DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syrian forces captured two “terrorists” and a security officer was killed Monday in a dawn clash with extremists who included former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein, official media said. The gunbattle on Mount Qassioun overlooking the Syrian capital was the second such firefight with extremists in recent days …

BEIRUT (Reuters) — Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president bowed to the will of the majority on Thursday and appointed an anti-Syria former minister to head the first government to take office without Syrian troops in the country for 30 years. Highlighting the challenges facing the next government, Israeli troops shot at Hizbollah …

KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudanese Islamist opposition leader Hassan Turabi was freed from jail Thursday, 15 months after his arrest over an alleged coup plot, and immediately lashed out at the lack of freedom in his country.