user: Problem: Three African Union soldiers and a civilian contractor were killed when al-Shabab militants raided a Somali military base which also houses the British Embassy. The gunmen, some disguised in Somali National Army uniforms, stormed the African Union (AU) camp near Mogadishu Airport, opening fire during the Christmas Day lunch hour. Five of the extremists were also killed during the raid, around a mile from the British Embassy, while four were captured, officials said. Four al-Shabab militants were captured during the raid on an African Union military compound which also houses the British Embassy. The gunmen, some disguised in Somali National Army uniforms, stormed the African Union (AU) camp near Mogadishu airport, opening fire during the Christmas Day lunch hour. The AU compound also houses the British and Italian embassies as well as United Nations offices. Terrorist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was targeting a Christmas party at the compound, which also houses the Italian embassy and United Nations offices. The men entered the AU base near Mogadishu's airport, spokesman Colonel Ali Aden Houmed said. 'Our forces shot dead three of them, two detonated themselves near a fuel depot,' he added. 'An investigation is under way on how they entered the base.' In an audio posting on the militants' website, al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of the group's leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in a US air strike this year. In the attack, Rage claimed the gunmen killed 14 AU soldiers and four foreigners, but the group often exaggerates the number of people it kills. The British Embassy in Mogadishu, which opened last year, was unaffected by the attack. Three African Union soldiers and a civilian contractor were killed in the attack by al-Shabab terrorists (file picture) Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of the group's leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in a US air strike (file picture) A spokesman for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said: 'For the British Embassy, the first thing to do was to check everyone was safe and accounted for, which they were. 'The attack took place 1.6km (one mile) from the Embassy. Staff are on high alert for this kind of attack.' Ali Abdullahi, who lives near the airport, said all roads leading to the airport were closed off following the shoot-out and journalists were also kept away. AU troops are bolstering Somalia's weak government against an uprising from the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group. A suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a UN convoy near Mogadishu's airport earlier this month, killing three people just moments after Somalia's president entered the airport. No UN staff were injured. Al-Shabab controlled much of Mogadishu from 2007 to 2011, but were pushed out of Somalia's capital city by AU forces.

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Answer: Al-Shabab militants raided an African Union base near Mogadishu Airport. The military compound also houses the British Embassy in Somalia. Gunmen killed three soldiers and a civilian contractor in the attack. Five extremists were killed but four were captured by AU soldiers. British Embassy based a mile from the attack and no staff were hurt.
Text: On my last day on a visit to Beirut, Lebanon, I participated in a long conversation with a Hamas political leader. I agreed that the conversation would be off the record, but without direct quotation, I can summarize what was said. The peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is dead, in the view of Hamas. Likewise, economic growth in the West Bank is illusory, a product only of Western aid. The Palestinians are divided, and the international community has lost interest in us. That might sound like a negative assessment. Yet my Hamas interlocutor insisted that today's desperate outlook would soon yield to tomorrow's glorious victory. With the peace process dead, the Palestinian Authority would break apart. West Bank Palestinians would realign themselves with Hamas. Those who refused would be eliminated as collaborators. The Hamas man did tacitly acknowledge that Palestinian attacks on Israel have failed in the past. He declined to agree that the 2000-2003 intifada was a failure or that Hamas had been defeated in the December 2008 Gaza war. But he did not argue that these wars were successes either. But next time, things would be different, the "resistance" would be global: Hamas, he suggested, would call Muslims around the world to join the fight against Israel, just as Muslims worldwide joined together in Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviet Union. This next fight -- he said -- would force Israel to rethink its continued existence. He said that just as his generation was more radical than his father's, so the next generation would be more radical than his own. The Hamas man asked with sinister humor: "If you Americans care so much about the Israelis, why don't you give them California?" The tone was defiant, belligerent, confident. Yet through it all, I also heard a despairing undertone. The Hamas man lamented that nobody understands Hamas. Those who try to talk to them -- like U.S. president Jimmy Carter -- end up paying a heavy political price. He veered from boasting that they would never negotiate with the Israelis to complaining that Israel had ignored their offer of a truce in 2004. He claimed the flotilla organizers who tried to bring aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza had achieved a great success -- then later complained that nothing had changed, that Israel controlled the flow of goods into Gaza as tightly as ever. The plan seemed to be: for Hamas and the radical Palestinians to suffer defeat after defeat until finally Israel collapsed. That does not sound like a very good plan. Earlier on the trip, another Hamas representative had explained this point of view very succinctly: "To emerge from the fight with your steadfastness undiminished: that is victory." But actually ... no it's not victory. Fighting and losing, followed by more fighting and more losing is a formula for prolonging the pain of defeat. Hamas promises its supporters a far-off day of apocalyptic retribution and redemption. If my source is right, there will be another outburst of violence soon. Almost certainly it will end the way the previous rounds of violence have ended. Israel will be left standing more strong and secure and prosperous than ever - and its attackers will be more frozen in their refusal to do the thing most necessary to end this conflict: recognize Israel, reject war, and make the best deal they can get based on today's realities. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.
Highlights:

assistant: David Frum: Hamas political leader expects peace process to fail. Frum says Hamas expects next conflict with Israel will attract broader support. Hamas' policy is self-defeating, won't change Mideast reality, says Frum. He says Palestinians should recognize Israel, make best deal they can.