Middle Orient News

DAMASCUS —  Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, starting a second term after an unopposed referendum on Sunday, has repeatedly offered to resume peace talks with Israel, only to rebuffed by the Israelis and their US ally.

DAMASCUS  (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station at Damascus University on Sunday as part of a one-day public referendum to endorse him for a second term.

BAGHDAD (AP) — US and Iraqi troops raided Sadr City on Sunday, targeting Shiite insurgent cells in the Baghdad slum for a second day, while British forces stepped up pressure on Shiites in the southern city of Basra, killing three in an overnight operation, the US and British military said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM  (Reuters) —  A Hamas rocket attack from Gaza killed a man in Israel on Sunday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged unlimited military action against the  group, saying “no one involved in terror” would be immune.

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanon has given Palestinian factions until the middle of the week to negotiate a peaceful end to deadly fighting between the army and Islamists, a government source told AFP on Sunday.

AMMAN (Petra) —  His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday told US congressmen that the international community’s failure to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land would lead to further failures in the region.

TEHRAN (AFP) —  Iran said on Saturday that upcoming talks with the United States on Iraq could succeed only if Washington changed its policies in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (AFP) —  US President George W. Bush  celebrated victory on Saturday after he signed into law a long-sought  bill committing $100 billion to the wars in Iraq and  Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A revised UN resolution to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister would give the Lebanese parliament a grace period until June 10 to ratify it.

BEDDAWI (AFP) —  With their long beards, Pakistani-style clothes and brand new weapons, the Fateh Islam guerrillas have long spread fear among Palestinian refugees in an embattled camp in northern Lebanon.