Middle Orient

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought to calm speculation in Israel that war with Syria could erupt soon, saying on Wednesday he wanted peace with Damascus and to avoid any miscalculations that could lead to hostilities.

NAHR BARED (AFP) — Lebanon laid terror charges against Al Qaeda inspired gunmen Wednesday as sporadic gunbattles flared between the Islamists and the army on the 18th day of a deadly standoff.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and Israel said after high-level talks here Wednesday that the time might not be ripe for the Jewish state to resume peace talks with arch-rival Syria.

AMMAN — The government on Wednesday said it has asked the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem to clarify his position on “documented evidence” that the patriarchate was involved in at least 12 transactions to sell or lease church property.

The EU supports Turkey’s struggle against terrorism, but would discourage the country from launching an incursion into northern Iraq, diplomats said on Monday (June 4th) as a high-level meeting got under way in Ankara.

BEIRUT — “Gone fishing” says the notice on the door of a club in a usually bustling Beirut bar district which has been deserted since bomb attacks last week.

WASHINGTON — Confronted with strong opposition to his Iraq policies, President George W. Bush decides to interpret public opinion his own way. Actually, he says, people agree with him.

RAMALLAH (AFP) — Palestinians and peace activists rallied on Tuesday against four decades of Israeli occupation on the anniversary of the 1967 war that reshaped the Middle East in just six days.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber drove a pickup packed with explosives into a group of anti-Al Qaeda tribal chiefs Tuesday in a market area near Fallujah on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people, officials said, in the latest example of the difficulties facing Sunni leaders trying to gain control …

NAHR BARED (AFP) — Sporadic fighting continued on Tuesday in the Lebanese army’s battle to crush gunmen holed up in a refugee camp, amid reports the radicals’ resolve was weakening and that some were surrendering.