APS Diplomat Recorder articles from August 2006

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from August 2006

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 1 - 'Some Arab States Supporting Israel'.
August 5, 2006... Qatar's FM accuses some Arab states of supporting the Israeli offensive on Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah. However, speaking to Al Jazeera TV, Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani declined to name any country. He said: I am surprised at...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 4 - Riyadh Reiterates Stand On Lebanese Sovereignty.
August 5, 2006... Saudi Arabia reiterates its full support to the Lebanese government's efforts to protect its sovereignty during an emergency meeting of the OIC. Saudi Arabia also affirmed its full support to the PA, too, and its efforts to contain the crisis...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 1 - Blair Urged To Take Lebanon Back Seat.(Tony Blair)
August 5, 2006... The UK and US are warned by the UN' second most senior official that as "the team that led on Iraq" they are poorly placed to take a leading role in diplomatic efforts on the crisis in Lebanon. In a striking admonition of two permanent security...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 2 - Israel Pushes Deeper Into Lebanon.
August 5, 2006... As Israel launches its largest ground offensive in Lebanon, PM Ehud Olmert vows to keep up the military campaign against Hizbullah until an international peacekeeping force was deployed. His comments follow approval by the security cabinet to...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 2 - Israel Captures 'Fighters'.
August 5, 2006... Israel says it seized several Hezbollah fighters after an operation near the ancient city of Baalbek in Lebanon, a charge denied by the resistence group. Air strikes also killed around 15 civilians in the Bekaa Valley area of the country, while...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 4 - Israeli Air Strike Kills Farm Workers.
August 5, 2006... Israel broadens its attacks on Lebanon, severing its last significant link to the outside world in a series of air strikes on Christian areas and killing at least 33 farmworkers in the north of the country. Aid workers said the destruction of...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 3 - Iraq Could 'Descend Into Civil War'.
August 5, 2006... General John Abizaid, head of US Central Command, which oversees the Iraq war, tells the Senate armed services committee that Iraq can descend into civil war if the recent surge in violence in Baghdad is not stopped. Gen Abizaid's comments came...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug 3 - Car Bomber Kills 21 Afghans In Market.
August 5, 2006... A suicide bomber blows up a car in a small town's bazaar in southern Afghanistan, killing himself and 21 others and wounding 13 people, including several children. Hours earlier, four Canadian soldiers with NATO were killed and 10 were wounded...

IRAQ - Aug 2 - Thousands Of Shi'ites March In Baghdad.
August 5, 2006... Thousands of Shi'ite civilians charge with guarding neighbourhoods in Iraq marched through Baghdad in a show of force likely to stir passions in a country ravaged by sectarian violence. Young men in civilian uniforms and headbands, all members...

IRAQ - Aug 2 - 44 Die In Attacks Aimed At Iraqi Security Forces.
August 5, 2006... Attacks aimed at Iraqi soldiers and police officers kill at least 44 people and wound at least 57, as American and Iraqi generals continue to shift security forces to Baghdad as part of their retooled strategy to roll back surging violence in...

IRAN - Aug 1 - Iran Blasts 'Worthless' N-Deadline.(United Nations Security Council Resolution, nuclear deadline)(Brief article)
August 5, 2006... Iran reacts angrily to a UN Security Council resolution ordering it to freeze sensitive nuclear work by the end of the month, one top official branding the text as "worthless". UN Resolution 1696, adopted on July 31, warned the Islamic Republic...

ISRAEL - July 30 - Israel Says Assault Will Go On.(Hizbullah)
August 5, 2006... Israel dismisses the international outcry at a bombing raid that killed up to 56 Lebanese civilians - two thirds of them children - by making clear its determination to continue the military offensive against Hizbullah for at least another 10...

LEBANON - July 31 - Hizbullah Digs In For Long Fight.
August 5, 2006... Hizbullah militants are digging in the expectation of prolonged fight with Israel in southern Lebanon, and were in no mood to discuss conditions under which they might lay down their weapons. "It is not only militants who are with Hizbullah....

LEBANON - Aug 3 - Hizbullah Threatens To Attack Tel Aviv.
August 5, 2006... Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's leader, warns that his group will respond to an Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital by hitting Tel Aviv. But he also offered to stop rocket attacks against civilians if Israel called off its air...

PALESTINE - Aug 3 - Eight Palestinians Killed In Fresh Gaza Strip Offensive.
August 5, 2006... Eight Palestinians, including a 12- year-old boy, are killed in military strikes on Al-Shoka neighbourhood of eastern Rafah in southern Gaza as Israel pressed its month-long offensive. Dr. Ali Moosa, director of Abu Yousef Al-Najar Hospital in...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 7 - Crushing Hizbullah 'Will Take Time'.
August 12, 2006... An Israeli army intelligence expert Yossi Kuperwasser says "Crushing Hizbullah is not like ordering a pizza". "It takes time". Brig Gen Kuperwasser, a reserve officer at army HQ and its former head of intelligence analysis, was reflecting on...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug 6 - British Soldier Is Killed In Fighting With Taliban.
August 12, 2006... A British soldier is fatally shot as NATO-led troops goes after Taliban insurgents in a southern mountain range, and a US soldier is slightly wounded in the suicide truck bombing of a military convoy in a neighbouring province, officials said....

IRAQ - Aug 8 - More Than 20 Killed In Baghdad Violence.
August 12, 2006... Five homemade bombs and a deadly bank robbery kill more than 20 people in Baghdad as violence continues despite a buildup of US and Iraqi troops meant to restore a sense of order. Also on Aug 8, the military announced that four US soldiers had...

IRAQ - Aug 10 - Bomber Kills 35 Near Shrine In Najaf.
August 12, 2006... An explosive worn on a belt by a suicide bomber who intended to blow himself up inside the holiest shrine of Shi'ite Islam goes off during a police patdown at a checkpoint near the shrine, killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 120...

IRAN - Aug 6 - Tehran Rejects Demand On Nuclear Fuel.
August 12, 2006... Tehran rejects last week's UN Security Council resolution demanding Iran suspend uranium enrichment by August 31, but stresses that Tehran is ready for international negotiations on its nuclear programme. Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's...

ISRAEL - Aug 9 - Israel Set For Big Push North To Litani.
August 12, 2006... The Israeli security cabinet votes for a major escalation of the Lebanese conflict, authorising the army to advance to the Litani river, up to 18 miles north of the border, to halt rocket fire from Hizbullah guerrillas. The decision was made as...

LEBANON - Aug 6 - Lebanon Dismisses UN Draft Resolution.
August 12, 2006... Lebanon rejects outright the Franco-American draft of a UN resolution to end Israel's war with Hizbullah, saying it was fundamentally one-sided and failed to take into account its own proposals for a resolution of the conflict. The latest...

PALESTINE - Aug 9 - Haniyeh Calls For Debate On The Future Of PA.(Ismail Haniyeh, Palestine Liberation Organization. Palestinian National Council)
August 12, 2006... Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh calls for a debate on the future of the PA, in remarks following earlier comments from a Palestinian official asking for the authority to be "dissolved". Haniyeh also raised the possibility of dissolving the PA,...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 15 - Jordan Calls For Resumption Of Mideast Peacemaking.
August 19, 2006... Jordan calls for the immediate resumption of Arab peacemaking with Israel, saying that the time is ripe after guns fell silent in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict. King Abdullah warned that the Lebanon conflict "could be repeated unless the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 13 - Lebanon Conflict Intensifies.
August 19, 2006... The Israeli government accepts UN terms for a ceasefire due to go into force at 0500 GMT on Aug 14, while in south Lebanon its forces fight the fiercest battles of the conflict, seeking to gain ground before the deadline comes. But in Beirut...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 15 - Israeli Forces Begin Leaving South Lebanon.
August 19, 2006... More Israeli troops leave south Lebanon, although the armed forces did not say how many remained of the 30,000 soldiers deployed at the height of the offensive between Israel and Hizbullah. Lt Gen Dan Halutz, chief of staff, told Army Radio the...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 15 - Paris Seeks Assurances On Hizbullah.
August 19, 2006... French officials insist Paris will resist leading a bolstered international force in southern Lebanon without Lebanese government assurances that Hizbullah, the militant Shi'ite group, will be disarmed. Paris' requirements were spelled out on...

IRAN - Aug 15 - President Attacks Role Of US.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
August 19, 2006... Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad attacks the role of the US and Britain as members of the UN security council given their support for what he describes as "atrocities" committed by Israel in Lebanon. His criticism comes as the Aug 31...

LEBANON - Aug 15 - Hizbullah Leads Work To Rebuild, Gaining Stature.
August 19, 2006... As stunned Lebanese return over broken roads to shattered apartments in the south, it increasingly seems that the beneficiary of the destruction is most likely to be Hizbullah. A major reason - in addition to its hard-won reputation as the only...

LEBANON - Aug 17 - Leaders Act To Rebuild Country's Broken Bridges.
August 19, 2006... Powerful private-sector business leaders pledge to rebuild Lebanon's shattered bridges in a rapid show of national unity over post-war reconstruction. With Israeli troop withdrawals from the south under way, the promised infrastructure repairs...

SYRIA - Aug 15 - Bashar Warns Israelis To Give Up Arrogance.(Bashar Al Assad )
August 19, 2006... Syrian President Bashar Al Assad says that America's plan for a "new Middle East" collapsed after Hizbullah's successes in fighting against Israel, and warns the Jewish state to seek peace or risk defeat in the future. Bashar, speaking to a...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Aug 25 - Syria Pins Hopes On Future Deal For Return Of Golan Heights.
August 25, 2006... Syria, a main backer of Hizbullah, hopes the war between the Lebanese group and Israel can lead to peace talks with the Jewish state that will help it regain the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in 1967. The Syrian president Bashar al Assad,...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Aug 24 - EU To Pledge More Troops For Lebanon.
August 25, 2006... Europe's leaders seek to put days of embarrassment and recriminations over Lebanon behind them by stepping up commitments to an international monitoring force. Jacques Chirac, French president, announced about 1,600 further French troops for...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug 24 - Israel 'Waging Economic War On Lebanon'.
August 25, 2006... Lebanon's powerful parliament speaker accuses Israel of seeking to re-interpret the UN ceasefire resolution in order to justify what he says is a continuing economic war against Lebanon. In an interview with the FT, Nabih Berri, who has acted...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 23 - Bush Administration Considers 'Next Step' With Iran.(Brief article)
August 25, 2006... The Bush administration says it is consulting with allies to consider "next steps" after concluding that Iran's response to a proposed US-EU deal to solve tensions over its nuclear programme is inadequate. Commenting for the first time on the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 23 - Tehran Response Falls Short- US.(Brief article)
August 25, 2006... The Bush administration says it is consulting allies to consider "next steps" after concluding that Iran's response to a proposed US-EU deal to solve tensions over its nuclear programme i21s inadequate. Commenting for the first time on the...

AFGHANISTAN - Aug 20 - Scores Of Taliban Die In Major Clash.
August 25, 2006... Heavy fighting flares in southern Afghanistan when Taliban insurgents attack a district center and fought for hours against Afghan police troops and army and NATO troops. Scores of Taliban fighters and five men from the Afghan security forces...

IRAN - Aug 20 - Tehran Launches 10 Missiles In Exercise.
August 25, 2006... Iran fires 10 short-range missiles on the second day of large- scale military exercises, as officials reiterate Tehran's stance that it did not intend to halt its uranium enrichment program. The war games took place amid increasing...

IRAQ - Aug 20 - Ambushes Kill 20 During Shi'ite Festival In Baghdad.
August 25, 2006... At least 20 people die and 300 are hurt in Baghdad after insurgents, including roof-top snipers, ambush pilgrims gathering in their hundreds of thousands for a sacred Shi'ite festival. "Most of the attacks are taking place when pilgrims are...

IRAQ - Aug 21 - Saddam Enters No Plea In 'Genocide' Trial.
August 25, 2006... Saddam Hussein refuses to enter a plea as he and six former army leaders goes on trial in Baghdad for the mass murder of tens of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. The case is the second of a dozen prepared against members...

ISRAEL - Aug 20 - Olmert Calls On Italy To Lead Lebanon Force.
August 25, 2006... Israel calls on Italy to lead an international force in south Lebanon and to send troops to oversee border crossings from Syria through which it alleges Hizbullah is continuing to receive arms supplies. Ehud Olmert, in a telephone call to...