MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) – The Syrian people no longer need the intervention of international forces as rebels push towards the heart of the capital of Damascus to topple President Bashar al-Assad, the new leader of Syria’s opposition told Reuters.

Mouaz al-Khatib, the scion of a Damascene Muslim religious dynasty, said the opposition would consider proposals from Assad to surrender power and leave the country, but would not give any assurances until it saw a firm proposal.

MARRAKECH, Morocco, Dec 12 (Reuters) – The leader of Syria’s
opposition coalition urged the United States on Wednesday to
review its decision to designate the militant Islamist Jabhat
al-Nusra as a terrorist group, saying religion was a legitimate
motive for Syrian rebels.

“The decision to consider a party that is fighting the
regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed,” Mouaz
Alkhatib told a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Morocco, where
Western and Arab states granted full recognition to the
coalition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) – Major powers are set to give Syria’s opposition full political recognition on Wednesday but not the weapons that rebel fighters need to counter President Bashar al-Assad’s superior firepower as they gain ground across the country.

The “Friends of Syria,” a loose forum of governments opposed to Assad, will meet in the Moroccan city of Marrakech as the rebels intensify their push on Damascus and signs grow that the 20-month uprising may be nearing a tipping point.

Dec 7 (Reuters) – Fifteen years after Israel tried to
assassinate him in Jordan, Islamist leader Khaled Meshaal says
the Jewish state would not risk trying again on his triumphant
return to Palestinian land.

Not only has his Hamas movement which runs Gaza gained
popularity among Palestinians from a recent war with Israel, it
has begun to overcome its pariah status after uprisings brought
like-minded Islamists to power across the Arab world.

DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) – Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state won by his rival Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside Gaza’s latest conflict with Israel as a single, bold strategy that could empower all Palestinians.

Meshaal said the short war which claimed 162 Palestinian lives and five Israelis was concluded on terms set by the Palestinian Islamist movement and ended its isolation, creating a new mood that could lead to reconciliation with Abbas’s Fatah.

DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) – Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state won by his rival Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside Gaza’s latest conflict with Israel as a single, bold strategy that could empower all Palestinians.

Meshaal said the short war which claimed 162 Palestinian lives and five Israelis was concluded on terms set by the Palestinian Islamist movement and ended its isolation, creating a new mood that could lead to reconciliation with Abbas’s Fatah.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Luxury yachts line the glitzy seafront marina of Beirut’s Zaytouneh Bay where owners would sip champagne at sunset before stepping out for dinner – spoilt for choice between going Italian at Signor Sassi or French at Cro Magnon.

Across the street, the Whisky Mist night club at the Intercontinental Phoenicia Hotel would normally be swinging with Beiruti night clubbers. Gulf Arabs would head for the oriental Awtar night club at the Monroe Hotel for a belly dancing show.

BEIRUT, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Luxury yachts line the glitzy
seafront marina of Beirut’s Zaytouneh Bay where owners would sip
champagne at sunset before stepping out for dinner – spoilt for
choice between going Italian at Signor Sassi or French at Cro
Magnon.

Across the street, the Whisky Mist night club at the
Intercontinental Phoenicia Hotel would normally be swinging with
Beiruti night clubbers. Gulf Arabs would head for the oriental
Awtar night club at the Monroe Hotel for a belly dancing show.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Beirut car bomb that killed a top Lebanese security official will probably prove to be the most destabilizing attack in Lebanon since the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

What is less clear – and this is something that instills fear in a society still scarred by its 1975-90 civil war – is whether the attack was a reprisal or the start of a campaign of violence by Damascus and its allies, suspected by many Lebanese of trying to spread Syria’s conflict across its borders.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Beirut car bomb that killed a top Lebanese security official will probably prove to be the most destabilizing attack in Lebanon since the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

What is less clear – and this is something that instills fear in a society still scarred by its 1975-90 civil war – is whether the attack was a reprisal or the start of a campaign of violence by Damascus and its allies, suspected by many Lebanese of trying to spread Syria’s conflict across its borders.