Libyan war planes today launched airstrikes and troops engaged in heavy ground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli along the country’s Mediterranean coastline.

Muammar Gaddafi loyalists swept into the opposition-held city closest to Tripoli today, tightening security around the regime-held capital. To the east, rebel forces captured a key oil port as the country veered toward civil war.

Muammar Gaddafi loyalists swept into the opposition-held city closest to Tripoli today, tightening security around the regime-held capital. To the east, rebel forces captured a key oil port as the country veered toward civil war.

Bomb blasts hit a pair of commuter buses in a co-ordinated attack that killed three people near Beirut today, on the eve of a massive rally marking the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

The coffin of Pierre Gemayel was passed overhead through the crowd into the church, handed from mourner to mourner, while in the square nearby hundreds of thousands of supporters unleashed their anger, burning pictures of Syria’s president and his allies in Lebanon.

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.

A coalition of Lebanese groups, angered by the recent assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian journalist, called today for the ousting of Lebanon’s pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

A million demonstrators chanting “Freedom, sovereignty, independence” crowded into Beirut’s main square today, the biggest protest yet in the opposition’s duel of street rallies with supporters of the Syrian backed government.

Thousands of flag-waving Lebanese answered an opposition call for a massive street protest in Beirut today.

A senior Lebanese army officer has said 4,000 Syrian soldiers – more than a quarter of those serving in Lebanon just a week ago – are back in Syria, but he said a complete withdrawal is nearly a month away at the earliest.

The withdrawal of Syrian troops to Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley will be completed by the end of March, the presidents of both countries agreed today.

The presidents of Syria and Lebanon opened talks today on Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon, setting in motion the process of implementing Damascus’ decision to bring home its 14,000 troops from the neighbouring country.

President Bashar Assad, responding to weeks of intense pressure, announced today that Syria would move its troops to the Lebanese-Syrian border in a two-step pull-back that he said should satisfy international demands for a complete withdrawal.

Syria remained silent about the downfall of its puppet government in Lebanon today after Prime Minister Omar Karami was brought down by people power dubbed The Cedar Revolution.

Defying a ban on protests, about 10,000 people demonstrated against Syrian interference in Lebanon this morning, shortly before parliament was to debate a motion of confidence in the government.

A BIG explosion rocked central Baghdad last night and a huge cloud of smoke was seen rising from the direction of Martyrs’ Square where the US military maintains a base.

A big explosion rocked central Baghdad tonight and a huge cloud of smoke was seen rising from the direction of Martyrs’ Square, where the American military maintains a base.