Tag: Lebanon

Israel's army accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of "organising" Sunday's violence on the Golan Heights as a way to divert attention from pro-democracy...

BEIRUT - Tens of thousands of Lebanese opposition supporters on Sunday demanded Hezbollah be disarmed as they rallied to mark the sixth anniversary of a popular uprising against Syrian troops in the country. "The people want the fall of arms," the demonstrators chanted as they poured into to Martyrs' Square in central Beirut amid tight security, waving the national flag and the banners of pro-Western political parties.
"We are here to say yes to life and no to their arms," said

BEIRUT - The formation of a new government in Lebanon has been delayed as politicians haggle over the distribution of ministries, an official said on Thursday. "The government will not see the light of day this week," the official working with prime minister-designate Najib Mikati told AFP.
"There are no real obstructions but some parties have high demands and talks are still going on to find a formula that will satisfy everyone," he added, without elaborating. The official said

BEIRUT - Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria has edged its way back into the heart of local politics, analysts say, after the militant Hezbollah and its allies toppled the Western-backed government of Saad Hariri.
"Over the past six years, Syria has sought to regain its influence, step by step, until the time came when it could announce to the world that Lebanon was once again squarely in its hands," said Marwan Rowayheb, political science professor at the Lebanese American

TRIPOLI - Hezbollah-backed Najib Mikati's appointment as Lebanon's premier-designate has split the country's Sunni Muslims, who for years had stood seemingly united in a deeply divided country. In the Sunni bastion of Tripoli on Lebanon's northern coast, a rift is emerging in a community that once rallied behind US- and Saudi-backed Saad Hariri, the outgoing premier.
"Everyone has been saying for so long that Iran and Syria would try to split the Sunnis of Lebanon, and that they

BEIRUT - Outgoing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's movement asked Hezbollah-backed prime minister designate Najib Mikati on Thursday not to cut Lebanon's links to a UN-backed tribunal probing the killing of Hariri's father.
The tribunal is the heart of a dispute between Hariri and Shi'ite movement Hezbollah which says it will accuse some of its members in the 2005 killing. Hariri's bloc in parliament did not say whether the movement will join Mikati's government.

BEIRUT - Lebanon's Hezbollah-backed new premier was preparing Wednesday for talks on forming a government in the deeply divided country as calm returned to the streets after protests over his appointment.
Prime minister designate Najib Mikati, a moderate billionaire businessman, was to make protocol visits to five of his predecessors before launching talks on Thursday with parliamentary groups. Security was tight and several schools remained closed, but traffic returned to normal

BEIRUT - Lebanon's rival parties on Friday appeared headed for a fierce showdown as each side hardened its position in the country's political crisis after the failure of foreign mediation efforts.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday set the tone for the battle ahead after defiantly saying he would stand for another term despite Hezbollah's campaign to discredit him. "We will go to the parliamentary consultations organised by the president on Monday and I remain

BEIRUT - Saudi Arabia on Wednesday abandoned efforts to mediate in Lebanon's political crisis, warning of a "dangerous" situation as all eyes turned to a Turkish-Qatari bid to defuse tensions.
In an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television news channel, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the Saudi king was "pulling his hand" from Lebanon.
He said the monarch -- whose country is a key ally of Lebanon's embattled caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri --

LEIDSCHENDAM - The tribunal set up to try the killers of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri insisted on Tuesday on keeping its first indictment under wraps as fears of violence rose on the streets of Beirut. The prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon warned that speculation on the indictment which he submitted on Monday and is widely believed to implicate Hezbollah, would be "counter-productive".
"This is the first step in our collective quest to end impunity in

THE HAGUE - The prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon filed his indictment on Monday for the 2005 murder of premier Rafiq Hariri as Beirut's neighbours backed renewed mediation to calm rising tensions.
Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare submitted his long-awaited indictment under wraps, but speculation was rife that it named the Hezbollah militant group in connection with the massive car bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on the Beirut seafront on Valentine's Day six

BEIRUT - Lebanon was plunged into political turmoil on Thursday as a caretaker government stepped in after Hezbollah ministers and their allies quit over a probe into the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. The hard-won unity government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri -- son of the slain leader -- collapsed on Wednesday after months of wrangling between the premier and the militant group Hezbollah over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The move thrust the country into its worst

BEIRUT - Lebanon's unity government looked set to collapse Wednesday after the powerful Hezbollah and its allies threatened to walk out over a UN probe into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.
Health Minister Mohamad Jawad Khalifeh, whose Amal party is allied with Hezbollah, said 11 ministers would tender their resignations Wednesday afternoon unless a cabinet meeting is convened to discuss a long-running standoff over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon

The Guardian - Once again, Lebanon is on the brink of major social and political upheaval. Rumours of an impending armed clash between Hezbollah and the pro-western governing coalition have spread like wildfire among the Lebanese people, who are hoarding food and arms in anticipation of the worst.
On the surface of it, the current crisis revolves around a United Nations tribunal set up to investigate the 2005 assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. An indictment

BEIRUT: Lebanon braced on Friday for a fresh political crisis after Hezbollah urged a boycott of a UN-backed tribunal on the murder of former leader Rafiq Hariri and the United Nations warned of a "hyper-dangerous" situation.
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the militant Shiite party, called on all Lebanese on Thursday to end cooperation with investigators probing the ex-premier's 2005 assassination, warning "citizens and politicians alike" that further collaboration was equivalent to

TEHRAN
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Saudi King Abdullah in a telephone call that the aim of his controversial visit to Lebanon last week was to promote its unity, his office said on Thursday.
The Wednesday evening conversation between the two leaders their second in eight days came as the regional arch-rivals have been competing for influence in both Lebanon and Iraq.
Praising King Abdullah's own visit to Lebanon in July, Ahmadinejad said: "We too have now

Having breezed through several world records in the culinary field Lebanon has now gone for the big one - the world's largest national flag, and so huge it needed an airfield.
The Lebanese military on Sunday released a picture taken from air of the massive flag, stitched in Kuwait, assembled in Lebanon and covering 65,000 square metres (645,600 square feet) "unfurled."
Morocco is the current holder of the Guinness world record for the largest flag, at a mere 60,000 square