Middle Orient

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces shot and wounded an armed man who crossed from Syria into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Wednesday, the army said. Violence along the Israeli-Syrian border is rare and the army said the incident was reported to United Nations forces in the area.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) – At least 15 people including nine soldiers were killed in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to security sources, in the deadliest attack on the army since a battle with al Qaeda-inspired militants last year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday welcomed as a “very good first step” Syria’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon at an ambassadorial level.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman agreed on Wednesday to establish diplomatic relations between their countries at ambassadorial level, a Syrian official said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran plans to establish a free-trade zone on its border with Iraq, Baghdad’s Ambassador to Tehran Mohamed Meguid al-Sheikh said Wednesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkey will increase its imports of gas from Iran to compensate for a reduction in supplies from Azerbaijan resulting from the conflict in Georgia, a senior source from the Turkish pipeline company Botas said on Tuesday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinians gave their national poet Mahmoud Darwish what amounted to a state funeral in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, mourning a man who articulated their sense of loss, exile and defiance.

EDINBURGH (Reuters) – The Palestine National Theatre is putting on a play based on a poem by Mahmoud Darwish at the Edinburgh International Festival dedicated to the acclaimed Palestinian poet who died last Saturday.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) – A bomb killed at least 18 people, including nine soldiers, in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, security sources said. The bomb, which also wounded at least 45 people, was the deadliest attack on the army since its battle with al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants …

BAQUBA, Iraq  – Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew on the capital of restive Diyala province on Tuesday after the governor survived a suicide attack that left the bomber’s body parts scattered across the street.