Middle Orient

BERLIN (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will visit Germany and Italy next week to encourage European investment in Iraq, the government’s spokesman said on Thursday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a rare public appearance, welcomed five Lebanese freed from captivity in Israel on Wednesday after his guerrilla group returned the bodies of two captured Israeli soldiers.

(Reuters) – A U.S. soldier was killed by an explosive charge rigged to a house while conducting operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. A U.S. Marine died on Sunday as a result of non-combat related incident in Anbar province, the U.S. …

(Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Wednesday the last of five extra combat brigades deployed to Iraq last year would complete its departure next week. That will leave 140,000 troops in Iraq. Following are facts about the so-called surge:

LEBANON/ISRAEL BORDER (Reuters) – Hezbollah handed the bodies of two Israeli soldiers to the Red Cross on Wednesday to be exchanged for Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in a deal viewed as a triumph by the Lebanese Shi’ite guerrilla group.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish soldiers have killed 11 Kurdish guerrillas in an operation in the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari, Turkey’s military said on Wednesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two suicide bombers killed 23 people and wounded 68 at a recruitment centre for the Iraqi army north of Baghdad on Tuesday, an Iraqi security source said, just days after the government promised a crackdown in the area.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Unknown gunmen kidnapped two Turkish nationals working on construction project in western Afghanistan on Monday, a senior police official said. Kidnapping has become a lucrative business in Afghanistan, where dozens of locals and foreigners have been abducted by criminals or Taliban-linked militants.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The U.S. military commander in Iraq said on Monday that security conditions would determine whether he makes recommendations for further troop withdrawals in the coming months.