al-Quds al-Arabi (London): Riyadh Announces Arrest of 701 Islamists Plotting Attacks in Kingdom – The Saudi Interior Ministry announced Wednesday it has arrested in the past few months 701 Islamists of different nationalities, including Africans and Asians, plotting to attack vital installations in the kingdom. The ministry said in a statement that 520 people were still in detention on suspicion of planning to particularly target oil installations in the world's largest oil producing country.

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat (London; Saudi Arabia): Paris: Syrian Signs to Revoke its Alliance with Iran – A top French Foreign Ministry official told a small group of Arab journalists in Paris there were five "Syrian signs" that its strategic alliance with Iran "might change" and could reconsider its relations with Tehran. The source said France believes that Syria has strategic and political alternatives that would distance itself from Iran, become closer to the West and negotiate peace with Israel.

As-Safir (Lebanon): IAEA Satisfied with Damascus' Cooperation – Chief inspector in the International Atomic Energy Agency, Olli Heinonen, said in Vienna he was satisfied with Syria's cooperation with the agency's investigation, adding that the inspections carried out this week were a "good start" in probing Washington's accusation that Damascus was building a secret nuclear reactor. Syria, which denies it has a secret nuclear program, has not commented or revealed information on the inspectors' visit.

Al-Ahram (Egypt): Israel Postpones Opening 3 Crossings with Gaza – Israel decided to delay indefinitely the opening of three border crossings with the Gaza Strip that were due to open yesterday morning, in response to Palestinian rocket fire at southern Israel. The ousted [Hamas] government in Gaza condemned the decision. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice invited the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams to visit Washington next week.

Al-Rayah (Qatar): Olmert Succeeds in Keeping Government Coalition – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, involved in a corruption case, managed to save his coalition government at the last moment after striking a deal with his partners in the Labor Party, who did not vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset (parliament). The crisis was defused by an agreement between Olmert's Kadima Party and Labor, headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, just hours before a vote to dissolve parliament. The deal entails Olmert holding a Kadima party election by September.