Beirut - A senior Hezbollah commander was shot dead outside his home in Lebanon, the Middle East tinderbox that is home base to Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian terrorist group backing the Syrian government that country’s civil war.

Syrian troops have managed to capture the strategic village of Qara, after three days of heavy fighting with rebels over the town.

Beirut - Two bomb blasts near Beirut’s Iranian embassy killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100. The death toll is expected to rise, according to Lebanese officials.

Amnesty International is urging global support to help Jordan and other countries welcoming people fleeing the civil war in Syria end border restrictions, so that these people may find peaceful, safe homes.

Damascus - The World Health Organization has recorded the first suspected outbreak of polio in Syria in 14 years, renewing panic at the collapse of health care as a result of the country's civil war.

Coquimbo - The “Mohammed VI Center for the Dialogue of Civilizations” is a religious and cultural center located in the city of Coquimbo, Chile. The Mosque has a 40-metre tall minaret which is a scale replica of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco.

The U.S. State Department on Friday has ordered all non-essential U.S. embassy staff members to leave Lebanon in fears of violence.

Beirut - The European Union has decided to put the military wing of the Lebanese Hezbollah on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations, according to reports.

A major car bombing hit the southern suburbs of Beirut today, injuring over 50 people in the area. The southern area that was bombed is known to be a stronghold for the Lebanese group Hezbollah, who may have been the most likely target.

Sidon - The Lebanese army reports that armed supporters of radical Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir killed a total of 10 Lebanese soldiers and injured 35 in an attack at a checkpoint in a village just east of the town of Sidon on June 23.

Clashes continued for the second day between the Lebanese army, and gunmen belonging to Salafist preacher Ahmed al Assir.

At least ten Lebanese soldiers were killed in the southern area of Abra, located just east of the city of Sidon. The clashes took place when armed supporters of a cleric started attacking military checkpoints.

A newly-released United Nations report details the abuse of children, including torture, by Israeli police and military forces.

Protests have broke out in the Lebanese capital of Beirut in response to plans to build a parking garage on the site of a public park.

12 rockets have been fired into Lebanon's border town Hermel, where one person has been killed, and several others have been wounded.

Austria has begun to withdraw its soldiers from Golan Heights, where they have been stationed on the UN buffer zone between Israel and Syria, for four decades.

Out of 162 countries in the global peace ranking, Lebanon ranked 142, making it one of the least peaceful countries in the world.

A Syrian helicopter has fired three missiles which struck a Lebanese border town currently in revolt against the Assad regime. Several people were wounded.

General Salim Idriss, a leading commander in the Free Syrian Army, has threatened to start taking military action in neighbouring Lebanon.

Syrian soldiers along with Hezbollah militants from Lebanon were finally able to capture the town of Qusair after over two weeks of heavy fighting over the town.