BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed five U.S. Marines during combat operations in western Iraq, and the bodies of 21 Iraqis were found scattered in separate locations near a town close to the Syrian border considered an insurgent hotbed, officials and witnesses said Friday. The Marines were killed Thursday while conducting combat operations near the town of Haqlaniyah, 90 miles north of Baghdad, in volatile Anbar province, the military said in a statement

Israeli security forces in Jerusalem are on high alert, fearing more violent clashes between Palestinians and Jewish visitors to one of the city's most disputed holy sites.

Israeli police stormed the al Aqsa mosque compound after Palestinians began throwing stones at Jewish visitors to the site.

Our Middle East correspondent, Mark Willacy, says security forces fired stun grenades to disperse the Palestinians, who were enraged by a Jewish group who were touring the al Aqsa mosque compound under police escort.

The compound is known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, while Jews say it is the site of their first and second temples.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, blames Israel for the clashes, saying it is a provocation to allow Jewish visitors into the compound.

Some Israeli security chiefs fear that Jewish extremists may try to attack the two mosques which stand on the site.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Pro-Syrian Shiite political parties swept parliamentary elections along Lebanon's southern border with Israel, the government said Monday. The militant group Hezbollah and its allies have won all 23 seats in south Lebanon, the Interior Minister said.
Hezbollah hopes Sunday's victory will prove its strength and send a message of defiance to the United States amid international pressure on the group to disarm. Minister Hassan Sabei said Hezbollah and the allied Shiite party Amal won all 17 contested seats by a wide margin. The ticket had already been declared the winner of six other seats in the south where there were no challengers. Hezbollah increased its legislators in south Lebanon from four to five. Hezbollah also won a seat in Beirut in the first round of Lebanon's staggered elections, which began on May 29.
The parliamentary elections which run through June 19, are the first national polls to be conducted since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April.