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U.S. Slams Erdogan Claim on Morsi Ouster

The White House on Tuesday condemned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claim that Israel had a role in toppling ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the comments were "offensive and unsubstantiated and wrong."

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Aazaz Pilgrims' Families Threaten to 'Break Hand' that Tries to Arrest Any Member as Prosecutor Sues 13 in Pilots Case

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Claude Karam on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against 13 members of the families of the Aazaz abductees on charges of “forming an armed gang and abducting the two Turkish pilots,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Karam referred the case to Mt. Lebanon Investigative Judge Ziad Makna, who interrogated three detainees and issued arrest warrants for them. He also issued 10 arrest warrants in absentia for 10 other suspects, adjourning the session to August 28, NNA said.

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Turkey PM Claims Israel behind Morsi Ouster

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Tuesday of being behind the military-backed ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last month.

"What do they say about Egypt: democracy is not the ballot box. Who is behind this? It's Israel," Erdogan, an outspoken critic of the Jewish state, told a meeting of his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

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Iraqi Kurdistan Limits Syrian Refugee Numbers after Influx

Iraqi Kurdistan has slapped a limit of 3,000 a day on refugees entering from Syria, after more than 30,000 flooded in from their war-torn homeland in a matter of days, aid agencies said Tuesday.

A new wave of Syrian Kurds began pouring into northern Iraq last week, seeking refuge from fighting between Kurdish forces and Islamist rebels, and a collapsing economy.

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Syria Kurds, Jihadists in Fresh Battles

Fresh battles broke out Tuesday in strategic, majority Kurdish areas in Syria, as jihadists and the main Kurdish party fought each other for control, an NGO and activists said.

In the northeastern province of Hasakeh, "clashes broke out at dawn pitting the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Al-Nusra Front and other battalions," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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Miqati after Meeting Ozyildiz: Lebanon Exerting Efforts to Uncover Fate of Pilots

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that the Lebanese government is exerting efforts to uncover the fate of the two Turkish pilots, who were kidnapped two weeks ago on the airport road.

Miqati, according to a statement released by his press office, reiterated after talks with Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Inan Ozyildiz that the Turkish authorities should press negotiations concerning the nine Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz.

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Turkish Sources Say Abducted Turks Alive, Pilot in Baalbeck, Copilot in Nabatiyeh

Turkey said Monday the two pilots kidnapped in Beirut earlier this month are alive, and that it knows roughly where they are.

"Their whereabouts are more or less known. We know that they are alive, in peace and comfort," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

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Six Killed in North Iraq Attacks

Attacks on Monday killed six people in Iraq, as gunmen defied massive government operations to stem some of the worst violence to have hit the country in five years.

Security forces have mounted some of the biggest operations targeting militants since the 2011 withdrawal of American troops, but analysts and diplomats say Iraq is not tackling the root causes of the unrest.

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Miqati, Davutoglu to Continue Consultations over Release of Pilots, Aazaz Pilgrims

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati agreed with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to carry on consultations over the safe release of two Turkish Airlines pilots, media reports said on Monday.

Miqati stressed during a telephone conversation Sunday night with Davutoglu that the Lebanese state is fully carrying out its tasks to swiftly end the case of the abducted pilots and the remaining nine Lebanese pilgrims in Syria's Aazaz, As Safir newspaper reported.

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ISF: Pilots Case Detainees in Good Health, Can be Visited upon Permission

The Directorate General of Internal Security Forces on Sunday announced that the detainees held in connection with the case of the two abducted Turkish pilots are in “good health,” noting that their relatives are allowed to visit them after obtaining a permission from the public prosecution.

“Some media outlets are still publishing news obtained from non-credible sources about the health of one of the detainees, whom they claimed Roumieh Prison's physician had refused to examine due to multiple fractures allegedly sustained from abuse during interrogation,” the ISF said in a statement.

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