The French government has admitted it has supplied weapons to Libyan rebels fighting Colonel Gaddafi's forces not far from the capital Tripoli.

A leading French newspaper is reporting the arms drops were made without the knowledge of France's NATO allies.Despite media reports that the weapons included rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles, the French military says the supplies only consisted of rifles and ammunition.A spokesman for the French general staff said the air drops in the Nafusa mountains began with humanitarian aid, including food, water and medical supplies.But he said guns...

Several suicide bombers and four gunmen attacked a large hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan's capital late last night.

Afghan police fought the assailants, who had blasted their way into the InterContinental Hotel, with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades for several hours.Local Afghanistan news agency TOLO reported at least 10 people had been killed in the attack, although there was no immediate word from Afghan officials on casualties among the guests or hotel workers. All the suicide bombers either blew themselves up or were killed while two gunmen continued...

Top hotel in Kabul attacked by suicide bombers

Two suicide bombers attacked a major hotel frequented by Westerners in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul late Tuesday, a police source said, and a Reuters witness said gunfire was heard for several minutes after one blast.Gunfire tapered off several minutes after the blast was heard, the Reuters witness said. The police source, who asked not to be identified, had initially said a gunfight was still going on.The police source said a wedding party was...

Ex ETA leader on trial in Spain for murder attempt

former leader of the armed Basque separatist group ETA is on trial for allegedly trying to kill a businessman with a parcel bomb in 2002.Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year term for Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu, who was arrested in France in 2008. The trial started Wednesday at the National Court.Spanish newspapers say Aspiazu was sent to watch the proceedings from a glass chamber after he twice refused to stand when a judge asked him to.Prior to that,...

Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000

Three British men accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to secure the release of two hijacked ships were each jailed for between 10 and 15 years and fined £9,000, Somali authorities said last night.Matthew Brown, a pilot, Andrew Oaks and Alex James, from a Nairobi-based security firm, Salama Fikira, were among six foreigners arrested after landing in two unmarked planes at Mogadishu airport last month. Two Kenyans and an American were also...

SAS hero has been killed by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan

SAS hero has been killed by the Taliban in a firefight in Afghanistan, The Sun can reveal.The elite "Who Dares Wins" fighter was one of two soldiers killed on Thursday.In a bid to protect his secret identity, the MoD yesterday announced the fallen hero was a member of the Parachute Regiment.But The Sun understands he was a Special Forces ace.Our source yesterday said: "This lad was a top soldier and a respected member of the SAS."Every unit feels...

As troops gather near Turkish border, the Foreign Office warns it may not be able to help if the violence gets worse

British nationals have been urged to leave Syria immediately due to the ongoing civil unrest as troops backed by tanks mass at a town near the Turkish border.The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said Britons should use commercial flights to leave while they are still available as it would be "highly unlikely" that its embassy in Damascus would be able to help if the situation were to deteriorate further. Evacuation options would also "be limited",...

The U.S. is paying two European mine-clearing groups nearly $1 million to hunt and dispose of loose anti-aircraft missiles that could make their way from Libyan battlefields to terror groups.

The hiring of weapons demolition experts hardly dampens concerns about anti-aircraft missiles still in the hands of the Gadhafi regime's military, which amassed nearly 20,000 of the weapons before the popular uprising started in March.The State Department's hiring of British and Swiss weapons demolition teams in Libya to search for missiles, mines and other deadly munitions was prodded by fears that terrorists could use scavenged man-portable air...

Liberian police have arrested a mercenary commander known as "Bob Marley",

Liberian police have arrested a mercenary commander known as "Bob Marley", accused by the United Nations of ordering executions while fighting for Ivory Coast's ousted leader Laurent Gbagbo, a spokesman said on Tuesday.The arrest is one of the most high-profile since the Ivorian post-election power struggle eased in April with Gbagbo's capture, ending a crisis in the West African state that killed thousands and displaced more than a million people."He...

Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests Friday,

Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests Friday, in the first reported use of air power to quell unrest in Syria's increasingly bloody three-month-old uprising. The use of the aircraft came on a day of nationwide rallies against President Bashar Assad. The helicopters opened fire in a northwestern town after security forces on the ground killed five protesters, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At...

Russia arms depot blasts force mass evacuation

Russian firefighters on Friday battled a blaze raging through an arms depot where tonnes of artillery shells and rockets were stored, as some 28,000 people living nearby were evacuated from their homes.As a result of the night-time blaze at the arms depot near the city of Izhevsk in the Volga region of Udmurtia, 30 people were injured and nine hospitalised including a child, an emergency ministry spokesman told AFP."Nine people were hospitalised,...

Credible sources report that hundreds of Polisario mercenaries are being paid $10,000 each by Gaddafi to fight NATO-led forces and kill Libyan protesters and rebels,

Credible sources report that hundreds of Polisario mercenaries are being paid $10,000 each by Gaddafi to fight NATO-led forces and kill Libyan protesters and rebels,"" Gabriel said. In a column on May 16 in the congressional daily The Hill, Gabriel did not say how many Polisario fighters were working for Gaddafi. The Polisario mercenaries flew into Tripoli in April. ""If the details about mercenaries received by NATO officials are accurate the leadership...

Former members of the Special Air Service are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi

BRITISH former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misratah, advising the rebels and supplying information to NATO.Former members of the Special Air Service are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi, British military sources were quoted as saying in the The Guardian yesterday.They are passing that information to NATO's command...

Spanish banks finance production of Gaddafi’s bombs

As more NATO bombs rain down on Libya, it has come to light that companies from one NATO member state have been supplying banned bombs to Muammar Gaddafi. Several large Spanish banks have reportedly been financing the manufacture of cluster bombs.In just one strike, each cluster bomb can spread up to 2,000 smaller explosives, called “bomblets”, over a wide area. Fired into populated areas, they almost guarantee civilian deaths. This is why 57 countries...

British former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misrata,

British former special forces soldiers working for private security companies are in the Libyan city of Misrata, advising the rebels and supplying information to NATO, the Guardian reported Wednesday.Former members of the Special Air Service (SAS) are among those gathering information about the location and movement of troops loyal to leader Muamma Gaddagi, British military sources told the paper.They are passing that information on to NATO's command...

United Arab Emirates confirmed on Sunday that it had hired a company run by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, to provide “operational, planning and training support” to its military.

United Arab Emirates confirmed on Sunday that it had hired a company run by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, to provide “operational, planning and training support” to its military. But it gave no details of the company’s project to build a foreign mercenary battalion for the Emirati government.Multimedia A written statement from a top Emirati general, issued through the U.A.E.’s official news agency, said that the country...

British boots have been on the ground for months, “mission creep” sucking Britain far deeper into a North African conflic

THE young Western men in peaked caps and sunglasses snapped directing Libyan rebels help explain a mystery.I bet the six SAS and two MI6 agents with guns, explosives and maps captured in March weren’t escorting a diplomat.The smokescreen was erected because, as a Libyan contact suggested to me at the time, they’d landed by helicopter to fight Gaddafi’s forces.British boots have been on the ground for months, “mission creep” sucking Britain far deeper...

BRITAIN’S secret ground war in Libya is revealed

The elite unit is funded by the MoD via a security firm to topple Colonel Gaddafi.David Cameron insists no British boots are on the ground in Libya. But a senior military source said: “They’re representing Britain.”THE UK’s secret ground war in Libya is revealed today in this bombshell...

Street battles raged Thursday between the army and opposition tribesmen in the capital Sanaa

Street battles raged Thursday between the army and opposition tribesmen in the capital Sanaa and dozens of people on both sides were killed and wounded. Elsewhere a thousands-strong force of tribal fighters fought to break through government lines on the northern outskirts of the city.The Defense Ministry issue a statement claiming the army stopped the tribesmen from entering Sanaa, but an army officer who defected from President Ali Abdullah Saleh's...