The Arab League today overwhelmingly approved sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly eight-month crackdown on dissent, an unprecedented move by the League against an Arab state.

Syria saw a wave of violence and arrests today as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Damascus to address issues including caring for the wounded and access to detainees during the government’s crackdown on a five-month-old uprising.

Peace with Syria requires an Israeli commitment to surrender the strategic Golan Heights and cannot be achieved through secret negotiations, a Syrian state newspaper said today, a day after an Israeli newspaper reported that envoys of the two countries had agreed a framework for peace during secret talks.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to Rafik Hariri on the first anniversary of the former premier’s assassination today, waving flags and shouting anti-Syrian slogans in a show of strength aimed at reviving the “people power” spirit that helped break Damascus’ domination.

Muslim rage over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed spilled out of Syria today into neighbouring Lebanon where thousands of protesters – undaunted by police tear gas and water cannons – torched the Danish mission and ransacked a Christian neighbourhood.

LEBANON mourned assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri yesterday as opposition leaders bluntly implicated Syria in an attack that Lebanese authorities said might have been a suicide bombing.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell today turned aside the idea of immediate US support for an Arab-backed UN resolution on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction – a proposal obviously aimed at Israel.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is planning to visit the Middle East soon as part of efforts to restart the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

IRAQ yesterday said the United States was bent on interfering in newly-resumed UN weapons inspections to create a pretext for unleashing a new Gulf War.

An Iraqi newspaper today condemned US President George Bush as 'the Hitler of Washington' and urged the UN Security Council to oppose US moves for a tough new resolution on Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein today challenged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to prove Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction, his spokesman saying it was ready to receive ‘‘right now’’ any British team in the country.

Iraq has attacked the UK for its close partnership with the US in the attacks on the Taliban.

Syria has warned that if Israel elects hardliner Ariel Sharon it will herald "a new ominous era" which threatens the Middle East peace process.