Middle Orient

Iraq’s foreign minister has warned that a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces could lead to civil war and the collapse of the Iraqi government. From northern Iraq, VOA’s Margaret Besheer reports the Iraqi diplomat was reacting to growing debate about the future of American troops in Iraq.

The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

Lebanese troops have fought new battles with Islamist militants around a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country, reports say.

A special Israeli envoy gave Egypt last week a list of Hamas prisoners Israel is prepared to release in an exchange for abducted Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported.

A delegation of Israel’s liberal Meretz party will on Sunday travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, the party said in a statement.

The EU is scaling back its monitoring mission at the Gaza-Egypt border, a spokeswoman said Saturday, suggesting that Gaza’s only gateway to the world won’t open again anytime soon.

Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey’s chief of general staff, told a security conference in Antalya on Tuesday (July 3rd) that there is not enough international co-operation in fighting Kurdish terrorists.

The United States needs to step up efforts to prevent Kurdish separatists from operating cross-border attacks on Turkey from Iraq, US and Turkish officials said.

President George W. Bush sought on Wednesday to rally support for the war in Iraq, appealing to Americans on Independence Day for “more patience, more courage and more sacrifice”.

The US tactic of using armed Sunni tribesmen in the fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq offers short-term gains to weaken the insurgency, but could set the stage for a full-scale sectarian civil war when the Americans begin to draw down their forces.