Click here to sign the petition.

'No comment' as Lebanon's leaders fail to form Cabinet

Hizbullah spy drone invades Israeli airspace

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Thousands of people jammed downtown Beirut on Saturday, jamming restaurants and sidewalks in answer to a call to stop mourning and revive a city buffeted by nearly two months of political and economic turmoil.

AP Photo
 

Beirut's once-bustling sidewalk cafes and shops have been empty for weeks, and city's main square has been dominated by mourners visiting the nearby grave of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed Feb. 14 in a bombing of his motorcade.

Following his death, tens of thousands of pro- and anti-Syrian protesters held rival demonstrations, and a heavy army and police presence dominated the city.

Bahiya Hariri, the slain leader's sister, has launched a campaign to revive the downtown district. The campaign began Friday and is timed to continue through Wednesday, the anniversary of the beginning of a 15-year civil war three decades ago.

"The message to all is: Lebanon will stay alive, just like Rafik Hariri wanted it," she said.

Some people in the downtown crowd, including parents with their children, carried Lebanese flags. Others opted for balloons. A few shouted "Abu Baha," a reference to the late Hariri, a billionaire real estate tycoon credited with rebuilding Lebanon from civil war destruction.

Strolling with a friend, 24-year-old Ivy Farhat said she hoped the effort "would restore the hope to Lebanon and the Lebanese that was buried with Hariri's killing."

Some people stopped to look at a photograph of a smiling Hariri that was placed on a chair at a sidewalk cafe on the square facing the parliament building. Hariri had coffee at the cafe less than five minutes before the explosion that killed him.

Restaurants were urged to give discounts as a way to attract customers scared off by the tensions and several recent bombings — mainly targeting Christians — in different parts of Lebanon.

The activities came amid a relaxation of the political pressure. The Syrian army continued withdrawing as demanded by the Lebanese opposition, the United Nations and the United States. About 60 Syrian tanks and 25 trucks crossed the border Saturday. An international investigation into Hariri's assassination was agreed upon last week by the U.N. Security Council, and efforts to break political deadlock to form a government appear to be making some headway.

Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami on Saturday promised to form a Cabinet this week, a move that could clear the way for parliamentary elections to be held before the legislature's mandate ends May 31.

Nasrallah takes aim at opposition

Hizbullah leader says disarming resistance has become de facto priority talk of 'dialogue' is shallow: Hizbullah's leader slammed the opposition Friday saying they were avoiding any serious dialogue over Lebanon's future, concentrating only on disarming the resistance and ignoring Israel's increased violations of the country's territories.

 full story: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=14145

Syria denies detainment of Lebanese prisoners

A Syrian official source said Friday that Damascus was not holding any of the Lebanese prisoners that the Lebanese opposition claims Syrian forces captured during their 29-year presence in Lebanon. "Syria is not holding any Lebanese citizens," said the anonymous source.

However, international human rights groups have proof that hundreds of Lebanese have been missing since their arrest in Lebanon or transferal to Syria during and after the civil war by Syrian intelligence forces.

full story: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=14151

Troika Forms Lebanon's New Cabinet at Pope's Death Bedside

Lebanon's reigning Troika is forming the nation's new government from Pope John Paul II's death bedside at the Vatican, where President Lahoud, Speaker Berri and Premier-Designate Karami were notified of the unanimous resolution of the Security Council to take direct charge of investigating ex-Premier Hariri's assassination, making no immediate comment, the Beirut media reported Friday.

The three leaders were seen exchanging lists and heard discussing names in connection with the new cabinet on the plane that carried them to Rome Thursday and Lebanese reporters aboard said the Troika continued discussions at dinner in a Rome restaurant after they paid their respects at Pope's bier, An Nahar said.

Both Berri and Karami told reporters on the way from the Troika's Hassler hotel in Rome to dinner that the new government would be announced in Beirut on Monday at most, with parliament speaker asserting it could be made up of 30 half-Christian, half-Muslim cabinet ministers, according to An Nahar.

"The Government Being Formed in Midair Lands in Beirut on Saturday," said a page-one headline in As Safir, suggesting the Troika would be back in the capital tomorrow although Karami had earlier told An Nahar the leaders would be back late Friday.

Asked when he expects the new government to be announced, Berri said "from now until Monday, I hope it will be wrapped up. It may be a 30-member cabinet."

'Will it be born on Monday?' Karami was asked by An Nahar's reporter Hoda Chedid. "God willing," he replied. "Will it be a 30-member cabinet?' the premier-designate was asked. "We'll talk on Monday," he answered.

Local media reports said the new government would not include ministers who may be 'provocative' to Hariri's family or Druze leader Walid Jumblat, the spearhead of Lebanon's opposition coalition.

Ex-Finance Minister Fouad Siniora, Hariri's longtime closest aide, said in a statement Thursday night that the family had proposed no favorites to be taken in the new government. 

Beirut, Updated 08 Apr 05, 10:09 from Naharnet

It seems like something we never thought could happen really is happening! It's hard to believe... Let' hope this follows through, we get our elections and life can go no with stability and a decent economy.

"The Syrian pullout may take place well before the end of the month, just as it did for the first phase that was due to end at the end of March and actually wrapped up in the middle of the month," Dakhlallah was quoted by the Lebanese press as saying in an interview with US-funded Radio Sawa.

A senior Lebanese military official said the final phase had begun for the remaining 8,000 troops in the eastern Bekaa Valley where Syria has pulled back all its remaining forces in Lebanon.

"They have a timetable for the withdrawal and they will keep pulling out, unit by unit," he told AFP. "The process involves all army troops and intelligence forces."

On the ground, dozens of empty Syrian trucks and transport vehicles were seen crossing into Lebanon apparently to take back troops, equipment and weapons, an AFP correspondent said.

Under pressure from the United States and France, Syria agreed to complete its military presence in Lebanon by the end of April in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for an immediate pullout of all foreign troops.

With the United Nations playing an increasingly prominent role in Lebanon, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen ended Thursday a three-day trip to Beirut where he stressed the need to hold elections on time by the end of May to avoid further instability.

Lebanon has been thrown into political turmoil since the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri blamed by the opposition on the pro-Syrian regime and their political masters in Damascus.

U.N. Panel Nears Resolution on Hariri
By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. diplomats said Wednesday that the Security Council was near agreement on a draft resolution that would authorize a new investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Adoption of the resolution was expected Thursday, but Russia, a member of the 15-nation council, was seeking changes to ensure the plan would affirm Lebanese sovereignty, while allowing investigators sufficient independence, the diplomats said. The draft calls for an "international independent investigation" to probe Hariri's assassination.

"We must be very precise in dealing with such issues as national sovereignty," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov said, adding that the probe could set a precedent for future, similar action.

In the latest version of the document, the investigation would last for three months, though Secretary-General Kofi Annan could extend it for three more months if necessary.

U.S. expresses skepticism on Syrian pullout 4/6/2005 (Daily Star)

 BEIRUT: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed skepticism about Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon last night. Syria has commited to a full withdrawal from Lebanon by April 30. But speaking in Washington Rice said: "You always need to be on guard, because words and deeds don't always match with the Syrians."

for full story: http://www.thisiscyberia.com/newscenter/default.asp?ID=4613983&news=1

  You gotta be kiddin me? What a lame excuse! Give me a break! This is ridiculous! Anything to frustrate the people just a little bit more... Jumblatt is right, this is fire they're playing with. What's your next excuse? You gotta go watch a swimming tournament somewhere?!

Pope's Death Delays Lebanon's Elections? Jumblat: "Don't Play with Fire" from Naharnet.com

The Lahoud regime has seized upon the Pope's death to invent a new alibi to delay the formation of a new government and subsequently the legislative elections in a grand design to maintain Syria's tutelage over Lebanon even after withdrawal of its army and intelligence apparatus by the end of the month, An Nahar reported Monday.

It said President Lahoud had decided to personally attend the funeral of the Pope in the Vatican later this week, heading a Lebanese delegation that would include Speaker Berri, Premier-Designate Omar Karami and outgoing Vice Premier Issam Fares.

"This means the birth of the new government would not be possible before late in the week," An Nahar said. Other Beirut media outfits said the government's formation had been delayed until sometime next week.

Opposition leaders have warned against procrastination by Syria's so-called Ein El-Tineh loyalists on the government-formation issue and have threatened massive street protests similar to the millions-strong demonstrations that followed ex-Premier Hariri's assassination.

"The opposition is ready for the democratic challenge at the polls under any electoral law the loyalists choose," said Walid Jumblat, warning authorities against "playing with the fire of postponing the elections."

"The Syrian withdrawal is going to be completed by April's end and the elections could be held May 22 and get it over with," Jumblat said. "The people of Lebanon want the elections and they are prepared to stage massive sits-in all over again." 

U.N. Won't Exonerate Assad from Threatening to Eliminate Hariri
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has rejected Syria's request to omit the reference to a threat President Assad made to slain ex-Premier Hariri before his assassination from the report of the U.N. fact-finding mission, which spent a month gathering information about the murder in Beirut, An Nahar reported on Sunday.
"This report is a U.N. document and the U.N. refuses to be told what should be done to its documents," Annan said according to diplomatic sources cited by An Nahar. He rejected any change to the Fitzgerald report on Hariri's death.

Annan made the rejection in response to a recent letter to the U.N. addressed by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al Sharaa, demanding that the paragraph referring to the physical elimination threat be omitted from the report.

The Fitzgerald report had cited testimony that Assad had threatened to eliminate Hariri and Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblat if Syria is forced to evacuate Lebanon

U.S., France Ridicule Beirut Attempt to Spare Security Chiefs a World Trial
The U.S. and France have deplored Beirut attempts to clip the wings of the projected U.N. Commission of Inquiry before it begins its new investigation into ex-Premier Hariri's assassination, saying president Lahoud's regime was 'frantically trying to rescue its security commanders from standing an international trial as terrorists.'
"The Lebanese and Syrian authorities are in panic, especially those responsible for security services who run the risk of being implicated in the assassination bombing upon which they would face punitive measures under Security Council resolution 1566," one U.S. official told An Nahar.

This resolution calls for punitive sanctions against countries and state official who reject cooperation in the combat of terrorism. The United Nations has already classified Hariri's assassination in Beirut on Feb. 14 an act of terrorism.

One of the amendments the Lebanese authorities are seeking to introduce to a French draft resolution to step up the new investigating commission is the removal of the expression in the preamble "terrorist act" and substitute it by "bombing," according to An Nahar.

Another amendment calls for the omission from the draft resolution any reference to that charge by the Fact-Finding Mission of Irish police superintendent Peter Fitzgerald to the faulty Lebanese investigation that failed to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.

Several other amendments have been sought by the Lebanese U.N. mission that is seen by the U.S. and France as a deplorable attempt to curtail the powers of the projected Commission of Inquiry.

"None of the proposed Lebanese is acceptable or worthy of consideration because they are all designed to procrastinate and delay the formation of the new commission," one American source was quoted as saying. "Khalas," she said in Arabic.

Another American source was quoted as saying the attempt by the Beirut authorities to avoid describing Hariri's assassination as a terrorist act as 'embarrassingly shameful.' He added: 'If Hariri's assassination is not an act of terrorism, what is their (Lebanese) definition of terror.'

U.S. officials are certain that the French draft will be voted into a resolution on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

From naharnet.com

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Two thousand more Syrian troops have left Lebanon, lowering Syria's military presence to 8,000 soldiers, the smallest deployment it's had here since the second year of the country's 1975-90 civil war, a military official said.

AP Photo

 
 

More troops are expected to leave this week. Syrian soldiers were seen dismantling eight positions near the eastern city of Baalbek

http://billclintondailydiary.blogspot.com/2005/03/i-cant-sleep.html

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A bomb blast set off huge fires in a mainly Christian suburb of Beirut on Saturday, injuring five people in the third such attack in eight days. Opposition leaders blamed Syria, saying Damascus hoped to sow fear as it withdraws troops from Lebanon.

AP Photo

Reuters Slideshow: Lebanese PM Resigns in Wake of Assassination
 

The latest attack, targeting an industrial area in Beirut's northeastern Bouchrieh area, raised tensions another notch in Lebanon, which has been gripped by political turmoil over Syria's presence since the Feb. 14 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

A 55 pound bomb was placed between a car and a furniture factory, said Lebanon's police chief, Maj. Gen. Sarkis Tadros, citing an explosives expert. The blast destroyed nearby cars, shattered windows and left a crater that was 3 feet deep and 10 feet wide.

A Lebanese woman and two Indian workers were injured, as were two civil defense workers working on extinguishing the fire that engulfed at least six buildings, security officials said.

"They must love us — we got it twice in a week," Bouchrieh mayor Antoine Gebara told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. He was referring to last Saturday's explosion in the nearby predominantly Christian neighborhood of Jdeideh that injured nine people. Five days later, another bomb blast killed three people near the port city of Jounieh, Lebanon's Christian heartland.

Witnesses said the blast on the eve of the Easter holiday occurred three hours before Catholics were to head to a midnight Mass.

The motive behind the latest attacks wasn't clear, but Lebanese opposition leaders have blamed Syrian security agents and pro-Damascus Lebanese authorities for trying to show a need for Syria's military presence in Lebanon in the midst of a Syrian troop withdrawal.

Each attack has targeted Christian, anti-Syrian strongholds, raising fears of the return of the sectarian violence that plagued Lebanon during the 1975-90 civil war.

"They (Syrians) think they can destroy Lebanese national unity this way. But the Lebanese will remain steadfast till infinity," exiled Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told Al-Arabiya TV.

Aoun said the situation calls for "changing the security organizations related to Syria. This can't be delayed."

The death of Hariri, who opposed Syria's presence, sparked massive demonstrations in Lebanon that disrupted the government and helped force Damascus to pull back its 14,000 troops to eastern Lebanon under international pressure. Many Lebanese accuse the governments in Beirut and Damascus of being behind the slaying, a claim both vehemently deny.

About 1,000 of the 10,000 Syrian soldiers remaining in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley had started heading home in recent days, a Lebanese military official said Saturday. The redeployments follow the return to Syria of 4,000 soldiers in the first phase of the troop withdrawal that was completed March 17.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian Defense Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad warned that the Lebanese army may not be able to handle security if Syrian forces leave the eastern Bekaa Valley, a strategically important region for Syria's own security, particularly in facing rival Israel.

The Bekaa, which covers 45 percent of Lebanese territory, "needs a lot of military forces," Murad told reporters Friday, hinting that Syrian troops may still be needed in Lebanon.

Murad, who hails from the Bekaa, said the U.S. ambassador asked Lebanon's army commander recently about Lebanese army readiness to replace Syrian forces in eastern Lebanon. Murad said the commander replied that "the conditions of the military establishment do not permit this new role in the Bekaa because numerically the army is not enough."

Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt rejected Murad's comments and renewed calls on Lebanese security chiefs to resign in the wake of a U.N. report this week that criticized Syria and its allied Lebanese government in connection with Hariri's killing.

The report also recommended an international investigation into Hariri's murder, but added such a probe would be difficult while Lebanon's security chiefs are in place.

"It is not possible to carry out a just, clear and transparent investigation if the heads of (security) agencies remained in place," Jumblatt said Saturday. Legislator Bahiya Hariri, the slain leader's sister, also demanded the resignations.

Jumblatt said he expected more car bombs in the coming days and in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled to be held by May.

The pro-Syrian camp, however, accused opposition forces of seeking the instability to invite international intervention in Lebanon.

"I think what is going on is an attempt to internationalize the Lebanese situation to allow for sending troops to Lebanon," said Karim Pakradouni, leader of the pro-government Christian Phalange party, adding he did not believe security agencies were to blame.

Syrian soldiers have been based in Lebanon since 1976, when they arrived ostensibly to provide a stabilizing force in the war-torn country. They remained after the end of hostilities, controlling all important political and security issues in Lebanon.

___

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.