Middle East

The UN Security Council on Thursday awaited Syria's response to its demand for the "immediate" implementation of a plan by special envoy Kofi Annan to rein in the government's bloody crackdown.  UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he hoped Wednesday's rare show of unity by the 15-member council -- including Russia and China -- would mark a "turning point" in the crisis, in which more than 8,000 people have been killed.  "I hope that this strong and united action by the council will mark a turning point in the international community's response to the crisis," Ban said on a visit to Kuala Lu

BEIRUT (AP) — The "extremely dangerous" conflict in Syria could have global repercussions, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday as fresh violence erupted outside the capital and in the south.  The uprising that began a year ago has transformed into an armed insurgency that is pushing the country closer to a civil war.

CAIRO — A Bedouin siege of an international peacekeepers camp in Egypt's Sinai underscores the ruling military's weak grip over the restive frontier territory more than a year after an uprising shook the country.  On Friday, eight days into the siege in the north of the peninsula, the ruling generals cajoled the machinegun-toting tribesmen into ending the stand-off with a promise to look into their grievances.  The Bedouin said they would give the military a month to meet their demand for the release of jailed tribesmen, some convicted on terror charges.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's deputy foreign minister voiced support on Saturday for the idea of peacekeeping forces manned exclusively by Arab League troops but stopped short of backing a Qatari proposal to deploy one in Syria.  Labid Abbawi's remarks come ahead of an Arab summit due in Baghdad on March 29, the first meeting of the 22-nation bloc in the Iraqi capital since the late dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.  "We do support the idea, but of course there are a lot of details which have to be discussed," Abbawi told AFP.

Armed Bedouin demonstrators in Egypt's Sinai have laid siege to a military base used by international peacekeepers.  They are hoping to pressure the authorities to release fellow tribesmen from jail.  Many have been held without trial for as long as seven years following a series of bombings at Red Sea resorts.  The protest outside the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission is said to have begun a week ago.

France is to reduce the strength of its UN peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon by 400, just under a third of its troops there, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.  A statement from the ministry said the decision had been taken in agreement with the United Nations and with Lebanon following a strategic review of the mission of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — "Safe havens" for civilians in Syria? Think twice, Bosnians would warn.  With the U.N. unable to agree how to protect civilians against Bashar Assad's forces, Western officials are discussing creation of safe corridors to deliver aid to Syrians trapped by the crackdown.  Similar measures failed badly during the war in Bosnia two decades ago that killed over 100,000 people and left millions homeless.

08 March 2012 - Women peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were honoured at a ceremony in Tyr, southern Lebanon, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.

    Turkish President Abdullah Gul yesterday said his country was opposed to any force from outside the region intervening in Syria, as Tunisia called for a peacekeeping force.  Mr Gul’s comments came during a visit to Tunisia, which has also called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and end a military crackdown that has claimed more than 7500 lives.

BEIRUT: The U.N.’s strategic review on the role of international forces in south Lebanon will likely be released by mid-March, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping force, Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra, told a local daily.  Serra, the head of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), also dismissed that potential unrest in north Lebanon bordering Syria would affect stability in the south.