Middle Orient

MADRID (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, a key player in Middle East politics, said he fears conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iraq could explode into a global one, adding that his monarchy was making great efforts to reach peace.

BAGHDAD (AP) — US and Iraqi forces launched attacks on the capital’s northern and southern flanks to clear out Sunni insurgents, Al Qaeda fighters and Shiite militiamen who were chased from the capital and Anbar province during the first four months of the Baghdad security operation, military officials said Monday.

BEIRUT (AP) — A previously unknown group on Monday claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on northern Israel, reflecting Lebanon’s increasingly dangerous mix of armed organisations.

AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Monday ordered the dispatch of food and other humanitarian aid to Gaza, which suffers a shortage in basic commodities, a Royal Court statement said.

RAMALLAH (Reuters) — Western powers bolstered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ emergency government on Monday, vowing to end a 15-month-old embargo after he sacked ruling Hamas Islamists who seized the Gaza Strip.

As fighting at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon entered its second month, three army soldiers were killed in combat. A Lebanese security source and a Palestinian political source said the army appeared to be close to crushing Fatah al-Islam’s positions on the outskirts of the coastal camp …

The conduct of secret nuclear wars since 1991, through the use of depleted uranium weaponry by the United States and Great Britain with their allies, has taken place in the Middle East, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan2 and Lebanon.3 It has been carried out for the express purpose of destroying the …

Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, the spokesman of Hamas Movement in Gaza Strip, has described the emergency government that was formed by decrees from PA chief Mahmoud Abbas as “unpatriotic and illegitimate”.

The US and the EU are to normalise ties with the new Palestinian government, lifting embargoes on aid to support an administration without Hamas.

Hamas militants overran the main security headquarters of the Fatah organization in the Gaza Strip on Thursday and targeted remaining key facilities under Fatah control. VOA’s Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem at least 25 people were killed in Thursday’s fighting, bringing to nearly 100 the number of people killed since …