Spotlight
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Middle East
Syria Opposition Sceptical as Russia Says Regime Will Talk
Syria's opposition on Friday urged President Bashar Assad's government to speak out on whether it will take part in an international peace conferen...
24 May 2013, 07:43
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Lebanon
Death Toll Rises to 23 as Cautious Calm in Tripoli Occasionally Violated by Sporadic Gunfire
The death toll from the battles in the northern city of Tripoli rose on Friday to 23 as cautious calm prevailed after fierce battles between pro- a...
24 May 2013, 05:52
The Syrian regime has put forward a list of five officials including Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi as potential negotiators in talks with the opposition, European diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
The list, provided to Moscow in early March, also includes deputy prime minister Qadri Jamil and three other officials, the sources said.
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Turkish authorities on Tuesday charged the prime suspect in the twin car bombings that left 51 people dead in a town near the Syrian border, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
The man, who was arrested trying to cross into Syria along with two accomplices, is alleged to have purchased the vehicles used in the bombings. Four other suspects were also charged.
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Iran said Tuesday it is willing to attend an upcoming peace conference on Syria, arguing all influential parties must be included in the process for it to be a success.
"The condition for success in Geneva is that all countries with influence on events in Syria participate," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi told reporters.
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At least eight Lebanese and Syrians were injured on Tuesday after rockets hit several towns in Lebanon's northern district of Akkar from the Syrian side of the border, the state-run National News Agency reported.
NNA said the rockets hit at dawn the towns of al-Khwasleh and al-Nsoub in the area of Mount Akroum and Wadi Khaled.
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Syria's army destroyed an Israeli military vehicle which it said had crossed the sensitive ceasefire line in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, the military said in a televised statement.
"Our armed forces have destroyed an Israeli vehicle with everything that it had in it... The vehicle had crossed the ceasefire line and was moving towards the village of Bir Ajam, situated in the liberated Syrian zone" of the Golan, it said.
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Britain remains committed to amending the EU arms embargo on Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday, but stressed it had taken no decisions to provide weapons to the rebels.
He said it was important to demonstrate to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime that "no option is off the table" if he failed to agree a political solution to end the bloodshed.
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The United States on Monday condemned both the Syrian government's assault on the rebel stronghold of Qusayr and the close involvement of Hizbullah in the attack.
"The United States strongly condemns the Assad regime's intense air and artillery strikes this weekend on the Syrian town of Qusayr along the Lebanese border," State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.
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The rebel Free Syrian Army on Monday claimed that Hizbullah elusive commander Mustafa Badreddine -- who is accused of involvement in former premier Rafik Hariri's murder – is leading the group's operations in the Syrian town of Qusayr.
“It has been confirmed that Mustafa Badreddine is present on Qusayr's front where he is leading Hizbullah's operations,” said a statement issued by the FSA.
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The families of the Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region sneaked into the Turkish Cultural Center in downtown Beirut on Monday to protest the ongoing abduction of their loved ones, reported LBCI television.
They then headed to the office of the center's director, where they said that they would keep him locked up until the building is shut down.
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Syria's pharmaceutical industry once catered to 90 percent of the population's needs, but a shortage of foreign currency has brought production to a near halt, a pro-regime daily reported on Monday.
The central bank previously provided local industries with foreign currency at preferential rates to help finance the import of raw materials.
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