Middle Orient

BEIRUT (AP) — Italian soldiers moved into southern Lebanon with trucks and armoured vehicles Sunday in the first big wave of a UN troops to monitor a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah fighters. Lebanese officials scoffed at an Israeli call for peace talks.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities on Sunday announced the capture of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s No. 2 leader, who they blame for “brutal and merciless” terror operations, including the bombing of a Shiite shrine last winter that touched off months of sectarian bloodletting and pushed Iraq towards civil war.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Efforts to free an Israeli soldier captured by fighters in the Gaza Strip appeared to gain speed Sunday with reports that Israel might release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the man.

ERBIL (AFP) — The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region launched a scathing attack on Iraqi Arab leaders Sunday over their opposition to his order banning the national flag from public buildings.

QANA — Qana residents whose village was targeted in a devastating air strike in July suspect the true aims of the strengthened UN force being assembled in south Lebanon are to protect Israel and further US goals in the Middle East.

ANKARA — Some Turks see participating in the Lebanon peacekeeping force as a chance to reassert Turkish influence in the region, decades after their Ottoman Empire ruled across southeastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that he hoped the ceasefire with Lebanon could lead to a permanent peace deal, but Lebanon’s premier rebuffed the idea, saying his country would be the last Arab nation to make peace with the Jewish state.

GENEVA (AFP) — The number of people killed by cluster bombs in southern Lebanon since a ceasefire  two weeks ago has climbed to 13, and clearance teams face a tough task as they try to lower the risk, experts said on Wednesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Bombers killed nearly 50 Iraqis on Wednesday, mostly in Baghdad, but the top US commander said a security drive in the capital was making progress and local forces could largely be running Iraq within 12 to 18 months.

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community on Wednesday to “halt Israeli aggression” after nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops.