Middle Orient

BAGHDAD (AFP) — US and Iraqi troops stepped up a massive offensive against suspected Al Qaeda strongholds northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 30 alleged insurgents, the US military said.

RAMALLAH (AP) — Addressing the Palestinian people for the first time since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas angrily lashed out at the Islamic fighters Wednesday, accusing them of trying to build an “empire of darkness” in Gaza and pledging he would not talk to “murderous terrorists”.

Kavkaz Center source reports with reference to the Chechen command about clashes in the southern regions of the country. The source reported that this is not a complete summary of the fighting and sabotage operations.

The Committee on the Protection of Rights of Forced Migrants has learned that on June 17, in the village of Surkhakhi, armed people in masks broke into the courtyard of the Aushev family, where three families lived.

Two dozen boys have been found starved and neglected at a government-run orphanage for special needs children in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Among the impoverished Iraqi refugees queuing for food aid at a Catholic charity in Damascus stands 65-year-old Hirmiz Hanna, puzzled and upset at his fate.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The plight of some 200 Gazans, stranded in no-man’s-land on the Israeli border in a desperate bid to flee last week’s Islamist takeover of the territory, is dividing Israeli opinion.

In a world where more people are on the move than ever, governments jittery about cross-border criminals, terrorists and illegal migrants must not shirk their duty to protect refugees, a UN official said on Tuesday.

Lebanese troops inched towards Islamic strongholds in a north Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday as mediators hinted at a possible ceasefire deal that includes the disarmament of the Al Qaeda-inspired gunmen.

US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Tuesday to bolster Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as Israel sought to tighten the screws on Hamas Islamists who control Gaza.