Middle Orient

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel failed to achieve all its objectives in its summer war against Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon, the Israeli army chief admitted Tuesday, but he rejected calls to resign as a result.

BEIRUT — Assassinated leaders are very much alive in Lebanese politics. The commemoration of leaders blown up or shot dead is a tradition in a country plagued for decades by political killings and civil violence.

BAGHDAD — When Ali Mohammad was woken by gunfire celebrating the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, he thought about the lessons of history in his country where rulers tend not to die quietly in their beds.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel on Thursday marks one year since a massive stroke felled Ariel Sharon and left the former premier who for decades dominated the nation’s political landscape in a coma.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — In a gesture to Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday said he is open to “any murmur of peace” from Israel’s enemies. Syria has recently signalled that it would like to reopen peace talks with Israel, which broke down seven years ago.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraqi officials backed away on Thursday from suggestions they would hang Saddam Hussein within a month, amid speculation the government is divided over whether to execute the ousted leader quickly.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is due to be hanged within weeks but the government has given few details of how, when and where it will hang him.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) — President George W.  Bush met with top advisers at his Texas ranch on Thursday to hash out a new Iraq strategy that he plans to unveil next month to an American public weary of the war.

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will be hanged within 30 days, an appeal court judge said Tuesday, after confirming the former strongman’s sentence for crimes against humanity.

A STRING OF car bombs and other blasts killed at least 54 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 17 outside Baghdad’s most venerated Sunni mosque, while US troops battled Shiite gunmen in Baghdad.