A Spanish U.N. peacekeeper asks photographers to stop taking pictures at the scene of an explosion targeting U.N. troops, near the village of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon on June 24, 2007. Five Spanish U.N. peacekeepers were killed and three others wounded in the attack. /AP
A contingent of 350 Korean soldiers will be stationed in the southern Lebanese region of Bourges on a peacekeeping mission as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Bourges is a hilly area about 505 m above the plain surrounded by orange trees.
On Wednesday, with a day left before the arrival of an advance team of about 60 Korean soldiers, the month-long construction of a garrison was in its final stage. A concrete-reinforced protective wall, 30 m wide and 10 m tall, was erected at the entrance of the garrison in preparation for a suicide attack using an explosive-laden vehicle. A sand bulwark was built nearby. An armored vehicle and eight soldiers at a nearby Italian military garrison pointed their guns at this reporter from above the protective wall. Already dozens of beige container barracks stood inside the garrison. Some 20 local workers were operating an excavator and bulldozer to dig a drainage ditch.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Iran as “increasingly dangerous” and refused to rule out US military action if Tehran refuses to suspend its nuclear program.
But Rice said that President George W. Bush is backing diplomatic efforts aimed at convincing the Islamic republic to freeze nuclear activities that Washington fears are a drive to build an atomic bomb.
“This is a relationship that is, I think, increasingly difficult in a country that is increasingly dangerous,” the chief US diplomat told CNBC television.
The assessment was the latest by government-financed Russian military analysts that warned of a U.S. war against Iran. Over the last two weeks, some analysts have raised the prospect of a U.S. air strike over the next few weeks.
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The US state department’s Dennis Ross, who played point man in the Middle East for the Clinton administration, believes war could erupt between Israel and Syria this summer.
Ross, who now heads up the Jewish People Policy Planning Insitutue, told Ynetnews Friday “there is a risk of war” between the two countries.
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