MIDDLE EAST: Daily headlines from Gaza, Israel, Iran in your mailbox

The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily e-mail newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East and the Muslim world.

It includes stories from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as links to articles about the frictions and encounters between Islam and the West in the United States and Europe.

The newsletter also includes links to the latest Times editorials and opinion pieces about the Middle East, Islam and national security.

You can subscribe by logging in or registering at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

— Los Angeles Times staff

SAUDI ARABIA: Stopping militant passions

Why do young Saudi men keep popping up to do bad things in dangerous places?

Saudi militants are instigating terror and death from Yemen to Europe and from Iraq to Pakistan. The Saudi government has been attempting to calm jihadist passions by enrolling extremists in reform schools and silencing radical preachers. There has been progress, but the kingdom’s ultra-conservative brand of Wahhabi Islam keeps churning out those with masked faces and crisscrossed bandoliers.

Tariq Alhomayed, editor of the English-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat, explored the problem Saudi Arabia and the Arab world face in an opinion piece headlined: "Saudi Youth and Terrorism: When Will It End?"

“The ideological war in Saudi Arabia [against extremism] continues to be fought but below the expected level, even though the Saudi media is fiercely in opposition to extremism and the extremists, and there is a social aversion to Al Qaeda, the takfiris, and those who support them,” writes Alhomayed. “But despite this we continue to witness the destruction of our youth.”

He adds: “We should blame ourselves.”

Read the rest of the story here.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: The aftermath of a suicide bombing in Baghdad. Credit: Reuters

IRAQ: Flowers in Baghdad

Iraqis stopped to smell the roses this week as they visited the first  Baghdad flower festival since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.  The exhibit at  Zawra Park in the center of Baghdad was another sign of people’s wish for normalcy after years of bloodshed.

The exhibition was advertised with the slogan “Baghdad, Flowers and Peace” and had Arab and foreign companies displaying their products.

IRAQ: Memories of the 2003 fall of Baghdad

By Usama Redha in Baghdad

My recollections of the beginnings of the Iraq war in 2003 and how life has changed since then:

MARCH 2003

I had lost all hopes of changing my life, getting a real job or at least leaving Iraq because I was not a Baathist. I used to stay awake until 3 or 4 am listening to the radio reports and news about the possibility of toppling Saddam. The regime jammed the radio stations and the broadcasts often faded out amid static and hissing.

I had many officers’ friends. We used to talk about the situation. It was the favorite question for Iraqis: Will Bush strike or not? Was he serious? Day after day the situation was escalating, people were preparing for a long war. They were buying plastic jugs to store water, dates, fuel, and all the necessary things to avoid leaving their homes. They dug wells behind their houses, but the ground water was considered a carrier for typhoid, cholera, and amoebic dysentery.

IRAQ: Bomb hits Baghdad, kills at least 18

A car bomb killed at least 18 people and injured 40 today in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. It was the second major blast in the capital in a week and a reminder of the fragile state of security as American troops prepare to leave Iraq's cities.

The latest attack occurred in the northeastern neighborhood of Shaab, a mainly Shiite district once controlled by militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr. Like most of the capital, in recent months the neighborhood has seen a sharp drop in violence. Police said today's blast occurred shortly after midday in a busy area near a bus terminal and small market. Among the dead were children, according to initial reports.

On Monday, a bomb in western Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district killed at least nine people, and another blast that day killed 18 people north of Baghdad in Diyala province.

U.S. military officials say violence is at its lowest level across Iraq in more than five years, but rarely does a day go by without at least one report of a bombing or assassination somewhere in the country. Under a U.S. plan to reduce the number of American forces in Iraq, American troops are to withdraw from bases in cities and towns by the end of this summer. President Obama has said that by August 2010 all combat troops will be gone from Iraq, leaving 35,000 to 50,000 forces to serve as advisors and trainers to Iraqi security forces.

—  Times staff writers

IRAQ: Homeless in Baghdad

It's bad enough to be homeless. It's worse to be homeless in a war-torn city such as Baghdad. But to be homeless and without even a country to claim you as a citizen? That is the apparent plight of a family living outside a five-star hotel in the Iraqi capital. As we wrote in today's story, Allia Abbis Ali Kassem Tibiti and her parents claim to be from Tibet and moved into their spot because the Chinese Embassy is inside the hotel across the street. They're hoping their presence will force the Chinese to grant them citizenship documents and let them leave Iraq.

IRAQ: Weight-loss surgery works for one Iraqi

Last year, we told the story of Haider Kareem Said, a young Iraqi man whose weight had ballooned to more than 495 pounds, attached precariously to his 5-foot-4 frame. Said was desperate to lose the extra pounds, but like many people, he had failed repeatedly at diets.

Years spent virtually locked in his house because of Baghdad's sectarian war only made matters worse. He spent much of his time sitting in front of the TV eating too much. In August, Said took what some would consider a desperate measure: He had weight-loss surgery. Said had a band surgically wrapped around his stomach by the one Baghdad surgeon who performs the operation, forcing him to eat a fraction of what he had been consuming.

Six months later, we visited Said at his home in eastern Baghdad to see how he's doing.

IRAQ: Baghdad's election-poster problems

Baghdad's concrete blast walls make the perfect blank canvas for election posters, though candidates and their supporters have apparently started ripping down posters from the competition.

Judge Qasim Hasan Abodi, head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission, said several candidates and political parties have been warned about defacing posters -- as well as putting them in  areas off-limits for posters, including government buildings and security checkpoints.

IRAQ: U.S. Embassy dedicated

The United States formally dedicated its new $592-million embassy in Iraq on Monday, the largest and most expensive American embassy in the world.

Its scale, according to the dedication ceremony program, "reflects the importance of the U.S.-Iraqi bilateral relationship."

If superlatives were the order of the day, the ceremony reflected it. Invited guests filtered through extra tight security, walked down yards and yards of red carpet, and watched as white-gloved Marines raised a giant American flag up a massive flagpole that stretched higher than the buildings in the Embassy compound. There was even a gigantic sheet cake decorated like an American flag as big as the table it sat on.

IRAQ: Islamic New Year in Baghdad

Monday marked the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and the start of the most significant religious festival for Shiite Muslims.

In Khadamiya, a Shiite neighborhood, vendors began setting up small stands to peddle holiday goods, including drums, flags and cymbals to be used during the procession of Shiite pilgrims traveling to the shrines of the Twelve Imams, who are believed to be the descendants of the prophet Muhammad. In Baghdad, pilgrims pay their respects at the shrine of Khadim, who is considered the Seventh Imam. The Ninth Imam is also honored at this shrine.

"I opened this stall two days ago because this is the beginning of the season," said Mohammed Heider al-Ghaith, 19. "It is different than the last years. It used to be that our market flourished on the sixth or seventh day, but now it started early and business is very good thanks to the security situation achieved by our government."