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."
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.
As the assassins attempt to reduce Lebanon's majority by killing off members of the anti-Syrian coalition, the Lebanese government must prevent any new bloodshed by immediately replacing the slain politicians.
Two Palestinians who belong to the mainstream Fatah movement were wounded late Monday in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon during a clash with a member of a fundamentalist Palestinian group, Palestinian sources said. The sources said two Fatah members were wounded in the legs when an armed member of the new Fatah al-Islam movement opened fire on them in the Naher al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. Sources inside Fatah al-Islam said, 'The incident was the result of a personal dispute.'
(KUNA) -- Lebanon's Chief Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher has started questioning suspects of the Fath Al-Islam network the government said was involved in blowing up two buses in northern Lebanon last month, sources told KUNA on Wednesday. They added that Magistrate Mezher would issue bills of charges for the four suspects.
The now infamous Syrian witness 
The Lebanese government is offering "a financial reward to whoever provides information" on the terrorist bombings that have rocked Beirut and killed at least six people during the past seven months. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the Cabinet's weekly session yesterday, which took place at the Presidential Palace that the decision was taken "for Interior Minister [
Accusations and counterattacks continued to engulf the political scene yesterday, one day after a highly charged government session described as "lively" by Premier Fouad Siniora degenerated into a heated and reportedly vulgar row over the country's security sector. In comments on the Cabinet's failure to come to a decision on how to strengthen the precarious security apparatus, Walid Jumblatt indirectly laid the blame on President Emile Lahoud, saying: "The Lebanese people must know who stands in the way of appointing new security chiefs; we hold him responsible for the continued bombing and assassinations."