Syria: Brief History
By Amira Al Hussaini
The Middle East News blog shares with us a brief history of Syria here.
www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/01/08/syria-brief-history/

Irish UN officers wounded in Lebanon blast
AFP –
RMAILEH, Lebanon (AFP) — Two Irish military officers serving with the UN contingent in Lebanon were wounded in a roadside bombing Tuesday targeting their …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iLffTEgyYP2na3GhnDA3W1GG3Q6Q

Lebanon Commends Arab League Plan
Alalam News Network – Tehran,Iran
Qabbani said the plan will rid Lebanon of the ongoing crisis over electing a president in the Mediterranean country. He explained the plan endorses the …
www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPag
e.asp?newsid=032030120080108231551

Gravestone of citizen returned from Lebanon vandalized
Ynetnews – Israel
… unknown assailants on Tuesday vandalized the gravestone of Gabriel Dwait, the Israeli citizens whose body was returned from Lebanon three months ago as …
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3492035,00.html

Fugitive Omar Hayssam awaits the Romanian justice in Lebanon
HotNews.co – Bucharest|,Romania
Moreover, he added that the prosecutor can enjoy a nice holiday in Lebanon with expensive cars and women. Hayssam confessed that he left the country with a …
www.hotnews.ro/english/top_news/articol_2167104/
fugitive_omar_hayssam_awaits_romanian_justice_lebanon.htm

Closer US Ties With Syria Will Come at a Price, Analysts Say
CNSNews.com – Alexandria,VA,USA
By Julie Stahl Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Syria may be looking for better relations with the US but the price for warming ties would be US abandonment of …
www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page
=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200801/INT20080108c.html

Sayyid Haitham gets message from Syria
Times of Oman – Ruwi,Muscat,Oman
MUSCAT — His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, minister of heritage and culture, has received a written message from Dr Riyadh Na’ssan Agha, …
timesofoman.com/inner_cat.asp?cat=1&detai
l=13521&rand=0QfjweFv5sTKvjUne56pnx0u9i

Lebanon Update
By Amira Al Hussaini
Riemer Brouwer updates us on the political situation in Lebanon in this post.
www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/01/08/lebanon-update/

Ahead of Elections, Car Bomb Injures UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Two UN peacekeeping soldiers were injured Tuesday by a roadside bomb south of Beirut. The blast comes at a tense time in the country and the region. US President George W. Bush is making his first visit to Israel and …
www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Article.aspx?id=1484

Closer US Ties With Syria Will Come at a Price, Analysts Say
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Syria may be looking for better relations with the US but the price for warming ties would be US abandonment of democratic reform in Lebanon and ensuring that Israel give up the strategic Golan Heights, …
www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Pag
e=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200801/INT20080108c.html

WFP food aid for Iraqi IDPs, refugees in Syria
The programme, worth US$126 million, will run for a year and target 750000 of the most vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Iraq, as well as over 360, 000 Iraqi refugees in Syria.
yubanet.com/world/WFP_food_aid_for
_Iraqi_IDPs_refugees_in_Syria.php

Torture inquiry opens to public for 2 days
CBC Ottawa – Ontario, Canada
As in the much-publicized Maher Arar case, the three men all spent time in Syria’s most feared prison. Nearly all of the commissioner’s work is taking place …
www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/01/08/iacobucci-inquiry.html

Irish soldiers hurt in Lebanon blast
Irish Times – Ireland
Two Irish soldiers working as part of a United Nations force were injured today when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in south Lebanon. …
www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0108/breaking67.htm

Israel botched chance to free kidnapped soldiers
Ha’aretz – Tel Aviv,Israel
The full story appears in the book “Spider Webs – The Story of the Second Lebanon War,” being published this week in Hebrew by Yedioth Ahronoth. …
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942535.html

Two UN troops injured in Lebanon blast
Two soldiers serving with the UN contingent in Lebanon have been injured in a roadside blast that targeted their convoy in the south of the country, a senior security official says.
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/09/2134422.htm

Bomb wounds UN troops in Lebanon
Two soldiers belonging to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon have been wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their convoy. The soldiers are reportedly of Irish nationality. The attack took place close to the southern city of Sidon. …
www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/
5591302/Bomb-wounds-UN-troops-in-Lebanon

UN refugee agency seeks 261 million dollars for Iraq appeal
AFP –
The appeal will cover 2.2 million internally displaced people as well as two million refugees in neighbouring countries, principally Syria and Jordan, …
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqmhkQJS5bsQyN6O4toR20jIwXOQ

Syria: The dreadful invitation for coffee
Menassat – Beirut,Lebanon
More than a hundred websites have been banned in the past few months in Syria, where online journalists are left to guess what is allowed and what will land …
www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/
2625-syria-dreadful-invitation-coffee

Red Crescent says 46000 refugees return Iraq end 2007
Reuters – USA
By Aseel Kami BAGHDAD, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Some 46000 refugees returned home to Iraq from Syria between September and December 2007, the Iraqi Red Crescent …
www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL0855951

Syria and the two Michels
Asia Times Online – Kowloon,Hong Kong
From where Syria stands, that is okay as long as one of its allies stands at the Presidential Palace in Lebanon. Had an anti-Syrian president been in power, …
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA09Ak02.html

WFP food aid for Iraqi IDPs, refugees in Syria
IRINnews.org – New York,NY,USA
In Syria, home to over 1.5 million Iraqis – many of whom have no savings, no income and no means of support – monthly food rations consisting of rice, …
www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76135

Iran’s gas to be exported to Syria by 2009
Mathaba.Net – London,UK
Under the MoU, signed by Shirazi and Abbas, the volume of gas export to Syria will start from three million cubic meters a day and will reach nine million …
mathaba.net/news/?x=577226

Fatah al-Islam chief warns of attacks on Lebanon army
The leader of the Fatah al-Islam group threatened attacks against the Lebanese army after it crushed its militants in battles at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon last year. Full Story.
www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=
modload&name=News&file=article&sid=85411

Militant Leader Releases 1st Web Message
The Associated Press –
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The fugitive leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group lashed out at the head of Lebanon’s army, accusing him of destroying a Palestinian …
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jo1XI
nFUDl5CSo_pT5aYUCd_aGRAD8U1C0H80

Lebanon Opposition Cautious Re: Arab League Advice
Beirut, Jan 7 (Prensa Latina) Lebanese opposition groups cautiously accepted statements by the Arab League on Monday about the need to immediately shape a national unity government in the country.
www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BABD9B027-A
BBC-452D-98E9-6DB288D414D1%7D&language=EN