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Welcome to the Cedar's Revolution Website

 Saturday March 17, 2007 

- Breaking - Brammertz's 7th Report PDF Link [ Here ]
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- Brief US praises achievements made in ‘Cedar Revolution’

- Top Story

Brammertz: Lahoud's Term Extension a Motive Behind Hariri Killing

A U.N. commission probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri said the extension of President Emile Lahoud's term was one of three motives behind his killing.

The commission, headed by Belgian judge Serge Brammertz, has also requested in its seventh report released on Thursday for an extension of its mandate.

"In light of the current and planned investigative activities, it is unlikely that the commission will complete its work before its current mandate expires in June 2007," the report said.

"The commission therefore welcomes the request for an extension of its mandate beyond this date," it said.

The panel has been investigating the February 2005 killing of Hariri and 22 others in a massive bomb blast in Beirut for more than a year and had been due to report in June.

Brammertz's report gave three motives to assassinate Hariri:

The inception of U.N. Security Council 1559 (2004) and the political implications of its implementation; the extension of the term of President Emile Lahoud; the personal and political dynamics which existed between Hariri and other political parties and leaders in Lebanon, Syria, and other countries; preparation and maneuvering ahead of the parliamentary elections due to be held in May 2005, as well as other business matters in which he was involved.

Brammertz said "all of these factors came together and were handled by Hariri, sometimes proactively, and sometimes in reaction to events around him."

Brammertz said the U.N. commission believes it is "likely that a combination of these factors may have created the environment in which the motive and intent to kill him arose."

The commission also reported "progress in collecting new evidence and in expanding the forms of evidence collected" and described the cooperation of the Syrian government in the investigation as "satisfactory."

"The commission continues to receive responses from the Syrian Arab Republic, which provides information and facilitates interviews with individuals located on Syrian territory," it said.

The U.N. probe has implicated top level Syrian figures and alleged Lebanese accomplices in Hariri's assassination, but Syria has denied any involvement.

One of the intermediate reports produced by Brammertz's predecessor, Detlev Mehlis, had accused Syria of not cooperating in the investigation.

In his last report, Brammertz criticized the slow response of 10 unidentified countries in responding to his requests but the commission said it had since held meetings with the ambassadors from the countries concerned.

"As a result of these meetings, almost all outstanding matters were resolved to the commission's satisfaction," it said.

The probe into the bomb itself had found seismological evidence that supported the theory of a single explosion, most likely above ground.

For its next report, the commission is expecting to have comparative data on other explosions that have occurred in Beirut.

It will also aim to determine the origin of the presumed bomber, based on DNA testing and isotope analysis of his remains, which have already suggested the person did not grow up in Lebanon.

Hundreds of samples have been collected in Lebanon and Syria and will soon be gathered from other countries to follow up on the lead, the commission said, while cautioning that "results should be carefully interpreted and the limitations clearly understood."

As to Ahmad Abu Adass, the man who claimed responsibility for the attack in a video recording and who has since disappeared, the report said he was "acquainted with individuals associated with extremist groups at least because they attended the same place of worship."

"A working hypothesis is that Ahmad Abu Adass was either coerced or duped into making the video-taped claim of responsibility," the commission said.

"Thus the commission continues to investigate the various possibilities concerning the group that executed the crime," it said.

Besides the Hariri affair, the Brammertz commission has also been helping Lebanon investigate 16 other incidents, including the killing of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel in November last year and a twin bus bombing attack in Ain Alaq north of Beirut last month.

The move was aimed at finding any possible links between the attacks.

Lebanon has been in turmoil since Hariri's killing, which has been widely blamed on Syria. After the killing, Damascus was forced to end its 29-year military domination of its small neighbor.(Naharnet-AFP) - Breaking - Brammertz's 7th Report PDF Link [ Here ]  

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- Cedars One Radio Click to Listen Show 5 (.mp3)
- New Today's NEWS [ LINK ] (wait for it to load)
- New Updated Blog [ Cedars Revolution Blog ]
- Urgent - WCCR Press Release UNIFIL on Border [ LINK ]

NEW Stories on our Blog [ Front Page ] 

Shiite fringe group rejects foreign ‘hegemony’

Lebanon Blames Syria for Ain Alaq Bus Bombings

Catholic religious leaders call for ‘culture of peace’

WCCR Press Release - Deployment of UNIFIL on the Lebanese/Syrian Border

Roed-Larsen Gears Up for Report on 1559

Experts: Hezbollah contributes to Mideast instability

 

NYPost on Iranian Defector - Ali Reza Asghari

Asghari - An Iranian puzzle

UNIFIL wants ability to fight Hizbullah

BULLETIN No. 179 - Levant News Hyperlinks

BULLETIN No. 178 - Levant News Hyperlinks

BULLETIN No. 177 - Levant News Hyperlinks

Lebanon’s price in Washington rises

Foreign handling of crisis little faith in Lebanese leaders

Asghari - security measures after defection of Iranian

 

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Fateh al-Islam holds first News Conference

Shaker al-Absy (2nd R), head of Fateh al-Islam, listens during a news conference as his unidentified colleague (2nd L) speaks in al-Bared refugee camp near the port-city of Tripoli in north Lebanon March 13, 2007. Fateh al-Islam denied any link to the bus bombs in the Christian village of Ain Alaq. The sign on the wall reads, " There is no God but Allah, Prophet Mohammad is the messenger of Allah". REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON)

 

Note: Lebanon's Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa announced late Tuesday that the culprits of the Ain Alaq Bombing are all Syrian nationals operating under the banner of Fatah-Islam, a radical Palestinian group which is controlled by “the Syrian security (intelligence) system.”

 

 

Shaker al-Absy, head of Fateh al-Islam, holds a news conference in al-Bared refugee camp near the port-city of Tripoli in north Lebanon March 13, 2007. Fateh al-Islam denied any link to the bus bombs in the Christian village of Ain Alaq. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON)

 

Note: Lebanon's Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa announced late Tuesday that the culprits of the Ain Alaq Bombing are all Syrian nationals operating under the banner of Fatah-Islam, a radical Palestinian group which is controlled by “the Syrian security (intelligence) system.”

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Roed-Larsen Gears Up for Report on 1559

 

U.N. Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen has discussed with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the implementation of Resolution 1559 as well the situation in Lebanon and the region, An Nahar daily reported Tuesday.

 

"We discussed issues … particularly preparations for the next report by U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon to the Security Council about the implementation of Resolution 1559," Roed-Larsen told reporters after his talks with Mubarak in Cairo on Monday.

Roed-Larsen is in charge of overseeing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 that was passed in 2004. It calls for free and fair elections in Lebanon and for the disarmament of all militias, including Hizbullah.

 

An Nahar said Roed-Larsen will travel to New York next to inform Ban on the outcome of his talks. 

 

Beirut, 13 Mar 07, 10:34

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Naharnet Exclusive: Police Bust Syria-Based Terrorist Network

Lebanese police have busted a Syria-based terrorist network on charges of carrying out the twin-bus bombings north of Beirut last month and planning further attacks, Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa announced Tuesday.

 

Sabaa said four of the five Syrian suspects have been detained, including one of the two culprits in the twin-bus bombings in the mountainous town of Ain Alaq northeast of Beirut, which resulted in killing three people and wounding more than 20.

 

Sabaa refused to disclose the names of the culprits, but stressed that they are all Syrian nationals operating under the banner of Fatah-Islam group which is controlled by "the Syrian security (intelligence) system."

 

Police chief Gen. Ashraf Rifi, talking to reporters during the joint news conference with Sabaa, said "modern technical equipment were used in the investigations that led to the arrests of the ring members."

 

Rifi stressed that Fatah-Islam is "not affiliated with Islam at all. The banner was used for camouflage."

 

Earlier reliable sources told Naharnet that the arrested suspects were provided with forged identity cards identifying them as Palestinians and Saudis in addition to Syrians.

 

They said two remain at large and are believed to be hiding at north Lebanon's Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.

 

In addition to the arrests, police officers confiscated a "large quantity of explosives" that were hidden in the Beirut apartment of Syrian suspect identified as Mustapha Siyor.

 

Members of the network, according to the source, infiltrated into Lebanon from Syria last November under the cover of the so-called "Fatah-Islam" group, which was set up by Syrian intelligence with the objective of carrying out terrorist attacks to destabilize Lebanon and block the ratification of the international tribunal which would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.

 

Siyor's cell had been operating under cover from an apartment in Beirut's Christian neighborhood of Karm el-Zaytoun, which is part of the capital's Ashrafiyeh district, the source said.

 

However, Sabaa said the suspect had also rented apartments in Dora and Kornet Shehwan.

 

Sabaa said police confiscated an explosive charge similar to the two used in the twin bus bombings at Ain Alaq.

 

He said the suspects were also "ordered" to carry out a motorcycle bomb attack targeting the Phalange party office in the mountain resort of Bikfaya close to Ain Alaq.

 

The daily newspaper al-Moustaqbal reported on Nov. 30 that Syrian President Bashar Assad has sent 200 terrorists to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to assassinate 36 Lebanese public figures.

 

The group, according to the report, operated under the Fatah-Islam name.

 

The security source said Fatah-Islam is just a "cover" for the terrorist network that operates in Lebanon from bases controlled by the so-called Fatah-Intifada group, a Syrian-controlled faction that broke away from Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah early in 1983 as part of an effort by the late Syrian President Hafez Assad to create a substitute for Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.

 

Fatah-Intifada, led from Damascus by the so-called Abu Moussa, runs fortified bases in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley established when the area was controlled by Syria's army which ended its deployment in Lebanon in April 2005. 

 

Beirut, 13 Mar 07, 15:28
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Shiite fringe group rejects foreign 'hegemony'

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

 

The head of the Free Shiite Movement (FSM), Sheikh Mohammad Hajj Hassan, said Tuesday that the Lebanese are "still determined" to build a "free, sovereign and independent Lebanon." In a statement issued on the eve of the second anniversary of the March 14 "Independence Intifada," Hassan said that the Lebanese refused "any sort of hegemony, be it Arab or foreign." The head of the FSM said that Lebanon's youth will not "be discouraged" by the deadlock currently crippling the country. Hassan urged Shiites to be aware of the "devious plans" it said Hizbullah had and warned them against "brain-washing sessions" Hizbullah conducted to recruit "innocent Shiites." Hassan said that Hizbullah and its "close connections with Iran" will only contribute to the downfall of the Shiites. Hassan also described Hizbullah's policy as "irrational and illogical."

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EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has arrived in Beirut (Monday March 12, 2007) for talks with Lebanese leaders as part of a regional tour aimed at helping to resolve the country's political crisis.(AFP/File/Jacques Collet)

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Bomb in Potato Chips Bag Discovered

Lebanese internal security forces said in a communiqué published by local newspapers on Monday that they have thwarted an explosion attempt in the southern port city of Sidon.

The police communiqué said the assailant carrying the bomb in a potato chips bag was arrested at 8 p.m. Sunday.

It said the 200-gram TNT bomb was set to explode at 9:30 pm the same day.

The explosive was defused by an ISF expert, the statement added.

Agence France Presse quoted police sources as saying the suspect was a Palestinian and identified him as Walid Moustafa.

It said Moustafa was arrested shortly after he left the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon.

Meanwhile, the National News Agency said that Lebanese army troops found a mortar shell fastened to a rocket propelled grenade outside Ansariya School in Nabatiyeh further south.

It said the army's engineering unit safely dismantled the grenades.

Lebanese authorities have seized large amounts of weapons and explosives in recent weeks.  (Naharnet)

Beirut, 12 Mar 07, 11:10

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Army Seizes Explosives, Makes Arrests in South Lebanon

Lebanese troops on Saturday staged house raids on a number of villages in southern Lebanon, seizing explosives and rockets, a military communiqué said. It said two suspects were arrested in the course of the raids.

The communiqué by the Lebanese army command said a surface-to-air Strella missile, a Katyusha rocket as well as explosives and detonators were confiscated during the raids on "a number of suspects."

It said a Lebanese army patrol from the intelligence bureau also seized hand grenades, B-7 rocket-propelled grenades, medium and light weapons as well as military equipment and a bomb equipped with metal nails.

The statement did not say where exactly the raids took place. 

Beirut, 10 Mar 07, 16:39  (Naharnet)

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Trenches, Earth Mounds along Lebanese-Syrian Border

Syrian troops are setting up earth mounds and digging trenches along the Lebanese-Syrian border, Lebanese media reported Friday.

The daily An Nahar said the procedure in Wadi Anjar, a town on the Lebanese-Syrian eastern border, was designed to "block illegal crossings used by smugglers."

The Daily Star, however, on Friday quoted security sources as saying Syrian troops began placing sand berms near the border town of Al Masnaa late Thursday.

The sources said five tractors began digging and erecting earth mounds near the Chamber of Agriculture, within Lebanese territories.

The Syrians were "expected to continue working and placing the sand berms along the entire Syrian-Lebanese border, cutting through part of Lebanese land," one source told The Daily Star.

Lebanese security forces rushed to the scene to investigate the actions and submit a report to authorities, so necessary measures can be taken in case any land was being captured, the source added.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had threatened to close the border with Lebanon if international troops were deployed along the frontier.(Naharnet filephoto of the Lebanese-Syrian border.) 

Beirut, 09 Mar 07, 09:19  (Naharnet)

 

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CEDAR'S ONE RADIO - This Weeks Show! 

This weeks special broadcast: First 1/2 hour with the Sec. Gen. Tom Harb Arabic intro, and Michel Zbaidi interviews in Arabic with WCCR Human Rights NGO Kamal El Batal,

Then in the last 1/2 hour Eblan Farris interviews in English with - WCCR Director in Lebanon - Toni Nissi , on the recent deadlock in Lebanese Political scene.

Click to Listen (.mp3)

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- New Cedars One Radio Click to Listen Show 4 (.mp3)

- New Today's NEWS [ LINK ] (wait for it to load)

- New Updated Blog [ Cedars Revolution Blog ]

- Urgent - WCCR Press Release on Bus Bombing [ LINK ]

News Clips 

Lebanese anchorwoman May Chidiac, pose with her book, Le Ciel Attendra 'The Sky Will Wait' before a press conference in Paris, Thursday March 8, 2007. Chidiac was seriously injured on September 25, 2005, by a car bomb in Jounieh, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Police Confiscate Anti-aircraft Missiles Smuggled to South Lebanon - Russian SAM-7 Missiles

Members of the media take pictures of and film three shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles displayed by internal security forces in Beirut March 8, 2007. Security forces in south Lebanon arrested a weapons dealer and his son in possession of three shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles, an internal security forces statement said on Thursday. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON)

A police officer displays a shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missile in Beirut March 8, 2007. Security forces in south Lebanon arrested a weapons dealer and his son in possession of three shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles, an internal security forces statement said on Thursday. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON)

Russian SAM-7 Missiles - Police announced Thursday the arrest of three Lebanese citizens affiliated with the Damascus-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) while trying to smuggle three anti-aircraft missiles to south Lebanon.

A statement, which only identified the three by their initials, said two of the suspects, a father and his son, fell to a police ambush at the main highway leading to the southern town of Nabatiyeh.

The father told interrogators that he is a member of the PFLP-GC and that he obtained the shoulder-fired missiles from its tunnel base in Naameh, south of Beirut.

Police also arrested a third suspect for playing a role in the illegal transport of the missiles, the statement said.

A fourth suspect, also a Lebanese, remains at large, the statement added.

Police also confiscated from the suspects a rocket launcher and a rocket-propelled Grenade, the statement added.

It said the suspects trade with the illegal sale of weapons.

U.N. Security Council 1701, which ended a 34-day war between Hizbullah and Israel last August, has banned the illegal shipment of weapons to Lebanon and created a demilitarized zone south of the Litani river patrolled by U.N. peacekeepers and regular Lebanese soldiers.

Ahmed Jibril's PFLP-GC, which is backed by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, maintains bases south of Beirut and in the eastern Bekaa valley.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004, has called for disarming all Lebanese and non Lebanese militias operating in the country, in reference to Palestinian factions and Hizbullah. 

Beirut, 08 Mar 07, 15:16
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Members of the Israeli Air Force stand near a new Heron spy drone during an official inauguration ceremony at the Palmachim air base near Ashdod March 7, 2007. Foreign experts say that the Heron, with its long range and potential ability to fire missiles, will bolster Israel's efforts to take on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL)

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Syria Protecting Who? on the Hariri tribunal - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem demanded adoption of "the Syrian law as the groundwork for the international tribunal."

"Syria had already defined its stand in a letter sent to the (U.N.) Security Council," Muallem said at a joint press conference on Tuesday with visiting Belgian counterpart, Karel De Gucht.

The Belgian foreign minister, however, expressed disappointment in Syria's refusal to hand over its citizens to the international court.

"I was disappointed to learn that … your country is not ready to transfer suspects to the Hariri tribunal," De Gucht told his host, speaking in English. "I think that is contrary to the principle of international law."

"We will come to a point where the people responsible would have to be judged and punished. We are not looking for a political tribunal, it should be impartial and should be based on very clear-cut understanding of criminal law," De Gucht added.

2. ROUNDUP: Missing Iranian Official “fled To The US”

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- UN Video on Elias El-Murr's Visit

05 March 07

Media Stakeout: Informal comments to the Media by the Minister of Defense of Lebanon, H.E. Mr. Elias El-Murr, on the situation in the Middle East. [Webcast: Archived Video - 18 minutes ]

NEW Stories on our Blog [ Front Page ]

The implementation of UNSCR 1701 after six months

Germany promises ‘modern’ project to monitor Syrian border

- UN Video on Elias El-Murr’s Visit

My Beirut Story - Brent Sadler

Profile, Standing His Ground PM Fouad Siniora, Timesonline

Analysis: Can the U.S. help Lebanon?

Lebanon Army inface-off with Israel

Top US spy: Iran training Iraqis to use explosives

Saudi-Iran Meeting Yields Little Substance

It’s About Power, Not Sects

HRes 125: WCCR PRESS RELEASE & PETITION APPEAL March 3, 2007

United States House of Congress Resolution 125 (H.Res.125)

The struggle for Lebanon: An address by Walid Jumblatt

Iran readies gas for U-enriching: diplomats

The Vanishing Iranian General: Did He Leave or Was He Taken?

Column One: If Iran gets the bomb

From Iran through Syria to Hezbollah: New Missiles in Lebanon

Geagea points finger at Syria for string of assassinations

Hariri accuses Damascus of blocking political deal

At Long Last, An Iraq ‘Diplomatic Offensive’

“Founder of Fatah Al-Islam: we want to expand in all the camps in Lebanon”

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Lebanese police seize ammunition for rocket-propelled launchers
Mar 6, 2007, 13:43 GMT

Beirut - Lebanese police seized Tuesday 25 rocket-propelled grenades in a mountainous area, south-east of Beirut.

 

'The ammunition, which were wrapped in plastic bags, were found by a villager in a field near Aitat,' - a mainly Druze village, a police source said.

 

Police cordoned off the area and confiscated the weapons, the source said.

 

The main parties in the Druze area are the anti-Syrian government Progressive Socialist Party and the Syrian-backed opposition National Syrian Socialist Party.

 

In the last few weeks, security forces have seized weapons in various areas of Beirut.

 

All militias were disarmed in Lebanon after the 1975-1990 civil war ended, except the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah because it was considered a 'resistance group' fighting Israel's forces on Lebanese territories.

 

Lebanon has been hit by at least 17 deadly terror attacks since 2005, including the blast that killed five-time premier Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005.

(dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur March 6, 2007)

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Carload of Machine Guns Confiscated

Lebanese authorities have seized a carload of automatic machine guns and munitions, the second such confiscation in less than a month, the daily An Nahar said Sunday. 

 

The paper, citing security sources, said the weapons confiscated by Lebanese customs on Saturday belonged to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).

 

The sources told An Nahar that the weapons included 25 new brand, Russian-made Kalashnikov machine guns and six cases of munitions as well as clips.

 

They said the driver confessed that the supplies belonged to the SSNP and that he was instructed to carry them from east Lebanon's Bekaa valley to Beirut.

 

A communiqué released by the Lebanese customs said the car, a Renault 12, was intercepted on the main Beirut-Damascus highway.

 

It said the weapons were discovered in the trunk after the car was stopped and searched.

 

The driver and the arms have been handed over to the military police, the statement said. It gave no further details. 

On Feb. 8, Lebanese customs confiscated a truckload of Hizbullah arms. 

 

Last December, police seized explosives, fuses and detonators in house raids that resulted in the arrest of seven SSNP members and an explosives expert had said such weapons were designed for "terrorist attacks and assassinations."(Naharnet) 
 
Beirut, 04 Mar 07, 08:40
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Skiers sit on ski lifts at the Faraya resort in Mount Lebanon, March 4, 2007. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON)  

The third phase of partial eclipse of the moon as seen from Beirut, March 3, 2007. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON)

Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, Saudi national security council secretary general, arrives to greet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the airport in Riyadh. Ahmadinejad met Saudi King Abdullah on Saturday for talks expected to focus on the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, the crisis in Lebanon and Tehran's nuclear row with the West.(AFP/Hassan Ammar)

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz(R) meets with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(L) in Riyadh. Ahmadinejad met King Abdullah on Saturday for talks expected to focus on the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, the crisis in Lebanon and Tehran's nuclear row with the West.(AFP/Hassan Ammar)

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