BAGHDAD: Three Americans have been killed in fighting in the former Al-Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in western Iraq, the US military said in a statement on Friday. "Two marines and one sailor were killed while conducting combat operations against enemy forces here April 30," it said. No further details were provided.Anbar was once a bastion of the anti-US insurgency movement until Sunni rebels allied with the American forces in late 2006 and helped to drive Al-Qaeda out of the vast desert province. The armed groups commonly referred to as Sahwa or Awakening, are made up of former insurgents and have played a key role in dramatically reducing violence across the country.
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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