APS Diplomat Recorder articles from August 2005

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from August 2005

ARAB AFFAIRS - July 31 - Syria, Lebanon Reaffirm Ties.
August 6, 2005... In his first official trip abroad and just a day after his government is approved by Parliament, Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora holds difficult talks with Syrian Pres Bashar Assad and PM Mohammad Naji Ottri on repairing relations between the two...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 2 - Thousands Rally Against Gaza Plan.
August 6, 2005... Thousands of Israeli ultranationalists rally against a Gaza pullout as the police deployed in force to block any attempt to march across the nearby frontier into Jewish settlements due to be evacuated. The demonstration in Sederot, an Israeli...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 4 - US Assesses 'Determined' Atomic Effort By Iranians.
August 6, 2005... Completing their first full-scale assessment of Iran in four years, US intelligence agencies conclude Iran is "determined to build nuclear weapons" but is not expected to possess such weapons until the early or middle years of the next decade....

IRAN - July 31 - Tehran Threatens To Restart Atom Work.
August 6, 2005... Tehran threatens to resume activities at one of its nuclear sites but says it will keep its freeze on a more advanced process needed to make fuel or weapons. The EU, which has been seeking to negotiate an exit to the Iranian nuclear impasse,...

IRAN - Aug 3 - Decision On Uranium 'Irreversible'.
August 6, 2005... Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani, defies threats from Britain, France and Germany to cut off talks on its nuclear programme and says the decision to resume uranium conversion activity was irreversible. In a strongly worded...

IRAQ - Aug 2 - Panel Reports Progress On Charter.
August 6, 2005... A leader of the Iraqi committee charged with drafting the country's constitution says the group had reached tentative agreements on a number of the most difficult issues, and he expressed confidence that the new charter would be ready days...

IRAQ - Aug 3 - Fourteen US Marines Killed By Bomb.
August 6, 2005... Fourteen US Marines are killed when a roadside bomb strike their amphibious assault vehicle in western Iraq in one of the single bloodiest insurgent attacks against a foreign military target since US-led invasion of Iraq. The bomb caught a...

ISRAEL - Aug 3 - Rightists Rally Again.
August 6, 2005... On the second day of a mass protest, rightist Israelis rally Aug 3 evening in southern Israel and begin marching toward the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, but thousands of police officers prevented them from approaching Gaza's borders....

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug 1 - Fahd Dies.
August 6, 2005... Saudi officials reassure markets that there will be no change in oil policy as they engineer a smooth handover of power after the death of King Fahd, who ruled the world's most powerful crude producer for 23 years. Abdullah bin Abdelaziz, the...

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug 2 - No Emotion And Simple Burial For Fahd.
August 6, 2005... King Fahd is laid to rest in an austere burial ceremony held in accordance with the kingdom's Islamic Wahabi tradition and amid tight security. The 80-year-old Abdullah bin Abdelaziz, who succeeded his half brother on Aug 1 as ruler of the...

SUDAN - Aug 3 - Khartoum Suffers Third Day Of Ethnic Violence.(Brief Article)
August 6, 2005... Violence breaks out in Khartoum and its surrounding areas for a third day as southern Sudanese clashed with northerners in spite of appeals for calm from the country's leaders. A spokesman from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 6 - US General Offers Way To Cut Forces In Iraq.
August 13, 2005... In a classified briefing to senior Pentagon officials last month, the top US commander in the Middle East General John Abizaid, outlines a plan that will gradually reduce US forces in Iraq by perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 troops next spring, three...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 9 - Bomb Cache Found In Iraq Believed To Be From Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
August 13, 2005... Speaking on condition of anonymity, an intelligence official says US intelligence believes that a cache of manufactured bombs seized in Iraq about two weeks ago is smuggled into the country from Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. He said:...

IRAN - Aug 7 - Tehran To Resume Nuclear Work After Rejecting EU Offer.(European Union)
August 13, 2005... The country's FM insists it will resume uranium conversion this week after rejecting EU incentives to end its nuclear fuel work, and says it is not concerned about being referred to the UN for possible sanctions. Britain, Germany and France,...

IRAQ - Aug 7 - Final Bid To Agree Constitution.
August 13, 2005... Iraqi leaders mee in a bid to resolve outstanding disputes over the country's proposed constitution, a draft of which is due to be presented to parliament exactly a week. Aug 7 night's meeting, hosted by Pres Jalal Talabani, was the first in...

IRAQ - Aug 10 - 4 US Soldiers Die In Attack.
August 13, 2005... The US military announces that four soldiers are killed and six people are wounded when insurgents attack a patrol near Baiji, a town in northern Iraq. Five of the wounded were soldiers and the sixth was an US military contractor, a military...

IRAQ - Aug 10 - Leading Shiite Seeks Autonomy For Region.(Abdul Aziz Al Hakim)
August 13, 2005... One of the country's most powerful Shiite politicians Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, calls for the formation of a semi-independent region in the oil-rich south, throwing the drafting of the new constitution into further turmoil and endangering a crucial...

ISRAEL: Aug 7 - Netanyahu Quits As Gaza Pullout Approved.(Benjamin Netanyahu)
August 13, 2005... Aug 7 - Netanyahu Quits As Gaza Pullout Approved Benjamin Netanyahu quit his post as finance minister in a dramatic move just moments before the cabinet gives its final approval of the first evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip,...

YEMEN - Aug 8 - Six Al Qaeda Men Jailed For Plotting Attacks.
August 13, 2005... A Yemeni court sentences six men, including an Iraqi and two Syrians, to jail terms ranging from two to four years after convicting them of planning to attack Western embassies. The six men were part of an eight-member Al-Qaeda cell called the...

Aug 10 - Tehran Moves Uranium Plant To Full Production.
August 13, 2005... Tehran removes seals placed by UN inspectors at its Isfahan nuclear site and brings the facility to full operation as envoys to the UN nuclear agency in Vienna moved closer to achieving consensus on a text calling for the suspension of Tehran's...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 18 - Jordan's King Abdullah Meets With Putin.(Vladimir Putin)(Brief Article)
August 20, 2005... Jordan's King Abdullah II meets with Russian Pres Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for talks on the Middle East and trade ties. Before heading off for closed-door meetings, Putin told Abdullah about his telephone conversation earlier in...

ARAB-ISRAEL - Aug 17 - Gaza Withdrawal 'Will Not End Occupation'.
August 20, 2005... PA civil affairs minister Mohammad Dahlan, says Israel's failure to agree to cede control of Gaza's access to the outside world after four months of talks means its occupation will not end with the evacuation of Jewish settlers. Hamas, the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 19 - Group With Al Qaeda Links Fires On US Warships.
August 20, 2005... A group claiming links to Al Qaeda claims it has fired three rockets at two US warships in the Red Sea port of Aqaba. They missed their apparent targets but killed a Jordanian soldier and hit the adjacent Israeli resort of Eilat. The US ships,...

IRAN - Aug 14 - Ministerial Nominations Point To Attack On Iran Reform.
August 20, 2005... Pres Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran's president, introduces his cabinet to parliament for a vote of confidence, with his choice of candidates reflecting a conservative shift in political and international priorities but continuity in economic...

IRAN - Aug 18 - Iran Is Building Secret Nuclear Components, Says Rebel Group.
August 20, 2005... Iranian opposition activists say that Tehran is rushing to build nuclear components in breach of its commitments to the UN. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq guerrilla movement,...

IRAQ - Aug 15 - Iraqi Leaders Extend Talks On Constitution.
August 20, 2005... Iraqi leaders charge with writing the country's postwar constitution admit they have failed to reach final agreement and win an extension from parliament extending the deadline by a week. The speaker of parliament Hachim al-Hassani, said the...

IRAQ - Aug 17 - Triple Bombing Breaks Baghdad Lull And Kills 43.
August 20, 2005... Three car bombs kill more than 40 people in a co-ordinated attack on a Baghdad bus station in the morning rush hour, ending a lull in insurgent attacks as Iraqi leaders resume talks on a new constitution. At least 43 people were killed and 76...

ISRAEL - Aug 14 - Israel Ends 30-year Settlement In Gaza.(Israeli army prepares to evict Gaza Strip settlers of Palestinian territory )
August 20, 2005... Israel brings the curtain down on its 30-year-old settlement of the Gaza Strip, sealing off the main crossing point into the territory as the army prepare to evict those of its 8,000 Jewish inhabitants who refuse to go willingly. Among those...

ISRAEL - Aug 15 - Gaza Strip Settlers Frustrate Eviction Plans.(Israeli security forces stopped to distribute eviction orders by religious nationalists)
August 20, 2005... Jewish settlers and their supporters lock the electronic gates of communities in the southern Gaza Strip, frustrating attempts by Israeli security forces to distribute eviction orders declaring their presence in the territory illegal. Hundreds...

SAUDI ARABIA - Aug 18 - Saudi Forces Kill Kingdom's Top Al Qaeda Leader.
August 20, 2005... The interior ministry says the country's top Al Qaeda suspect Saleh Al Awfi has been killed in a clash with police, two weeks after the US warned of imminent attacks in the world's largest oil producer. Saleh Al Awfi, 38, thought to have taken...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 25 - Israeli Troops Kill 5 Palestinians In West Bank Raid.
August 27, 2005... Israeli troops kill five Palestinians in an overnight West Bank raid, the army's first deadly strike since it removed Jewish settlers from occupied lands. Palestinian militants vowed revenge. A new wave of violence would jeopardise a truce that...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 22 - Bush Offers Robust Defence Of Iraq Policy.
August 27, 2005... Pres Bush issues a robust defence of his Iraq policy against mounting domestic criticism, vowing "nothing less than the total victory over the terrorists". He acknowledged the deaths of 1,864 US soldiers in Iraq and the "grieving families and...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 22 - Afghan Offensive Leaves 40 Rebels Dead, US Says.
August 27, 2005... A weeklong offensive by US and Afghan troops against militants believed responsible for the deadliest attack on American forces in Afghanistan leave at least 40 suspected rebels dead. The military pronounced the operation in Kunar Province a...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug 21 - Attacks Increasing As Vote Nears.
August 27, 2005... US comes under fire in two separate attacks highlighting the rising violence in Afghanistan one month before parliamentary elections. Four US soldiers were killed and three were wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. In a separate...

EGYPT - Aug 21 - Muslim Brotherhood Supports Poll.
August 27, 2005... Muslim Brotherhood calls on its followers to participate fully in the country's forthcoming presidential elections but urges them not to vote for Pres Hosni Mubarak. A statement issued by Mohammad Mahdi Akef, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader,...

EGYPT - Aug 24 - Police Wage Fierce Battles With Militants.
August 27, 2005... Egyptian security forces storm four militant strongholds in the northern Sinai Peninsula, fighting intense gunbattles and arresting 26 people in a massive search for suspects linked to recent bombings in the rugged desert region. A total of 650...

IRAN - Aug 24 - Tehran Seeks To Resume Nuclear Talks.
August 27, 2005... Pres Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran wants negotiations over its nuclear program to continue and is finalising "innovations" to resolve the dispute. However, he told reporters that Iran would also defend its "lawful rights" in the nuclear...

IRAQ - Aug 21 - Kurds And Shiite Near Deal Over Iraq Draft.
August 27, 2005... Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite politicians say that they are close to resolving differences over the country's draft constitution but at the cost of isolating the Sunni Arab minority. The disclosure that, on the eve of their extended deadline for...

ISRAEL - Aug 22 - Gaza Settlements Evacuated.
August 27, 2005... Israel evacuates the last of 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip as the Palestinians gear up for the return of the territory within two months. The withdrawal of around 7,000 settlers from Gaza is ahead of schedule by about two weeks and on...

JORDAN - Aug 21 - Police Holds 3 Suspects In Rocket Attack.
August 27, 2005... The police detain two Egyptians whom they suspected of involvement in a rocket attack on US warships moored off the southern port of Aqaba, a day after the authorities said they had arrested an Iraqi man. "The security forces detained two...

PALESTINE - Aug 27 - Hamas Warns Of Internal 'Intifada' After Pullout.(Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement) to participate in government and elections)
August 27, 2005... The militants in the impoverished Gaza Strip warn with the departure of their common Israeli enemy, inter-Palestinian divisions can flare up into fresh bloodshed. A local Hamas leader in the Jabaliyya refugee camp Fathi Hamad said: If the...