkey, the final segment of a three-year stand-by credit worth nearly 10 billion dollars.

"The Turkish economy has continued to perform reasonably well despite a challenging external environment, with economic activity showing resilience and foreign direct investment inflows remaining buoyant," IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

The IMF executive board completed Friday its seventh and final review of the economic reforms it had demanded the Turkish government undertake in exchange for the credit, the multilateral institution said.

The board particularly praised Turkey's social security and tax reforms.

Turkey and the IMF signed the stand-by arrangement on May 11, 2005. It replaced a three-year IMF agreement in 2001 that enabled Ankara to overcome a severe financial crisis.

The current agreement expires Saturday and the Turkish government is expected to decide whether it wants to strike a new agreement with the IMF, a sensitive question amid declining demand for the institution's loans. (AFP)

Labels: IMF, Turkey

The P5+1 -- the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany -- will present Tehran with a secret incentive package in the next few days to convince Iran to suspend its enrichment programme and enter negotiations.
There is little doubt that Tehran will reject the offer since it crosses its red line -- suspension of enrichment -- but the question is why such an offer is being made at this time, even though reinvigorating talks is in and of itself much needed.
The nuclear offer coincides with an escalation of rhetoric between Washington and Tehran over allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq. Following several stark comments by high-ranking U.S. military officials, the new buzz in the beltway is that Iran "is killing American soldiers" -- a clear casus belli if proven true.
From Senate staffers to think tank pundits, fear of a military confrontation between Iran and the U.S. is quickly rising once more.
General David Petreus, the new head of CENTCOM, is reportedly preparing a presentation of evidence showcasing Iran's direct involvement in the violence in Iraq. Well aware of their lack of credibility, George W. Bush administration officials are keeping a low profile and letting military officials take the rhetorical lead against Tehran. (IPS)

Labels: Germany, Iran, Nuclear Power, Security Council, U.N.

Fighting has spread in Lebanon outside the country's capital Beirut, with the governing coalition describing Hezbollah's takeover of west Beirut as an "armed coup" aimed at bringing Syria back into the country and serving Iran's interests.

"The armed and bloody coup which is being implemented aims to return Syria to Lebanon and extend Iran's reach to the Mediterranean," the March 14 coalition said in a statement read out on Friday by Samir Geagea, leader of Lebanese Forces, a pro-government party.

From Washington, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, reaffirmed backing for Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, and said the US would "provide the support needed" to help him deal with the Hezbollah offensive.

The reactions came after supporters of Hezbollah and allied groups took over on Friday the Lebanese capital's entire Muslim sector, including almost every position and strategic building held by supporters of the ruling March 14 coalition. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon, U.S.

Clashes have again erupted on the streets of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as Hezbollah takes control of large areas of the capital from groups loyal to the government following gun battles.
The building of Future TV network, owned by Saad Hariri, a prominent pro-government politician, was set alight in continued violence on Friday.

The street battles, which first erupted on Wednesday, have so far left at least 11 people dead and 20 others wounded.
Lebanese troops began taking up positions in some neighbourhoods in west Beirut abandoned by the pro-government groups.

The army has largely avoided getting involved in the street battles amid fears of being dragged into the conflict.

Earlier in the day, a rocket-propelled grenade struck the fence of the heavily protected residence of Saad Hariri in the suburb of Koreitem, a Muslim area of western Beirut.

Hariri, leader of the Future bloc, the biggest party in Lebanon's governing coalition,was believed to be inside at the time but unhurt. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

A U.S. military spokesman said a man detained Thursday in northern Iraq is not wanted terrorist Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the leader of the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"It's not him," the military spokesman said.

Iraqi police announced early Friday that Muhajer had been found sleeping during a midnight raid of a house in the northern city of Mosul and had confessed his identity in an interrogation -- a development that would have been a significant coup for Iraqi security forces.

The U.S. military spokesman, however, said there was apparently confusion because the man who was captured has a similar name.

Muhajer -- whom the Iraqis also reported had been killed in May, 2007 -- is believed to be an Egyptian, about 40 years old and an associate of Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He is believed to have taken over the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006.

Since Zarqawi's death, the organization has continued a campaign of killing while pushing its strict interpretation of Islam. (Washington Post)

Labels: Al Qaeda, Iraq, U.S.

Al Jazeera asked four experts on Lebanon whether they thought the new unrest in the country following a government crackdown on Hezbollah, which the Shia group's called "a declaration of war", was the beginning of a showdown or whether it can be contained or resolved. Here are their responses:

Mark Daou - active with the Lebanese party the Democratic Left Movement

"I think that this current situation is just part of an ongoing escalation of violence. I do not think that even if containing this did occur it would last that long because mobilisation has begun and the level of militarisation has increased dramatically.

"The conflicts have been increasing in their severity and their level of militarisation in the recent past. It has reached a new level and things will keep escalating in the foreseeable future as long as there is no political agreement and it does not seem as though there will be.

"So, if they contain, they will only contain the violence, but they will not take care of the issue." (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

President Shimon Peres played down Israeli concerns at Hezbollah's move to expand its control, but said he hoped the Lebanese people would step back from the brink of civil war.
Peres called the latest round of violence a "tragedy," but classified it as an "internal split" having nothing to do with Israel.
"It's not a total surprise. We knew that Hezbollah is going to divide the country and lead it to the verge of a civil war," Peres told reporters.

"It has nothing to do with Israel. It's an internal split," Peres said. "It's a tragedy for them. It's a tragedy for all of us. And I hope that at the last moment they will save themselves from a bloody civil war."
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the some 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon to stay out of the current conflict between the Western-backed government and the Iranian and Syrian-backed opposition.
Abbas also warned against attempts to drag the Palestinians into the ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and forces loyal to the government.

...... Syrian and Qatari leaders said Friday that the current crisis in Lebanon is an "internal affair," while Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for an emergency Arab foreign ministers' meeting to discuss the situation, media reports said. (DPA)

Labels: Egypt, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria

The Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah has been leading a political campaign against the cabinet seen as anti-Syria, led by Fouad Siniora, the prime minister.

The crisis has paralysed much of the government and left Lebanon with no president for five months.

Hezbollah, allegedly backed by Iran and Syria, was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war ended in 1990, to fight Israeli forces occupying the south.

Israel withdrew in 2000 and the fate of Hezbollah's weapons is at the heart of the current political crisis.

Here is a chronology of events: (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, is facing calls to resign following new allegations he illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a US businessman.

Olmert is supected of accepting cash in illegal contributions from Morris Talansky, an American Jewish businessman, before becoming prime minister.

He has denied any wrongdoing but promised to quit if he is formally charged.

He said: "I am looking all of you in the eye, and I say I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself.

"All the funds raised were used for campaigning in those elections I took part in and to cover deficits accumulated during previous election campaigns I had taken part in."

But some Israeli lawmakers said the new police investigation - the fifth opened into Olmert's activities since he took office in 2006 - was reason enough for him to leave office. (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Israel, U.S.

Water supply is drying out in what was once the agriculturally rich Diyala province north of Baghdad. Baquba, the capital city of Diyala, is now running out of water both for drinking and for irrigation.
Water supply has been hit by power failures. The central pumping station has been running short of electricity supply over the last two years.
The pumping station is located between two districts in conflict -- Hwaider, which is predominantly Shia, and Jupenat, mostly Sunni. For two years now, fighting between Sunnis and Shias here has led to reduced water supply.
"The Diyala river passes by the two villages before the pumping station," resident Zuhair Mahmood told IPS. "They try to change its stream to deprive the other of water for irrigating their farms. The diversions mean relatively little water can reach the station."
Often, Mahmood added, "farmers irrigate their farms by setting up pumps on the banks of the river, which further contributes to reduced supply to the station."
Some farmers have demanded that the pumping station be supplied directly from the Diyala river upstream of the conflict area.
"But this suggestion was rejected because people know that the Diyala river carries the bodies of those killed in the sectarian fighting," said Abdul-Qadir Omran, a now unemployed trader. "It is not good for drinking, and psychologically it is unacceptable." (IPS)

Labels: Iraq, Water

There are many interrelated reasons why the United States policy of isolating Iran has failed, one being the prominent regional role played by Tehran that simultaneously relies on a net of bilateral, trilateral and multilateral arrangements. These are on the rise, irrespective of the nuclear standoff, sanctions and threats of military action against Iran.
One initiative in particular that Iran is genuinely interested in, and hopeful about its prospects, deals with trilateral cooperation among the three Farsi-speaking nations of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Such a union, if formed in the (intermediate) future, will definitely enhance Iran's regional status and create new linkages between Iran and Central Asia and beyond.
Forged by the common bonds of culture and language, this trilateral cooperation was recently given a "big jump", to quote Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who attended a meeting with his counterparts, Khan Zarih and Rangin Dadfar Sepanta, in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, in March. The three men issued a lengthy joint communique, consisting of a prelude and 12 clauses that emphasized the need to expand economic, trade, transportation, energy and cultural exchanges among the three countries, as well as enhancing cooperation against the common threats, such as terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, organized crime and any "new threats". (Asia Times)

Labels: Afghanistan, Iran

Ninety-three journalists were killed in 2007, almost half of them in Iraq, the International Press Institute media watchdog said in its annual press freedom review published Thursday. The figure was the second highest in a decade after 2006, which saw 100 journalists' deaths, according to IPI figures. Forty-two journalists died in Iraq during 2007, while Asia was the second deadliest region, with 19 reporters killed, mostly in Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, the IPI said in a statement. It also noted "the first targeted assassination of a journalist since 1993" in the United States, with the killing of a newspaper editor in Oakland, California. IPI director David Dadge added that the murder by a Turkish nationalist of renowned journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul in January 2007 "reinforces ... the bravery of journalists everywhere who challenge censorship." Restrictions on press freedom were still widespread in Africa and the Middle East, the watchdog said, citing especially Iran and Zimbabwe, where hard-to-obtain licenses are required to work as a journalist. (AFP)

Labels: Free Media, Iraq

Yemeni tribesmen have released two Japanese tourists who were kidnapped Wednesday while on their way to a tourist site in the region of Marib, a tribal chief said.

"The two hostages have been released," Sheikh Mohammed Hassan bin Muaili, head of the kidnappers' Muaili tribe, said late Wednesday.

The two women were kidnapped as they were driven to the site of the ancient Marib Dam, a major tourism draw, a local official told AFP.

The Defense Ministry website September.net confirmed the release of the two women.

The tribal leader told AFP that the two hostages were handed over to Sheikh Hamad bin Ali bin Jalal, who "who will in turn deliver them to the security authorities."

Sheikh Hamad is a higher-ranking tribal chief in the area. His intervention secured the release of the two women, Sheikh Mohammed said. (AFP)

Labels: Japan, Yemen

Consensus is rare in Turkey, but no one seems to like the IMF.

With the country due to end its loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund on Saturday, a view is building that after 19 standby agreements since 1961, it is time Turkey cut the ties and stood on its own economic feet.

"The IMF forced Turkey to sell its profit-making banks. Soon there will be nothing to sell. What will we leave to our children?" said Mustafa Koc, 47, standing in front of dozens of Turkish flags which he sells in Ankara's central Kizilay area.

Students, trade unionists, civil servants and even businessmen are asserting that the fund's programmes have never been a real help, and with inflation in single digits and growth averaging 6.8 percent in the last five years, they say Turkey no longer needs the IMF's rigors and disciplines.

"Turkey must go its separate way with the IMF and must certainly say 'no' to a new IMF deal," Ankara Chamber of Commerce Chairman Sinan Aygun told Reuters.

"Turkey needs to implement a programme which suits its conditions and serves its own interests. There are no countries which became rich implementing the IMF's economic programmes. They are all in poverty." (Reuters)

Labels: IMF, Turkey

If you want to fight us, you'll have to fight us. This was Sayed Hassan Nasrallah's message to the Lebanese government yesterday and his words were followed within seconds by two massive gun battles in the streets of Beirut.

He had spoken in that careful, thought-through, distressing way in which he always threatens the Hizbollah's enemies. He even swapped the names of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, with that of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt – calling Jumblatt the real prime minister and Siniora his deputy – and blamed both for trying to set up a CIA-Mossad base at Beirut airport. What other reason could there be, he asked, for the two men to demand the dismantlement of Hizbollah's communications system and the suspension of the head of airport security? This was "a Lebanese government declaration of war against the resistance". Well, maybe. But Nasrallah still wants the Hizbollah's enemies to be the Israelis – not his Lebanese opponents.

So what happened in the minutes after he spoke? At least one Shia Amal gunman started shooting at an office belonging to Sunni supporters of the government, some of whom may have been the youths apparently brought down from Tripoli for just such a battle. The Lebanese army was not fully engaged on the streets last night but its armoured vehicles were driving between the sectarian interfaces and apparently taking fire from both sides. (Independent)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

The main border crossing between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Egypt will be opened for three days starting on Saturday under a deal between the Islamist group and Cairo, a Hamas official said on Thursday.

The crossing at Rafah has been largely closed since early February when Egypt resealed the border after Hamas gunmen blasted it open in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade of the coastal enclave.

With U.S. backing, Egypt has been trying to broker an unofficial truce between Israel and Hamas to stop violence that threatens to derail peace talks. That proposed deal calls for reopening Rafah under the control of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert launched U.S.-sponsored peace talks in November with the aim of reaching a deal on Palestinian statehood before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Hamas official Ayman Taha said sick Gazans would be allowed to cross into Egypt on Saturday. Palestinians holding Egyptian and other foreign passports will be allowed to leave the coastal territory on Sunday and Monday, Taha added. (Reuters)

Labels: Egypt, Palestine

Seventeen militants have been killed in the last 24 hours in clashes with US and Iraqi forces in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the US military has said.

The fighting was concentrated in eastern Baghdad as an offensive against the Shia Mehdi Army militia continues.

Around 1,000 people, including many civilians, have been killed as the fighting in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City has intensified in recent weeks.

In the southern city of Basra, the UK army base at the airport was targeted.

Two US air strikes killed nine militants early on Thursday in the New Baghdad district while eight other militants were killed in several other clashes around Baghdad, including Sadr City, since Wednesday, the US military said.

Iraqi medical officials said at least seven people were killed and 20 wounded in fighting in Sadr City, Associated Press news agency reported. (BBC)

Labels: Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called Israel a "stinking corpse" which is doomed dissappear, as the state celebrated 60 years of independence.
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
"Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation," he said.

Ahmadinejad added that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" - a reference to the 2006 war between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah militia.
The hardline Iranian leader has made previous comments against Israel reminiscent along the same lines a number of times in recent years.
He has told the West to prepare for Israel's "imminent collapse," said the state was doomed to fail, during an international conference questioning the Holocaust, and on a separate occasion threatened that the state would "be wiped off the map." (Haaretz)

Labels: Iran, Israel

As Israel marks its 60th anniversary, Israelis are deeply pessimistic about the prospects of peace with their neighbours, with an overwhelming majority believing they will be at war again within the next five years.
According to the April issue of Tel Aviv University's monthly War and Peace Index, 70 percent of the Jewish public in Israel does not hold out hope for an agreement with the Palestinians, while 66 percent expressed similar sentiments regarding a deal with Syria. Some 75 percent of the Jewish public said they thought Israel would find itself at war with "one or more Arab states" in the next five years. The survey found similar attitudes among Israel's Arab population.
But the War and Peace Index, which polls 600 people and has been conducted every month for the last 15 years, also reveals that 57 percent of the Jewish public supports negotiations with the Palestinians while only 34 percent oppose talks. An even bigger majority of 70 percent are in favour of the "two states for two peoples" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with only 25 percent opposing this formula.
The most recent issue of the survey may appear somewhat contradictory, but it reflects both the deep disillusionment among Israelis over the prospects for peace, and an understanding that the long-term survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is dependent on unlocking their conflict with the Palestinians. (IPS)

Labels: Israel, Palestine

Fierce gunbattles erupted in Beirut on Thursday after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah charged that a Lebanese government crackdown on his group's activities was tantamount to a "declaration of war."

Lebanon's long-running political crisis was threatening to spiral dangerously out of control on the second day of clashes between rival factions in the deeply divided country despite urgent appeals for calm.

Supporters of the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition were engaged in shootouts in at least three mixed Sunni and Shiite Muslim neighbourhoods of the capital, with militants using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, a security official said.

There were no reports of casualties, although armed clashes in other towns earlier left at least eight people wounded.

Nasrallah said his powerful Shiite militant group was ready to use its weapons, in a fiery speech on the second day of anti-government protests which saw supporters of rival factions block roads with burning tyres and force the closure of Lebanon's international airport.

"The (government) decisions are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war... on behalf of the United States and Israel," Nasrallah charged at a rare press conference via video link.

The government on Tuesday launched a probe into a private communications network run by Hezbollah, which is seen in the West as a terrorist outfit and which critics say has become a "state within a state" in Lebanon.

"Our answer to this decision is this," Nasrallah said. "We have the right to confront he who starts a war with us by defending our rights and our weapons." He said Hezbollah was ready for dialogue but demanded that the government rescind its measures.

"We have not used our weapons inside the country but we will use them to defend our arsenal."(AFP)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

Afghan police killed the self-styled governor and provincial police chief of Taliban insurgents in the western province of Ghor on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

The police raid killed Mullah Sarajuddin identified as Taliban's governor for Ghor and the police chief named only as Mawlavi, along with five other militants while planning to carry out a "sabotage" plan, the ministry said.

There were no casualties among the police, it said in a statement, terming the reported Taliban deaths as a major achievement.

The Taliban who lead an insurgency against the government and foreign troops, could not be contacted for comment immediately

Separately on Thursday, a suicide car bomber targeted a convoy carrying foreign soldiers on the western outskirts of Kabul, but missed, and instead three civilians were wounded in the attack, a police official said.

Violence has been at its worst level in Afghanistan since 2006, the bloodiest period since the removal of the al Qaeda-backed Taliban in 2001. (Reuters)

Labels: Afghanistan, Taliban

Over the past few years, the Afghan National Army (ANA) has often been presented as a success story. This certainly holds some truth, at least in comparison with Afghanistan's national police, which is widely seen as a complete failure.
The ANA is reasonably well behaved and quite popular throughout most of Afghanistan. Its initial difficulties in retaining troops within the ranks seem to have been addressed to some extent and both the desertion and absence-without-leave (AWOL) rates are down from the high levels of 2002-2006. AWOL rates in particular have declined dramatically over the past 18 months, to a relatively low 8%, from about 33% in 2006 [1].
This appears to be the combined result of a presidential decree turning AWOL into a crime, a widespread media campaign, rising unemployment and rising food prices, which force even less than enthusiastic recruits to stick to the ANA. The number of infantry battalions now stands at 36, while the army as a whole numbers 37,000 men; still substantially short of its personnel projections, but way above the 22,000 which it numbered at the end of summer 2007 [2].
These relative successes have turned the ANA into one of the pillars of the much touted "Afghanization" strategy. The term "Afghanization" itself is used with some ambiguity within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), sometimes implying a gradual withdrawal of foreign troops; at other times it implies the gradual shift of the weight of the fighting from the international contingents to the Afghans. A number of European countries seem to lean toward the first interpretation, while Washington clearly opts for the second [3]. (Asia Times)

Labels: Afghanistan

Growing impatience in the US Congress over the enormous costs incurred by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W Bush administration's "surge" strategy to the test.
Although the House of Representatives appears poised to approve an additional US$163 billion on Thursday for military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the year, most observers believe that Congress will impose unprecedented conditions on Iraq-related spending. This could include requirements that the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pays substantially more in reconstruction and related costs than it has to date.
The argument that Baghdad must bear more of the burden gained momentum last week when the Pentagon's Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported that Iraq's oil revenue in 2008 should exceed $70 billion, twice as much as had been forecast just a few months before.
That report, which comes amid growing concern in Washington over the weak domestic economy, has fueled efforts by a bipartisan group of senators to halt virtually all US funding for major reconstruction and infrastructure projects in Iraq.
Indeed, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted unanimously last week to approve a bill that would ban the Pentagon from funding any reconstruction or infrastructure project in Iraq that costs more than US$2 million. Similar legislation is expected to be taken up by the House. (Asia Times)

Labels: Iraq, U.S.

Persian Gulf states, including Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, are talking about dropping their currencies' pegs to the US dollar. Inflation in these states is spinning out of control, as the peg causes their currencies to follow the dollar lower.
They have been somewhat hesitant about this, not least because of concern over a viable alternative. They could peg to another currency, such as the euro, or even the yen, but pegging to either of these could at some point create the same difficulties that the dollar peg is creating now. It was not that long ago that the euro was trading at US$0.87.
Another option is some sort of currency basket, as is used by Singapore. This is not a bad solution, as it provides some diversification among central bankers' errors. However, in the sort of dollar-led worldwide inflation that is happening today, typically all currencies sink together.
Of course, these countries could try to go it alone, with an independent currency. But there is hardly any guarantee that the home-grown central bankers would be better than those at the US Federal Reserve or European Central Bank. Smaller countries have a history of regular currency crises.
The problem with all these alternatives is that, at their base, they rely on some personage like US Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke to manage the currency properly. There is little evidence that this ever happens. Central bankers always screw up, eventually. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday he was prepared to bring about a peace agreement between Israel and Syria during his term in office, according to a report in the magazine Paris Match.
Olmert told the French weekly that his top priority was reaching peace with Syria and the Palestinians, adding that no other matter was as important or urgent for the future of Israel.
He also said that if Israel and its enemies were to cease fighting and work together to build a common future, the Middle East could be turned into a paradise.

Earlier Thursday, the pan-Arab London-based daily newspaper Al Hayat reported that Turkish officials are moving to convene a three-way meeting between Israeli and Syrian representatives. The meeting would likely take place in Istabul, as Turkey continues its efforts to jump-start peace negotiations between the two countries.
Ankara would like both sides to commit to a signed declaration as a starting point for talks. According to the report, Turkey decided to postpone the proposed sit-down after the Syrians revealed Jerusalem's stated willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. The newspaper added that the Syrian leadership was assuaged by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's refusal to deny or backtrack from the claims when word reached the news media in Israel. (Haaretz)

Labels: Israel, Syria, Turkey

George Bush, the US president, has said he is extending sanctions against Syria following Washington's charge that Damascus has been building a nuclear reactor with North Korea's help.

Bush announced his decision on Wednesday to continue a one-year freeze on Syrian assets as well as a ban on exporting certain goods to Syria.

"I took these actions to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the United States constituted by the actions of the government of Syria," Bush said in a message to the US congress.

He accused Syria of "supporting terrorism ... pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes, including the recent revelation of illicit nuclear co-operation with North Korea".

The president also said Syria was "undermining US and international efforts with respect to the stabilisation and reconstruction of Iraq". (Al Jazeera)

Labels: Sanctions, Syria, U.S.

Iran has arrested members of a terrorist group with links to Britain and the United States who were behind a blast at a mosque last month that killed 14 and wounded 200 in the southern city of Shiraz, a news agency said.

Iranian officials had previously said the April 12 blast, in the Shohada mosque during an evening prayer sermon by a prominent local cleric, was caused by explosives left over from an exhibition commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

"The blast ... was caused by a bombing by a terrorist group with links to Western countries, especially Britain and America," ISNA news agency quoted Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying late on Wednesday.

Five or six people were arrested, including the main culprit who was trying to flee the country, Mohseni-Ejei said. The group was found with weapons and "intended to carry out similar acts in other places," he said.

"The group, which has relations to Western countries including Britain and America, has carried out other terrorist activities in the country in the past few years," he said. (Reuters)

Labels: Iran, U.K., U.S.

Baghdad's crumbling roads, burst sewage pipes and chronic water shortages are casualties of war that get little attention amid the daily litany of gunfights, bombs and bloodletting in Iraq.

As summer approaches, the city is facing an acute shortage of drinking water despite the efforts of officials like Sadiq Shumari, its director of water services.

Temperatures are set to reach 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) and demand for the precious commodity will outstrip supply.

"We have a huge task to rehabilitate the water system, which has been neglected for decades, but it's a challenge with such poor security," Shumari told Reuters on a trip to the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad, one of the city's poorest.

"Insecurity is a problem, but what doesn't get as noticed is how it hinders the provision of services which the people need to live," he said, before two loud blasts nearby sent him and some U.S. troops running for cover inside a building. (Reuters)

Labels: Iraq, U.S., Water

Growing impatience in Congress over the enormous costs being racked up by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W. Bush administration's "surge" strategy to the test.
Although the House of Representatives appears poised to approve an additional 163 billion dollars Thursday for military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the year, most observers believe that Congress will impose unprecedented conditions on Iraq-related spending. This could include requirements that the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pay substantially more in reconstruction and related costs than it has to date.
The argument that Baghdad must bear more of the burden gained momentum last week when the Pentagon's Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported that Iraq's oil revenue in 2008 should exceed 70 billion dollars, twice as much as had been forecast just a few months before.
That report, which comes amid growing concern here over the weak domestic economy, has fueled efforts by a bipartisan group of senators to halt virtually all U.S. funding for major reconstruction and infrastructure projects in Iraq.
Indeed, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted unanimously last week to approve a bill that would ban the Pentagon from funding any reconstruction or infrastructure project in Iraq that costs more than two million dollars. Similar legislation is expected to be taken up by the House. (IPS)

Labels: Iraq, U.S.

Burning tyres on the airport road, flights suspended, demands from the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt that Hizbollah moves secret cameras from runway 1-7 and end the militia's equally secret underground communications equipment. Across Corniche Mazraa, crowds of shrieking Sunni and Shia Muslims hurl abuse and stones at each other. A soldier comes up to my car at the crossroads. "Turn round," he shouts. "They're shooting."

Lebanon seems to feed on crisis, need crisis, breathe crisis, like a wounded man needs blood. The man who should be the president is head of the army and the man who believes he leads the resistance – Sayed Hassan Nasrallah of the Hizbollah – accuses Mr Jumblatt of doing Israel's work while Mr Jumblatt claims the head of Beirut airport security, Colonel Wafic Chucair, works for the Hizbollah and should be fired.

Yesterday, in case you hadn't guessed, was a "general strike" by opponents of the Lebanese government with all the usual chaos. Mr Nasrallah is to hold a press conference today and then we'll all find out if this latest crisis is the greatest crisis since the last great crisis. Yes, a good cup of cynicism is necessary to wash down the rhetoric and threats of the past few days. At its most serious is the incendiary language in which Lebanon's politicians now address each other, the kind of menacing words that could easily touch an assassin's heart.

Indeed, the start of this latest drama might be traced to the murder of two Phalangist officials in the Bekaa town of Zahle a few weeks ago. The murderer has been named, is linked to the pro-Syrian opposition and is still at large. (Independent)

Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon

At least 10 people, including two soldiers, were injured on Wednesday after a General Labor Confederation (GLC) strike which was meant to protest the government's economic polici