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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, MAY 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The election of president in Lebanon is a "top priority" for the country, the Maronite patriarch of Antioch told the U.N. Security Council at the beginning of his visit to the United States. Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir addressed the council Thursday, where he spoke of the various issues facing the nation. He also met with privately with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The cardinal's visit is part of a multi-continent trip he began May 4. His first stops included Qatar and South Africa. His scheduled stops in the United States include New York, Philadelphia, and Houston,...

"They entered and they carried out the plan. But who did they liberate Beirut from?" wondered Mohammed Zaghloul, 41, who roasts nuts for a living... Zaghloul's question is key for Lebanon's future and could have implications for the entire Middle East... Flags of Hezbollah and Amal flutter on the streets in predominantly Sunni areas of Beirut seized by the two Shiite groups in recent fighting. Some pictures of the late prime minister Rafik Hariri, the Sunnis' icon, have been spray-painted over. "It is strife already," said top Sunni leader Saad Hariri, whose Muslim West Beirut residence is guarded by the...

Lebanon is legendarily fractious, and some observers claim Hezbollah, too, will have trouble running the country. That is perhaps why they decline to try: They'll leave to Siniora and others the chores of seeking foreign aid, caring for the non-Shiite population, and so on. But we saw this week what happens when the caretaker government interferes with Hezbollah's preparations against Israel. Iran and its proxies are in the ascendant all across the Middle East. Foolishly, President U.S. George W. Bush still refuses to negotiate with Iran, or with Syria, and that can't help.

What is surely undeniable is the imperative need to defeat Hezbollah, and that America and Britain will either help bring that about -- or will help strengthen it instead through continuing to pursue their lethally misguided strategy of appeasing Syria and Iran.

Want to get a taste of what is happening in the Middle East when Sunnis broke with al-Qaeda, when Shiites broke with Sadr and the Mahdi Army, when Afghans broke with the Taliban. There is nothing more shattering than to have the belief system that underpins your life and soul shattered. There is nothing like learning people you supported and trusted would kill you without any thought to further themselves. What the eiltes in this country cannot fathom is losing everything to heartless killers and thugs you once thought were saviors and an army of angels. If you want to...

Thomas Friedman is one of the few commentators that has a thorough understanding of the political dynamic of the Middle East. Because of our differing political philosophies I frequently disagree with his recommendations, but it’s rare that I take issue with his assessment of what’s really going on. He also has the gift of getting to his point without any unecessary rhetoric, and he’s done so once again on the current situation in the Middle East: For now, Team America is losing on just about every front. How come? The short answer is that Iran is smart and ruthless, America...

Terror Triumphant   By P. David HornikFrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, May 15, 2008 “Hezbollah must know,” Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora said in a speech this weekend, “that the power of weapons will not terrorize us.”Unfortunately his words were directly contradicted when the Lebanese army almost simultaneously announced that it was freezing the two measures by Siniora’s government that had kicked off the crisis—the removal from his post of the Hezbollah-affiliated security chief at Beirut airport and the declaration of Hezbollah’s telecommunications network as illegal. It didn't take much longer for the government to follow through and rescind those two...

Watching the news from Lebanon, it's poignant to read the title of a new memoir by Jordan's former foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, "The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation." The daily headlines tell us that centrist Arabs such as Muasher are becoming an endangered species. The center is under siege in Lebanon and across the Middle East as the region becomes more polarized between Iranian-backed extremists and U.S.-backed forces. Iran's proxies strike at will: seizing control of Beirut neighborhoods in a naked show of defiance; lobbing missiles into Israel from Gaza to disrupt peace talks; creating havoc in southern Iraq...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's government cancelled measures on Wednesday that angered the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and triggered the worst internal conflict since the country's 1975-90 civil war. ADVERTISEMENT The U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a statement after a meeting that it was taking the step in line with a request by the Lebanese army to preserve civil peace and promote an Arab League mediation effort to end Lebanon's 18-month-old political crisis. "The cabinet decided to agree on the suggestion of the army commander ... which includes the cancellation of the two decisions," the statement, read by...

Hizbullah's successful overthrow of the pro-democracy forces in Lebanon this past week was eminently foreseeable. But that doesn't make the violent overthrow of the forces of freedom in that country any less of a tragedy. And the fact that Hizbullah's coup was predictable does not mean that it was inevitable. A great many forces had to turn their backs on Lebanon's democratic forces in order to enable Hizbullah's easy triumph. A great many actors had to turn a blind eye to Hizbullah's Iranian and Syrian-financed rearmament over the past two years. A great many actors had to ignore and so...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Lebanese minister says the Cabinet has reversed measures against Hezbollah militants that triggered the worst violence since the country's 15-year civil war. Hezbollah has demanded the government reverse the decisions last week to sack an airport security chief for alleged ties to the Shiite group and to declare the militants' private telephone network illegal. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the moves amounted to a declaration of war and shortly after, he unleashed his fighters on the streets of Beirut. The clashes left 54 dead. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the Cabinet revoked the decisions "in view...

Lebanon's cabinet is under extremely heavy pressure to cancel the resolutions it took against Hezbollah that triggered fighting during which the Iranian-backed movement briefly occupied a part of Beirut, political sources said. "You can say it's a done deal, but we're waiting for the cabinet meeting," one political source said. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is supported by the United States, was due to hold a cabinet meeting at 11:30 a.m. Rescinding a ban on Hezbollah's illegal communications network and the sacking of Beirut airport's Shiite security chief who collaborated with Hezbollah in spying on the airport runway no. 17...

"Even the Israeli enemy never dared to do to Beirut what Hezbollah has done,” lamented Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's embattled Prime Minister, over the weekend. Yet British bien-pensant opinion - so vocal in its opposition to Israeli actions in Lebanon in 2006 - is strangely silent about the recent outrages. Why? After all, Hezbollah is one of the world's most ruthless clerical fascist organisations - complete with ersatz Nazi salutes and Iranian-style Holocaust denial. When the legitimate, democratic Government of Lebanon dared to challenge it, Hezbollah went on a sectarian rampage, murdering scores of opponents and destroying much of the country's...

AS Hezbollah's terror army dismantles Lebanon, the world whistles "Ain't That a Shame." With its heavily funded proxies marching through an Arab democracy's ruins, Iran has arrived on the Mediterranean, outflanking Israel. Syria's surrogates punish Beirut. Lebanon's crippled government cringes at the whims of Hassan Nasrullah, Hezbollah's strongman. Terror rules. And not one civilized country lifts a finger. This doesn't mean that war will be avoided at the "negligible" cost of Lebanese lives and freedom. It just means that the inevitable showdown with Hezbollah will be a bloodier mess when it finally comes. When will we face reality? Hezbollah can't...

Published: 05.14.08, 17:32 / Israel News Lebanon's US-backed cabinet was on Wednesday expected to cancel two measures it took against Hizbullah and which triggered fighting in which the Iranian-backed movement briefly took over parts of Beirut, political sources said. "You can say it's a done deal, but we're waiting for the cabinet meeting," One political source said. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was due to hold a cabinet meeting at 3:30 pm (GMT). (Reuters)

May 14, 2008 -- AS Hezbollah's terror army dismantles Lebanon, the world whistles "Ain't That a Shame." With its heavily funded proxies marching through an Arab democracy's ruins, Iran has arrived on the Mediterranean, outflanking Israel. Syria's surrogates punish Beirut. Lebanon's crippled government cringes at the whims of Hassan Nasrullah, Hezbollah's strongman. Terror rules. And not one civilized country lifts a finger. This doesn't mean that war will be avoided at the "negligible" cost of Lebanese lives and freedom. It just means that the inevitable showdown with Hezbollah will be a bloodier mess when it finally comes.

RIYADH/BEIRUT, 14 May 2008 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday warned that Iran’s support for Hezbollah’s “coup” in Lebanon would affect Tehran’s relations with Arab and Islamic countries. The Lebanese Army, meanwhile, expanded its troop deployment to several tense areas around the country, hours after it said soldiers would use force if needed to impose order after almost a week of clashes between government supporters and Hezbollah followers. “Of course, for Iran to back the coup that happened in Lebanon and support it will have an impact on its relations with all Arab countries,” Prince Saud said, addressing a...

Sleiman Jaafar's smiling thinly-bearded face beams down from his "martyr's" portrait at the funeral procession inching its way along the narrow street in Qmatiyeh, a small village clinging to a mountainside overlooking Beirut. Handfuls of rice and pink and white rose petals hurled from windows and balconies shower the throng of mourners below. The funeral was a moment to absorb the human cost of the recent deadly clashes between Hizballah and the Lebanese government in which nearly 40 people are thought to have died. But it also generated a mix of seething anger, anxiety and an ominous feeling that more...

BEIRUT, May 12 -- Politicians in Lebanon's Western-backed governing coalition criticized the United States on Monday for not doing enough to counter the opposition Hezbollah movement's recent takeover of West Beirut. At the same time, President Bush, who will visit the Middle East this week, vowed continued support for the Lebanese government and its military, which announced that it would take a greater role in containing violence. Christian, Sunni and Druze politicians -- members of a coalition known as March 14 -- said U.S. statements on the crisis have been too weak and called for more pressure on Hezbollah and...

On Friday, Hezbollah gunmen set fire to the Beirut offices of Future TV, a Lebanese broadcaster. On a purely symbolic level, it was an apt demonstration of where the Party of God stands in relation to the future itself. But that wasn't the worst of what has happened in the past week in Lebanon, where scores of people have been killed in interfactional violence. More ominous was the role of the Lebanese army, avowedly neutral and nominally under civilian control. "An army officer accompanied by members of Hezbollah walked into the station and told us to switch off transmission," an...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Saudi Arabia sent Iran a sharp warning over Lebanon Tuesday, saying Tehran's support for Hezbollah will damage its relations with other Muslim and Arab countries. More soldiers fanned out through Beirut, with orders to use force to restore security to a nation shaken by nearly a week of sectarian clashes. Lebanese buried more of their dead and tried to resume life in a capital dissected by roadblocks. What began as a political struggle 1 1/2 years ago with Shiite ministers bolting from the Cabinet devolved last week into Lebanon's worst fighting since the end of the 1975-1990...

Scary Signals: Obama’s Ideology Hints At Dangerous Policyhttp://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/scary_signals_obamas_ideology.htmlIf people have more money they won’t be terrorists. (Presumably, like people in Pennsylvania, only the lack of jobs makes people in Lebanon cling to guns …Hezb’allah: Mission Accomplished American Thinker Lebanon to the West — and Obama: Wake Up!http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/12842.htmIf you want to know what’s wrong, consider Obama’s May 10 statement on Lebanon. He starts out playing tough, talking about “Hezbollah’s power grab in Beirut … Analysis: Hezbollah guns mightier than penUnited Press International - May 12, 2008By CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) — Lebanon has always been a country that has...

Iranian Papers on the Events in Lebanon: 'In the Power Struggle in the Middle East, There Are Only Two Sides – Iran and the U.S.'; As a Result Of Hizbullah's Victory, 'The U.S.'s Influence in the [Middle East] Region Will Stop, and the Regimes Identified With It Will Be Replaced' Iran's government newspapers have expressed absolute backing for Hizbullah in the current events in Lebanon, standing behind the organization's demand that Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora rescind his decision to dismantle Hizbullah's communications network and fire the security chief at Beirut's international airport. Calling Hizbullah "one of the regional arms...

Beirut, 13 May (AKI) - Syria, is doing its utmost to defend militant Shia group Hezbollah by urging Arab states not to intervene in the recent upsurge of fighting between pro and anti-government forces, according to pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat. The Syrian authorities have used Syrian diplomats to convince Arab delegations not to take part in a mission to Beirut on Wednesday led by Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa, al-Sharq al-Awsat said. Syria, Lebanon's neighbour, has even threatened diplomats from Arab states in a bid to protect Hezbollah, the paper said, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources. The paper said one...

Published: Tuesday, 13 May, 2008 @ 2:00 AM in Beirut (GMT+2) By Debbie Schlussel Beirut- Although Hezbollah has retreated--by its own choice (and it could easily return and retake)--from Beirut, the Iranian/Syrian-backed, Lebanese terrorist group is fighting in the surrounding hills. My exclusive Lebanese Intelligence sources tell me that a number of Hezbollah terrorist fighters have been caught, over the weekend, and they cannot speak Arabic, only Farsi. They are Iranian and have identified themselves or been identified by third parties as members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is the same group that, under Khomeini, took over the U.S....

Kuwait decided on Tuesday to reduce the number of diplomats in its mission in Beirut but the embassy will remain open, the official KUNA news agency quoted the Kuwaiti ambassador as saying. "Due to the situation in Beirut and the continued blockade of roads and the difficulty of movement... we have decided to reduce the number of Kuwaiti diplomats," Abdulaal al-Qenai said. But Qenai insisted the embassy would remain open and that he would stay in the Lebanese capital despite the deadly sectarian fighting that has shaken Beirut and other parts of the country for almost a week. He said...

Lebanon to West: Wake Up Fast!Barry RubinMay 12, 2008While America's secretary of state devotes her time to doomed Israel-Palestinian talks and America goes ga-ga over a candidate whose main foreign policy strategy is to talk to dictators, still another crisis strengthens radical Islamists and endangers Western friends and interests.William Butler Yeats said it best: "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst , Are full of passionate intensity."The "best" are often too innocent...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

The Lebanese army, which has virtually stood by and watched Hizbollah militants take control of parts of Beirut unopposed, last night vowed to use force to impose law and order from 6am today. The declaration could see clashes between troops and militants who warned yesterday that the violence which has killed 81 people since Wednesday would continue until the US-backed government agreed to a new power-sharing arrangement. “Army units will halt violations... in accordance with the law, even if that leads to the use of force,” the military said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Monday warned Iran and Syria that the international community would not allow Lebanon to fall under foreign domination through their proxies again. "I strongly condemn Hezbollah's recent efforts, and those of their foreign sponsors in Tehran and Damascus, to use violence and intimidation to bend the government and people of Lebanon to their will," Bush said in a statement. "The international community will not allow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, via their proxies, to return Lebanon to foreign domination and control," he said.

In Lebanon, the Iranian-backed vanguard of terror known as Hezbollah has again drawn its weapons to provoke the worst crisis since it launched a war against Israel in the summer of 2006. The fighting that began last week in Beirut, and then relocated east to the Chouf Mountains and north to Tripoli, is the latest act in the relentless smothering of the Lebanese democratic state. At best, we might next see an uneasy respite in the killing while the usual players haggle, President Bush trolls the region for that oh-so-elusive Middle-East-peace legacy, Hezbollah further stocks its arsenal and from behind...

Middle East: A Hamas leader says Lebanon is the next in a series of Islamofascist takeovers. Is Hezbollah's stranglehold on Beirut the prelude to another war with Israel? Is this 1936 all over again?When asked by President Franklin Roosevelt about what World War II should be called, Winston Churchill suggested it be labeled "The Unnecessary War." "There never was a war more easy to stop than that which has just wrecked what was left of the world from the previous struggle," he wrote in "The Gathering Storm." Well, we may be about to see another one and, as in World...

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hezbollah's dramatic gains in Lebanon last week are just part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official in the West Bank told The Washington Times. Sheik Yazeeb Khader, a Ramallah-based Hamas political activist and editor, said militant groups across the Middle East are gaining power at the expense of U.S.-backed regimes, just as Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The other day the Obama campaign distanced itself from Robert Malley for his dealings with Hamas. Never mind the disingenuousness of a campaign that up until the day before yesterday when he was fired from the campaign said Malley was not with the campaign, even though a New York Times defense in his behalf said he was with the campaign. What is manifestly clear however is that Obama and his banished adviser/non-adviser share the same worldview. Consider this passage from a press release expressing his “support” for Lebanon. "It's time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new...

The healing in Iraq and the deterioration in Lebanon are not unrelated. In fact, Iraq will serve as both cause and effect to Lebanon’s misfortunes. Iran, eclipsed in Sadr City, had decided to allow its sectarian acolytes to put on a show of strength in Beirut. And the jihadists of Al Qaeda’s ilk, soon to be eclipsed in Mosul, will migrate to Beirut to meet Iran’s challenge. Five years ago, there was a hope that held Iraq as a would-be beacon for democracy throughout the Middle East, but that vision had too many determined enemies both inside and outside Iraq....

By Lee Smith Our friend and colleague in Lebanon Elie Fawaz writes in to remind us that The War for Lebanon has not even begun yet in earnest and Hezbollah's “victory” in Beirut is not all it seems: “So, we know that Hezbollah's well-trained fighters are in control of most of west Beirut. The decision taken by Walid Jumblat and Saad al-Hariri not to fight back in Beirut, but rather hand most of their positions to the army ended any illusion regarding the sanctity of the “resistance” – that it would never turn its weapons inward, for now its hands...

AFTER THE war, the US was given an opportunity to actually support democratic, anti-Iranian-Syrian forces in Lebanon by supporting the Saniora government when Hizbullah abruptly bolted the ruling coalition and backed by Iran and Syria attempted to take control of the government by assassination and terror. The US could have taken action against Syria or Iran. But instead it sought to appease Iran and Syria in the hopes that they would temper their support for insurgents in Iraq. The pinnacle of this US abandonment of the March 14 movement was Rice's decision to invite Syria to participate in her peace...

May 12, 2008 By Debbie Schlussel Although Hezbollah has retreated--by its own choice (and it could easily return and retake)--from Beirut, the Iranian/Syrian-backed, Lebanese terrorist group is fighting in the surrounding hills. My exclusive Lebanese Intelligence sources tell me that a number of Hezbollah terrorist fighters have been caught, over the weekend, and they cannot speak Arabic, only Farsi. They are Iranian and have identified themselves or been identified by third parties as members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is the same group that, under Khomeini, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept U.S. civilians hostage for...

While the West is busy living its daily life, a beast is busy killing the freedom of a small community on the East Mediterranean: Lebanon. Indeed, as of last week, the mighty Hezbollah, armed to the teeth with 30,000 rockets and missiles and aligning thousands of self described “Divine soldiers” has been marching across the capital, terrorizing its population, shutting down media, taking its politicians and the Prime Minister as hostages, and looting at will. The hordes of Lebanon’s “Khomeinist Janjaweeds” have conquered already half of the Middle East’s cultural capital, Beirut. As I have reported before, Hezbollah has occupied...

While America's secretary of state devotes her time to doomed Israel-Palestinian talks and America goes ga-ga over a candidate whose entire foreign policy strategy is to talk to dictators, yet another crisis is empowering radical Islamists and undercutting Western friends and interests. The Lebanese logjam has broken at last as Hizbullah seized Beirut and inflicted a major defeat on the government. Hizbullah is pulling a more limited version of Hamas's Gaza strategy in Lebanon as the world stands by. Iran and Syria back their friends with weapons and help; the West responds with words backed by nothing. Who can blame...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Pro-government Sunni Muslim gunmen and militiamen loyal to Lebanon's Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah battled with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday. The violence, which broke out when Hezbollah gunmen fought pro-government forces in Beirut last week, is the worst since the end of the 1975-90 civil war in 1990. Security sources said six people were wounded when Sunni government supporters in Tripoli's Bab Tebbaneh district exchanged machine gun and grenade fire with Alawite militiamen allied to Hezbollah in the nearby Jebel Mohsen area. The fighting later gave way to the occasional...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Heavy fighting broke out Monday between government supporters and opponents in Lebanon's second-largest city, where the two sides battled with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and mortars, security officials and residents said. Residents said they heard strong explosions reverberating through Tripoli. At least six people were wounded, security officials said. The fighting had stopped Sunday morning after Lebanese troops deployed between the two sides, then flared again Monday after soldiers pulled back when the situation calmed. The fresh clashes erupted when pro-government forces thought opponents gathering for a funeral in a nearby neighborhood were preparing a new...

The recent ongoing bloody terrorist riots that Hezbollah has been inflicted on Lebanon and its peaceful people since last Wednesday, tragically show that this country today is confronting challenges of a magnitude unseen since the end of its civil war in 1990.

BEIRUT: Hezbollah on Saturday began withdrawing gunmen from Beirut and handed control of the streets to the Lebanese army, after days of gunbattles with supporters of the US-backed government. Hezbollah, a political group backed by Iran and Syria with a guerrilla army, said it was ending its armed presence in Beirut after the army overturned government measures against the group. Hezbollah seized control of much of the city on Friday after fighters loyal to the group routed gunmen loyal to the anti-Damascus governing coalition. The Hezbollah-led opposition said it would maintain a "civil disobedience" campaign until its demands were met,...

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday called the situation in Lebanon "a serious development" following a series of deadly clashes between government forces and Hezbollah militants, backed by Israel's arch-foe Iran. "Hezbollah's taking of control (in west Beirut) is a serious development," Barak said during the weekly cabinet meeting, public radio reported.

Heavy clashes erupted south of Beirut yesterday between mainly Shia and Druze militants, breaking a tense calm that had taken hold after feuding factions reached a tentative agreement to end four days of fighting. The crackle of machinegun fire and thump of exploding mortar rounds echoed through the town of Shwayfat on the lower slopes of the Chouf mountains overlooking southern Beirut as fighters from the Shia group Hezbollah and its allies fought Druze gunmen loyal to Walid Jumblatt, a key government ally.

Al-Qaeda has reportedly called on its operatives to go to Lebanon and defend what it called the Sunni community of the country. The report came while some Arab media outlets described the current clashes in Lebanon as a fight between Sunni and Shia communities. In an interviews with Sunni clerics with links to Saad Hariri's pro-government bloc, Al-Arabiya TV network described the ongoing clashes as a sectarian strife. Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, Mufti of the Jebel region, who is well known for his harsh stance against Hezbollah told the TV network that the clashes are a battle between Lebanon's Shia and...

A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP. “The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,” the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination. The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability” amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis. US Secretary...

The Lebanese army has defied the country's government and bowed to demands by pro-Iranian Hizbollah militants who brought the country to the brink of civil war. Senior officers refused to implement a decree from the prime minister, Fouad Siniora, who had ordered the dismantling of Hizbollah's telephone network and sacked an airport security chief sympathetic to the Shia militia. The government's plan provoked Hizbollah into sending its gunmen on to the streets of Beirut, sparking three days of intensive fighting that left half the capital in the militia's control. Hizbollah's move was denounced yesterday by Mr Siniora as a "coup",...

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Hizballah’s advance on two key Lebanese locations Saturday, May 10 had immediate effect on the strategic balance between the Iran-backed Shiite group and Israel. Sidon in the south, Lebanon’s second largest city, which provides Hizballah with control of a continuous coastal strip from its southern Beirut district all the way to Tyre. The second point is on the northern slopes of the Hermon range. After Hizballah seizes control of this enclave and the Syrian 10th and 14th armored divisions step over the border into Lebanon, the two forces can join to form a strong military line...