Syria

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Hezbollah Included in Lebanon Unity Government

Militant group gets one cabinet slot among 16 for opposition in move to calm strife

(Newser) - Lebanon’s political factions finally formed a unity government today, Reuters reports, with militant group Hezbollah included in the coalition formed after weeks of wrangling. With Hezbollah and its allies effectively holding veto power, it appears Syria—long allied with the militants—will regain some of the dominance it long...

Rendition Victim Loses US Torture Appeal

Technicality KOs case at center of recent movie

(Newser) - A Canadian software engineer has lost an appeal against the US for his torture in Syria on a technicality, Reuters reports. Syrian-born Maher Arar, whose story inspired the Hollywood movie Rendition, was forced off a flight in New York in 2002 and shipped to Syria, where he says he was...

Refugees: Iraq's Unspoken Crisis
Refugees: Iraq's Unspoken Crisis
OPINION
Jun 26, 2008 6:56 AM CDT

Refugees: Iraq's Unspoken Crisis

US must rebuild shattered lives now or face decades of disorder: Kristof

(Newser) - New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof travels to Jordan to report on one of the unintended consequences of the Iraq war: a regional refugee crisis. About 2 million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, have fled since the war, living mostly in Jordan and Syria in deplorable conditions. "They are the...

Mideast Peace Initiatives Dodge US Disapproval
Mideast Peace Initiatives
Dodge US Disapproval
Opinion
Jun 3, 2008 10:00 AM CDT

Mideast Peace Initiatives Dodge US Disapproval

America on the bench as region works itself out

(Newser) - Middle East nations are moving to resolve their conflicts without, and often in defiance of, Washington, write Hussein Agha and Robert Malley in the New York Times. Israel is in peace talks with both Hamas and Syria, and Lebanon has reached political reconciliation after a near civil war. All three...

Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning
Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning
Analysis
May 26, 2008 3:45 PM CDT

Distracted US Finds Mideast Clout Waning

With clock ticking on Bush administration, hard-line tactics fail

(Newser) - The Bush Administration's problems are hardly confined to abysmal domestic approval ratings, writes veteran Reuters journalist Jonathan Wright. Middle Eastern leaders are paying less and less attention to the lame-duck president, who spoke of the need to isolate Hamas during a visit to Egypt last week—even as his host...

Israel Confirms Peace Talks With Syria

Olmert ready to give up Golan; Israelis may disapprove

(Newser) - Israel and Syria have been holding secret peace talks, with Turkey as the middleman, the two sides announced today, acknowledging for the first time the long-rumored negotiations. Syria is technically at war with Israel over the Golan Heights, which the Israelis seized in 1967. Israel is ready to give the...

Iran Outsmarting US in New Cold War in Mideast
Iran Outsmarting US in New Cold War in Mideast
OPINION
May 14, 2008 12:02 PM CDT

Iran Outsmarting US in New Cold War in Mideast

America is too dumb, weak right now to counter, Friedman says

(Newser) - The new cold war is being waged between America and Iran, and Iran is winning hands down, Thomas L Friedman writes in the New York Times. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nation has built up influence from Iraq to Lebanon, with power over Iraq's prime minister, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other militias—and a...

Hezbollah Pulling Gunmen From Beirut

Political group wins concessions from neutral Lebanese army

(Newser) - Hezbollah began withdrawing gunmen today from Beirut after winning concessions from the Lebanese army to overturn the government measures that sparked days of fierce fighting. The army, a neutral player in the ongoing struggle between the insurgent political group and the Western-backed government, said it would reinstate Beirut airport’s...

Lebanon Condemns 'Armed Coup'
 Lebanon Condemns
 'Armed Coup' 
UPDATED
May 9, 2008 1:48 PM CDT

Lebanon Condemns 'Armed Coup'

Hezbollah doing bidding of Syria, Iran in Beirut firestorm, government claims

(Newser) - Hezbollah’s takeover of Beirut is nothing less than an “armed coup,” Lebanon’s ruling party said today. “The armed and bloody coup which is being implemented aims to return Syria to Lebanon and extend Iran's reach to the Mediterranean,” one official in the US-backed government...

Hezbollah Chief: Beirut 'War Has Started'

Open violence rattles streets a second day

(Newser) - What began as a strike yesterday is now “open war” in Lebanon, according to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, CNN reports. Open violence continued for a second day today, with loyalists and opposition fighters clashing after the US-backed government tried to muscle through measures against Hezbollah on Monday, including a...

Blasts Accompany Crippling Lebanon Strike

Casualties unclear as workers demand higher wages amid government crisis

(Newser) - Explosions and gunfire sounded throughout Beirut today as a politically charged workers' strike turned violent. A Hezbollah-led opposition party had called for a one-day general strike, ostensibly for higher wages, the BBC reports. But things soon turned ugly, with flaming barricades along major roads, and gunfire between various factions in...

Syria Must 'Come Clean' on Nukes, US Says

Reactor destroyed by Israel was nearly complete, it says

(Newser) - A covert nuclear reactor in Syria was only months away from producing uranium for weapons when Israel destroyed it in a bombing raid, US intelligence officials say. The officials briefed members of Congress on the Israeli raid in September, asserting that North Korea helped Syria build the site. The White...

Video Links North Korea to Syrian Reactor

Design similar to North Korean nuke technology

(Newser) - Video showing a nuclear reactor under construction in Syria is expected to be released today by the White House, the New York Times reports. The video, shot before the reactor was obliterated by Israeli air strikes, confirms that Syrians had North Korean technological help. The design is similar to one...

Israel Would Leave Golan: Syria
 Israel Would Leave Golan: Syria 
Apr 23, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

Israel Would Leave Golan: Syria

Israelis willing to trade disputed territory for peace, Damascus told

(Newser) - Israel is willing to return the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace, Reuters reports. A Syrian minister said in a TV interview that the Israeli message was relayed through Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan, set to visit Syria this weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week he...

CIA to Brief Congress on Syria-North Korea Nuke Pact

Washington moves close to N. Korea agreement

(Newser) - Details of a suspected secret pact between North Korea and Syria to supply Damascus with nuclear weapons technology will be revealed in closed-door CIA briefings of lawmakers, Reuters reports. The pact is apparently linked to an Israeli air raid on a suspected nuclear site in Syria last year. The briefing...

Dutch Pol Makes Waves With Unseen Film

Western, Islamic officials fear violence over anti-Koran piece

(Newser) - An unruly Dutch politician for months has had civil and religious leaders in a tizzy over a movie no one has seen—and which might not even exist, Der Spiegel reports. But by the end of March, provocateur Geert Wilders says he intends to release a movie exposing “the...

Syria Remains Key for Foreign Fighters in Iraq: US

90% of Iraq's foreign fighters come across neighbor's borders, new report contends

(Newser) - Syria is a key jumping-off point for foreign militants in Iraq, with 90% entering through the Syrian border, the Pentagon reported yesterday. “It is not clear that Syria has made a strategic decision to deal with foreign terrorists using Syria as a transit point,” the report notes. Meanwhile,...

China Off US Rights Blacklist
 China Off US Rights Blacklist 
Mar 12, 2008 10:26 AM CDT

China Off US Rights Blacklist

State Dept. report drops China from top 10 worst abusers despite poor record

(Newser) - The State Department has taken China off its list of the world's 10 worst human rights abusers, the New York Times reports. China's human rights record "remained poor," the department's annual report said, with abuses including "extrajudicial killings, torture, and coerced confessions of prisoners." Officials declined...

US Warship Heads for Lebanon
US Warship Heads for Lebanon
Feb 29, 2008 4:30 AM CST

US Warship Heads for Lebanon

Deployment of USS Cole signals 'we're engaged,' official says

(Newser) - The US has ordered a warship to the coastal waters of Lebanon amid fear the country's political deadlock could turn violent, Reuters reports. The country's presidential election has just been delayed for the 15th time and the US blames the political quagmire on Syrian meddling on behalf of its Hezbollah...

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death
US Should
Have Hugged Castro to Death
OPINION
Feb 19, 2008 12:23 PM CST

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death

Dictator relied on angry giant to the north to keep people afraid

(Newser) - Fidel Castro has left power, but his legacy endures because the US never did what it took to eliminate his regime: embrace it. Fidel survived for decades because his people were afraid of the angry superpower to the north, writes Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey. Had America embraced him, the Cuban...

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