AS-SAFIR (LEBANON)
Army was target of Tripoli blast
An explosion in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Monday killed five people, four of them soldiers, and injured 30 others, most of them Lebanese army troops who were on a military bus on the Tripoli-Beirut highway.
Though some fingers pointed at terrorist organizations, the Islamist forces in the north condemned the attack.
AZ-ZAMAN (LONDON; IRAQ)
Physicians allowed to carry weapons
Iraqi authorities have agreed to allow Iraqi physicians to carry weapons, a move aimed at protecting the skilled professionals, many of whom have left the country after being subjected to harassment, threats and acts of violence.
The government decision came late; hundreds of doctors have been assassinated in Baghdad and Mosul, and thousands of them were forced to emigrate abroad, leaving just 10 percent of Iraqi doctors in their country.
AL-THAWRA (SYRIA)
Initial probe finds links to takfiri
Initial investigations into the terrorist car bombing in Damascus on Sept. 20 showed that the suicide attacker was linked to a takfiri (extremist Sunni Islamist) group, some of whose members were arrested.
Seventeen martyrs were killed, and 14 others were injured in a popular residential area in the blast, carried out in a GMC Suburban sport utility vehicle.
ASH-SHARQ AL-AWSAT (LONDON; SAUDI ARABIA)
‘Cairo deceived us,’ Hamas leader says
A Hamas leader and lawmaker, Younes al-Astal, accused Egypt of deceiving Hamas regarding the truce with Israel, claiming that Cairo “agreed one thing with Israel and informed Hamas of another … Egypt deceive us.”
Egyptian officials denied the accusations, saying that Hamas was just trying to raise the ceiling of its demands before its leaders meet with Cairo’s mediator and top intelligence chief, Gen. Omar Suleiman, on Wednesday.
AL-ANWAR (LEBANON)
Suleiman asks Bush for more assistance
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman held talks with President Bush at the White House in which he thanked his American counterpart for the U.S. assistance given to Lebanon and asked for more aid to the army and internal security forces.
Mr. Bush promised to pursue the issue.
AKHBAR AL-ARAB (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)
Chief says security is under control
Dubai’s deputy police chief, Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, said there are no political crimes in the UAE, and thus no political prisoners. He credited the government’s efforts in guaranteeing a dignified life for both citizens and residents in the country.
He said the general security situation in Dubai was good and no criminal trends pose a danger to society.
OKAZ (SAUDI ARABIA)
Refugee camp blast kills 1, wounds 4
Palestinian sources said one person was killed and four others were wounded by an explosive device in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.
They said the bomb was planted in a parked motorcycle in front of the camp’s mosque.
AL-HAYAT AL-JADEEDA (WEST BANK)
Olmert advocates split neighborhoods
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told settlers in northern Israel that the only way to prevent Palestinian attacks in Jerusalem is by separating the Arab and Jewish neighborhoods in the city.
His remarks came amid rising Israeli fears of Palestinian attacks targeting pedestrians after a man injured 19 people, mostly soldiers, when he slammed his car into a group of people in Jerusalem before being shot dead.
• Compiled by Sana Abdallah of the Middle East Times in Amman, Jordan
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