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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon airport official removed over alleged Hezbollah ties
2008-05-07
Lebanon's Cabinet decided Tuesday to remove Beirut airport's security chief over alleged ties to the militant Hezbollah group, the country's information minister said. The decision is expected to exacerbate tension between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi read a statement at the end of a marathon Cabinet meeting that began Monday evening and lasted nearly 11 hours, saying the security chief, Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shoukair, would rejoin the army. He also said the Cabinet declared that a telecommunications network used by Hezbollah for military purposes was illegal and a danger to state security.

A top Shiite cleric, Sheik Abdul-Amir Kabalan, had dismissed allegations of Shoukair's links to Hezbollah and warned Monday against any government decision to punish the airport security chief. "If there are any changes made, the airport will be out of control," Kabalan warned.

A Hezbollah spokesman said the group had no immediate comment on Tuesday's Cabinet decisions. The group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, was to respond at a Thursday news conference, Hezbollah said in a statement.

But in a televised interview aired Monday night, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Kassem warned the government against being taken in by false allegations.

The Cabinet decisions come a day after Lebanon's top prosecutor began investigating allegations that the militant group backed by Iran and Syria set up cameras near the airport to monitor the movement of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and foreign dignitaries. The allegations were first levied by anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt, who on Saturday accused Hezbollah of placing the cameras and suggested Hezbollah was planning to assassinate senior leaders by bombing aircraft.

The airport is located in the predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburbs where the militant group has wide support. Many buildings in the area overlook the runways.

Jumblatt also said Saturday that Shoukair, whom he described as a Hezbollah loyalist, should be fired and called for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon. Hezbollah dismissed the allegations concerning airport surveillance and fired back with its own accusations against Jumblatt.

Kassem, the Hezbollah deputy leader, said the group's telecommunications network was a necessity for the group's deterrence capabilities in the fight against Israel and "complemented" Hezbollah's arsenal of weapons.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aridi: Sunday riots confirmed threats by Hezbollah & allies
2008-02-03
"Sunday riots confirm the threats made by Hezbollah -led opposition in the event they did not succeed in forcing a the formation of a government of national unity in which they will have a veto power, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said.

Aridi added : “They threatened either a third of the government plus one more for veto or an escalation of the protests that could lead to more violence and riots and this is exactly what happened.“

Aridi said : The fact that the Arab league initiative did not include a veto share in a future unity government upset the Hezbollah -led opposition and led to the riots last Sunday.

Aridi continued: “what is happening right now is extremely dangerous and we will all end up paying a high price for it . Those that were killed last Sunday during the protests against the living conditions and the power cuts are our children . Every Lebanese has the right to express own opinion , but resorting to undemocratic and unpeaceful means and targeting of the army is totally unacceptable.“
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon army arrests 23 suspects in Sunday riots
2008-01-30
Military police have begun investigations into Sunday's incidents that left seven people killed in violent riots in Beirut's southern suburbs. A security source said the probe "will continue very seriously and quickly to uncover the circumstances" of the deaths.

He said outcome of the investigation will be formally announced "so that measures against the military institution as well as against those proven to be involved in beyond-the-limit acts can be taken."

A judicial source, meanwhile, said the army has detained 50 and arrested 23 suspects pending investigation. The source said there was no confirmation that snipers were involved in Sunday's incidents despite the fact that some people were arrested from rooftops. He said investigators were trying to determine whether a "third party" was involved in the shootings and raised fear that the use of gunfire was intended to stir up trouble on the ground.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora labeled the eight victims who fell in Sunday's unrest "martyrs of the entire nation." Information Minister Ghazi Aridi urged the various political factions to "be aware of the delicate period the country was going through." He said after a late Monday ministerial meeting that the government backs both security forces and the army command, adding that the cabinet was awaiting outcome of the investigations. Aridi said no mercy will be shown to those found responsible for the shootings Sunday.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aridi: US did not impose any conditions and Berri knows this
2007-11-19
Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi praised Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, "for assuming great responsibility to resolve the crises by submitting a list of candidates for the presidency." He urged everyone not to miss this opportunity and to elect a President of the Republic to strengthen the spirit of national unity and dialogue.

Aridi said in an interview with the radio Voice of Lebanon : "Everyone was waiting for a word from Patriarch Sfeir and all claimed they wanted consensus. Now, and after Sfeir gave the list of presidential candidates there is no excuse in the world for the non-election of a new President of the Republic". Aridi also said " contrary to all the rumors that the media has circulated inside and outside the capital, the United States did not impose any conditions with regards to the election of a new president , nor did they name any preferred candidate for this post and Speaker Nabih Berri , who has met US ambassador Jeffrey Feltman on several occasions knows this "

Similarly he said the French also did not impose any conditions or name any preferred candidate : "The French Foreign Minister asked Cardinal Sfeir to issue the list of consensus candidates so that the parliament could pick one of them as the new president."

Hezbollah has accused the western countries of interfering in Lebanon's presidential elections.

Lebanon is in the process of electing a new president to replace the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud whose term expires on November 24. The election session was rescheduled 3 times but is now set for November 21, 2007. The Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah -led opposition has refused to attend the previously scheduled sessions because they knew the anti-Syrian parliament majority will win. The parliament majority has accused the pro-Syrian opposition of wanting a clone of Emile Lahoud as the new president to please Syria. Lahoud who is referred to as 'Syria's puppet' has sided with the opposition in its effort to overthrow the democratically elected government of Prime minister Fouad Siniora.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
March 14 accuses Nasrallah of stabbing Berri in the back
2007-11-14
Lebanon's ruling March 14 coalition took aim at Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday, condemning the Hezbollah leader's Sunday speech as a blow to ongoing attempts to resolve the impasse over the selection of a new president. Speaking on behalf of the Cabinet, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi called Nasrallah's speech "harsh and bitter."

"Nasrallah's speech has destroyed the Lebanese people's hope [to reach consensus]," Aridi said after a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Monday. "Is the speech directed against [Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri? Is it a message that goes beyond Lebanon? Have we reached a point where consensus cannot be reached to elect a new president?" he asked.

Democratic Gathering bloc leader MP Walid Jumblatt also criticized the speech, but refrained from identifying Nasrallah by name, instead referring to him as "someone who has announced the death of all political initiatives aimed at resolving the Lebanese crisis, which he himself ignited."

"Someone appeared before us yesterday threatening and menacing as usual ... and announced to the Lebanese the beginning of a new era of wars and conflicts which he hopes will change the face of the region, and certainly through the Lebanese gate," Jumblatt said in his weekly interview with his Al-Anbaa mouthpiece to be published on Tuesday.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Has Al-Qaeda set its sights on Lebanon's prime minister?
2007-10-12
Two weeks ago the Lebanese Army Directorate presented a CD to the Lebanese government displaying a member of Al-Qaeda threatening Prime Minister Fouad Siniora with execution, As-Safir newspaper reported on Thursday. "The CD also includes important details about the relationship between Fatah al-Islam and Al-Qaeda," the report said. According to As-Safir, the army obtained the CD from a hard disk which was confiscated from the Fatah al-Islam group during an escape attempt into the Mediterranean.

As-Safir also reported that an international party, probably the United States, is expected to issue a draft statement or resolution in light of a Lebanese memorandum, issued by Prime Minister Siniora's office, sent earlier this week by Siniora to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

In his memorandum, the prime minister outlined the latest updates on Fatah al-Islam's alleged links with Syria as well as the status of Hizbullah's armaments, An-Nahar daily said on Wednesday. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said at the end of a Cabinet session on Tuesday evening that the memorandums contained "information obtained by Lebanese Army intelligence services and the intelligence unit of the Internal Security Forces about armaments in the country and the situation at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon."
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon shows U.N. evidence of Syrian involvement with Fatah al-Islam
2007-10-11
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora provided the U.N. and Arab League with evidence linking the Fatah al-Islam terrorists to the Syrian regime. Siniora sent U.N. chief Bank Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa latest updates on Fatah al-Islam's links with Syria, and Hizbullah's armament.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said at the end of a cabinet session on Tuesday evening that the memorandums contained "information obtained by Lebanese army intelligence services and the information department of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) about armament in the country and the situation at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon. The letters are aimed at giving an accurate image of what is happening in the country."

He said the government decided to refer the assassination of anti-Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem to the Judicial Council. Ghanem was killed in a car bomb in Beirut's Sin el-Fil neighborhood on September 19. Aridi said Saniora has asked Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar - which he recently visited -- to provide the Lebanese army, police as well as the government and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) with the "necessary support" to rebuild the Nahr al-Bared camp and allow its residents to recover their homes. Starting Wednesday, the displaced families will be allowed to return in groups of 100 families per day, UNRWA said. Some 30,000 refugees fled Nahr el-Bared during the battle between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese army.

The repatriation is being organized by UNRWA in collaboration with both Lebanese and Palestinian groups. The Lebanese army has said the camp will be completely cleared of gunmen, unexploded shells, mines and booby traps before anyone returns, and the government has promised to rebuild devastated parts of Nahr el-Bared Aridi said the cabinet also agreed to a request by Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh to issue stamps in honor of sacrifices made by troops at Nahr al-Bared.

On the issue of Hizbullah's unlawful phone networking, Aridi said the government was waiting for confirmation that all lines - which run parallel to the state's phone system -- had been removed. Lebanese authorities in August revealed that the installation of the underground cables had been discovered in the south Lebanon as well as in Beirut and its suburbs.

Aridi also said that a committee had been set up to follow up on the fires that swept Lebanon earlier this month and study ways to deal with the "damaged areas." He said that Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa issued a decision on Monday "forbidding residents from using the areas hit by fire."
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese ask U.N. & Arab League for protection from Syria
2007-09-22
The March 14 majority alliance on Thursday called on the Arab League and the United Nations to protect Lebanon's forthcoming presidential elections from alleged Syrian attempts to block it, including the slaying of MP Antoine Ghanem. The alliance also demanded that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri "shoulder his responsibilities" in shepherding the presidential elections by working to dismantle the tent city opposition protest, which is a few meters from parliament headquarters.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora presided over a ministerial meeting which stressed that the "terrorist" slaying of MP Antoine Ghanem would only reinforce its demand that a parliamentary vote to choose a new president goes ahead on time. "We do not fear terrorism and this will not break our will. It will only reinforce our determination to prevent the terrorists from succeeding," said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi.

"This is a terrorist act similar to the terrorist acts against the lives of members of the majority" over the past three years, Aridi told reporters after a ministerial meeting chaired by Saniora. "It cannot be separated from the presidential election... or from attempts to plunge the country into chaos," he said. "But we are determined to hold the election on time," he said, confirming that Berri had said the September 25 date still holds for a parliamentary session to choose a successor to President Emile Lahoud. Aridi said the ruling majority "keeps its hand extended to everybody," in an apparent reference to the country's opposition. "We have to save Lebanon."

The March 14 alliance also urged the Hizbullah-led opposition to adopt a "moral stand by supporting the victim … and refraining from covering the Syrian regime with justifications."

Parliament is due to convene next Tuesday for the first time in nearly a year amid an almost total deadlock between the pro-Damascus opposition and the Western-backed ruling majority which has accused Syria of Ghanem's murder. The majority alliance said it was the MPs "duty" to take part in the parliamentary session to elect a new head of state. It called on the Arab League, the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council to "take all the resolutions and adopt all arrangements in all spheres to guarantee the holding of presidential elections and protecting the republic."

It also urged foreign nations to adopt a "decisive stand" regarding the Syrian regime. Ghanem, killed along with four others in a car bombing on Wednesday in a Beirut suburb, was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former billionaire premier Rafiq Hariri. The majority accused Syria of "physically eliminating the deputies in order to prevent the presidential vote. "The Syrian regime has taken the decision to destroy Lebanon by blocking government actions, preventing the presidential election, creating chaos and resuming its hegemony over Lebanon," the majority statement said. It called for "massive participation" in Ghanem's funeral on Friday, a day of national mourning.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hezbollah's illegal networks in Lebanon removed
2007-09-13
Hello? Hello?
Is anybody there?
Anybody?
Helloooo?
Private communication networks installed illegally in Beirut by the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah have been removed, a cabinet minister said Wednesday. "Minister of Telecommunications Marwan Hamadeh informed the government that ... the cables that had been installed in Beirut have recently been removed," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after a cabinet meeting. "It is necessary to continue the action in the other regions" where the cables have also been also installed by Hezbollah, he told reporters.

On August 27, the government formed a committee to draft a report on information that Hezbollah had installed its own system of communication in Beirut, its suburbs and the south of the country. The Lebanese government had on August 8 disclosed that a secret underground telecommunications network has been set up by Hezbollah throughout south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh revealed that the installation of underground cables, which run parallel to the state's phone system, had been "discovered by chance and following rumors" in the southern town of Zawtar al-Sharqieh in the Nabatiyeh district.

Hamadeh said authorities would launch a "speedy" probe into the set up of a new phone line networking by Hezbollah in south Lebanon. He said that "technical reports" later showed that the work has expanded to reach Yohmor in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, with another wireless networking being set up between the southern port city of Tyre and Abbassieh as well as in other regions of Tyre province. Sources close to Hezbollah said such a network was set up for the "security protection" of the groups' leaders.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese government may cut off Hezbollah's illegal network
2007-08-29
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government is considering severing the private Hizbullah phone network, that originally started out in south Lebanon, and ended up in Beirut and its suburbs. "We agreed to draw a plan of action for a peaceful resolution of this issue, but we are serious about resolving it because it is a dangerous matter," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a lengthy cabinet session on Monday.

Aridi said the government formed a committee to draft a report on recent information that Hizbullah had installed its own communication infrastructure south Lebanon. He said initial reports has shown that the Hizbullah networks "went beyond (the southern village of) Zawtar Sharqiyeh … to reach Beirut and the suburbs of Beirut which are outside the security areas of the leadership of the resistance."

Aridi said the government was "determined to protect the Resistance (Hizbullah) and the symbols of the resistance from the Israeli enemy but the information that we gathered do not follow this logic." He did not elaborate further. The daily An Nahar, however, citing cabinet sources, said Tuesday that a report prepared by a ministerial committee confirmed that Hizbullah had privately installed phone networks that have reached Dahiyeh, or the southern suburbs, as well as the Ring and Riad Solh districts in downtown Beirut. The sources said the cabinet instructed Lebanese security forces to perform a "specific task" under which "appropriate measures" would be taken to deal with Hizbullah's move. They said the cabinet was considering authorizing a "security and technical team" to sever the phone network connections.

Siniora was quoted by a source as responding to Hizbullah's act, which was considered a violation to Lebanon's sovereignty, by sarcastically saying: "All we need is (Hizbullah) to ask a musician to compose a new national anthem."
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Abu Hureira, Fatah al-Islam's No. 2 killed by Lebanon police
2007-08-08
More detail on yesterday's story...
Police have killed Fatah al-Islam's No. 2 man, the deputy commander of the al-Qaida inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the government said Monday. Abu Hureira was killed a few days ago by police in the northern port city of Tripoli, near the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Fatah al-Islam militants have been fighting Lebanese soldiers for more than two months, said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi.
Being in Tripoli isn't the same thing as being surrounded in Nahr al-Bared...
"Cabinet was informed by Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa that Lebanese security forces have killed the Fatah al-Islam's No. 2 in the Abu Samra neighborhood" in Tripoli, Aridi told reporters following a Cabinet meeting. A senior police official said Abu Hureira was one of two men on a motorcycle who opened fire on a police checkpoint in Abu Samra. Police fired back, killing one and wounding the other.
The old Cycle of Violence™ trick, eh? That worked well.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements, said the wounded man disclosed during interrogation that his companion was Abu Hureira. He said DNA tests also indicated that Abu Hureira, and his parents provided a positive identification.
"Yep. That's Sonny. I'd recognize that turban anywhere!"
Police had been waiting for results of the genetic tests to announce the death. The whereabouts of Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name is Shehab al-Qaddour, had been unknown since fighting at the Nahr el-Bared camp erupted on May 20. Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Youssef Absi's whereabouts are still unknown. The police official said it was not clear how or when Abu Hureira had fled Nahr el-Bared or how long he had been in Tripoli.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese army kills Fatah Islam deputy commander
2007-08-07
Lebanese authorities announced Monday that the deputy commander of al-Qaida-inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon has been killed.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name is Shehab al-Qaddour, was killed few days ago by police in the northern port city of Tripoli, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared where Fatah Islam militants have been fighting Lebanese soldiers for more than two months. "Cabinet was informed by Interior Minister Hassan Sabei that Lebanese security forces have killed the Fatah Islam's No. 2 in the Abu Samra neighborhood" in Tripoli, Aridi told reporters following a Cabinet meeting Monday night.
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