Middle Orient

The Lebanese army has continued its bombardment of the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp with artillery and tank fire, a senior military official has said.

Israel is to allow a key Palestinian leader to travel to the West Bank, in a measure seen as another attempt to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas.

Away from the headlines and debate over the “surge” in U.S. ground troops, the Air Force has quietly built up its hardware inside Iraq, sharply stepped up bombing and laid a foundation for a sustained air campaign in support of American and Iraqi forces.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Iraqi forces are ready to provide full security in the nation whenever U.S. troops leave.

The head of Al Qaeda in Egypt has fled the country for the Gaza Strip, arrested members of the network revealed during interrogation, a security official said Sunday.

Egyptian state security prosecutors are questioning 35 men police accuse of plotting to overthrow the government and having contacts with al-Qaeda, a lawyer for the men and a security source said on Saturday.

The Turkish Armed Forces have begun to recruit “professional commandos” as part of a new plan to combat the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The military expects to recruit around 10,000 soldiers, who will be given special training to fight terrorists in mountainous areas.

France hosts talks at the weekend between Lebanon’s fractious leaders to try to ease a political deadlock that has plunged the nation into its worst crisis since the end of the civil war.

Insurgents fired more than two dozen mortar shells at government targets in the Somali capital overnight, including the president’s residence, in an apparent attempt to disrupt reconciliation talks planned for the weekend.

It still looks like an oasis in the desert, but Baghdad’s smart set does not drive out to play beside the pristine lake at Habbaniyah any more.