Friday, June 26, 2009 KANDAHAR: NATO-led forces are seizing the initiative against insurgents in southern Afghanistan as thousands of US reinforcements move into the area, the Dutch commander for the region said. "We're entering a new state in the operation in which I would like to make the case that we took away the operational initiative from the insurgents," Major General Mart de Kruif, who oversees more than 30,000 international troops in the south, told reporters in a teleconference. De Kruif said that the NATO-led force was "now entering a new stage, in which we will have the operational initiatives on our side and maintain it." With the influx of US Marines and Army combat troops in the volatile south, he said "significant operations" would be launched "in a very short time" in Helmand province and the city of Kandahar against insurgents. The Dutch general also expressed optimism the extra troops would ensure that security would be "increased" in time for presidential elections in August.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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