Free Republic

Car bomb kills five in Hezbollah Beirut bastion: ministry  Published — Thursday 2 January 2014 Last update 3 January 2014 12:55 pm BEIRUT: A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 in a Hezbollah bastion in south Beirut on Thursday, a health ministry source told AFP. “According to an initial toll, five people have been killed and more than 20 injured,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said: “The terrorist explosion targeted a densely populated residential area, just 150 to 200 meters (yards) away from Hezbollah’s political bureau.” The official National...

Baghdad leaders reveal that coup plot duped MI6 Julie Flint explains how rumours of Saddam's overthrow caused British intelligence to miss vital information about Iraq's weapons programme British intelligence took its eyes off Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes because it had been duped into believing a military coup would leave Sunni Muslims in power in Iraq. Sources in the country say what they missed was a push to convert chemical and biological organisms into dry agents that could be hidden until pressure on the regime was lifted. 'From the second half of 2000, the focus of the British was not on...

Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian terror group Hamas, the state-run news agency said. The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by "three bombs tied to each other" that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas. It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said. Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not...