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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon: Jreissati Calls on STL President to Speed Up Trials

2018-04-19

[AAWSAT] Lebanese Justice Minister Salim Jreissati called on the Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) to accelerate its work in order to reach the truth about former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s liquidation. Jreissati met on Tuesday with the STL president, Ivana Hrdličková, who was heading a judicial and administrative delegation from the tribunal. According to available information, STL Prosecutor Norman Farrell filed a new indictment for the crimes against Georges Hawi, Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr. Farrell reportedly accused new Hezbollah officials, other than the five members of the party, who are being tried in absentia for the liquidation of Hariri. "Time is gold and the Tribunal has got to move forward; its harmonious work must prevail; which does not seem imminent," Jreissati said following the meeting. The justice minister, on the other hand, stressed that the meeting with Hrdličková was very productive, highlighting strong cooperation between the STL and the Lebanese government. Last month, the Registrar of the STL, Daryl Mundis met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... has him bumped off, too. during a working visit to Beirut and discussed various matters related to the work of the Tribunal. He also met with the Prosecutor General Samir Hammoud and members of the diplomatic community in Leb.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

March 14 Declares Geagea Its Presidential Candidate

2014-04-23

[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... succeeded on Tuesday in gathering the support of the March 14 alliance in his run for presidency, on the eve of a parliamentary session dedicated for holding the first round of vote on a new head of state. March 14 leaders convened in the evening at the Center House, and declared Geagea as their candidate for presidency. "We discussed the presidential elections and we stressed the importance of respecting constitutional deadlines," the alliance said in a statement after the talks. "And after communicating with all parties, leaders and political figures in the coalition, we confirm supporting the nomination of Geagea and we consider that his candidacy is a representation of the principles on which the Cedar Revolution and March 14 were based," it added. "We hope all MPs will consider (Wednesday's session) an opportunity to cross towards establishing a state in Leb." MTV noted that MPs Marwan Hamadeh, Antoine Saad and Fouad al-Saad attended March 14 coalition's meeting, hours after Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... announced the revival of the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc and the nomination of its member MP Henri Helou for the presidency. However, ars longa, vita brevis... it was not immediately clear whether they will vote for Geagea or Helou. Earlier in the day, both the Kataeb Party and al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc also announced that Geagea is their presidential candidate. The Kataeb Party stated that it will attend Wednesday's parliamentary session aimed at electing a new president.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

March 14 Hands U.N. Petition Demanding STL Probe All Assassinations

2014-02-28

[An Nahar] The March 14 forces on Thursday handed the U.N. secretary-general's representative in Leb a petition demanding the expansion of the Special Tribunal for Leb's mandate to cover all liquidations against March 14 figures. "We handed the U.N. secretary-general's representative in Leb a petition signed by 69 MPs and demanding the expansion of the STL's jurisdiction to involve all liquidation crimes that targeted Lebanese leaders, from the attempt on MP Marwan Hamadeh's life to the liquidation of martyr minister Mohammed Shatah," al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc MP Atef Majdalani said after a March 14 delegation handed the petition to U.N. Special Coordinator for Leb Derek Plumbly. According to Majdalani, the petition was signed by four premiers and former premiers and the parliamentary blocs of al-Mustaqbal, the National Struggle Front, the Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... , the Phalange Party The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. , and independent MPs. "The criminals managed to assassinate an elite group of our leaders but they did not and will not manage to evade punishment or break the will of the Lebanese to achieve freedom, independence and decent living," Majdalani stressed.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

STL: Prosecution Unveils Route Taken by Booby-Trapped Truck to Reach St. Georges

2014-01-17

[An Nahar] The opening session of the Special Tribunal for Leb trials witnessed a recollection of the bloody scenes of February 14, 2005, as the incidents of that day were demonstrated through pictures, videos and the oversized maquette of the scene of the crime which was placed in the middle of the courtroom. These scenes evoked feelings of sadness and grief among the families of the victims and culminated to anger against the perpetrators of the crime. Some of the relatives sat inside the courtroom, led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , who seemed to be fastened to his seat for long hours as if he was not believing what his eyes were seeing. The wife of one of the February 14 victims said the Prosecution's demonstration introduced her to previously unheard-of details about her husband's martyrdom. Although the Prosecution did not exhibit during the first day anything other than the details of the indictment that was announced several months ago, observers who attended the session stopped at a number of new elements that the Prosecution had never mentioned in the past and which he is expected to thoroughly address as the trials move forward. The new elements that were revealed during the opening session can be summarized as follows: 1. The information about the "green" mobile phone network which was used for months by a group involved in the liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri: It turned out that the mobile phone lines were postpaid rather than prepaid and were purchased using nine fake identification papers -- one ID for each two lines. One person was tasked with paying the bills at the main headquarters of the Alfa mobile phone operator in Furn al-Shebbak for a long period of time. It was noteworthy during the Prosecution's demonstration the information that five of these lines were permanently terminated on October 1, 2004 -- the day of the attempt on MP Marwan Hamadeh's life. This fact could become the basis of linking the Hamadeh case to Hariri's case at the judicial level. 2. For the first time ever, the Prosecution announces that the telecom data evidence is backed up by other pieces of evidence that have nothing to do with the so-called "co-location." The Prosecution also hinted that the content of some SMSes that are in its possession would clarify the identities of the users of some mobile phone lines that were used in the crime. 3. The Prosecution did not settle for the evidence of co-location between mobile phone lines to defend its accusations. It demonstrated two other points that are of the same importance: the first tackled the political stances and decisions that prompted the criminals to launch the process of monitoring Hariri's activities as well as the elements that led to intensifying the surveillance actions, while the second point addressed the movements of ex-PM Hariri and his shuttling between his Qureitem residence, the presidential palace in Baabda, the parliament building in downtown Beirut, the Beirut airport and his house in Faqra, Kesrouan. 4. For the first time ever, the Prosecution reveals that it has documented information about the routes that are relatively far from the scene of the crime that were taken by the booby-trapped Mitsubishi truck. All the previous available footage showed the truck as it approached the Phoenicia Hotel. But the videos exhibited by the Prosecution on Thursday included footage taken from cameras that captured the entry and exit of the truck to and from the Suleiman Franjieh Tunnel, which can only be accessed from three routes: the Salim Salam-Zoqaq al-Blat tunnel, Beshara al-Khoury and Ashrafiyeh. This presentation could be the prelude to new videos that would show how the truck came from locations that are beyond the Suleiman Franjieh Tunnel. Specialists in criminal cases are saying that the Prosecution could not have demonstrated all the evidence it has in the indictment it issued months ago or in the presentation it made during the opening session of the trials. They are also saying that according to the history of criminal trials, it is safe to say that what's awaiting the accused is a lot more than what has already been announced until the moment, and that the Prosecution possesses undisclosed information that surpass anything imagined by those who are questioning the STL and its capabilities.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hamadeh Hits Back at Aoun, Says His Ministers Hired 'Hizbullah Cronies' at Telecom Ministry

2013-09-18

[An Nahar] MP Marwan Hamadeh on Tuesday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... over remarks related to Hizbullah's controversial telecom grid in Zahle, accusing ministers loyal to Aoun of employing "Hizbullah cronies" at the Ministry of Telecommunications. Aoun "protected Hizbullah's May 2008 coup against the Lebanese government, which tried back then to prevent Hizbullah from installing its illegal telecom network," Hamadeh said, noting that the party "invaded the capital Beirut and attacked Mount Leb" to thwart the government's efforts. Hamadeh reminded the FPM leader that former telecom "minister Jebran Bassil was the one who assumed the telecom ministry portfolio after the Doha settlement which followed the May coup, and it was him and the minister who succeeded him (Nicolas Sehnaoui) who brought Hizbullah cronies to the heart of the telecom ministry and technically abolished the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority." The MP, who served as telecom minister in Fouad Saniora's cabinet, hailed "the residents, MPs and dignitaries of Zahle for their steadfastness" and lauded the municipality and residents of the Bekaa town of Tarshish, where a similar confrontation over Hizbullah's grid had taken place in the past. Hamadeh called on the military and security institutions to "draw lessons from the vigor of the Lebanese public opinion and prevent any May 7-like coup." Earlier on Tuesday, Aoun said: "Whoever allowed Hizbullah to expand its telecommunications network in the Bekaa town of Zahle must resolve this issue to prevent unrest similar to that of May 7, 2008." "What did former Premier Fouad Saniora and then Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr do on May 5 and 7, 2008?" he asked. Gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut's neighborhoods on May 7, 2008 after the government of then PM Saniora tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network, which Hizbullah says is for purely military purposes related to its conflict with Israel. The fighting that left scores dead brought the country to the brink of a new civil war. Tensions were running high in Zahle after members of Hizbullah attempted to expand the party's telecommunications network in the area on Sunday evening.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Aoun: Expansion of Hizbullah Network in Zahle Must Be Resolved to Avert Another 'May 7'

2013-09-18

[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... stated on Tuesday that Hizbullah's expansion of its telecommunications network can be attributed to the failure to address this issue back in 2008 when this case first arose. He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: "Whoever allowed Hizbullah to expand its telecommunications network in the Bekaa town of Zahle must resolve this issue to prevent unrest similar to that of May 7, 2008." "What did former Premier Fouad Saniora and then Ministers Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr do on May 5 and 7, 2008?" he asked. "We did not allow the establishment of this network and I cannot resolve problems that emerged in the 1990s," he declared. Asked what the residents of Zahle should do to confront Hizbullah's actions, Aoun replied: "Let them block roads." Commenting on stalled efforts to exploit Leb's offshore oil and gas wealth, he remarked: "It seems that there is a conspiracy to prevent the country from exploiting this wealth. "We all know who is responsible for calling the government to convene," he added. "It would be a disaster if we fail to exploit our oil wealth. It would be a shame if this wealth is not exploited due to some official's negligence," the MP noted. Gunmen belonging to Hizbullah and its allies swept through Beirut's neighborhoods on May 7, 2008 after the government of then PM Saniora tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network. The fighting that left scores dead brought the country to the brink of a new civil war. Tensions were running high in Zahle after members of Hizbullah attempted to expand the party's telecommunications network in the area on Sunday evening. Residents of the city protested the move and temporarily blocked the road in the area. The army soon intervened and set up checkpoints in the industrial zone and security forces deployed patrols in the city, which led to Hizbullah's withdrawal from the area. There was an uproar in October 2011 when Hizbullah allegedly attempted to expand its telecommunications network in the Tarshish region on the outskirts of Zahle. The residents thwarted the attempts and Telecommunications Ministry at the time denied any party actions in the region.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Report: Mamlouk Sent Hizbullah New List of Assassination Targets

2013-02-11

[An Nahar] A top Syrian security official has recently sent Hizbullah a list of Lebanese political and military personalities targeted for assassination, the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper reported on Sunday. The daily quoted a Gulf diplomat in Abu Dhabi as saying that the list, which includes 13 names, was sent by Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, who has been charged by a Lebanese military court of involvement along with ex-Information Minister Michel Samaha in a terror plot to destabilize Lebanon. Arrest warrants in absentia were issued on Monday against Mamlouk and his aide known only by his first name as Adnan. A Gulf intelligence agency informed Lebanese security apparatuses several days ago about the list that was provided by a suspect arrested in the UAE, the diplomat said. The Lebanese suspect struck a deal with UAE authorities to provide the names in return for his release and deportation to a country of his choice, he said. The list reportedly includes the names of al-Mustaqbal lawmakers Ahmed Fatfat, Nuhad al-Mashnouq, Khaled al-Daher, Moeen al-Merehbi and former general prosecutor Saeed Mirza. Other names on the list are MP Marwan Hamadeh, who was the target of an assassination attempt in 2004, Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and opposition lawmaker Butros Harb. Geagea escaped gunfire at his residence in Maarab last year while Harb was also the target of an assassination plot that was thwarted when the residents of a building where he has an office in Badaro saw suspects placing a bomb in the elevator. Other well known March 14 opposition officials on the list are al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is in Paris for over a year, and Phalange MP Sami Gemayel, who was reportedly warned by security forces on several occasions that he could be the target of an assassination attempt. Two other army generals are on the list, al-Seyassah said, adding that they are tipped to succeed army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji. Late last year, reports said that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel received a list of 15 names targeted for assassination.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Issues Arrest Warrants against Leb Pols

2012-12-12

[An Nahar] Syria issued on Tuesday arrest warrants against former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... MP Oqab Saqr, and Syrian opposition member Louay al-Meqdad. MTV said the arrest warrants were issued on charges of "arming and financing terrorist groups in Syria." According to information obtained by the TV network, the Syrian judiciary sent the warrants to the Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... -based criminal investigations office of the Arab Interior Ministers Council. The office in turn emailed the warrants to the Interpol office of Leb's Internal Security Forces which submitted them to Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. For his part, the minister informed State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr of the content of the warrants, MTV added. The development came a day after Judge Saqr requested the questioning of Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk and a colonel identified only as Adnan as suspects in the case of former Minister Michel Samaha. He also summoned Buthaina Shaaban, Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... ... 's media adviser, to be questioned as a witness in the case. Samaha was tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in August on charges of forming a criminal gang aimed at carrying out attacks in Leb at Syria's behest. Mamlouk and Syrian colonel Adnan have been also charged in the affair. OTV and al-Akhbar newspaper recently revealed that MP Saqr had been carrying out arms deals with Syrian opposition members, with the television station airing leaked recordings of conversations between the politician and Meqdad. MP Saqr last week gave a presser, accusing OTV and al-Akhbar of tampering with the audiotapes and saying that he will file a lawsuit against them. In October 2010, Syria ordered the arrest of 33 people over alleged false testimonies given in the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb, which is probing the liquidation of Lebanese former Premier Rafik Hariri. The Lebanese defendants include Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, MP Marwan Hamadeh, former General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza and former Justice Minister Charles Rizk, as well as politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Jumblat Lays Syria Rebel Flag on Father's Tomb

2012-03-17

[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... on Friday saluted "the deaders of the Arab Syrian revolution which will remain stronger than the tyrants," on the 35th anniversary of the liquidation of his father, Kamal Jumblat. During a ceremony to commemorate his slain father in Baaqlin, Jumblat stressed the need for "democratic dialogue, no matter how sharp the political debate is in Leb," noting that political quarreling "will get sharper." "Thirty-five years ago, nature raged and cried for Kamal Jumblat and for the hundreds who were assassinated as result of ignorance, malice and bigotry on that day, and today nature cries and rages again," Jumblat said, referring to the stormy weather in Leb on Friday and to the vengeance killings against Christian residents of Mount Leb in the wake of Kamal Jumblat's liquidation. "We closed up the wound with (former) Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir" in 2001, Jumblat added, in reference to the reconciliation achieved that year. Jumblat also announced the end of his dispute with MP Marwan Hamadeh, saying "we closed up the wound." Speaking at the same ceremony in Baaqlin, his hometown, Hamadeh said "the bullets of the spiteful Syrian regime killed Kamal Jumblat." "The Druze of Syria are the heroes of the historic unity and the Druze had confronted the dictatorships in Syria," he stressed. "The Druze of Syria are confronting the conspiracy of detaching them from their environment," Hamadeh said, calling on the Druze community in Syria not to "fall into the trap of the regime." "The Syrian people will not accept the repetition of another Deir Yassin massacre at the hands of Bashir al-Assad," Hamadeh added. Earlier on Friday, Jumblat placed the Syrian rebels' flag on the grave of his father in al-Mukhtara. "After 35 years, this is the day to tell the truth, to myself and to others ... Long live free Syria!" he said after placing the flag.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bellemare Reportedly Referred New Indictment to Fransen

2012-02-18

Special Tribunal for Leb Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare referred a new indictment to Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen in the attacks on the three Lebanese officials that have been linked to ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday. Sources close to the prosecutor's office told the daily that Bellemare referred to Fransen in the past few days the new indictment in the liquidation attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh, ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader George Hawi. Media reports had said that Bellemare was expected to issue a new indictment before he leaves his post in March. His successor has not yet been named. The sources didn't disclose the content of the indictment, hinting that it might include a fifth suspect linked to Hariri's Feb. 2005 liquidation. STL front man Marten Youssef said during an interview with An Nahar newspaper this month that Bellemare can follow two ways to refer an indictment to Fransen: either discreetly, or he can refer it without revealing its context (to the public). Eight lawyers have been selected to represent four Hizbullah members due to be tried in absentia for Hariri's liquidation. Each of the four defendants will have a counsel and co-counsel who "are fully independent and can choose any strategy they see best fit to defend the rights of the accused," the court has said. The Hague-based tribunal indicted Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra and sent arrest warrants for them to Lebanese authorities in June last year. But the authorities in Leb have so far failed to arrest them.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hizbullah Condemns UNIFIL Attack as Opposition Blames It and Syria

2011-12-10

[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Friday condemned the kaboom earlier in the day on a French UNIFIL patrol in southern Leb, as the opposition March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... camp claimed the incident was a message from Syria and that Hizbullah was "the messenger." Opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh immediately blamed Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... for the attack, saying it was orchestrated with the help of its Lebanese ally Hizbullah. "It is clear that Syria was behind what happened today and the messenger was Hizbullah," he told Agence La Belle France Presse. "Nothing happens in that region without Hizbullah's approval," he said. "The Syrians have accused La Belle France of being at the forefront of what they believe is a foreign plot to destabilize their country and everyone felt that something was bound to happen," Hamadeh added. Hizbullah in a statement denounced the attack saying it targeted Leb's security and sought to destabilize the southern part of the country. "We urge the Lebanese security agencies to exert utmost efforts to put an end to such attacks," the party said. Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... the opposition Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... warned against the presence of "armed organizations which the state has allowed to operate outside its authority under the slogan 'the army, the people and the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... "The presence of these illegitimate armed forces outside state control is what provides the necessary elements for such security incidents -- from the security cover, weapons and explosives to the trained members and their freedom of movement and financing, " the LF said. The Democratic Renewal Movement noted that "amid these circumstances," the attack "can only be interpreted as an attempt to influence the French stance on the current events in Syria." A bomb struck a French U.N. peacekeeping patrol near the coastal city of Tyre on Friday, wounding five soldiers in an attack President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... said was aimed at driving French troops out the country. The incident marks the third such attack this year against the U.N. Interim Force in Leb (UNIFIL) and comes at a sensitive time when Leb is bracing for a possible fallout from the nine-month uprising in neighboring Syria. A security official told Agence La Belle France Presse that the 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) blast was caused by a roadside kaboom that targeted a French UNIFIL patrol as it drove on the southern outskirts of the coastal city of Tyre. Officials said five peacekeepers as well as two civilian passersby were hurt. The Lebanese army said in a statement that one of the peacekeepers was severely maimed in the face.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Report: Indictment in Hamadeh's Murder Attempt to be Issued in Dec.

2011-12-06

[An Nahar] Special Tribunal for Leb Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen is expected to issue an indictment in the liquidation attempt of MP Marwan Hamadeh this month, informed sources said. The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that the indictment will be issued before Christmas. Fransen would later issue the indictments in the liquidation attempt of former Minister Elias Murr and the killing of ex-communist party leader George Hawi, they said. The tribunal established jurisdiction over the three attacks in August. According to the tribunal's statute, a case is connected to the Feb. 2005 liquidation of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri if it is of a "similar nature and gravity" and has a number of elements in common with it, such as "the criminal intent (motive), purpose behind the attacks, the nature of the victims targeted, the pattern of the attacks (modus operandi) and the perpetrators." According to Article 1 of the statute, the tribunal has jurisdiction over attacks that occurred in Leb between October 1, 2004 and December 12, 2005 but only if their connectedness to the Hariri attack is determined by the pre-trial judge. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... al-Hayat said that the STL sent a letter to General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza asking him about the efforts of Lebanese authorities to find the four Hizbullah suspects indicted in Hariri's murder. Mirza, in his turn, handed the letter to Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, the newspaper reported. The four Hizbullah members are Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra.

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