Tests prove held man is top Saudi militant linked with Iran embassy attack in Beirut

Source: The National (Read full story)

DNA tests yesterday showed that the man detained in Beirut and suspected in the Iran embassy bombing is the Saudi commander of an Al Qaeda-linked group.  The tests confirmed that the detained man is Majid Al Majid, the commander of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the army said yesterday.  The group had claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including the November 19 twin bombings at the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens.  Al Majid is being held in a military hospital because “he is in poor health”, a medical official said.

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2 months given to legalize status

Source: Arab News (Read full story)

In a major relief to undocumented expats, authorities have given a two-month grace period for thousands of expatriates who could not correct their legal status during the seven-month amnesty period, to complete the rectification procedures at the Passport Department (Jawazat).  “Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Naif has ordered the department to complete correction procedures of expatriates whose papers were being processed by the Labor Ministry during the amnesty, before March 1,” said Maj. Gen. Suleiman Al-Yahya, director general of the Passport Department.  The minister issued the order in view of the various circumstances under which many expatriates could not complete their residency correction procedures during the amnesty that ended on Nov. 3.

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Clashes kill 62 Qaeda militants in Iraq

Source: The Peninsula (Read full story)

Iraqi security forces and allied tribesmen killed 62 Al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Ramadi area west of Baghdad on Friday, a senior leader of the Sahwa militia told AFP.  Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha said 16 members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group were killed in Khaldiyah, east of Ramadi, while 46 more died in the city itself.  ISIL militants took control of areas of both Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and Fallujah, another city farther east, during days of fighting that broke out after security forces demolished the country’s main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp.

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