MIDEAST: U.N. Shifts Focus from Politics to Humanitarian Aid

The United Nations is trying to help resolve the Lebanese crisis on two fronts: political and humanitarian.

MIDEAST: U.S. Turns to Arab Dictators to Contain Hezbollah

The United States is using authoritarian Arab leaders, who fear that Iran could export its revolutionary political model to their disgruntled populations and are concerned about Washington's reprisal against them a la Saddam Hussein in Iraq, as a buffer between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, Washington's protégé in the Middle East, analysts here say.

MIDEAST: Bombings Hit Children Hardest

About 55 percent of all casualties at the Beirut Government University Hospital are children of 15 years of age or less, hospital records show.

MIDEAST: Lebanese Devastated In All Sorts of Ways

Much of Beirut is a devastated city, infrastructure in many areas lies in a shambles after the Israeli bombing. But the Lebanese are also just feeling devastated.

MIDEAST: Backing for Israel Stymies Larger US Aims in Region

Washington's strong backing - hedged by occasional calls for restraint - for Israel's 10-day-old military campaign in Lebanon has won it very few friends in the Arab world, despite recent criticism of Hezbollah by pro-U.S. governments in the region, according to a range of regional and foreign policy experts.

POLITICS: UN Paralysed Over Israeli Attacks on Lebanon

As Israel continues to unleash its deadly firepower on a hapless Lebanon for a second week running, the United Nations remains paralysed and unable to take any action because of an indisputable fact of international politics: the unrestrained U.S. support for an intransigent Israel.

MIDEAST: Israel Hits Ground Realities

After pounding Lebanon from the skies for nine days, the Israeli army has begun, without any official announcement, the ground phase of its military operation, with thousands of elite troops having crossed the border into south Lebanon to hunt down Hezbollah fighters and their stockpiles of rockets.

MIDEAST: Fury Grips Syria Over Lebanon Attacks

The daily Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and the floods of refugees pouring in have set off a wave of anger through Syria.

POLITICS-US: Bringing On “World War III”

If you thought that a global conflagration on the order of a World War was more the stuff of Biblical prophecy, science fiction and apocalyptic end-times novels, think again.

MIDEAST: Lebanese Refugees Crowd Damascus

Syrian capital Damascus is being flooded with refugees. The devastation in Beirut is beginning to show in another capital.

POLITICS-US: Back to Sunni Authoritarians?

After posing as the champion of democratic reform and the long oppressed Shia minority in the Arab world, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be scurrying back to Washington's traditional policy of strong support for the region's Sunni-dominated, pro-U.S. authoritarian governments.

MIDEAST: Egyptian Mediation Pushed Back

Egypt's attempts to mediate the escalating crisis between Israel and Hamas appear to have run out of steam. The Egyptian 'retreat' follows a mystery attack on one of its ships.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

MIDEAST: Diplomatic Moves Come, And Go

The diplomatic initiatives have begun. The first - and certainly not the last - came Monday in the form of a proposal by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for deployment of an international force in southern Lebanon to end the spiralling violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

MIDEAST: Hezbollah An Emerging Political Force

Hezbollah, a group often misunderstood by Westerners, is a militant but also a political group.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

POLITICS: Israel Violates Law on U.S. Weapons in Mideast

Israel is in violation of U.S. arms control laws for deploying U.S.-made fighter planes, combat helicopters and missiles to kill civilians and destroy Lebanon's infrastructure in the ongoing six-day devastation of that militarily-weak country.

POLITICS: Energised Neo-Cons Say Israel’s Fight Is Washington’s

Seeing a major opportunity to regain influence lost as a result of setbacks in Iraq, prominent neo-conservatives are calling for unconditional U.S. support for Israel's military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon and "regime change" in Syria and Iran, as well as possible U.S. attacks on Tehran's nuclear facilities in retaliation for its support of Hezbollah.

MIDEAST: Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon

As the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah persists, an Israeli strategy of enlarging the conflict seems to be crystallising.

MIDEAST: G8 Condemns Violence, And Does No More

Leaders of the G8 countries agreed to deliver a strong message Monday condemning bloodshed and military actions in the Middle East.

UAE: Anger, Frustration at Lebanon Bombings

Israel's air raids on Lebanon have evoked strong reactions in the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf countries, thousands of whose nationals have had to flee the 'war zone' on short notice.