Syria Today: The Spillover into Lebanon

Regime Says It Will Join International "Peace Conference"

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said that the regime has agreed "in principle to participate in the international conference which is supposed to be convened in Geneva" in June: "We think...that the international conference represents a good opportunity for a political solution to the crisis in Syria."

Muallem, during a sudden visit to Iraq, criticised foreign actors supporting the insurgency: "The regional countries that conspire against Syria are the same that support terrorism in Iraq."

Russian officials said earlier in the week that the Assad regime had agreed to take part in the conference. However, the opposition Syrian National Coalition has said that it wants guarantees that President Assad will step down during a transitional government.

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Middle East Today: Lebanon --- Two Rockets Hit Near Beirut

Iraq: At Least 11 Killed in Attacks

Gunmen and other attackers killed at least eleven people and wounded more than two dozen in attacks on Sunday.

In Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, gunmen in a speeding car killed three civilians and wounded another.

In the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb went off at a house early in the morning while a joint army-police unit was conducting door-to-door searches. The blast killed three policemen and one soldier. Twenty people, including four civilians, were wounded.

Attackers gunned down a policeman in his car in in central Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

In the western province of Anbar, three soldiers were killed and five wounded in two separate attacks by roadside bombs.

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