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

IRAN: There will be oil, and lots of it

Iran is reporting huge new discoveries of oil that contain "billions" of barrels of reserves, state radio quoted the managing director of the country's National Oil Co. as saying today. 

Seyfollah Jashnsaz said Iran has discovered seven new oil fields in unspecified locations around the country. 

"Billions of barrels of oil will be added to the country's existing oil reserves," he said in comments broadcast on state radio.

According to Jashnsaz, just one of these oil fields has 9 billion barrels of oil. 

"Even if we make calculations based on the minimum 12% recovery rate," he said, "it means that 1 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from this field alone."

He added that further details of the find will be announced by the country's minister of oil in coming days.

QATAR: Snipers, grenades, and volleyball

 

Marines from Camp Pendleton are in the Qatar desert training with the Qatari military in an exercise called Eastern Maverick.

The exercise, involving the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Qatari soldiers, includes sniper training, grenade handling and the use of a Global Positioning System.

"They picked it up very quickly," said Lt. Jesus Mendez.

It's not all work. There was also time for a volleyball game.

"It's a good way to break down the barriers," said Qatari Maj. Adel Ali Al Saadi in an official statement released by the Marines.

— Tony Perry, San Diego

Photo: Marine Lt. Kyle Bibby tutors Qatari soldiers on patrolling. Credit: Marine Corps

QATAR: Libya's Kadafi bashes Saudi king at Doha summit

As usual, Libyan leader raised eyebrows Monday with his incendiary but hilarious remarks at the Arab summit in Doha.

As the Emir of host Qatar welcomed Saudi King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz al Saud, Libyan President Moammar Kadafi interrupted him addressing the Saudi king, saying:

"I seize the opportunity to tell my brother Abdullah, you have been evasive and scared of confrontation for six years. I want to assure you today not to be scared. I am telling you after six years it was proved that lies stand behind you and your grave awaits you. You were created by Britain and protected by the U.S. I consider the personal issue that lasted between you and me is over and I am ready to visit you as well as receive you."

QATAR: Egypt gives Qatar the cold shoulder

One could call it a cold-shoulder war.

With his decision not to show up at the Arab Summit in Doha, Qatar, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak furthered the ongoing mutual hostility between his country and the Persian Gulf kingdom of Qatar.

“There won't be any reconciliation between Qatar and Egypt soon,” wrote Ahmed Moussa, a staunch spokesman of Mubarak’s regime, in today’s issue of the semi-official Al Ahram daily. “Egypt sent a message to the Qataris and reduced the level of representation, which shows that Qatar should revise all its positions toward Egypt.”

It was announced Saturday that Mubarak would not attend the summit. But Egypt will be represented by a delegation headed by the minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Moufid Shehab.

EGYPT: Bashir defies the International Criminal Court again

In a new act of defiance of the International Criminal Court, Sudanese President Omar Bashir arrived in Cairo today, his second visit abroad since his indictment on war crimes and the issuance of an arrest warrant.

Bashir reportedly held talks with his Egyptian counterpart, President  Hosni Mubarak. However, his sudden visit did not last for long; he left after few hours. This is Bashir’s second trip outside Sudan after his visit to Eritrea earlier this week.

The International Criminal Court ordered the arrest of Bashir earlier this month on grounds that he committed war crimes in Darfur province, where his regime is fighting non-Arab rebels.

The ICC has called on nations to arrest Bashir. But a visit to Egypt would not have been too risky for a number of reasons. First, Egypt is a good friend of the Sudanese government. Second, it has vehemently opposed the arrest warrant and tried hard to suspend the court decision. Third, it is not party to the ICC treaty. 

DUBAI: Israeli tennis players unwittingly court controversy

Politics and sports make a volatile mix when a game involves Israeli athletes competing in the Middle East in an environment of hostility toward the Jewish state.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates recently denied a star Israeli female tennis player entry to the city-state of Dubai to participate in an international tournament.

The incident was met with a wave of condemnations by journalists, sports associations and politicians in the U.S.

For now, it looks like the oil-rich Arab country might backtrack on its earlier decision to bar Israeli players.

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) told a news conference in New York that the UAE would grant male doubles player Andy Ram a visa to take part in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships next week.

Organizers of the tournament argued that the presence of an Israeli player would anger local crowds and create an unacceptable security situation.

Anti-Israeli sentiment has been exacerbated throughout the Arab world after the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which ended last month.

For weeks, Arab TV viewers were exposed to daily footage of Israeli jets causing havoc in Palestinian towns and of children agonizing in hospital beds. 

KUWAIT: Arab rift over Gaza hard to heal

Arab divisions, which have hardened since the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, resurfaced at the Kuwait summit.

Arab governments failed today to develop a common position over the situation in Gaza, but hopes for reconciliation arose after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia criticized Arab divisions and called for unity. “We have transcended the phase of differences and opened the door for Arab fraternity and unity to every Arab.” 

Shortly after, Egyptian, Saudi, Qatari and Syrian leaders sat for lunch together, which some media celebrated as a sign of a possible rapprochement  between the U.S. allies who refuse to throw their full support behind Hamas, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one hand, and Iranian allies in the region,  namely Syria, on the other.

EGYPT: Biting criticism of Doha summit

The Egyptian state-owned media have pursued their ruthless campaign against Qatar, which hosted an Arab summit Friday despite the boycott of many Arab countries.

On Saturday, the semi-official press dismissed the Qatar-sponsored summit as "opportunistic" and "a failure." The attendance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elicited further criticism. The front page of Akhbar El-Youm newspaper shrugged off the summit as "Persian" rather than "Arab."

Since Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza Strip, Qatar has been calling for an extraordinary Arab summit to hammer out a united Arab position on the conflict. In the meantime, Qatar-financed news channel Al Jazeera spearheaded a campaign criticizing Egypt for declining to throw its full support behind Hamas and open its borders fully to Gazans. 

Eventually, Egypt and its partner Saudi Arabia decided not to attend.

The conflict exposed the rift between U.S. allies in the region, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and U.S. opponents, led by Syria, Iran and Islamist groups that seek to consolidate an alliance to counter the Israeli power.

QATAR: Public kissing lands married couple in hot water

The couple was first rebuked by authorities in Qatar for kissing in public along the beach. So the two Lebanese expats argued that they were married and were doing nothing wrong.

But the plea, ironically, put them in even more trouble, as their union was judged unlawful by a court in this conservative Muslim Persian Gulf country.

The couple, who fled Qatar before the verdict was announced, was sentenced in absentia to a year of prison for having an illicit sexual relationship, according to recent media reports. 

The court argued that their marriage could not be recognized in Qatar because it was an interfaith union between a Muslim woman and a Christian man. 

The Lebanese woman, 24, and her husband, 27, were married under civil law in Cyprus, said a report in the English-language Qatari daily, Gulf Times.