. Kuwait
- On October 8 an American Marine was shot dead and another wounded on a
Kuwaiti island while training. Two gunmen were also killed. It is believed
that it is a terrorist incident but it was not clear immediately if it was
liked at al-Qaida.
- On November 2002 Kuwait had in custody a member of al-Qaida, Mohsen al-Fadhli,
a Kuwaiti citizen 21 year old. He has confessed to participate in the organisation
of the attack against the French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen
and in the planed car bombing of a hotel in San'a, the capital of Yemen.
- On Thursday November 21, 2002, two US soldiers were shot at and wounded
in Kuwait by a junior member of the traffic department who then escaped in
Saudi Arabia. It is not known why this officer did it. He was arrested on
November 22 and, as usual in these cases, he is said to have mental problems.
He was identified as being Khaled al-Shimmiri.
- A civilian American computer expert was shot dead on January 21, 2003, near
an USA military base in Kuwait City. One or more gunmen shot at the car killing
the passenger -Michael Rene Pouliot- and wounded the driver. The attackers
escaped but one -Sami al-Mutairi- was arrested a few days later in Saudi Arabia,
and he was send back to Kuwait where he admitted the shooting.
- On March 5, 2003, at an emergency summit of Islamic states, Izzat Ibrahim
al-Douri, the second in command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, told
Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem, the Kuwaiti minister of state for foreign
affairs "Shut up, you monkey" adding an Arabic insult "Curse
be upon your moustache!" Sheikh Sabah accused Douri of "hypocrisy
and falsehood".
- On July 25, 2004, security sources said that the police had found documents
detailing an apparent plot to kill interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
during a visit to Kuwait next week. The plotters intended to carry out their
attack on August 2, the 14th anniversary of ousted Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.
- Kuwait announced on Thursday July 17, 2008, that it has named retired Lieut. Gen. Ali al-Mu'min as ambassador to Iraq, the first one since 1990 when Iraq invaded its neighbour. Kuwait's ambassador nomination came after several Arab nations, including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, had named their envoys to the warn-torn country.
- Kuwait's prime minister has accepted an invitation to visit Iraq, the first since ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's forces invaded the Gulf emirate 18 years ago. Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh delivered the invitation to the premier, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah, on Sunday September 7, 2008, during a visit.
- On Thursday August 6, 2015, Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior announced that its security services had arrested a terrorist cell with suspected links to Islamic State fighters in Mosul in northern Iraq. The terrorist cell consisted of five Kuwaitis, one of which has been killed in Iraq.
- A court in Kuwait has sentenced two men to death after finding them guilty of spying for Iran and plotting attacks in the emirate. One of the men was a Kuwaiti and the other an Iranian convicted in absentia. They were convicted alongside 20 other Kuwaitis, who were sentenced to between five and 25 years in prison. The sentencing comes amid heightened tensions between Sunni-ruled Gulf states and Iran over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shia cleric. Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Iran last week in protest at the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by a crowd angered by the killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Iran denounced the attack on the embassy, but also accused Riyadh of "promoting sectarian hatred" and seeking to "drag the entire region into confrontation". Kuwaiti prosecutors had accused those convicted on Tuesday January 12, 2016, of being part of a 26-member "terrorist cell" that had committed acts violating state sanctity, collaborating with Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement to carry out hostile schemes against the emirate.
. Lebanon
- On November 21, 2002, an US woman missionary working as a voluntary nurse
in a hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, was killed by a gunman who shot three bullets
through her head. There too it is not known why she was killed and who did
it.
- On February 14, 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has been
killed in west Beirut. The blast, which killed nine people and injured 100
others, may have come from a car bomb. It went off beside the derelict St
Georges Hotel on the seafront, causing widespread damage.
- At least two people were injured when an explosion took place in the Zalka
suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut on August 23, 2005. The blast, which
could be heard several kilometres away, occurred outside a hotel and shopping
centre in the mainly Christian area of the city.
- The UN has warned on July 29, 2006, the deaths of four of its personnel in southern Lebanon may deter countries from contributing to a future peacekeeping force in the area. The UN accepted Israel's apology for the losses to Israeli fire, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened. The UN has called for a three-day truce to let aid enter Lebanon, but Israel has rejected the request.
- More than 54 civilians, at least 34 of them children, have been killed in a town in south Lebanon on July 30, 2006,in the deadliest Israeli strike of the conflict so far. Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit. Lebanon's prime minister denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with the US secretary of state.
- Heavy clashes have been taking place in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters on August 1, 2006, after Israel vowed to widen its ground offensive. Both sides claim to have caused casualties, as Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded Hezbollah targets amid fierce resistance. Israeli troops were operating in several locations, kilometres from Israel's border.
- On August 8, 2006, French and American diplomats at the UN were re-drafting their plan to end the Middle East crisis. An Arab League delegation argued that a resolution should call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. France and the US did not want major changes to their text and diplomats said prospects for an early vote are fading.
- The UN's top humanitarian official has criticised Israel and Hezbollah on August 10, 2006, for hindering access to southern Lebanon, calling the situation a "disgrace". Two Israeli Arabs were killed in Hezbollah rocket fire, while Israeli air strikes killed two Lebanese. An Israeli soldier was also killed in fighting in southern Lebanon. More than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have now been killed in the hostilities. Some 122 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed.
- Senior diplomats are meeting at the UN in New York on August 11, 2006, amid signs that a deal on a resolution to end the violence in Lebanon is close.
- The UN passed a resolution urging a "full cessation of hostilities" on Saturday August 12, 2006. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will ask the Cabinet on Sunday to endorse the resolution, describing it as positive and acceptable. However Israel's military is still pressing on with an expanded ground offensive in south Lebanon, despite the UN Security Council vote for a ceasefire plan.
- Thousands of displaced Lebanese have begun travelling home on Monday August 14, 2006, hours after a UN ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah came into force. Fighting ended at 0500 GMT, although in one later clash, Israeli soldiers fired on a group they said were militants. Israel has said its troops will remain in Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can take control and it would continue to maintain an air and sea blockade of Lebanon. It also said troops would return fire if they came under attack.
- Intense negotiations are under way on August 16, 2006, to form the UN peacekeeping
force planned to back up the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The UN
hopes to get 3,500 troops on the ground in southern Lebanon within two weeks,
mostly from France. No countries have yet formally pledged troops, although
several have said they will. The ceasefire, in its third day, is holding despite
sporadic violence. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy is in Beirut
and is expected to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to discuss conditions
for the deployment of French troops.
- Lebanese troops have crossed the strategically important Litani River on Thursday August 17, 2006, moving into some areas of southern Lebanon for the first time in decades. The troops were warmly welcomed in southern villages, many of which were badly damaged in more than a month of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. France is to send 200 extra troops to bolster the UN force in the south. Israel has passed control of half of its positions there to the UN. Israel, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have all pledged to uphold a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution requiring the withdrawal from southern Lebanon of Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.
- 50 French troops -France said they would send 200- arrived in the Lebanese port of Naqoura on August 19, 2006, the first soldiers to bolster the UN force. The UN wants 3,500 troops on the ground speedily, to be expanded later to 15,000. It says it is disappointed with the French contribution and wants other European nations to offer more help too. The UN chief Kofi Annan warned of a "fragile" situation on the ground.
- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on August 22, 2006, his country was willing to lead the planned international force -a task that was initially expected to go to France. But Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema warned his country could only fulfil its offer if Israel respected the truce, now in its ninth day. Israel shot three suspected Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon late on Monday, although the militant group denied this.
- Renewed efforts are under way on August 23, 2006, to build up troop numbers for an expanded UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon. The UN has been disappointed by the response so far from European nations, and says a bolstered force is urgently needed to enforce the fragile truce. Many nations have been hesitant to commit troops until there is greater clarity about the force's mandate.
- A senior UN spokesman said on August 26, 2006, it is now close to achieving firm promises of troops to make up the full peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. Significant offers had also been received from several Asian countries. These are in addition to a commitment of up to 7,000 troops from European Union states.
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has seen first-hand on August 28, 2006, the destruction wrought in southern Lebanon during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mr Annan visited UN troops at the southern port of Naqoura before flying over scenes of devastation and stopping at the village of Markaba. Mr Annan said he would urge the Israeli government to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon, imposed at the start of the conflict to stop arms reaching Hezbollah. He also called on Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers, whose capture on 12 July triggered the fighting.
- A bomb blast near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon has seriously wounded a senior intelligence officer and killed four of his aides and bodyguards on September 5, 2006. A remote-controlled bomb hit Samir Shehadeh's car as he drove past the village of Rmeileh. Colonel Shehadeh was an investigator into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in early 2005.
- On September 11, 2006, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has held talks with
the Lebanese government, amid angry protests against his visit. Thousands
of demonstrators accused him of complicity in the deaths of 1,100 Lebanese
civilians from Israeli bombing in the recent conflict with Hezbollah. Mr Blair
defended his position of rejecting calls for an early ceasefire, saying a
UN resolution dealing with the "real problems" had been his priority.
Several protesters disrupted a news conference, shouting: "Shame on you."
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on September 13, 2006, Israel has made significant progress in withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon. The UN chief said Israel and Hezbollah had mostly complied with a UN resolution to end the conflict.
- On September 14, 2006, Amnesty International has accused Hezbollah of acts amounting to war crimes in the conflict with Israel. It says the Lebanese militant group deliberately targeted civilians with rockets in the 34-day war - a "serious violation of humanitarian law". Amnesty has already accused Israel of committing war crimes by targeting Lebanon's civilian infrastructure and is urging a UN inquiry into violations. Hezbollah rejected the report, calling it a result of US and Israeli pressure.
- On September 23, 2006, the Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, hailed
his group's "victory" over Israel, boasting that the group still
has 20,000 rockets. In his first public appearance since the recent conflict,
he said Hezbollah would never be disarmed by force and called for a new Lebanese
government. Hundreds of thousands crowded into southern Beirut, heavily bombed
during the conflict, to hear the speech.
- Israel has withdrawn the bulk of its troops from Lebanon on October 1, 2006, fulfilling a key condition of the UN ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah. Israel sent thousands of troops into southern Lebanon during a month-long war triggered by Hezbollah's abduction of two soldiers in July. Some Israeli troops remain on the Lebanese side of the divided border village of Ghajar. Lebanese and international peacekeeping troops are being deployed to monitor the ceasefire.
- UN investigators are expected on March 22, 2007, to get an extra year for their inquiry into the murder of a former Lebanese leader. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed two years ago in a murder the UN says was "probably" politically motivated. Previous UN reports have implicated Syria, whose involvement in Lebanese affairs Mr Hariri had strongly opposed. In its latest report, the Investigating Commission said the killing might have been an attempt to derail elections, which Mr Hariri was expected to win.
- Several transport planes carrying military aid for the Lebanese army from the US and its Arab allies have arrived at Beirut airport on Friday May 25, 2007. The move follows an appeal for such aid by the Lebanese government. Its forces are battling Islamist militants who have taken over the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. A Red Cross food convoy from the Jordanian capital, Amman, is travelling overland through Syria and is expected in northern Lebanon later on Friday.
- Lebanese opposition party Hezbollah has condemned a UN Security Council vote to set up a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of Rafik Hariri. The ex-PM and 22 other people died in a huge car bombing in Beirut in 2005. The pro-Syrian Hezbollah group, which has previously blocked a parliamentary vote on the plan, said the UN decision violated Lebanese sovereignty.
- Lebanese troops have intensified their assault on the perimeter of a Palestinian refugee camp, demanding the surrender of Islamist militants inside. A helicopter fired two missiles into Nahr al-Bared camp, backing up machine gun and cannon fire that had reportedly destroyed the militants' sniper posts. Five soldiers have died since the latest assault began on Friday June 1, 2007. The 13-day confrontation between troops and militants has killed more than 100 people, many of them civilians. The UN says about 25,000 of the camp's 31,000 original residents have fled. Aid agencies have called for a ceasefire to allow more civilians to leave.
- The Lebanese army is shelling militant positions deep within the besieged Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, as its operation to force surrender continues on Su day June 3, 2007. The army said militants from the Fatah al-Islam group have been cleared from the edges of the Palestinian camp during heavy fighting since Friday.
- Israel has been hit by a rocket attack from Lebanon on June 18, 2007. Two Katyusha rockets exploded near the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona. There were no casualties, but roads and vehicles were damaged. Israeli and Lebanese security sources said they believed a Palestinian group had fired the rockets. Israel said it would not "succumb to provocation". The Lebanese group Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the attack. No-one has yet claimed responsibility for it. It is the first time Israel has come under such an attack from Lebanon since last year's conflict with Hezbollah.
- Lebanese troops said on June 23, 2007, they had largely defeated Islamist rebels in a northern refugee camp, but continued their siege amid sporadic shelling and gunfire. The present gunfire came from mopping up operations, and explosions were booby traps being destroyed. A month of fighting has left 170 people dead.
- At least 10 people have been killed on Saturday June 23, 2007, in fighting between Lebanese troops and suspected Islamic militants in the northern city of Tripoli. Two civilians, one soldier, a policeman and at least six Islamist gunmen are said to have been killed in the fight.
- The US military in Iraq has accused Iran on July 2, 2007, of orchestrating an attack that killed five US soldiers and of using Lebanese militants to train insurgents. The information came from a top Hezbollah fighter recently captured in southern Iraq. Brig-Gen Kevin Bergner said the suspect admitted working with the Quds Force, linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
- Lebanese rival political groups, including Hezbollah, are meeting in France on July 15, 2007, to try to end a long running political crisis gripping the nation. Everybody is playing down hopes of an early breakthrough. Lebanon's Western-backed government and the opposition supported by Syria and Iran have been deadlocked since six opposition ministers quit in November. The parties have since failed to agree how a new unity government might be structured.
- A roadside bomb in southern Lebanon hit a UN peacekeeping Tanzanian military police patrol on a bridge in the village of Qasimiyeh, north of the city of Tyre on July 16, 2007. A UN spokeswoman said no casualties were reported.
- France's foreign minister said that two Israeli soldiers seized in a Hezbollah
raid over the Lebanese border last year are still alive after talking to parties
attending a conference near Paris. Rival Lebanese groups, including Hezbollah,
were in France for talks on the country's political crisis. The capture of
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev led to a war with Israel in which more than
1,300 people died.
- The Lebanese army's chief of operations, General Francois al-Hajj, has been
killed in a car bomb attack on December 12, 2007. Two other people died in
the blast in the Christian town of Baabda, close to the presidential palace
in Beirut. General Hajj had been tipped to become army chief if General Michel
Suleiman becomes president in an effort to resolve a lengthy political crisis.
- A powerful bomb killed a senior Lebanese police intelligence officer, Capt Wissam Eid, and three others in east Beirut on January 26, 2008. He had been leading inquiries into a string of bombings that have shaken Lebanon since 2004. His convoy was blown apart as it passed an explosives-laden vehicle detonated by remote control near a major highway.
- The Lebanese group, Hezbollah said one of its top leaders, Imad Mughniyeh,
has died in a bombing in Damascus on February 13, 2008, and has blamed Israel
for assassinating him. Mughniyeh is widely believed to be behind a wave of
Western hostage-taking in Lebanon during the 1980s. He had been in hiding
for years and was high on US and Israeli wanted lists.
- On February 29, 2008, a Hezbollah MP condemned the deployment of the USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon as a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and independence. The US is sending one warship and a support ship to the eastern Mediterranean as a show of support for "regional stability". The deployment is seen as a warning to Syria, which backs the opposition, of which Hezbollah is part.
- Gunmen from the Shia group Hezbollah seized most of western Beirut on May 9, 2009, the third day of fighting between opposition and government supporters. The Western-backed governing coalition has described it as a "bloody coup". At least 11 people have been killed.
- On May 18, 2008, Lebanon's rival political leaders are continuing talks in Qatar aimed at ending the sectarian feud which left at least 65 people dead in recent days. The talks became heated when members of the pro-Western government raised the issue of arms held by the opposition Hezbollah movement. The two sides are also set to discuss power-sharing in a proposed national unity cabinet and electoral reforms. The talks follow a deal, mediated by the Arab League, to end the fighting that came after the government withdrew two key measures to curb Hezbollah.
- On May 21, 2008, rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on steps to end the
political deadlock that has led to the country's worst violence since the
1975-90 civil war. Under the deal, the opposition -led by the Hezbollah political
and militant group- will have the power of veto in a new cabinet of national
unity. It also paves the way for parliament to elect a new president. The
post has been empty since November. The agreement is a major triumph for Hezbollah,
whose key demands have been met.
- A suspected suicide bomber has been shot dead by troops near Lebanon's largest
Palestinian refugee camp on May 31, 2008. The man, carrying a grenade and
thought to be wearing an explosive belt, had approached an army checkpoint
just outside the southern city of Sidon. Troops at the position outside the
Ain el-Hilweh camp opened fire and killed the man instantly. The incident
came hours after an explosion killed a soldier near a refugee camp in the
country's north.
- At least three people have been killed in clashes between Lebanese government supporters and opposition supporters in the eastern Bekaa valley on June 17, 2008. It is the second time in a week that fierce fighting has erupted in the Saadnayel and Taalbaya villages which have a mixed Sunni-Shia population. Machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars were heard until dawn.
- On June 23, 2008, at least four people have been killed as sectarian clashes continued for a second day in north Lebanon, bringing the death toll to eight. Fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli has pitted Sunnis from the anti-Syrian faction against pro-Syrian Alawites. Several homes and a petrol station were set ablaze and people fled the area.
- An explosion in a block of flats in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli
killed at least two people on June 28, 2008. At least 17 people were injured
in the blast in the mainly Sunni Muslim Bab Tibbaneh district. The cause of
the explosion is unknown. Nine people were killed in sectarian fighting in
the area last Sunday. The clashes threaten to derail moves to form a government
of national unity.
- On July 8, 2008, at least two people have been killed in renewed sectarian
clashes in Tripoli. Explosions and gunfire could be heard as Sunni supporters
of the pro-Western government fought Alawite gunmen backing the Hezbollah-led
opposition. About 40 people were wounded, including two soldiers apparently
caught in the crossfire.
- Sectarian fighting has broken out again between rival Lebanese factions in the northern city of Tripoli on July 25, 2008. At least five people were killed in the clashes involving Alawites and Sunni Muslims.
- On July 31, 2008, gunmen attacked a military post in eastern Lebanon near
the Syrian border, killing a soldier and wounding another. The army post near
Hermel came under machine-gun fire at dawn. Troops returned fire and the attackers
fled.
- At least 14 people have been killed by a blast in the centre of the Lebanese city of Tripoli on August 13, 2008 after a bomb went off close to a bus whose passengers included a number of off-duty soldiers.
- A Lebanese army helicopter hit by gunfire had to make an emergency landing in the south of the country on August 28, 2008. One officer was killed and others were injured. It is not known who carried out the attack. The helicopter was flying over the village of Sejoud, 20km from the Israeli border.
- The leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon acknowledged on September 5, 2008, that his group was responsible for the shooting down last week of a Lebanese army helicopter. Hassan Nasrallah said the shooting was a mistake. A Hezbollah fighter opened fire after being taken by surprise when the aircraft landed nearby.
- On September 29, 2008, at least five people have been killed in a suspected car bomb attack on a military bus carrying soldiers in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. The blast happened on the outskirts of the city during morning rush hour. Some 30 people are believed to be wounded.
- On September 30, 2008, the Lebanese parliament approved a new election
law as part of a reconciliation process begun in May. The new law, which alters
the boundaries of voting districts, will be used as the basis for parliamentary
elections next year. It is an amended version of a 1960 law under which voting
is held in smaller districts known as cazas. The new law also calls for Lebanese
elections to be held on one day, rather than over several days.
- Lebanon's top Shiite cleric, Iraqi-born Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, criticized Tuesday October 21, 2008, a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, saying the Baghdad government has no right to "legitimize" the presence of foreign troops. He said any security pact should call for an imminent and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. The cleric was born in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf and wields some influence among Iraq's Shiite majority. He is one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party.
- Britain re-established contacts with the political wing of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah we were told on March 6, 2009. The move follows "positive political developments" in Lebanon. It comes about 10 months after Hezbollah signed a unity accord in Lebanon and joined the government.
- Heavy fighting in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday August 22, 2012 has left at least 10 people dead and more than 100 wounded in the second day of clashes between Sunni Muslims and Alawites, as the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Syria continues spilling across the border, highlighting the sectarian nature of the conflict. Grenades blasts and heavy gunfire were heard throughout the night between Alawite backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad and pro-revolutionary Sunnis. Ten Lebanese soldiers have been wounded so far in the fighting.
- A sniper killed a prominent Sunni sheikh Friday August 24, 2012,in the northern city of Tripoli, sparking renewed clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions that dashed a tenuous truce. Sunni Muslims have led the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose minority Alawite sect has mostly stood with him. Sunni-Alawite tensions have been growing in parts of Lebanon as well, such as Tripoli, where the two groups live in neighbouring districts.
- A huge car bomb explosion in Beirut on Friday October 19, 2012, killed a top Lebanese security official whose investigations implicated Syria and Hezbollah in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri seven years ago. The rush-hour bomb in the centre of the Lebanese capital killed eight people and wounded about 80 others. Among the dead was Wissam al-Hassan, the head of a Lebanese intelligence agency who had also uncovered a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician.
- Lebanon's prime minister linked the massive car bomb that tore through Beirut to the civil war in neighbouring Syria on Saturday October 20, 2012, the latest signal that the crisis is enflaming an already tense region. The government declared a national day of mourning for the victims on Saturday, but protesters took to the streets, burning tires and setting up roadblocks around the country in a sign of the boiling anger over the bomb. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the explosion is linked to al-Hassan's recent investigation, in which he exposed an alleged plot by Syria to unleash a campaign of bombings and assassinations to sow chaos in Lebanon.
- At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in gun battles in the Lebanese capital Beirut and coastal Tripoli on Monday October 22, 2012, in further unrest linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria. The clashes have heightened fears that Syria's civil war with its sectarian dimensions is now spreading into Lebanon, pitting local allies and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against each other. Many politicians have accused Syria of being behind the killing of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, an intelligence chief opposed to the Syrian leadership, who was blown up by a car bomb in central Beirut on Friday. Opposition leaders want Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign, saying he is too close to Assad and his Lebanese militant ally Hezbollah, which is part of Mikati's government.
- Two people were killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday March 22, 2013, in fighting fuelled by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, bringing the death toll in three days of clashes to six. At least 35 were wounded. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades rocked neighbouring districts that are home to communities linked to both sides of the Syrian conflict. One area is dominated by Lebanese Sunni Muslims, who support the Sunni-led uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the other is an enclave of Lebanese Alawites, the same Shiite Muslim offshoot to which the Syrian leader belongs. One of those killed on Friday was a soldier.
- Shells fired from inside Syria have struck Lebanese border villages. The shells exploded in four villages Saturday March 30, 2013, near the northern border and that residents reported an unpleasant smell after the strikes. There was no report of any dead or wounded and did not say whether government troops or rebels fired the shells. Shells and gunfire from the Syrian civil war have repeatedly crossed the border into Lebanon, occasionally killing and wounding civilians.
- Five people have been killed and about 50 wounded in two days of fighting in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, we were told on Monday May 20, 2013, a spillover of violence from the civil war in Syria. Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire shook the city on Sunday night but exchanges tapered off into sporadic sniper fire by daytime. Syrian activists say the latest fighting in Tripoli, where an Alawite minority lives on a hill overlooking the mainly Sunni Muslim port city, was ignited by tension over an assault by Syrian troops backed by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia on the rebel-held Syrian border town of Qusair. Three people were killed in the Sunni district of Bab Tabbaneh and another in the adjacent Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen. The fifth fatality was a Lebanese soldier.
- Overnight clashes killed six people and wounded 40 in the Lebanese port of Tripoli we were told on Thursday May 23, 2013, as a fifth day of violence sparked by the Syria conflict spread to previously quiet neighbourhoods.
- Hezbollah's deepening involvement in Qusair has raised the prospect of renewed civil war in neighbouring Lebanon, where two rockets hit the Shiite Muslim movement's stronghold in south Beirut on Sunday May 26, 2013, and one was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel. The rockets struck hours after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah promised that his anti-Israel guerrillas, fighting alongside Assad's forces, would win whatever the cost. Another 107mm rocket, which did not go off, had been aimed at Beirut airport. The launch sites were near Aitat, in the hills just south of the capital.
- Gunmen fired on a Lebanese government checkpoint near the Syrian border on Tuesday May 28, 2013, killing three soldiers. The attack comes amid escalating tensions in Lebanon linked to Syria's conflict, in which rival Lebanese groups have taken sides.
- A number of people have been killed in an exchange of fire between Syrian rebels and fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The clashes took place on Lebanon's side of the border, near the town of Baalbek. Hezbollah is fighting alongside the army in Syria, but the clashes have rarely crossed onto Lebanese soil. Meanwhile the Red Cross has said it is alarmed by the worsening situation in the besieged Syrian town of Qusair.
- Eighteen rockets and mortars rounds from Syria slammed into Lebanon on Saturday June 1, 2013, the largest cross-border salvo to hit a Hezbollah stronghold since Syrian rebels threatened to retaliate for the Lebanese militant group's armed support of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The rockets targeted the Baalbek region, the latest sign that Syria's civil war is increasingly destabilizing Lebanon. On Friday, the Lebanese parliament decided to put off general elections, originally scheduled for June, by 17 months, blaming a deteriorating security situation in the country.
- Hezbollah guerrillas fought a deadly battle with Syrian rebels in Lebanon's eastern border region early on Sunday June 2, 2013. At least 12 rebels were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, but the toll would not be clear until bodies were retrieved from the remote and rugged border area. One Hezbollah fighter also died. Syria's two-year-old conflict has increasingly sucked in its smaller neighbour, with fighting shaking the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and rockets hitting the Bekaa Valley and southern Beirut.
- On Wednesday June 12, 2013, a Syrian government helicopter has fired three missiles at the northern Lebanese border town of Arsal. One of the missiles had struck the town centre, and that a woman and her daughter were slightly hurt. Arsal is a predominantly Sunni town from the Syrian border that is home to some 27,000 Syrian refugees. It was used as a staging-post by Syrian rebels during the recent battle for the strategically important town of Qusair. Qusair was recaptured by the army last week with help from the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah.
- Fierce clashes erupted between the Lebanese military and supporters of a hard-line Sunni Muslim cleric, in the latest spillover from Syria. Six Lebanese soldiers - including three officers- were killed. Some latest estimate spoke of 16 soldiers killed. Heavy fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in Sidon caused panic in the southern coastal city, which until recently had been largely spared the violence hitting other areas. The fighting broke out in the predominantly Sunni city after supporters of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, a virulent critic of the powerful Shiite militant Hezbollah group, opened fire on an army checkpoint. The clashes in Sidon centred on the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque, where al-Assir preaches. The cleric is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon who fought back Sunday June 23, 2013. Dozens of al-Assir's gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with Beirut. By Sunday evening, the army had besieged the mosque, sealing off access to it from all directions, and was going after al-Assir and his supporters, who have been agitating for months. Assir was believed to be hiding inside the mosque with several of his followers.
- Gunmen assassinated a well-known media defender of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Lebanon on Wednesday July 17, 2013. In Lebanon, Mohammad Darra Jamo, a commentator for Syrian state media who often appeared on Arab TV channels to promote Assad's cause, was killed by gunmen at his home in the southern Shi'ite Muslim town of Sarafand. It was the first assassination of a pro-Assad figure in Lebanon since the Syrian revolt began 28 months ago and follows several attacks in recent weeks against the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group, which is now fighting for Assad in Syria.
- A Syrian military helicopter fired four rockets at a pro-rebel region of eastern Lebanon in the early hours of Thursday July 18, 2013. The attack did not cause any injuries. Arsal is a Sunni neighbourhood in eastern Lebanon that is broadly sympathetic to the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, and has become a transit point for Syrian refugees, as well as rebels and their weapons.
- A huge car bomb blast killed at least 18 people (and 245 others wounded) Thursday August 15, 2013, in a densely populated Beirut bastion of Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah, a military backer of Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad. A previously unknown group believed to be a Syrian rebel cell said it carried out the attack which rocked the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. The attack took place in an area between the Bir al-Abed and Rweiss neighbourhoods of southern Beirut.
Three people including a teenager were killed and 30 were wounded Saturday November 30, 2013, in the northern city of Tripoli from gunfire between gunmen in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. Sniper fire claimed the lives of Abdel-Rahman Merhe, 16, Al-Taqwa Mosque guard Omar Hasnawi and Ramziyeh al-Zohbi, the wife of a Tripoli mukhtar; 30 people including seven soldiers were also wounded in the clashes that erupted in the morning. A fourth person identified as Mahmoud Hussein died of a heart attack while fleeing sniper gunfire in the Zahereyah area. The fighting comes following a string of sectarian attacks targeting Tripoli’s minority Alawite community which is centered in Jabal Mohsen, a neighborhood that staunchly supports President Bashar Assad.
Four people were killed by sniper fire the north Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday December 1, 2013, raising to 10 the death toll in two days of violence fuelled by sectarian tensions over Syria's civil war. The clashes between Tripoli's Alawite minority, which supports Syria's Alawite President Bashar al-Assad, and majority Sunni Muslims who back the Syrian rebels, are the latest round of violence which has killed more than 100 people in the Mediterranean city this year. Gun battles have broken out five times since March, killing dozens of people, and twin car bombs at Sunni Muslim mosques in Tripoli killed 42 people in August. The latest clashes were preceded by repeated attacks on Alawite targets over the last week in which several people were wounded.
On Friday December 27, 2013, a huge blast rocked central Beirut, sending plumes of black smoke scudding across the skyline of the Lebanese capital. At least five people were killed and 70 wounded in the explosion. Former finance minister Mohamad Chatah, who was also an adviser to former anti-Syria coalition prime ministers Saad Hariri and Fuad Siniora, was killed along with his driver.
The Lebanese army fired on Syrian aircraft that violated the country’s airspace Monday December 30, 2013, the first time Lebanon has done so since Syria’s uprising broke out nearly three years ago. The move suggests Beirut is trying to enforce greater respect for its borders in the hopes of slowing the expansion of the conflict into Lebanon, where it has exacerbated sectarian tensions and prompted shadowy groups to conduct attacks that have killed dozens this year.
Syrian warplanes bombed a range of barren hills inside Lebanon on Wednesday January 1, 2014, wounding at least 10 Syrians. Cross-border strikes have been particularly intense this week around the town of Arsal, where thousands of Syrians have fled to escape their country's civil war over the past months. A wounded woman brought to the town after the air raid had died. They said three others are in critical condition. ---
On Saturday February 1, 2014, a car bomb blew up near a gas station in a Shiite town, killing at least three people, in the latest attack linked to the war in Syria.
A large explosion near an Iranian cultural centre in the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital Beirut on Wednesday February 19, 2014, killed at least four people and wounding at least 38. The explosion appeared to have been caused by a car bomb and a motorcycle laden with explosives. A militant group linked to al-Qaeda, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attacks on Twitter, saying the Iranian culture centre was the target.
Israeli warplanes hit a convoy carrying surface-to-surface missiles into Lebanon on Monday February 24, 2014. The air strike on the border between Lebanon and Syria, was the seventh known operation since the Syrian civil war began in 2011 and was an expression of Israel’s only clear policy regarding that deadly conflict: That it will not let Syria’s war become an opportunity for the militant group Hizballah to improve its anti-Israeli arsenal.
Fighting between rival sects in Lebanon's second city killed two people including a 10-year-old girl on Thursday March 13, 2014 in violence stoked by the war in neighboring Syria. Clashes between Sunni Muslims and members of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect in the northern city of Tripoli broke out after gunmen shot a Sunni man who had Alawite family members and lived in a mostly Alawite area of the city. The man later died of his wounds and at least 14 people were wounded in the ensuing clashes, including two soldiers and one gendarme after Lebanon's security services sent reinforcements in to restore order. A 10-year-old girl was also killed by sniper fire as residents in the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite Jabal Mohsen areas exchanged fire.
Sectarian clashes linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria have killed at least three people Thursday March 20, 2014, in the northern city of Tripoli. The deaths raise the total number of people killed in the city since the latest round of fighting began on March 14 to 20. More than 150 people have been wounded in fighting in the city so far.
A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden car targeted a Lebanese army checkpoint near the Syrian border on Saturday March 29, 2014, killing three soldiers. The attack near the eastern border town of Arsal came after forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad routed rebels from two Syrian villages lying just across the border. The bomb killed three soldiers and wounded another four. Following the bombing, a woman and child were killed by Lebanese soldiers who opened fire on their vehicle after the drive did not stop at another Arsal checkpoint.---
The Syrian army and Hezbollah bombarded the Lebanese village Tfeil Saturday June 14, 2014, due to battles raging in close proximity to the village in the Qalamoun mountain range in Syria, damaging an old mosque and residents’ houses. Many people were reported wounded, some of whom are in critical condition. Tfeil, the border Bekaa village, is poorly connected to the rest of the Lebanese state. A lack of roads linking it to Baalbek has left the village dealing primarily with the Syrian state and market, despite being inside Lebanese territory.
Fighters identified as Islamist militants crossed into Lebanon from Syria on Saturday August 9, 2014, triggering an exchange of fire with Lebanese villagers who forced them back across the border. The gun battle near the village of Kfar Qouq followed a battle between gunmen and Syrian security forces on the other side of frontier. Kfar Qouq is near the Bekaa Valley town of Rashaya south of the border town of Arsal that was seized last Saturday by Islamist militants who crossed from Syria. Dozens of people were killed in five days of fighting between the army and the militants who included Islamists affiliated to the Islamic State, which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq. The militants pulled out of Arsal to the mountainous border zone on Thursday, taking with them 19 captive soldiers. Militant sources said on Friday that they sought to exchange them for Islamists held in Lebanese jails.
The Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's wing in Syria, has killed one of ten Lebanese soldiers it had been holding in captivity we were told on Friday September 18, 2014. The Nusra Front hopes to exchange the soldiers for members of the group being held in Lebanese prisons. They released six soldiers last month as a gesture of good faith for negotiations. Earlier on Friday, two Lebanese soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb near the Syrian border in the first such attack since fighters from Syria launched a deadly incursion last month. Three soldiers were also wounded by the bomb, which hit a military personnel carrier near the town of Arsal, where the army battled fighters affiliated to ISIL and other groups for five days last month. After the bombing, soldiers raided houses in the town in search of fighters. The army later used "heavy weapons" to target rebel positions around Arsal. ---
A group of fighters have killed six Lebanese soldiers and wounded one after an ambush on a Lebanese army patrol near the border with Syria. The attack occurred on Tuesday December 2, 2014, in a remote region of Ras Baalbek in eastern Lebanon and was followed by fierce clashes between the two sides.
A woman detained by Lebanese authorities was not the wife of the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but the sister of a man convicted of bombings in southern Iraq. She is Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, who is detained by authorities and sentenced to death for his participation in explosions we were told on Wednesday Decembr 3, 2014. The wives of the terrorist Al-Baghdadi are Asmaa Fawzi Mohammed al-Dulaimi and Esraa Rajab Mahel al-Qaisi, and there is no wife in the name of Saja al-Dulaimi. Saja Dulaimi had fled to Syria where she was detainees by authorities. She was part of a group of female detainees freed in exchange for the release of a group of nuns captured by Islamist rebels in Syria. Lebanese security officials said their investigations still indicated the detained woman was Baghdadi’s wife.
Lebanese troops repelled an attack by militants on an army outpost near the Syrian border on Friday January 23, 2015, but five soldiers were killed. The fighting, near the village of Ras Balalbek in an area that has seen regular incursions from Islamist militants fighting in Syria's war, lasted all day. Nine militants had died.
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement acknowledged for the first time Monday February 16, 2015, that the Shiite militia has sent fighters to Iraq, and he urged Arab states throughout the region to set aside sectarian rivalries to confront the threat posed by the Islamic State. Hasan Nasrallah called on the region’s traditional American allies to abandon their reliance on the United States and instead align with Hezbollah —and by implication with its sponsor Iran— to defeat the Sunni extremists. Nasrallah portrayed the Islamic State as the most serious immediate threat to the region’s stability, although he also repeated the common charge that the Islamic State is working on Israel’s behalf. He cited Iraq and Syria as evidence that Hezbollah and its allies are the only ones who are effectively fighting the Islamic State, and he described the U.S. response as too slow and insufficient.
Three unidentified militants were killed in clashes with Lebanese soldiers who launched an operation near the Syrian border early on Tuesday April 7, 2015, to retake control of a hilltop. Four other militants were wounded in the clashes. Syria-based groups such as al Qaeda's Nusra Front and Islamic State have attacked Lebanon and taken soldiers captive since last summer in some of the worst spillover from the four-year civil war. Tuesday's operation destroyed a large number of weapons used by the militants.
In an apparent spill over of Syria's war, five people were killed in a suicide attack in a Lebanese town near the border we were told Thursday November 5, 2015. ---
A group of suicide bombers detonated their explosives' vests in a northeastern Lebanese village near the border with Syria on Monday June 27, 2016, killing five people and wounding at least 15. The blasts occurred in the predominantly Christian village of Qaa, only few hundred meters away from the border. Four suicide bombers were involved in the rare multiple attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility. Four members of the military were among the wounded.
A roadside bomb near the country's eastern border with Syria has wounded two Lebanese soldiers. The explosion struck an army vehicle in the Arsal region; the wounds sustained by the troops were minor. The blast was followed by the soldiers opening fire with heavy weapons at militant positions nearby. ---
Lebanon Friday July 1, 2017:
Lebanon Saturday July 22, 2017:
Lebanon Sunday August 20, 2017:
Lebanon Saturday November 4, 2017:
. Malaysia
- Malaysia arrested 4 Islamic militants who were planning a suicide attack
against Western targets in Singapore.
- On April 22, 2004, an emergency meeting of the Muslim States' Organisation
of the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, asked that the UN be
given a central role in Iraq as soon as possible to avoid anarchy and to prevent
further civilian killings by the American troops.
- On July 16, 2004, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said
his country would not send troops to Iraq, but he urged Muslim countries in
the region to consider sending security forces now that the United States
has handed power to the interim government of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
- Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crashed as a result of a Russian-made Buk missile, the Dutch Safety Board said on October 13, 2015. The missile hit the front left of the plane causing other parts to break off, it said in a final report into the July 2014 disaster, which killed 298 people. The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed rebels brought down the Boeing 777, but Russia blames Ukrainian forces. The report does not say who fired the missile, but says airspace over eastern Ukraine should have been closed. The plane -flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur- crashed at the height of the conflict between government troops and the pro-Russian separatists. Among the victims were 196 Dutch nationals and 10 Britons.
. Mongolia
- The Mongolian Defence Ministry held a farewell ceremony on Monday March
6, 2006, for more than 100 troops who are to take over the country's peacekeeping
mission in Iraq. This was the sixth batch of peacekeeping forces sent by Mongolia
to Iraq. The troops will be charged with patrol tasks in the Iraqi capital
Baghdad to help maintain the social order there. Mongolia dispatched its first
batch of 173 troops to help boost the peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts
in post-war Iraq in September 2003.
. Morocco
- On May 16, 2003, there were five bomb attacks on the business quarter of
Casablanca Morocco. A Jewish Centre, the Belgium Consulate, the Spanish social
club Casa Espana, and the hotel Safir were hit. At least 41 people died -mostly
Moroccan but also 2 Spaniards, 2 Italians and 2 French- and more than 100
were hurt. Most victims were eating at the Casa Espana restaurant where the
terrorists entered after cutting the guard's throat. It is believed that 14
terrorists died in the operation. The terrorists could also be members of
a local Islamic group such as Salafiya Jihadiya or from al-Qaida.
- On May 29, 2003, six persons accused to have been involved in the bombing
in Casablanca on May 16 as well as planning new attacks have appeared in court
in Morocco.
- A police raid on suspected militants in Casablanca on April 10, 2007, set off gunfights and suicide bombings that have left at least five men dead. One of the men was shot dead by police - Mohamed Mentala, wanted in connection with the 2003 attacks- in a raid on an alleged militant hideout in a poor area of the city. Another three suspected militants - were believed to be linked to a suicide bomber who blew himself up in a Casablanca Internet cafe last month- blew themselves up during the police manhunt. A police officer also died in one of the blasts.
- Two suicide bombers have blown themselves up in the Moroccan city of Casablanca
on April 14, 2007. One woman passer-by was injured in the blasts, which happened
near the US consulate and its cultural centre. The incident came four days
after three people blew themselves up and a fourth was shot dead during a
police raid on suspected militants in the city.
- The Moroccan authorities said on August 30, 2008, they have broken up a
militant cell operating in several towns in the kingdom. The group allegedly
had links with al- Qaida and police described the 15 people arrested as "dangerous".
They had electronic and chemical materials used to make explosives. It is
the fourth such network Morocco says it has broken up this year.