Middle Orient

A joint US/Iraqi drive to wrest back control of Baghdad from militias appears to be making progress, with no major incidents in the capital today.

Police scuffled on Friday with Muslims protesting Israeli construction outside a disputed Jerusalem holy site, but the scattered clashes were quickly contained and no one was seriously hurt, police said.

The US House of Representatives is to vote Friday on a resolution opposing President George W. Bush’s decision to deploy more troops to Iraq, the first major repudiation of the increasingly unpopular war.

Insurgents met the determined advance of Iraqi and US security forces into Baghdad with another deadly bomb Friday, despite signs that Shiite militiamen at least have decided to go to ground.

The group that kidnapped two Germans in Iraq last week are said to have made a series of political demands in exchange for the hostages’ release, a German news magazine reported Friday.

Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei Wednesday emphatically urged the world of Islam to take serious measures towards the Zionist regime’s ongoing desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas faces the task of forming a new Palestinian government with the moderate Fatah, despite unresolved internal disputes and the warning of a U.S. boycott.

At least seven people were killed in Iraq on Thursday as US and Iraqi troops continued operations in Baghdad as part of the new security plan.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has supported Hamas strongman Mohammed Dahlan as his nation’s next deputy prime minister, a report said.

Iran’s Expediency Council Chairman and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that his country would remove the current obstacles to talks with the United States if it shows good will to Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.