* Iranian President Ahmadinejad arrives in Damascus for talks with Assad Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Syria on Thursday for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

* ‘Syria transferring arms to Lebanon’ The United States accused Syria and Iran on Wednesday of playing a negative role in Lebanon.

* US ‘committed to lead’ Mideast peace – Rice US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today Washington remained committed to lead the Middle East peace process.

* Senior IDF officer: Israel on collision course with Hamas Claiming that Hamas has jumped light years since Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, a high-ranking IDF officer said that there was currently a limited window of opportunity for Israel.

* Analysis: the herculean task ahead for Blair Tony Blair is unlikely to get much of a taste of the herculean task ahead of him when he meets the Middle East Quartet today.

* The war’s timing was ‘lucky’ for Israel If the Second Lebanon War would have broken out in three or four years time, Hizbullah might have acquired weapons of mass destruction.

* A church’s assertive shift toward tradition The leader of 1.1 billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI, is completing a significant theological shift of the Roman Catholic church.

* Analysis: Turkish army on Iraqi border is just ‘saber-rattling’ Recent statements by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari concerning a buildup of Turkish troops along the country’s border have heightened international fears.

* IDF: Hamas is smuggling high-tech arms into Gaza A senior Israel Defense Forces officer said Thursday that in the past two years Hamas has made a significant leap in the level of sophistication of the arms it is smuggling into Gaza.

* Battles continue at Lebanon camp The Lebanese army has continued shelling Islamist militants cornered in a Palestinian refugee camp.