Middle Orient

BAGHDAD — Iraqi leaders have all but given up on holding the country together and, just two months after forming a national unity government, talk in private of “black days” of civil war ahead.

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has only narrow room for diplomatic manoeuvre on her Middle East crisis tour if she wants to avoid destabilising the moderate Arab states

TYRE — “They’re coming — again,” said Yussuf Ismael, a teacher who grabbed his family and fled his Lebanese border village, fearing an imminent full-scale invasion like that of 1982 when Israeli troops marched on Beirut.

LOS ANGELES — Peace reigns at least at the Miss Universe 2006 contest, where beauties Miss Lebanon and Miss Israel are the “best of friends” despite the bloody fighting between the two countries back home, their companions said.

BAGHDAD — A disreputable crew of unshaven men wearing police uniforms pounces on a businessman before the horrified eyes of his wife as he leaves his home in an upscale Baghdad neighbourhood.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Senior Palestinian officials said militant groups in the Israel at midnight Saturday, if Israel launches no new raids into Gaza. But two main guerrilla groups denied that any agreement had been reached.

BEIRUT, Lebanon – With fears of a humanitarian crisis growing, Israel opened up its blockade of Lebanon’s ports to allow the first shiploads of aid to arrive, and tens of thousands of Lebanese fled north to escape Israeli army incursions.

ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER – Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops moved in and out of Lebanon on Saturday, taking over a village and battling Hezbollah militants by land, sea and air as part of a limited ground campaign.

Israel has called up 3,000 reservists as it prepares for a possible full-scale ground invasion of southern Lebanon

At the duty-free zone on the Syria-Lebanon border, the Dunkin’ Donuts is deserted. No donuts, no muffins, no coffee — not even a single employee.