Middle Orient

Iraqi Mujahideen shot down Tuesday evening (Sept. 12) a US helicopter in the al-Bu ‘Ubayd area of ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad. The Mujahideen fired a surface-to-air rocket at the American aircraft, bringing it crashing to the ground where it was completely wrecked.

A report published by the US senate intelligence committee has said that there were no links between Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, and any members of al-Qaeda.

Nine US occupation troops have been killed in Afghanistan. A US tank came under Taliban attack last night, September 6, near the town of Dahrawut in Uruzgan province, as a result of which six American occupiers were killed and three others were wounded.

Mujahiden Destroy 2 US Armored vehicles in Iraq, Terminating All Troops Onboard  Iraqi Mujahideen fighters ambushed two US armored vehicles in Tall ‘Afar, west of al-Mawsil in northern Iraq early on Thursday morning, September 7, 2006. 

US and Iraqi puppet troops clashed with Iranian army forces in the border area near the town of al-Mandali in Diyala Province on Thursday, September 7, 2006. 

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon put on a boisterous show Thursday — with a low-flying passenger jet circling the capital — to celebrate the end of Israel’s air blockade.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — The United States formally handed over control of Iraq’s new military to Prime Minister Nuri Maliki’s government on Thursday just as rebels unleashed a fresh wave of deadly bomb attacks on Iraqi security forces.

BERLIN (Reuters) — Iran has failed to meet a UN Security Council demand that it suspend uranium enrichment, six world powers agreed on Thursday, but there was growing opposition to US calls for sanctions.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) — A sea of white-clothed mourners laid Sudanese editor Mohammad Taha to rest on Thursday after he was kidnapped and killed by unknown armed men, raising fears of a new brand of extreme violence in Sudan.

BEIRUT — Abu Abbas, a car dealer from south Lebanon, has ready answers to the litmus-test question which has traditionally split his country down the middle — whether it should opt out of the Arab-Israeli conflict.