Word: syria
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...stakes for Hammadi were higher: his life and the lives of his wife and two young children. Last summer, as the final batch of 30,000 additional American troops requisitioned by General David Petraeus was arriving in Iraq, the bus driver and his family left their refuge in Syria to return home. It had been nearly two years since they fled their neighborhood, al-Dora, after al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists killed the wife and son of Hammadi's brother. His friends and fellow refugees in Damascus warned him that Baghdad was still too dangerous, with dozens being killed daily...
Going back to al-Dora was out of the question: it would be six months before al-Qaeda in Iraq would be driven from the neighborhood. But in nearby Saydiyah, Hammadi found a family heading in the opposite direction--to Syria--and offered to live in their house as an unpaid caretaker. He borrowed some money to buy a dilapidated minibus. Ferrying kids to and from school brought him a meager $10 a day, but it was better than living off handouts from cousins in Damascus. His wife Shada, 30, supplemented the family income by baking bread and selling...
...Syria, which dominated Lebanon at the time of Hariri's murder, is considered by many as the main suspect, although Damascus has denied involvement and public evidence remains circumstantial...
...Hariri's assassination sparked outrage in Lebanon and a series of mass protests that forced Syria to disengage from its tiny neighbor two months later. Since then, however, Lebanon has been mired in deep political crisis, in which the Western-backed government and its supporters are at loggerheads with a pro-Syrian opposition. The United States and its Arab allies, including regional giants Saudi Arabia and Egypt, blame Syria for the deadlock in Lebanon, which has left the country without a president since November. In a snub to Damascus, half the 22 heads of state invited to attend the Arab...
...sensational reports during his six-month tenure that read more like crime thrillers. A draft version of the first report in October 2005 even named four leading Syrian security officials as suspects. Mehlis also advised the Lebanese authorities to detain four top Lebanese generals who were close to Syria. They have been held without charge in a Beirut prison since August...