Middle Orient

Egypt has reinforced its border with the Gaza Strip and accused Iran of threatening its security after Islamist fighters of Hamas violently seized control of the territory.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The US military said on Thursday it was setting a trap to “eliminate” Al Qaeda gunmen around Baghdad, but also said 12 American soldiers had been killed in the past two days, mostly in roadside bombings.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s defence minister said Thursday that Islamic gunmen holed up in a north Lebanon refugee camp have been defeated and that the monthlong “military operation is over”, except for mopping up.

KING ABDULLAH WilL take part in a four-way peace summit in Egypt with the Palestinian, Egyptian and Israeli leaders on Monday, a Royal Court official said on Thursday.

According to occupation sources, on 21 of June in Nazran, Ingushetia, a sabotage unit of Mujahideen has attacked from automatic weapons a so-called “Office of Public Prosecutor”. As a result of the attack the so-called prosecutor got heavy injuries. No other details have been reported.

Beirut has declared that military action going on in Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp has ended. Minister of Defence of Lebanon Elias Murr said that the Lebanese army had destroyed all positions of Fatah Al Islam in the camp.

Lebanese troops said they had largely defeated Islamist rebels in a northern refugee camp, but continued their siege amid sporadic shelling and gunfire.

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) – Thousands of U.S. soldiers on the offensive north of Baghdad are facing fierce resistance from hundreds of al Qaeda militants who are ready to fight to the death, an American general said on Friday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Egypt’s president has invited the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders to a peace summit, officials said Thursday, the biggest show of support yet by moderate Arab states for beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will meet next week in Egypt in the first direct talks since Abbas dissolved a coalition government with Islamist Hamas, Israeli and Palestinian officials said Thursday.