Free Republic

Lahoud's Police Regime Seen Crumbling with Syria's ExitPresident Lahoud's Syrian-sponsored regime is desperately fighting for survival amid a snowballing opposition drive to oust him before the spring elections in the explosive aftermath of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.The embattled president tried to defuse the nation's turbulence by asserting that a military government was "out of the question as far as I am concerned." But the opposition remained adamant that his police state must be dismembered and all his hand-picked commanders of the nation's major security services fired. The crisis climbed to a new zenith Thursday when Surete Generale chief Brig....

The Paris-based Intelligence Online has reported on its internet site that late Lebanon's premier Rafik Hariri managed to record the threats made by President Bashar Al Assad at their last face-to-face meeting in Damascus on a spy pen likely provided by the French secret service. Hariri had provided copies of the threat to U.S. President Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shortly before he was assassinated in a huge blast on Feb. 14, said the newsletter that specializes in intelligence affairs. The Assad-Hariri meeting was held in the Syrian capital a week before the Lebanese parliament...