Arab press unease at bombings

The suicide bombing at the Italian military police HQ in Nasiriya and the aftermath of the attack on the housing complex in Riyadh give Thursday's Arab newspapers much to reflect on.

There's also comment on the tense relations between the US and Syria and the ongoing construction of Israel's security fence.

And a Saudi paper launches a sharp attack on Qatar over the pan-Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera.

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The attack in Nasiriya, which killed more than 17 Italian soldiers, came as a blow to Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the war in Iraq... The Iraqi quagmire is becoming more dangerous not only for the USA and its government but for other countries involved in the occupation... al-Qaeda has become the only winner to emerge from the Iraqi invasion... It now finds in anarchic Iraq a secure haven which it could not get in Afghanistan.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi - pan-Arab, London-based

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The path to security and stability is the path to sovereignty and independence in Iraq, which cannot be achieved through providing support of any kind to terrorists or acts of terrorism... Champions of terrorism cannot be champions of patriotism.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat - pan-Arab, Saudi-owned

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Day by day the war operations targeting the occupation forces are becoming stronger and more organised, while the US is increasingly stumbling and getting confused... The main reason behind the prolonged crisis and the suffering of the Iraqis is that the US has insisted on turning its back on all the Iraqi, regional and international calls to consider the role of the UN.

Al-Dustur - Jordan

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The bombings that took place at a residential compound in Riyadh were an inhuman terrorist act that defames Islam and Muslims, despite the pretext and slogans that these terrorists use.

Al-Watan - Saudi Arabia

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Syria does not wish to collide with the US. It believes that an understanding can be reached in any dispute, and dialogue is an ideal solution.

Al-Akhbar - Egypt

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We do not want to undermine the importance of dialogue, as it is a civilised and peaceful means of dealing with contemporary problems. But dialogue with whom and for what reasons?

Al-Ahram - Egypt

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As for the pretext that the racist wall is there to provide Israel with security and prevent so-called Palestinian terrorist attacks, this is merely an excuse to cover up the true reason, which is to strengthen and guarantee the security of illegal Jewish settlements on seized Palestinian lands.

Al-Quds - Palestinian

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It is worth noting that the al-Jazeera TV station, which we tried to leave alone to play around, has now begun a campaign of incitement in the wake of the latest Riyadh bombings. It describes an insignificant number of people as an opposition... It is not in the interests of Qatar to upset the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because it is in the same boat as the rest of the region... We know that Qatar is punching above its weight and it is not, therefore, in its interests to create enemies while it does not possess any weapons, except for the al-Jazeera forum.

Al-Riyadh - Saudi Arabia

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BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 100 languages.