Pakistan in all-out border war
Pakistan's army went head to head with Taliban militants yesterday in a fierce battle on the Afghan border.
Officials said 60 militants and five soldiers had been killed in the first 24 hours of their offensive on South Waziristan.
The onslaught follows a string of Taliban attacks around the country, including one on an army headquarters that killed more than 150 people.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including members of al-Qaeda.
Much of the bloodshed was in the town of Nawaz Kot where army tanks were being peppered with rocket-propelled grenades.
Pakistan says it is advancing on two fronts and that air strikes are helping to weaken the militants.
But the Taliban says it is driving the troops back. 200 Miles Spokesman Azam Tariq said: "They're trying to enter our land from all sides but we've repulsed their assault and they've suffered heavy losses.
"They have put the country's sovereignty at stake to please Obama. We'll attack his wellwishers everywhere." The militants have had years to prepare their defences in the arid mountains, sparse forests and dried-up ravines.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/
Taliban militants are engaged in street fighting with Pakistani soldiers as the army tries to break the militants' grip on South Waziristan.
Both sides claim to have suffered few casualties but residents in the remote area say dozens have died.
The army, on the second day of its offensive, is reported to be facing battle-hardened militants, supported by Uzbek fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
At least 20,000 people have fled the area over the last week.
Reports from the region are sketchy as it is difficult and dangerous for foreign or Pakistani journalists to operate inside South Waziristan. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8313317.stm
Karzai supporters in Afghanistan have begun saying there will be no second election and he will stay in power. So, we are sending in troops to prop him up?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125587282013392519.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular
(Reuters) - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia began his first visit to Syria as head of state on Wednesday, in a further sign of improvement in a prickly relationship.
Following are some of the issues that have divided Syria and Saudi Arabia over the past five years:
LEBANON
Lebanon has been the main arena for Syrian-Saudi rivalry and the most obvious beneficiary of this year's rapprochement. The two countries fell out badly over the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was seen as a symbol of Saudi influence. Hariri's allies accused Damascus of orchestrating the killing and Riyadh swung behind calls by Western states for Syria to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon. Syria has always denied any role in the assassination. The political struggle unleashed by the Hariri killing pitted Lebanese factions allied to Syria, including the powerful Shi'ite group Hezbollah, against others backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States. The crisis eventually spilled into armed conflict and was only defused with the cooperation of Riyadh and Damascus. Better Syrian-Saudi ties are widely credited with keeping Lebanon stable for the past year and allowing a smooth parliamentary election in June. But the Lebanese are still awaiting the formation of a new government and hope the Damascus summit will nudge their own rival politicians to strike a deal.
ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
Syria's support for Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, which oppose U.S. policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict, puts it at odds with close U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Syrian-Saudi ties hit rock bottom in 2006 after a 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel, which still occupies Syrian land captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad derided Arab leaders as "half men" in remarks taken as a direct attack on King Abdullah and other rulers who had criticized Hezbollah's role in igniting the conflict.
The dissonance of Syrian and Saudi approaches to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was laid bare during Israel's Gaza offensive earlier this year. Syria, which hosts Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, attended an emergency meeting of Arab leaders in Qatar that was snubbed by Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh also held Damascus at least partly responsible for the collapse of a Palestinian unity agreement between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction in Mecca in 2007. The deal unravelled when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June of that year.
REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCES
Syria's alliance with Iran irritates the Sunni monarchy in Saudi Arabia, which worries about the Shi'ite Islamist republic's growing regional influence. Iran, like Syria, supports Hezbollah and Hamas. Saudi Arabia's concerns about Iranian power have grown since the United States led an invasion to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, allowing Shi'ite groups with close links to Tehran to gain sway in Baghdad.
Saudi Arabia's links with the United States put the kingdom at the heart of what Washington views as a "moderate" group of Arab states. Syria, by contrast, remains under U.S. sanctions for a range of alleged misdeeds, including undermining efforts to stabilize Iraq. President Barack Obama's administration has begun talking to Syria this year, reversing George W. Bush's efforts to isolate it. However, Obama has also extended sanctions on Damascus.
(Writing by Tom Perry in Beirut, editing by Alistair Lyon)
http://www.reuters.com/
The senior diplomats of Syria and Russia on Sunday called for a new push to resume the stalled Middle East peace process with the help of the international community, the official Syrian news agency SANA reported.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem held talks with Alexander Saltanov, the visiting Special Envoy of Russian president for the Middle East, on Sunday in Damascus to discuss the latest development in the Middle East region, according to SANA.
The two sides exchanged their viewpoints on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, urging to realize the Palestinian reconciliation and put more efforts to make it a success, according to the report.
The Syrian top diplomat also voiced his appreciation of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council's endorsement of Goldstone Report, the UN fact-finding mission's report on the Gaza war last January.
In a statement to journalists following the meeting, Saltanov described his talks with Moallem as marked by "deep analysis and mutual trust."
"We see eye to eye on the need to give a new push to resume the peace process with the help of the international community and the International Quartet Committee," the agency quoted the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister as saying.
Saltanov also expressed his satisfaction with the bilateral relationship between the two countries, saying Damascus and Moscow will hold a new session of the joint committee for economic and technical cooperation in the near future.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
A new primetime drama series called “Ayrýlýk” (meaning ’separation’ or ‘farewell’ in Turkish) recently made its début in Turkey on the state-run TRT 1 television channel. Israel’s Channel Two aired a scene from the fictional show, showing a Palestinian father holding a baby above his head and an Israeli soldier in full combat gear taking aim and shooting the infant. Since the broadcast, Israel-Turkey relations have been put under more strain. The heated debate about the show has further influenced previously close ties between the Jewish state and Muslim Turkey that have deteriorated somewhat since Israel’s December-January Gaza offensive. At the same time, Turkey has strengthened its relations with neighbouring Syria. (Read more here.)
Leading Israeli daily newspapers Yedioth Ahronoth, Maariv and Haaretz have reported extensively on the show, wondering whether it pointed to growing anti-Semitism in Turkey. Tourism agencies said Israeli vacation bookings in Turkey have fallen steeply since the show was aired. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his disappointment in “the incitement on Turkish TV”. Netanyahu aides said Turkey, which has mediated indirect Israeli-Syrian talks, could not be an honest broker in any future peace negotiations. Commenters on Israeli web portal sites have called on Turkey to look in the mirror and take responsibility for what they termed its genocide against the Armenians.
Professor Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, believes Turkey is “not clean of anti-Semitism”. SEE VIDEO HERE:
http://blogs.reuters.com/