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Mitchell: US seeks Israeli
peace talks with Syria, Lebanon |
WASHINGTON - The United
States is pushing for peace talks between Israel, Syria and
Lebanon, US envoy George Mitchell said Tuesday, as the Israelis
prepared to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians.

"With respect to Syria, our efforts continue to try to engage
Israel and Syria in discussions and negotiations that would lead
to peace there and also Israel and Lebanon," Mitchell said.
"You will recall that when the president announced my
appointment two days after he entered office, he referred to
comprehensive peace and defined it as Israel and Palestinians,
Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon, and Israel at peace with
and having normal relations with all of its Arab neighbors. And
that remains our objective."
Mitchell was briefing journalists ahead of Thursday's resumption
of direct peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
Top level talks in search of an elusive Middle East peace deal
broke off in 2008 when Israel invaded the Palestinian Gaza Strip
to halt militant rocket fire on its south. |
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Lebanon army chief says 10 arrested over
deadly clash |
BEIRUT - The number of arrests linked to a
street battle in which three people were killed in mainly Muslim west Beirut
last week has risen to 10, Lebanon's army chief said in comments published
on Monday.
"Army operations in the area are ongoing... and we have arrested 10 persons
and not just four" as was previously reported, General Jean Kahwaji told the
local Arabic-language daily As-Safir.
"What is required is that no one ignite a fire and then demand the army put
it out," he was quoted as saying.
A deadly street battle shook the Burj Abi Haidar district in the Lebanese
capital on August 24, pitting supporters of Shiite group Hezbollah against
those of Sunni outfit Al-Ahbash, two parties with warm ties to Damascus.
Tuesday's clash, which reportedly began as a row over a parking space and
escalated into a battle with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled
grenades, left three dead, including Hezbollah official Mohammed Fawaz, and
11 people wounded.
The incident has again put Hezbollah's arms in the limelight and raised
fears of a repeat of May 2008, when gunmen supporting an alliance led by the
Shiite group staged a takeover of west Beirut and forced the closure of the
airport.
Some 100 people were killed in the week-long battle, which also involved
Druze and Sunnis and was sparked by a government crackdown on Hezbollah's
private communications network.
Lebanon's interior and defense ministers were scheduled to meet with Prime
Minister Saad Hariri on Monday to forge an agreement on the control of
widespread armament in Beirut in the wake of the latest clash.
But the meeting will exclude discussions on the arsenal of Iranian- and
Syrian-backed Hezbollah, which argues its weapons are necessary to defend
itself against its arch-foe Israel.
"Certain measures should be taken, at the very least to find a means to
control armament within the capital," Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told
As-Safir.
"But disarming the resistance (Hezbollah) is not on the table, even in
Beirut, as we are fully aware of the sensitivity of the situation and we can
agree on a unique formula for the resistance's arms in Beirut."
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Odierno says Iraq failure
could see
US combat role resume |
WASHINGTON

The top US commander in Iraq admitted Sunday that a "complete failure" of
Iraqi security forces could oblige the United States to resume combat
operations there, but he called this an unlikely scenario.
The last US combat brigade withdrew from Iraq on Thursday. On August 31
combat operations officially end and the role of the remaining 50,000
American troops switches to one of providing advice and assistance.
General Ray Odierno told CNN's "State of the Union" that the ability of the
Iraqi police and army to keep a lid on the violence was improving, but
refused to rule out a return to US combat missions if things went sour.
Security advancements meant Iraq was on target to be able to handle its own
security after 2011 when the remainder of the US troops are due to be
withdrawn, the commanding general of American forces in Iraq said.
"My assessment today is they will be (ready)," he told CNN, speaking from
Baghdad. "I think that they continue to grow. We continue to see development
in planning, and in their ability to conduct operations.
"The Iraqi people are resilient. They want this. They want to have a
democratic country. They want to be on their own. They want to be moving
forward and be a contributor to stability in the Middle East."
Despite the advances in building up Iraq's security apparatus, Odierno
conceded there were scenarios where the US military might have to step back
in and resume combat operations.
"If, for example, you had a complete failure of the (Iraqi) security forces.
If you had some political divisions within the political forces that caused
them to fracture, but we don't see that happening," he said.
"They have been doing so well for so long now that we really believe that we
are beyond that point."
But massive security challenges remain, and the extent of the country's
political problems was highlighted this week when the winner of the general
election five months ago broke off coalition talks with his main rival.
Thursday's pullout, a major symbolic step in the handing back of power to
the Iraqi people, came two days after a suicide bomber killed 59 people at a
Baghdad army recruiting center in Iraq's deadliest attack this year.
Iraq's top military officer warned earlier this month that American forces
may be needed in the conflict-wracked nation for a further decade.
"If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US
army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," Lieutenant
General Babaker Zerbari told AFP.
US President Barack Obama will make a major speech on Iraq on his return
next week from his summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, a
senior administration official said.
Obama, who was an opponent of the Iraq war from the beginning and promised
on the road to the White House to withdraw US forces as quickly as possible,
has insisted the ongoing pullout is on schedule and will not be altered.
Under a bilateral security pact all US forces must leave Iraq by the end of
2011, but Odierno said special training units could remain, noting similar
security arrangements with regional allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"Potentially we could be there beyond 2011," he said. "If the government of
Iraq requests fielding systems that could help them with external threats." |
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Syria: UN Lebanon
tribunal has 'political goals' |
DAMASCUS - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Muallem said in reports on Monday that the UN tribunal probing the 2005
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri has "political
goals."

"The international tribunal is not seeking to reveal the truth (about the
murder) but to achieve political goals," Muallem was quoted as saying in
local media.
"The international tribunal is a Lebanese matter and we will not deal with
this court," he said at a meeting of Syria's Baath party late on Sunday.
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, said on July 22 that he
knew the UN tribunal was set to indict members of his militant Shiite party
for Hariri's assassination.
His comments raised fears of renewed conflict in Lebanon and prompted Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah to make an unprecedented
joint visit to Beirut on Friday in a bid to ease the tensions.
Hezbollah, whose main backers are Syria and Iran, is the most powerful
military and political force in Lebanon and fought a devastating war with
Israel in 2006.
Syria was widely believed to have been involved in Hariri's murder, forcing
it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence. Damascus
has consistently denied any part in the killing.
The United Nations set up the special tribunal to investigate Hariri's
assassination in 2007.
The first reports by a committee of the tribunal, which is due to give its
verdict by the end of this year, concluded there was evidence implicating
Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services. |
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Jordan port hit by
rocket, one killed, five hurt |
AMMAN - A Grad-type rocket smashed into a
street in the Jordanian port of Aqaba on Monday, killing a taxi driver and
wounding five other Jordanians, a security official said.

"Subhi Yousef al-Alawneh died in Aqaba as a result of wounds he sustained
from the rocket attack," the security official told AFP.
The 51-year-old taxi driver died at military-run Princess Haya hospital in
the port city, he added.
"The injured are still at the hospital. They are in a stable condition," he
said.
Officials identified those hurt as two taxi drivers, a member of the tourist
police, a security guard and an engineer who works in Aqaba.
Interior Minister Nayef Qadai and other officials told AFP that the rocket
fell in a street near to the Intercontinental hotel, destroying three cars
besides causing casualties.
A source close to the investigation said the rocket was fired from a
location "southwest" of Aqaba -- indicating the Sinai desert.
"Investigations proved that the rocket was fired from southwest of Aqaba,"
he told AFP.
Information Minister Ali Ayed said the rocket fell at around 7:45 am (0445
GMT) and that a probe showed that "the rocket was fired from outside
Jordanian territory."
Israel's army radio earlier Monday said five rockets slammed into areas
around the Israeli port of Eilat, less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from
Aqaba.
An Egyptian security official denied that the rockets had been fired from
Egyptian territory.
"The rockets did not come from Sinai. To launch rockets from Sinai would
need a great deal of logistics and equipment and that is impossible
considering the heavy security presence in the Sinai peninsula," the
official said. |
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Ahmadinejad: US to start new Mideast wars |
TEHRAN - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said the United States is planning to launch two wars in the Middle East in
order to pressure Tehran, English-language Press TV reported on Tuesday.
"We have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot... they
plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three
months," he said in remarks Press TV posted on its website from an interview
with him late Monday.

Ahmadinejad said the United States was seeking to achieve two main
objectives from these wars.
"First of all, they want to hamper Iran's progress and development since
they are opposed to our growth, and, secondly, they want to save the Zionist
regime because it has reached a dead-end and the Zionists believe they can
be saved through a military confrontation," he said referring to Israel.
Iran vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with its nuclear program as it
condemned tough new sanctions.
The European Union slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's key energy sector on
Monday in a bid to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment program. Canada
followed suit, and the United States said the punitive steps would bite.
"These sanctions will not help in resuming talks and will not affect Iran's
determination to defend its legitimate right to pursue a peaceful nuclear
program," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.
The punitive measures would "not help in advancing the talks," he said, as
quoted by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
The EU sanctions follow similar measures meted out by the United States by
going beyond a fourth set of UN sanctions imposed on June 9 over Iran's
refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
Among their measures are a ban on the sale of equipment, technology and
services to Iran's energy sector, and steps to hit activities in refining,
liquefied natural gas, exploration and production, EU diplomats said.
New investments in the energy sector were also banned.
Iran is the world's fourth largest producer of crude oil, but imports 40
percent of its fuel needs because it lacks enough refining capabilities to
meet domestic demand.
The Iranian banking sector was also hit by restrictions, forcing any
transactions of more than 40,000 euros (52,000 dollars) to be authorized by
EU governments before they can go ahead.
Iran also has the world's second-largest reserves of natural gas after
Russia, but the development of its giant gas fields has been delayed due to
a lack of investment in a country faced with severe gas needs of its own and
because of difficulties in procuring the required technology.
Several top global energy majors have already quit Iran, or have been
considering an exit since the fresh set of UN sanctions.
The last high-level meeting between Iran and the six world powers was held
in Geneva in October 2009 when the two sides agreed a nuclear fuel swap deal
that has since stalled.
Western powers have demanded Iran suspend its uranium enrichment program,
fearing Tehran would use the material to build a nuclear bomb. Iran says its
atomic program is a peaceful drive to produce energy.
On Monday Iran responded to queries raised by the Vienna group of diplomatic
powers -- France, Russia and the United States -- over a nuclear fuel swap
proposal by Brazil, Turkey and Tehran.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy
Agency, said Tehran was ready for "prompt talks without any preconditions"
over the fuel swap deal.
Iran also said earlier this month that talks over Iran's overall nuclear
program could begin in September after EU foreign affairs chief Catherine
Ashton reached out to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in a
letter in June. |
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Lebanon, Syria sign
string of accords |
DAMASCUS - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri
met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday as the two countries signed a
string of cooperation accords.
During Hariri's third visit as premier to a country he once blamed for his
father's murder in 2005, Syrian and Lebanese ministers signed a total of 17
accords covering justice, tourism, education and agriculture.

"We will also continue to take action to control the borders so as to combat
trafficking and all illegal acts," he told a joint press conference after
talks with his Syrian counterpart Mohammed Naji Otri and Assad.
Hariri told reporters that his relations with the Syrian leader were "in the
interest of both countries... which face a common enemy."
"During the course of our meetings, a friendly relationship has been built
up between the Syrian president and myself, something which strengthens the
interest of Lebanese and Syrian citizens," he said.
Earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told reporters that the UN's
Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the assassination of Hariri's
father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was "a Lebanese affair."
"If irrefutable evidence demonstrates that a Syrian citizen was implicated,
that person will then be judged in Syria for high treason," Muallem said.
A UN commission of inquiry had said there was converging evidence that
Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were involved in Hariri's killing,
but Damascus has consistently denied any involvement.
The killing prompted the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a
29-year presence.
During a visit in December, his first since his father's assassination,
Hariri called for "privileged, sincere and honest relations... in the
interest of both countries and both peoples."
Hariri and his political allies, backed by the West and Saudi Arabia, won a
majority of seats in parliament in June 2009, edging out an alliance led by
the Syrian-backed Shiite Hezbollah.
The two blocs now share power in a government of national unity. |
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Arabs call for guarantees
for direct Mideast talks |
CAIRO
Arab League chief Amr Mussa said on Sunday that Palestinians could not
resume direct talks with Israel without guarantees, as the Palestinian and
Israeli leaders met separately with Egypt's president.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who are taking part in US-brokered indirect talks, left the
meetings with President Hosni Mubarak without making any statements.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Mubarak earlier and then held
talks with Mussa, who later told reporters the Palestinians could not move
from the indirect talks to face-to-face negotiations.
"We cannot automatically move from one negotiation to another without
written guarantees," said Mussa.
"I felt the Palestinian president was committed to the decisions of the
ministerial council that the automatic transition from indirect to direct
negotiations is not feasible," he said about his meeting with Abbas on
Saturday.
The Arab League backed the indirect talks in March but supported their
suspension after Israel said it would build more Jewish homes in annexed
east Jerusalem.
It backed the talks again in May after the Palestinians said they received
unspecified guarantees, but said direct negotiations would come only after a
complete end to settlement building in occupied Palestinian lands.
Netanyahu had told reporters before flying to Cairo that he would discuss
the prospects for direct talks with Mubarak.
The Palestinian leadership restated the conditions for the direct talks,
suspended since Israel's offensive on Gaza in December 2008, after a meeting
between the US envoy and Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah on
Saturday.
Senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo called for greater clarity
from Washington about its position on new negotiations, insisting the
Palestinians wanted to address the core issues of the Middle East conflict.
"The three-hour meeting between Abbas and Mitchell was important but there
are several issues, most important among them the settlements and the
situation in Jerusalem, that need more clarity," Abed Rabbo told reporters.
The Palestinians have demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlement
expansion ahead of direct talks and have accused Israel of undermining the
process by approving new settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, which
they want as the capital of their promised state. |
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Iranian scientist leaves
for home |
Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist,
is on his way home from the US after surfacing in Washington more than a
year after Tehran claimed he was abducted by US spies.
Ramin Mehmanparast, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said that Amiri
had on Wednesday left from the Pakistan embassy in Washington, where he said
he sought refuge, and was sent off by Mostafa Rahmani, the head of the Iran
interests section.
"Shahram Amiri left US soil ... for Iran following efforts taken by the
Islamic Republic of Iran and the effective cooperation of the Pakistani,"
Mehmanparast said.
Iran and the US have no diplomatic relations, so Tehran's interests in
Washington are handled by a separate "interests section" at the Pakistani
embassy.
Repeating accusations that Amiri was kidnapped by US agents, Mehmanparast
said Iran would continue to pursue his case "legally and diplomatically".
Washington denied kidnapping Amiri and said he had "lived freely" in the US,
with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, saying: "He's free to go,
he was free to come. Those decisions are his to make."
Iranian claim
Iranian authorities have repeatedly said that Amiri was seized by the CIA as
he visited Saudi Arabia last year, and Iranian state television broadcast
the text of what it said was an interview with Amiri.
He was quoted in the interview as saying that he was abducted at gunpoint by
US agents, while attending the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia There were
three people in the van - a driver, another person in a formal suit and
beard, and a third person in the back.
"When I opened the door to get in and sit down, the person at the back put a
gun to my side and said 'please be quite, don't make any noise'," he was
quoted as saying.
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the state department, said on Tuesday that Amiri
had been living in the US for "some time".
"I'm not going to specify for how long, but he has chosen to return,"
Crowley said.
'Defeat for US'
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Amiri was handed over to the
embassy by US agents, calling it a defeat for US intelligence services.
"Because of Iran's media and intelligence activities, the American
government had to back down and hand over Amiri to the embassy on Monday
night," Fars said. |
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Syria's Assad in historic visit
to Havana |
HAVANA - Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad arrived Sunday in Cuba, the second stop of his first
tour of Latin America, to meet with President Raul Castro to
reinforce political and economic ties between the two allies,
officials said.
Assad will meet with Castro on Monday and sign several
cooperation agreements, as well as undertake a commitment to
reinforce education links between their nations -- some 200
Syrians recently graduated from Cuban universities in health
related studies.
Assad's is the first visit to Cuba by a Syrian leader since his
late father Hafez al-Assad came here in 1979, when he met with
then Cuban president Fidel Castro.
Officials did not rule out a visit by Assad to Fidel Castro, who
stepped down for health reasons in 2006 handing Cuba's helm to
his younger brother, Raul.
Assad's tour of Latin America started Thursday in Venezuela
where he met with President Hugo Chavez. After Cuba, the Syrian
leader will visit Brazil and Argentina.
Fidel Castro on Sunday predicted a nuclear war between United
States, Israel and Iran, after the United Nations Security
Council imposed new sanctions on Tehran over its suspect nuclear
weapons program.
"I haven't the slightest doubt that as soon as US and Israeli
warships are in place... and attempt to inspect the first
(Iranian) merchant ship, a shower of projectiles will be
unleashed... That will be the exact moment the terrible war will
start," Castro wrote in the Cubadebate website.
In his search for greater international recognition, Assad had
embarked on a landmark Latin American tour on Friday to
reinforce economic ties with a continent he is visiting for the
first time.
Accompanied by his wife, Asma, the Syrian leader arrived in
Venezuela on Friday before proceeding to Cuba, Brazil and
Argentina, all three home to large communities of Syrian
émigrés.
"Bilateral relations and developments in the Middle East and
Latin America" will dominate discussions in the four countries,
the official SANA news agency said.
"This is a trip that was envisaged for a long time but was not
carried out for various reasons," said a Western diplomat in
Damascus.
Boycotted and sidelined for decades by the United States, Syria
has begun to assert itself as a key player in the Middle East.
Last month, shortly after the United States renewed sanctions
for another year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described
Damascus as a key political player in the region.
Assad's Latin American visit seeks to strengthen ties with a
continent that is home to millions of Syrian-origin émigrés,
said the Western diplomat.
The tour is intended "to reinforce the economic bonds" with the
Latin American countries, "particularly with the émigrés of
Syrian origin" and especially those in Brazil, which has between
three and four million, he said.
The majority of the millions of Syrian-origin emigres in Brazil,
Argentina and Venezuela are businessmen, engineers, doctors,
politicians and even a former president -- Argentina's Carlos
Menem.
The visit is aimed at "reinforcing economic ties", official
Syrian media have reported.
Assad also will meet with Arab communities in those countries.
Cuba and Syria, together with Iran and Sudan, are on a US State
Department blacklist of nations that support terrorism, an
accusation they all deny.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Syria in
2003, and last March Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim
carried an invitation to Assad.
In Argentina, Syria's "traditionally good" relations "will be
consolidated" by the signing of nine transport, tourism and
cultural agreements, said a senior official at the Argentine
embassy in Damascus.
Ten percent of Argentina's population is of Arab origin,
including 2.5 million of Syrian ancestry and 1.5 million of
Lebanese descent, the embassy said. |
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