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Hezbollah scored a major victory Saturday after four days of fighting across Lebanon, when the Lebanese army reversed two cabinet resolutions that kicked off the fighting on Wednesday. The resolutions, if implemented, would have removed the chief of Beirut Airport's security, Major General Wafiq Shukeir, who has ties to Hezbollah. It also would have dismantled Hezbollah's private telephone network. Instead, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced on Saturday that he was putting the two issues into the hands of the army, which said in a statement that it was keeping Shukeir at his post and that it would handle the Hezbollah...

Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri revealed on Tuesday that he has evidence of Syrian assassination plots against himself and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hariri made the claim in response to a question about alleged assassination plots against the leaders by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law and head of intelligence Assef Shawqat. "We have intelligence about this and we are following it up," he told reporters. "The intelligence is correct and our security services are working on it. "There is cooperation between Lebanese security services and Arab security services to avoid such assassinations," he said, without specifying which countries were...

BEIRUT -- Lebanese authorities have evidence that Syrian intelligence operatives are behind the ongoing violent clashes in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli as part of an effort to destablize the country. Prime Minister Siniora also says that Syrian elements, pursuing what he calls "a clear determination to subjugate the country," could be responsible for political killings in Lebanon including the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Siniora accused the Syrian regime of trying to intimidate Lebanese from supporting the court and said that the pursuit of justice entailed risks, including "instability in the country, planting bombs here...

The Lebanese government has authorized the army to "finish off" Islamic militants fighting Lebanese troops for the third straight day Tuesday in a refugee camp in the country's north. The decision by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reflected the government's determination to pursue the Islamic militants who staged attacks on Lebanese troops on Sunday and Monday, killing 29 soldiers. Some 20 militants have also been killed, as well as an undetermined number of civilians.

"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Damascus next week for talks with Syrian officials, a U.S. Embassy official said Friday, making her the highest-ranking American politician to come to Syria since relations began souring in 2003. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Pelosi would be leading a delegation of members of Congress and would arrive on Tuesday and leave Wednesday."

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Thousands of people descended on central Beirut on Sunday ahead of a mass rally called by the Hezbollah-led opposition to escalate their drive to oust Lebanon's Western-backed government. Opposition supporters have been camping out in central Beirut since December 1, paralyzing the heart of the capital and vowing not to budge until Prime Minister Fouad Siniora bows to their demands for a government of national unity. "We want a clean government," banners outside Siniora's offices in downtown Beirut read. More supporters poured into Beriut from around the country on Sunday, flags fluttering from bus windows and protesters...

Beirut - The assassination of Pierre Gemayel means that two more ministers need to resign or be killed in order to bring down the anti-Syrian government. As if one assassination were not enough bloodshed for one day, the murderers proceeded to target another anti-Syrian Member of Parliament - Michel Pharaon. Syria's allies in Lebanon are planning to take the streets on Thursday to demand the government resign. The pro-Syrian allies in Lebanon include Hezbollah, Michel Aoun's political party and Nabih Berri's Amal movement. Syria behind violent overthrow? As documented in the U.N. investigation, Syria has openly threatened Lebanese politicians...

All five Shia Muslim pro-Syrian ministers in the Lebanese government have resigned, Hezbollah has said. They include two Hezbollah members and two from the Amal movement, its ally. In multi-party talks, Hezbollah had asked for cabinet seats that would give it and its allies power of veto but the majority group in parliament refused. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he refused to accept the resignations but the five say they will stick by their decision. Growing tension The resignations came just two days before the government was due to discuss a draft UN document on a tribunal for...

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has arrived in Lebanon amid tight security, as protesters squared off with riot police in the centre of Beirut. He will discuss ways of strengthening the government and enforcing the ban on arms shipments to the militant Islamic group Hezbollah. Many Lebanese have criticised Mr Blair for not demanding an early ceasefire during Israel's bombardment in July. Lebanon's most senior Shia cleric has tried to have the visit cancelled. The most senior Shia cleric in Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, has called on the government there to declare Mr Blair persona non grata....

During the war, most of Lebanon's days and nights were dominated by Israeli bombs, Hezbollah missiles, or both. But Monday, August 7, belonged to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. A grim-looking career banker, Siniora has been in office for just over a year, and this war came at him the same way it hit everyone else: like a sucker punch. For three and a half weeks, he shuttled from meeting to meeting, trying to enlist allies for his war-torn country. That Monday, he finally managed to gather in Beirut the foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League, some of whose...

Rice calls Lebanese PM to warn him that if the UN Lebanon resolution is not implemented, “We will not be responsible for the consequences” August 13, 2006, 10:18 PM (GMT+02:00) Earlier, Israeli FM Tzipi Livni put in urgent calls to the US secretary and the French foreign minister in an effort to salvage the ceasefire from Iranian-backed Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s 12th-hour retraction of his consent.

Feverish contacts have been held Friday in the UN building in New York in an attempt to agree on a draft proposal calling for a ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel. While cautious optimism was expressed in Lebanon, nevertheless, the Lebanese foreign minister said the draft was unacceptable to him. Meanwhile, Russia decided to submit its own draft for an immediate ceasefire. Earlier, sources in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office expressed cautious optimism early Friday regarding the possibility that the latest American diplomatic maneuver will in fact lead to a ceasefire. The proposal will call for Hizbullah’s disarmament in accordance with...

UN sources report that in unofficial discussions Russia agrees to support US-French version of ceasefire in Lebanon. Resolution expected to pass Tuesday. Washington outraged at Siniora, who withdrew his support under pressure from Iranians and Syrians WASHINGTON - The French-American resolution for a cessation of hostile activities in Lebanon overcame a significant hurdle Monday. In unofficial discussions that were held between the ambassadors of the five Security Council members, each of whom has veto power, Russia agreed to support the proposal. The practical implication of this is that, together with the Chinese and the British, there will be no veto....

Beirut, 4 August (AKI) - Young Lebanese are trying to break the isolation brought upon by the war with Israel by expressing their thoughts are recounting their experiences on Internet web logs, or blogs and online diaries. To communicate with the outside world many of the blogs are in English. One of around 15 popular sites that have sprung up since the conflict began on 12 July is LebanonsUpdates which provides a chronology of the fighting and the diplomatic moves afoot to bring peace. Operated by a group of eight friends in their 20s the site also provides maps indicating...

A French language Lebanese publication, citing an unnamed source in Hezbollah, has claimed that the organization placed a rocket launcher on the roof of the notorious building in Qana to provoke an Israeli attack and brought invalid children inside to serve as victims and blacken Israel's name. The Lebanese magazine LIBANOSCOPIE, associated with Christian elements which support the anti-Syrian movement called the "March 14 Forces," report that Hizbullah masterminded a plan that would result in the killing of innocents in Qana, in an attempt to foil Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's "Seven Points Plan" calling for deployment of the Lebanese...

ROME - Hezbollah has created a "state within a state" in Lebanon and must be disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in an interview published Thursday in an Italian daily. Siniora told Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Shi'ite militia has been doing the bidding of Syria and Iran, and that it can only be disarmed with the help of the international community and once a cease-fire has been achieved in the current Middle East fighting. "It's not a mystery that Hezbollah answers to the political agendas of Tehran and Damascus," Siniora was quoted as saying by Corriere....

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut Thursday on a surprise visit aimed to support efforts by anti-Syrian groups to oust President Emile Lahoud. Rice, who is on a regional tour, has met with Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh at Rafik Hariri International Airport. She will also hold talks with Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and other Lebanese officials during the visit that will last for only several hours. "The sole purpose of this trip is to express support for the Lebanese people and for the Lebanese government as they try to recover fully their sovereignty," Rice said upon...

The American Secretary of State Thursday morning in Beirut BEIRUT - the Secretary of State American, Condoleezza Rice, must pay Thursday an unexpected visit of a few hours in Beirut, within the framework of his round in the Middle East, one learned from official source. The American Secretary of State must in particular discuss, during his visit with Beqyrouth with the Foreign Minister, Fawzi Salloukh, and the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, one specified of the same source. The visit in Beirut of Mrs. Rice, who left Thursday Riyadh morning to continue her round in the area, had not been...

US vows to track down hijacker freed early By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 23/12/2005) The United States has vowed to track down and bring to trial a Lebanese hijacker who has been secretly released after serving 19 years in a German prison for seizing an airliner in 1985 and killing a US navy diver. The Bush administration said it had asked Germany not to release Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was jailed for life for his role in the hijacking of TWA's Flight 847 from Athens to Rome and the shooting of one of the passengers, Robert Stethem. Despite...

WASHINGTON - Iranian cadres are training Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, a State Department official told Congress on Thursday. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch told the House International Relations Committee the information was provided by "our own sources." Welch also testified there was "a continuing covert Syrian presence there" despite the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. And, Welch said, there are armed Palestinian groups in Lebanon, as well. He said the United States would have no contact with Lebanon's energy and water minister, Mohammed Fneish, who is a member of Hezbollah. Welch reiterated the long-standing U.S. view that Hezbollah...