Middle Orient

Israeli troops on Wednesday sealed off a cluster of Gaza Strip settlements marked for evacuation to stop the influx of hardline pullout opponents, in the government’s most sweeping measure yet to prepare for next month’s pullout from 25 settlements. Settlers responded defiantly, threatening to block roads throughout Israel and to …

NAIROBI (AFP) — A leading international policy group on Tuesday warned of fresh anarchy in Somalia if the United Nations Security Council lifts a 13-year-old arms embargo on the shattered country in order to enable the deployment of a regional peacekeeping force.

JENIN — A few hundred fighters, a violent ideology and alleged funding from Iran — this lethal mix has turned Islamic Jihad into one of the biggest threats to the fragile Mideast truce. Unlike its big brother Hamas, which is eyeing the Palestinian mainstream by seeking political office, Islamic Jihad …

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The bodies of Mohammad Radhi and Alaa Mohammad, hands still clutching the chocolate bars given to them by US soldiers, lay on the floor of a Baghdad morgue, their lives snuffed out by a suicide bomber. “They killed all the children of the neighbourhood,” wept Radhi Hamud, …

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Top US officials on Tuesday pointed fingers at both Syria and Iran as they denounced the deadly suicide bombing at a shopping centre in Israel. The attack in the Israeli city of Netanya was the first suicide bombing inside Israel in four-and-a-half months. At least three Israelis …

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday issued a decree to withdraw recognition from the embattled Greek Orthodox patriarch, who has been embroiled in a battle over Jerusalem land deals with Israelis that have angered Palestinians. The Palestinian decree further weakens the position of the patriarch, Irineos …

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Thirty-two Iraqi youngsters, most of them under age 15, were killed Wednesday when a suicide car bomber blew himself up near US soldiers as they handed out chocolates in a Baghdad neighbourhood. Another 31, mostly children, were also wounded in the blast, while a US soldier died …

DAMASCUS (AFP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Syria on Wednesday for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, on his first visit to Damascus since being elected in January. He was greeted at the airport by Foreign Minister Farouq Sharaa and was to meet Assad on Thursday, during a …

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kidnappers of Egypt’s top diplomat in Iraq threatened to kill him Wednesday because Egypt has allied with “Jews and Christians,” according to a statement on a website linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq. Pictures of the envoy’s ID cards were posted as proof he was held by …

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s top nuclear negotiator will remain in place at least until the country’s new hardline president takes office, his spokesman said Wednesday, denying a report from the state news agency that said he had resigned. But the report throws into doubt the future of Hasan Rowhani — …