Middle Orient

Syria complained to the United Nations about “aggression and violation of sovereignty” after Israeli warplanes reportedly conducted an airstrike in the country’s north, the country’s ambassador to the U.N. said Tuesday.

The US security coordinator in the Palestinian territories wants five new Palestinian battalions deployed across the West Bank in an effort to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a report published Thursday.

The White House on Thursday played down a congressional report showing Iraq had achieved few of the political and security goals set by Washington, saying the standards were too high to meet.

THE UNITED STATES has pledged continued support to Lebanon’s army, which has been fighting a vicious battle against Islamists north of the country.

The head of the UN refugee agency on Thursday praised Jordan and Syria for taking in fleeing Iraqis and urged the international community to show its solidarity by providing more direct, bilateral support.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Al Qaeda fighters kidnapped 15 Iraqi women and children after attacking two villages north of Baghdad on Thursday and killing a religious leader who had been trying to form an anti-Al Qaeda tribal alliance.

RAMALLAH (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday denied recent Israeli news reports that secret peace talks have made progress on some of the most sensitive issues at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

AMMAN  – Hamas supremo Khaled Mishaal said efforts to end the bitter feud with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were deadlocked because of Israeli and US meddling, and insisted his men would stay in control of Gaza.

LEBANESE AUTHORITIES HAVE arrested two Palestinians in connection with a roadside bombing that targeted UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon last month, a security official said Thursday.

ANKARA (AFP) – A Turkish court on Thursday charged an Egyptian with alleged ties to Al Qaeda and a Turkish accomplice with hijacking a plane carrying more than 140 people, the Anatolia news agency said. The court in the southern city of