Month: August 2010

Beirut, August 08: This week’s arrest of a well-respected retired general and politician allied with Hezbollah on suspicion of spying for Israel has sent shock waves through Lebanon and left many wondering how deep the Jewish state has infiltrated the country.

Fayez Karam, a member of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), is the first political figure to be arrested in Lebanon as part of a wide-ranging probe launched in 2009 into Israeli spy networks.

Jerusalem, August 08: Israel’s navy on Sunday fired warning shots towards a Lebanese fishing vessel in the Mediterranean, a military spokeswoman said.

“Warning shots were fired after a Lebanese fishing boat entered a closed zone,” she said without confirming whether the boat had entered Israeli territorial waters.

After the shots were fired, causing no damage or injuries, “the Lebanese boat changed course,” she added.

Tehran, August 08: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Lebanon after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a top official said Sunday, as Tehran pledged its support to Beirut and Damascus in face of any “aggression” from Israel.

“The president will go to Lebanon at the first occasion after Ramadan,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at a joint news conference with his visiting Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami.

Lebanon, August 08: Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said on Saturday he would work to equip the armed forces with all necessary weapons following Tuesday’s deadly cross-border exchange with Israeli troops.

The former army chief was speaking during a brief visit to the village of Adaysseh just north of the border that overlooks the site where fighting killed two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as an Israeli officer.

Baghdad, August 08: Iran more than any other foreign state is meddling to fill a void in Iraqi politics five months after a general election left the war-wracked nation without a new government, a poll said Saturday.

Asked about the present political hiatus which appears to show no immediate prospect of resolution, 41.2 percent of 12,000 people questioned said Tehran was hindering Iraq’s chances of establishing a new government in Baghdad.

Baghdad, August 08: Iraq on Saturday took delivery of the first 11 of 140 American M1A1 Abrams tanks, just weeks before the US military ends its combat mission here and pulls thousands of its troops out of the country.

The remainder of the order will be completed by the end of 2011, when the US military is due to leave Iraq under the terms of a bilateral security pact.

“Today, Iraq received 11 US-made tanks as part of an agreement with the US to hand over 140 tanks to the Iraqi army,” defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari told AFP.

London, August 08: A woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran for adultery accused authorities of lying about the charges against her so they could execute her in secret, in an interview published Saturday.

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, 43, spoke through an intermediary for the interview with the Guardian newspaper and also put her treatment down to gender, adding “they think they can do anything to women in this country”.

Jeddah, August 08: Saudi’s telecoms regulator has said it postponed a ban on BlackBerry until Monday so that suggested solutions to the kingdom’s security concerns offered by the Canadian maker can be tested.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission said the 48 hours grace period, ending Monday evening, was given “to test the suggested solutions,” according to a statement carried by SPA state news agency late Saturday.

The decision was also based on the “ongoing efforts by the providers of mobile services to meet the requirements of the commission’s regulations.”

Tehran, August 08: A controversial close aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has incurred the wrath of Iranian conservatives who accused him of making “pagan” remarks about religion, media reported on Saturday.

“There are different interpretations of Islam, but our understanding of the real nature of Iran and of Islam is the Iranian school. From now on, we must present to the world the school of Iran,” the president’s chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie said at a conference for Iranians living abroad.

His comments provoked a backlash from conservative politicians and clerics.

Sanaa, August 08: Al-Qaeda on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack in eastern Yemen’s Shabwa province last month that killed six soldiers, in a statement published on websites.

“A unit (of Al-Qaeda) attacked a military post in the province of Shabwa and killed six soldiers of the tyrant,” President Ali Abdullah Saleh, as part of its “operations to rid the peninsula of American agents,” said the statement by the group’s Yemen branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Tehran, August 08: Iran is abandoning a project to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of a policy review that will see Tehran focusing more on exporting gas through pipelines, a top oil official said.

“The oil ministry is currently focusing on gas exports by pipelines,” Ahmad Ghalebani, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, told the oil ministry’s news agency Shana on Friday.