International envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Syria informed him its military will complete the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from populated areas by April 10.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Annan received a letter from Syria’s foreign minister on Sunday with the April 10 date and indicated he would have preferred an earlier deadline. She said Annan urged the Syrian government to start the withdrawal immediately and move no further into populated areas, and “that commitment was provided.”

[Read more…]

Syria has accepted a U.N.-sponsored peace plan, international envoy Koffi Annan said on Tuesday, even as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad crossed into Lebanon to fight rebels who had taken refuge across the border.

Assad visited a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs that his forces had overrun after weeks of shelling and gunfire, apparently to make the point that he can now tour the streets of the once bitterly fought-over district.

[Read more…]

In the face of aggression from the United States or Israel, Iran will attack to defend itself, Iran’s most powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday.

“We do not have nuclear weapons and we will not build them but in the face of aggression from the enemies, whether from America or the Zionist regime, to defend ourselves we will attack on the same level as the enemies attack us,” Khamenei said live on television.

“Americans are making a grave mistake if they think by making threats they will destroy the Iranian nation,” he said in his annual speech to mark Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.

[Read more…]

Navy ships have shelled suspected Al Qaeda positions in the southern province of Abyan, killing 29 militants, military and security officials said on Thursday.

They said the rocket and artillery barrage, spread out over a 24-hour period that ended early Thursday, struck alleged Al Qaeda targets around the city of Zinjibar, Abyan’s provincial capital.

[Read more…]

A wave of car bombings and roadside blasts across several cities in Iraq have killed at least 50 people and wounded about 250 people, police and hospital sources say.

The attacks on Tuesday came just days before Baghdad is due to host an Arab League summit, the first meeting of the 22-nation body to be held in the Iraqi capital since Saddam Hussain’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

One of the deadliest attacks targeted the city of Karbala, where at least 13 people were killed, including five Iranian pilgrims, according to Hussein Shadhan al-Aboudi, a local provincial council member.

[Read more…]