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Rival Lebanese factions reached an agreement to resolve their 18-month political crisis after five days of intensive talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Wednesday. The agreement was a major triumph for Lebanon's Hizbullah-led opposition, as it met the side's two key demands - veto power in a new national unity government, and an electoral law that divides up Lebanon into smaller-sized districts, for better representation of the various sects. But the opposition was not gloating and Hamadeh said "there are no losers" in the agreement. "Lebanon is the winner," he told The Associated...

An Iranian Embassy convoy came under fire in Baghdad, wounding four people, including three Iranians and an Iraqi, a spokesman said Friday. Teheran issued an angry response blaming the United States for encouraging attacks against Iranian interests in Iraq with its rhetoric against the Islamic republic. The US military said it "condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country." It was not clear who shot at the convoy. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Iraqi soldiers exchanged fire with guards in an argument that broke out when members of the convoy failed to produce identification cards. Iranian Embassy...

On Friday, Hezbollah gunmen set fire to the Beirut offices of Future TV, a Lebanese broadcaster. On a purely symbolic level, it was an apt demonstration of where the Party of God stands in relation to the future itself. But that wasn't the worst of what has happened in the past week in Lebanon, where scores of people have been killed in interfactional violence. More ominous was the role of the Lebanese army, avowedly neutral and nominally under civilian control. "An army officer accompanied by members of Hezbollah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission," an...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the Lebanese government had declared war on his Shiite militant group by declaring its private telecommunications network an illegal threat to state security. Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hezbollah in a speech that hiked tensions already running high after a long-simmering political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government erupted into sectarian violence. "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them," he said. "Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."...

Explosions and gunfire rang out across the Lebanese capital Wednesday as Hizbullah backers trying to enforce a strike against the US-backed government clashed with government supporters and blocked roads. The cause of the explosions was not immediately known, but witnesses and television reports said they may have been rocket-propelled grenades. There was no word on casualties, and the shooting later died down. The strike paralyzed large parts of Beirut. Hizbullah protesters blocked roads with burning tires, dirt, old cars and garbage cans to enforce a labor strike against government economic policies and to demand pay raises. The violence deepened tensions...

Clerics have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stick to more worldly issues after he was quoted as saying the "hidden imam" of Shiite Islam was directing Iran. Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, the twelfth imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony. But in a speech to theology students broadcast by state television on Monday, Ahmadinejad went further than ever before in emphasising his belief that the Mahdi is playing a critical role in...

Opposition and majority followers clash in Beirut streets Posted : Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:38:06 GMT Author : DPA Beirut - Shiite opposition followers and rival Sunnis who back the western-backed Lebanese government clashed late Friday on the streets of the capital, Lebanese police said. Machinegun fire was heard across the areas of Ras al-Nabaa and Wataa al-Moustabeh but no further details were available, the police said. Local media reported that followers of the Shiite Amal movement, who are loyal to the opposition headed by Hezbollah, clashed with the Sunni Future Current movement led by majority leader Saad Hariri. Lebanese...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 – Iraqi security forces, aided by coalition forces and local citizens, neutralized threats from an Iranian-backed “special group” in a Baghdad-area neighborhood last week, a U.S. Army brigade commander in the area said today. As Iraqi security and coalition forces clashed with Shiite special groups in Basra and elsewhere in Iraq, violence in the Multinational Division Center area of operations was very limited. “There was a little bit of reaction, but because of the strength of the (combined force), nothing major happened,” Col. Wayne Grigsby of Multinational Division Center said during a conference call. The division’s...

BAGHDAD - Shi'ite militiamen in Basra openly controlled wide swaths of the city yesterday and staged increasingly bold raids on Iraqi government forces sent in five days ago to wrest control from the gunmen, witnesses said, as Iraqi political leaders grew increasingly critical of the stalled assault.

BAGHDAD - Anti-American Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers Saturday to defy government orders to surrender their weapons, as U.S. jets struck Shiite extremists near Basra to bolster a faltering Iraqi offensive against gunmen in the city. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash that his offensive, which began Tuesday, provoked in areas of Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power. Government television said the round-the-clock curfew imposed two days ago on the capital and due to expire Sunday would be extended indefinitely. The U.S. Embassy tightened...

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces stepped deeper Friday into the Iraqi government's fight to cripple Shiite militias, launching airstrikes in the southern city of Basra and firing a Hellfire missile in the main Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. The American support occurred as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas — including more salvos of rockets or mortars into the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. It was the first time American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed groups that...

BAGHDAD - Warning sirens wail and within seconds rockets and mortars strike — sometimes one or two, other times 10 or more. The Green Zone is again a prime target as American and British diplomats, Iraqi politicians, contractors and others struggle to go about their business — always aware that any time they are outside the most fortified buildings there is a chance to be injured or killed. The danger has temporarily reshaped life: Green Zone traffic is minimal, few people venture out on the streets and security precautions — always high — have been boosted. Many diplomats and others...

BAGHDAD - Shiite militiamen are everywhere. Police and Iraqi army checkpoints are nowhere in sight. U.S. soldiers are keeping their distance. Sadr City — the Baghdad nerve center for the powerful Mahdi Army — is suddenly back on edge as the militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq's government lock in a dangerous confrontation over clout and control among the nation's majority Shiites. The epicenter of the showdown has been the southern oil hub of Basra, where clashes have claimed dozens of lives this week and al-Sadr's forces face a Friday deadline to surrender. But a more finely tuned measure of...

Some facts about Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia: HISTORY: Sadr City was built in the late 1950s by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim to provide housing for Baghdad's largely Shiite urban poor, many of whom had migrated from southern Iraq. It was first named Revolution City and became a stronghold of the Iraq Communist party. It was renamed Saddam City after the late president took power in 1979. After Saddam's ouster in 2003, it became known as Sadr City in honor of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed, probably by...

Islam’s Animal Gulag   By Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Frontpage Interview's guest today is Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of seven books, eight monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Religion of Peace? FP: Robert Spencer, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Spencer: Thank you, Jamie. Always a pleasure. FP: An Iranian man was recently sentenced...

A leading figure in the movement led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said the group would not pardon anyone if their leader is harmed. “In the event Sadr is harmed, Iraqi will them swim in a lake of blood,” warned Sheikh Sadeq al-Hasnawi. Hasnawi is one of the top officials leading the movement in Sadr’s absence. He said the cleric was currently in Iran “studying and mediating” in the religious city of Qom which is the Iranian equivalent of Iraq’s holy city of Najaf where Shiite clerics are educated and trained. Hasnawi made the remarks in response to unconfirmed reports...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2008 – Security contributions provided by surge-fortified U.S. forces and ongoing efforts by Iraqi soldiers, police and concerned local citizens’ groups have combined to produce stability, a senior U.S. officer posted in Iraq said today. “The current security situation is stable, and I am optimistic about the future,” said Army Col. Tom James, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, a component of the Fort Stewart, Ga.-based 3rd Infantry Division. The Iraq veteran and his unit deployed to Iraq in December. A component of Multinational Division Center, James’ 3,000-member brigade is based at Forward Operating Base Kalsu,...

Pakistan A 'Hotbed' For [Islamic] Terror National Post, Canada - Feb 14, 2008 Now, it is rapidly becoming a central front in the US-led war on terror. The harsh mountainous territory, which Pakistan doesn't control and is off limits...

Sharia law at the Treasury and a drift to Islam Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has described terrorist activity as 'Anti-Islamic' It is strangely shocking to find that Her Majesty's Treasury, that very matter-of-fact department, should be issuing bonds that comply with the ancient rules of sharia law. It is as if your bank manager were suddenly to break off from warning you about your overdraft, fetch out a prayer mat and start offering devotions in the direction of Mecca. As it happens, the decision makes sense on business terms. Many major investors are Muslim and it would be foolish to...

U.S. Says Iran-backed Groups Using Secret Arms Stores February 17, 2008 Reuters Mohammed Abbas The U.S. military said on Sunday it had evidence Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq were increasingly using secret weapons stores to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces. The accusation comes days after Tehran postponed talks with the United States on improving security in Iraq for "technical reasons", a move that prompted rebukes from U.S. officials. "In just the past week, Iraqi and coalition forces captured 212 weapons caches across Iraq, two of those inside Baghdad, (which have) growing links to Iranian-backed special groups," military spokesman Real Admiral...