Middle East News

As of Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, at least 4,181 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

JERUSALEM - Two Arab-owned apartments were set ablaze in the Israeli town of Acre amid clashes between Jews and Arabs, police said Saturday.

CAIRO, Egypt - America's opponents in the Middle East are gloating over the financial meltdown in the United States, painting it as divine retribution for past misdeeds against Muslims and the last gasps of a dying empire.

BAGHDAD - A Kurdish journalist was gunned down in the northern city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police said. A New York-based journalists' group said Saturday it was the 136th killing of a reporter since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq five years ago.

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed dozens of Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq following an escalation in rebel attacks, the military said Saturday

AMMAN, Jordan - Two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon were quoted Friday as saying they were "kidnapped" by their taxi driver and taken into Syria, where they were held in custody for a week before being released.

JERUSALEM - The head of an Israeli hospital where an Iranian boy is being treated for a brain tumor said Friday he hoped the gesture will help improve understanding between the bitterly divided countries.

SAN'A, Yemen - About 100 migrants from Somalia are missing and feared drowned in the treacherous waters off the coast of Yemen after smugglers forced them overboard, Yemeni officials and the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Two American journalists whose disappearance prompted a U.S. Embassy alert and a wide search turned up in Syrian custody Thursday after being detained while trying to sneak into the country with smugglers, Syrian officials said.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered his government to suspend a controversial new sales tax Thursday, a day after a rare strike by merchants worried about how the new measure would affect their business.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian Foreign Ministry says two missing Americans have been detained for illegal entry from Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Authorities searching for two American journalists who went missing during a vacation in Lebanon said Thursday they were checking records to determine whether the pair left the country through a border crossing.

UNITED NATIONS - An independent panel said Wednesday that 10 U.N. officials should face reprimands or disciplinary action because of security lapses ahead of the deadly bombing of U.N. headquarters in Algeria.

BAGHDAD - A U.S.-Iraqi security agreement spelling out how American troops and contractors operate was supposed to be in place over the summer, but the thorniest issues remain unsettled and neither side is budging.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Gaza's smugglers are going legit: Owners of the scores of tunnels running under the Gaza-Egypt border have registered with the Hamas authorities, pledged to pay workers' compensation and hooked up their operations to the electricity network.

JERUSALEM - Israel's most famous missing soldier escaped from captivity in Lebanon and probably died 20 years ago while trying to make his way home through difficult terrain, Hezbollah told Israel's government, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.

DAMASCUS, Syria - The Iraqi embassy in Damascus is organizing free journeys for refugees who want to return from Syria — the second such project in as many years — though two days into the campaign Wednesday, there have been no takers.

JERUSALEM - Israel came to a virtual standstill at sundown Wednesday as Jews across the country began observing Yom Kippur, the holiest day of their calendar.

ABBOUDIYEH, Lebanon - A few tents and trucks dotting a green hill across the river are about all that is visible of a Syrian troop deployment on Lebanon's northern border — a buildup that has raised concerns of a possible Syrian incursion.

AMMAN, Jordan - A New York-based human rights group accused Jordan's security services Wednesday of carrying out widespread torture in the country's jails.

CAIRO, Egypt - A police official says at least 10 people died when an apartment building collapsed in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran forced an aircraft carrying Hungarian military officials to land after it entered its airspace, Hungary's Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The plane was allowed to continue to Afghanistan after it was determined the entry was accidental.

MOSCOW - Israel's prime minister said Tuesday he received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel's security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won the concrete promises he sought on Russian arms sales or sanctions on Iran.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The latest conflict simmering between Lebanon and Israel is all about food: Lebanese businessmen accusing Israel of stealing traditional Middle Eastern dishes like hummus.

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister welcomed the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest high-level visit by regional Arab dignitaries.

RAFAH, Egypt - A high-level Hamas delegation has crossed into Egypt for talks with the country's intelligence chief as part of Egyptian efforts to mend the rift between Palestinian factions.

JERUSALEM - The Russians are coming to downtown Jerusalem, reclaiming ownership of a landmark with the approval of the Israeli government, just as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visits Moscow to try to iron out serious policy differences between the two countries.

BAGHDAD - Recurrent violence in oil-rich parts of Nigeria may provide a sobering lesson for oil companies hoping to work in Iraq — a place that is much more dangerous despite the fact that attacks are at their lowest level in more than four years.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military says an American soldier has been fatally shot by an al-Qaida in Iraq extremist. An Iraqi policeman was also killed in the fighting.