Iraq is on the brink of total disintegration and could drag its neighbors into a regional war, a leading think-tank said, after the Pentagon confirmed violence was at an all-time high.
The warning from the International Crisis Group came amid lawless chaos in Baghdad, where police were hunting for 16 kidnapped aid workers and a former minister who escaped from jail, allegedly with the help of US hired guns.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair went to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to tap members of the ruling family for ideas to revive an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The stop is the final leg of a Middle East tour that began in Turkey and went to Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Attacks in Iraq on U.S.-led forces, local security personnel and civilians have surged 22 percent to record levels, the Pentagon said in its latest quarterly report on Iraq published on Monday.
The report, published as the United States seeks a new strategy in Iraq, identified the Mehdi Army of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr as the group most damaging to Iraqi security and the biggest catalyst for sectarian violence.
The head of a U.N. inquiry into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri said on Monday he had made progress in analyzing the crime scene in Beirut and investigating suspects.
But Serge Brammertz told the U.N. Security Council and reporters that about 20 countries out of 60 had not responded to his call for assistance or said their national legislation barred cooperation.
Fatah and Hamas members abducted by gunmen were freed late on Monday as part of deal between the two side, Fatah and Hamas sources said.
They said eight Fatah activists and four Hamas members, including senior official Emad Deeb, had been released and handed over to third party mediators.
Bitterly divided on Iraq, lawmakers in both parties are eagerly awaiting recommendations from an advisory group led by Republican and Bush family friend James A. Baker III and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton.
But even if the bipartisan Iraq Study Group is able to forge a consensus on how to deal with Iraq — a prospect that remains unclear — the panel is unlikely to offer a solution so groundbreaking it will stave off a brewing partisan feud.
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