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PM, defense and foreign ministers reach out to hostile neighbor through UN and international mediators after massive blast at port; president, opposition leader send condolencesIsrael on Tuesday night offered humanitarian aid to Lebanon, after explosions at a Beirut port killed dozens and injured thousands, in a rare show of support for the enemy country.“Israel approached Lebanon through international defense and diplomatic channels to offer the Lebanese government medical humanitarian aid,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a joint statement.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he instructed his National Security Adviser, Meir Ben Shabbat, to discuss with...

Watch video below.....

Massive explosion, mushroom cloud. Footage at the link.

Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut have started to destroy classified material as a security precaution amid anti-American protests in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. A State Department status report obtained Monday by The Associated Press said the Beirut embassy had "reviewed its emergency procedures and is beginning to destroy classified holdings." It also said that local Lebanese employees were sent home early due to protests by the militant Shiite group Hezbollah over an anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S.

Syria will back Hizbullah against IDF' By JPOST.COM STAFF http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull If Israel were to attack Hizbullah in Lebanon, Syria would respond and not sit idly by, the Katari Al Watan newspaper quoted Syrian sources as saying in a report published Wednesday. The sources reportedly added that Damascus considered any threat to Lebanon's security and stability as a threat to Syria's security. The paper reported that Damascus was worriedly taking notice of "Israeli deployment and maneuvers along the northern border," and that Syrian leadership assessed Israel was planning a military operation in Lebanon in May. US officials have notified the Lebanese...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the Lebanese government had declared war on his Shiite militant group by declaring its private telecommunications network an illegal threat to state security. Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hezbollah in a speech that hiked tensions already running high after a long-simmering political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government erupted into sectarian violence. "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them," he said. "Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - An explosion rocked Beirut’s popular waterfront area Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, including a vocal, anti-Syrian lawmaker who was close to slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, security officials said. The explosion, apparently from a bomb-rigged car, killed Walid Eido, his son and two bodyguards, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Six others were also killed and at least 11 were wounded, the officials said. Eido, 65, was an ally of Saad Hariri, the leader of the parliamentary majority and son of Rafik Hariri, who...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora urged the United States on Wednesday to help end Israel's sea and air blockade, and said his country was making "every effort" to secure its borders. "The United States can support us in putting real pressure on Israel to lift the siege," the Western-backed Saniora told reporters. His government has called the blockade a violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire, and has asked the international community to intervene. Lebanon's leading An-Nahar newspaper reported that Saniora had spoken with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to enlist their help.

Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL to see the USS Cole off the coast of Beruit providing protection for 25000 fleeing Americans? I think that'd send a knife-like message to UBL, and those who got so much pr from attacking it. It's in the area, and just did a port call in Greece a week or so ago. I think in the War on Terror it'd be a great reminder of the USS Cole incident and as the world media reported its presence. Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, MSNBC, CBS, NYT....they'd all be compelled to report its signifigance, the attack done on it,...

Hello, Many of you know that FReeper Rebel_yell2 is stuck in his hotel in Beruit after the airstrikes. A request for any help or ideas on his situation was posted here. Just wanted to start a thread specifically for jokes, chit-chat, etc. to help lift his spirits, and to keep the original thread more open in case he needs to reach anyone.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 8 - Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian protesters poured into a central Beirut square this afternoon, in answer to a call by the militant Hezbollah group for a demonstration to counter weeks of huge rallies demanding that Syrian forces leave Lebanon. Thousands in the huge crowds waved Lebanese flags, as called for by the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. Others held up banners proclaiming in English, "Thanks to Syria" and "No to Foreign Interference," as well as pictures of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, his ally, President Émile Lahoud of Lebanon, and Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A bomb placed under the driver's seat of a car exploded Monday, killing Jihad Jibril, the son of radical Palestinian guerrilla leader Ahmed Jibril and a senior military chief of a group the United States lists as terrorist. The Syrian-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command blamed Israel and vowed to retaliate. The PLO faction, which has long opposed the Israel-Palestinian peace process and is on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations, has focused its efforts on attacking Israel from bases in Lebanon in recent years. Jihad Jibril, 38, who commanded the...

ISRAEL: Sharon willing to go to Arab summit-Israeli source.   13:20 ET Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2002. JERUSALEM, March 23 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suggested he should go to an Arab summit in Beirut next week to present Israel's position on a Saudi peace initiative, a senior Israeli political source said on Saturday.The source told Reuters Sharon made the suggestion during talks with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney early this week. It is unlikely that Sharon would be a welcome visitor to the Lebanese capital, where he is reviled for commanding Israel's 1982...

Tall Building Collapses in Beirut, Heavy Casualties Feared The Associated Press Published: Mar 23, 2002 BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A seven-story building collapsed in Beirut on Saturday, with first reports indicating scores of casualties, security officials said. The building, located in Mazraa district - a traditionally Muslim sector of Beirut - "turned into a pile of rubble," crushing nearby cars, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The building was a school undergoing a renovation, and the victims were workers and passers-by along the busy Corniche el-Mazraa, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Lebanese television showed rescue workers removing...