Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.N. in Lebanon urges restraint after rocket attack

2009-01-15

There. That should do it.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The commander of a U.N. peacekeeping force urged Lebanon and Israel to exercise restraint after at least three rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday.

The Lebanese government condemned the attack, the second launched from Lebanon against Israel since it began its offensive in the Gaza Strip on December 27. Information Minister Tareq Mitri said it "gave Israel an excuse to harm the national interest."

The army deployed additional forces in the south to boost its "defensive capabilities," a military source said.

Labour Minister Mohammed Fneish, the Hezbollah minister in government, denied that the Lebanese political and military group had anything to do with the attack. "... we don't know who fired these rockets, we have nothing to do with it," Hezbollah's website quoted him as saying. "For the Israeli enemy to exploit this accident in order to use its aggression against Lebanon, that is something we condemn, reject and don't accept," he said, referring to Israel's response with artillery fire.

"Please don't stomp us!"

The group, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, denied any role in a similar attack last week. Israeli officials blamed smaller, armed Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

The Lebanese army and members of the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, also deactivated three rockets rigged to launch an hour after they had been found, the army said.

UNIFIL commander Major General Claudio Graziano urged maximum restraint after the early morning rocket salvo. He was working with both Lebanon and Israel to maintain the cessation of hostilities, UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said in a statement. There had been no claims of responsibility for the rocket attack, she said.

Israel responded with two barrages of artillery fire. There were no reports of damage or injury caused by the Israeli shells, Bouziane said. The rockets fired from Lebanon landed in open areas and caused no damage or injuries, she added.

There have been no claims of responsibility for the January 8 rocket attack from Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Baroud wants explanations not justifications for Hezbollah attack

2008-08-31

Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told the Voice of Lebanon radio station on Saturday that the attack by Hezbollah fighters on a Lebanese Army helicopter which resulted in the death of the Lebanese officer Samer Hanna requires "explanations, not justifications." He added "we also want to know the details."

"We also want details," Baroud said in a radio interview, which indicates that the judiciary has not been allowed to interrogate Hezbollah fighters who were in the Sujud southern region where the chopper was attacked on Thursday.

Hezbollah turned over one suspect to the judiciary saying he was the person who opened fire at the helicopter.

Baroud said that that the incident affected the Lebanese army's morale

He also said the judicial investigation into the event would continue "until the end," because Lebanon's political leaders have given their support to the judicial process.

Baroud continued : "Supporting the army is mandatory because it is the only protector of Lebanon, and it upholds its stability".

In a related development Information Minister Tareq Mitri said the "attack" against a military helicopter by Hezbollah fighters in the southern Sojod region raises "questions regarding the extent of coordination between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah."

Mitri, in a television interview, said "resisting an external attack is a non-controversial issue. This is the duty of the Lebanese people."

The problem, according to Mitri, is in "blocking the re-creation of the state for tens of years."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon denounces Syria's trespassing into Lebanese territory

2008-08-31

The Lebanese government during its meeting yesterday at the Baabda palace under President Michel Suleiman, has denounced the trespassing by Syria into Lebanese territory in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

The cabinet outlined the stand in its meeting Friday in reference to the digging by Syrian teams of two wells in the Deir al-Ashayer village which abuts Syrian territory. "The government denounced the trespassing into Lebanese territory in Deir al-Ashayer by digging two wells in Lebanese territory within property owned by Lebanese citizens," the government said.

Information Minister Tareq Mitri said President Suleiman "informed the cabinet that he is following up his contacts in this regards and a waits an thorough response."

Cabinet minister Wael Abou Faour had raised the issue during the cabinet meeting saying Syria has penetrated Lebanese territory to a distance of 100 meters from the border line to dig two wells.

Diplomatic sources noted that the cabinet's denunciation as well as Suleiman's comment on the reported trespassing did not mention Syria explicitly.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon Approves Weapons for Hizbullah

2008-08-05

(IsraelNN.com) Despite a clear UN resolution and a 19-year-old national agreement calling for the disarmament of all non-governmental militias, Lebanon's cabinet voted Monday to allow the Hizbullah terrorist organization to keep its weapons arsenal. The government decision specifically approves Hizbullah activities aimed at Israel.

Four ministers from Christian-majority parties represented in the government expressed "reservations" over the "resistance against Israel" clause, but Lebanese Information Minister Tareq Mitri said that "the document was approved unanimously."

According to Mitri, the government approved "the right of Lebanon, its people, its army and the resistance to liberate its land in the Shebaa Farms, Kfarshuba Hill and Ghajar," which are located on Israel's northern border with Lebanon. In an apparent contradiction with state recognition and approval accorded "the resistance" - a euphemism for Hizbullah - the statement declared that "the unity and the authority of the state would be the guiding principle of all government decisions and actions."

The Lebanese parliament must now approve the manifesto with a vote of confidence, which will allow the government to officially commence its administration. The new government was formed on July 11, following a violent insurrection in May by Hizbullah and other Shiite militias that forced the majority bloc to accept a Hizbullah veto over government decisions.

Manifesto Contradicts Lebanese, UN Obligations

The terms of the Lebanese government's policy statement allowing Hizbullah to retain its arsenal contradicts United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The UN-brokered ceasefire agreement ending the 2006 Second Lebanon War, embodied in Resolution 1701, called for the disarming of all non-governmental entities in Lebanon. More than two years later, that condition has yet to be fulfilled and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has stated outright that it would not enforce it. The closest UNIFIL has come to confronting Hizbullah, as reported by the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper, has been to issue "secret orders" to use "all means" to prevent Hizbullah forces from approaching Israeli pilots who may be shot down in Lebanon.

In addition to Resolution 1701, the Lebanese government manifesto violates the terms of the 1989 Taef Agreement, which was meant to be a "national reconciliation accord" ending a Lebanese civil war that had been raging for decades. According to the agreement, the State of Lebanon was to exercise authority "over all Lebanese territories gradually, with the state's own forces."

To that end, the Taef document calls for the "disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.... The militias' weapons shall be delivered to the State of Lebanon within a period of 6 months, beginning with the approval of the national accord charter.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Majority rejects Berri's proposal for ending the impasse

2008-07-28

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri suggested adopting phrases from the previous cabinet's policy statement concerning the "role of the resistance" in addition to UNSCR 1701 to facilitate drafting the new government's policy statement.

Al-Anwar newspaper on Sunday reported, citing ministerial sources, that PSP leader Walid Jumblatt has approved the proposal but Premier Fouad Siniora wasn't informed about it yet. Meanwhile, al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported the majority has rejected the proposal .

Information Minister Tareq Mitri said on Saturday, following a lengthy meeting for ministerial committee drafting the policy statement, there has been no agreement on who would resist, the state or Hezbollah, that is why we haven't reached an agreement on a policy statement.

Mitri said the ministerial committee drafting a policy statement for the new cabinet was encountering "differences in viewpoints regarding the role of the state in resisting occupation and the role of the resistance."

He said on Friday the committee would persist with its efforts until Monday and asked those "who want to speed up the committee's efforts to help us by promoting flexibility ... so that controversial issues that we fail to reach agreement on would be referred to national dialogue that would be sponsored by the president."

Hezbollah insisted that the policy statement should include clear adherence to the "resistance role" as outlined in the previous cabinet's policy statement adopted in 2005.

The ministerial committee, according to an-Nahar newspaper, has been working since Friday on social and economic issues and suspended discussions concerning the resistance role pending political consensus on it.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Tripoli Clashes and Lebanon Developments

2008-07-27

7:00pm Future TV: Security forces arrested six gunmen in Tripoli and were immediately taken to a police station for investigation.

5:30pm The Lebanese army vowed to crack down on security violators even by means of force.

5:15pm Sheikh Shaar said after the meeting that he is comfortable with the situation in Tripoli, particularly after security forces shouldered responsibility.

5:10pm Saniora called for a Saturday night meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with drafting a new cabinet policy statement.

4:15pm A second deployment of Lebanese army troops and security forces is taking place at Tripoli districts that were scene of bloody clashes Thursday and Friday.

2:35pm Commander of Internal Security Forces Gen. Ashraf Rifi said the army and his units are successfully implementing a security plan for Tripoli.

12:45pm Army units started deploying in Tripoli and responded to sources of fire in an effort to halt clashes.

10:50am Mufti Shaar said the army did not carry out its duty fully on Tripoli and I ask President Suleiman to treat Tripoli as a priority.

10:45am Mufti of Tripoli and North Lebanon Sheikh Malek Shaar called for a meeting at his office at 1pm to discuss the situation in Tripoli.

9:15am Information Minister Tareq Mitri said there has been no agreement on who would resist, the state or Hizbullah, that is why we haven't reached an agreement on a policy statement.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Backgrounder: Lebanon's new cabinet line-up

2008-07-12

(Xinhua) -- Lebanon finally formed a 30-member national unity government on Friday following a five-week political deadlock over key portfolios.

The new cabinet consists 16 ministers of the Western-backed ruling majority, 11 allied with the Shiite Hezbollah-led opposition and the rest three named by President Michel Suleiman. Following is the lineup of the new cabinet:

Prime Minister: Fouad Seniora

Deputy Prime Minister: Issam Abou Jamra

Defense Minister: Elias Murr

Foreign Minister: Fawzi Saloukh

Interior Minister: Ziad Baroud

Finance Minister: Muhammad Shatah

State Minister: Yousef Takla

State Minister: Khaled Kabbani

State Minister: Wael Abo Faour

State Minister: Nasib Lahoud

State Minister: Ali Qanso

State Minister: Jean Ogassapian

Justice Minister: Ibrahim Najjar

Administration Development Minister: Ibrahim Shamseddine

Public Works and Transportation Minister: Ghazi Ariedy

Telecommunications Minister: Gebran Bassil

Economy and Trade Minister: Muhammad Safadi

Information Minister: Tareq Mitri

Culture Minister: Tamam Salam

Minister of Refugee Affairs: Raymond Audi

Environment Minister: Antoine Karam

Youth and Sports Minister: Talal Arslan

Industry Minister: Ghazi Zoayter

Education Minister: Bahia Hariri

Agriculture Minister: Elias Skaf

Health Minister: Mohammad Khalifa

Energy Minister: Alan Toborian

Labor Minister: Mohammad Fneish

Minister for Social Affairs: Mario Aoun

Tourism Minister: Antoine Karam

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon talks in balance after Qatari proposal spurned

2008-05-20

Crisis talks between rival Lebanese leaders hung in the balance on Monday after the Hezbollah-led opposition rejected a Qatari proposal aimed at ending a crisis which took Lebanon to the brink of civil war.

The rebuff threatened to derail the talks with government representatives on their third day.

The talks' Qatari hosts had put forward compromise proposals calling for the immediate election of a new president by parliament and the formation of a unity government while postponing discussion of a proposed new electoral law.

But the Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition refused to postpone discussion of a new electoral law, while stressing that it remained committed to a deal brokered by the Arab League in Beirut last week which paved the way for the Doha talks.

"The Lebanese opposition stresses its adherence to... (firstly) agreeing on the representation (of parties) in the formation of a national unity government, and (secondly) to agree on a new electoral law," an opposition statement said.

"The agreement would be crowned by electing General Michel Sleiman as president as agreed."

The two sides have agreed on the army chief as a consensus candidate to succeed Damascus protege Emile Lahoud, who stood down at the end of his term of office in November without a successor in place.

But differences over the makeup of a new unity government and proposed changes to the electoral law have blocked his election, worsening a crisis that began in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet.

The 18-month-old deadlock erupted into bitter sectarian fighting earlier this month that saw 65 people killed, and Hezbollah and its Shiite allies briefly seize Sunni areas of west Beirut.

On Sunday, Qatar proposed the formation of a unity government of 30 ministers, with 13 from pro-government parties, 10 from the opposition and seven chosen by the newly elected president.

The opposition has insisted that it wants more than a third of cabinet posts.

The proposed changes to the electoral law could prove decisive in determining the outcome of parliamentary elections due next year.

The two sides differ over the size of constituencies for the elections amid opposing assessments of their political advantage.

Government delegates said the next step was up to the Qatari hosts after the opposition's rejection of their proposals.

Acting Foreign Minister Tareq Mitri accused the opposition of showing insufficient respect for the efforts of the Qatari mediators to find a compromise.

Prominent Christian leader Samir Geagea said the dialogue had been dealt a "heavy blow" by the opposition, which he charged "took matters back to square one."

Qatar has also proposed including a clause in the final statement of the talks requiring all sides to renounce any new resort to armed violence in internal Lebanese disputes.

Disagreements between the two sides over Hezbollah's large arsenal have proved an additional stumbling block in the talks, with the government representatives insisting that it be on the agenda.

Qatar sought to bridge the rift by offering to come up with a compromise proposal.

The head of the Hezbollah delegation, Mohammed Raad, said on Sunday: "The issue of the resistance, its arms and capabilities is not up for discussion."

Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat hit back by saying that "if the arms issue is not specifically addressed... then there will be nothing."

Druze MP Akram Shehaieb said the pro-government bloc wanted to address only the issue of the weapons used "against the Lebanese people in Beirut and the mountains" in the recent clashes. "The weaponry of the resistance is a Lebanese issue which will be debated in a (subsequent) dialogue led by the president in Lebanon," he said.

Hezbollah was the only group that was not required to surrender its weaponry after the end the 1975-1990 civil war. It has always justified its exemption on the grounds of its struggle with Israel, which erupted into a devastating war in summer 2006.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon bans cartoon Persepolis

2008-03-27

BEIRUT - The Oscar-nominated film Persepolis, which has annoyed authorities in Iran for its critical portrayal of the Islamic revolution, has been banned in Lebanon, officials said Wednesday, sparking an outcry.

One official at the interior ministrys general security department would not say why the French animated feature was banned, even though a censored version has been screened in Iran.

Because it made his masters in Teheran unhappy ...

But another official said the film had displeased the head of security services, who he claimed is close to the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. It is clear that... General Wafiq Jizzini is close to Hezbollah and he doesnt want to allow such a movie, which he believes gives an image of Iran as being worse off than it was before the shah, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity,

Jizzini could not be reached for comment.

And I wouldn't try too hard to talk to him ...

The decision to ban the film sparked an outcry in many circles, with some saying it smacked of hypocrisy and showed that some within the Lebanese government were cowtowing to Iran.

Culture Minister Tareq Mitri said he saw no reason why the film should be banned and that he had urged the interior ministry to rescind its decision.

You will after you've been threatened with a car bomb ...

Bassam Eid, production manager at Circuit Empire, the company that was to distribute the film, blasted the ban as ridiculous and unwarranted. The decision is even more ridiculous when you consider that you can buy for two dollars pirated copies of the film in Hezbollahs stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Eid told AFP. I purchased two copies of the film from the suburbs and from the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camp and handed one over to the culture minister.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a leading member of the ruling coalition that is locked in a standoff with the Hezbollah-led opposition, said he was stunned by this cultural faux-pas that allows a security service to evaluate artistic and cultural works.

The film, which shows its young heroines brushes with the authorities in the early days of the Islamic revolution in the 1980s, was screened in Iran last month but is not expected to be shown at mainstream cinemas. A success in the United States and France, Persepolis has been condemned by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads government as Islamophobic and anti-Iranian.

The film, which jointly won the Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar for best animated film, is based on comic strips by Iranian-French emigre Marjane Satrapi. Co-directed by Satrapi, it shows repression under the shah but also portrays the social crackdown, arrests and executions that followed the Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Israeli Troops Ordered to Advance to Lebanon's Litani River

2006-08-04

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the army late today to advance into southern Lebanon up to the Litani River after almost 500 rockets fell on Israel in the past two days, killing nine civilians.

The Defense Minster instructed the Israel Defense Forces this evening to prepare for the next stage of the operation...

``The Defense Minster instructed the Israel Defense Forces this evening to prepare for the next stage of the operation,'' a ministry spokeswoman said, speaking anonymously by regulation. ``The objective is to paralyze rocket launching areas of the short range rockets from the international border and up to the Litani.''

A push to the river, which runs across southern Lebanon and in some places is as many as 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Israel's northern border, would give Israel control of a stretch of land about 30 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers deep, and would mark an escalation in the conflict, now in its fourth week, with the militant Islamic group Hezbollah. Israel previously focused on air attacks on Beirut and other places, as well as limited incursions across the border.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Aug. 1 Israel won't stop fighting until a United Nations peacekeeping force great enough to contain Hezbollah is deployed in southern Lebanon. He said in an interview with The Times, London, published today that it would have to be about 15,000-strong. A UN meeting planned for today to discuss the force was canceled.

Cease-Fire Offer

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said ~~from his hidey hole~~ his fighters won't stop attacks until all Israeli soldiers leave Lebanon, while offering a cease-fire if Israeli halts assaults.

When you decide to halt your aggression on our cities, towns, civilians and infrastructure, we will not hit any settlement or town with rockets...

``When you decide to halt your aggression on our cities, towns, civilians and infrastructure, we will not hit any settlement or town with rockets,'' Nasrallah said ~~from a deep, deep, deep bunker and plenty of burly hard boyz guarding the door~~ in a speech broadcast on the group's al-Manar television station late today. Hezbollah seeks to inflict maximum casualties on Israel and is able to launch attacks on any town it chooses, he said, ~~"and as soon as I get out of the swimming pool behind Assad's guesthouse youse are gonna get it!"~~.

The UN has made little progress toward a cease-fire since U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left Israel July 31 after failing to broker an agreement. A French resolution calls for an immediate cease-fire. The U.S. has resisted such a halt until a political framework is in place to disarm Hezbollah and bar the group from control of southern Lebanon.

Israeli Air Strikes
Israeli air strikes today targeted missile launchers, Hezbollah offices and a vehicle carrying weapons, the army said. Hezbollah fired 150 rockets into Israel, killing four civilians in Acre and three in Maalot, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. An eighth died in Acre, Israeli medics said, making today the single deadliest day since July 16, when eight people also died.

In Lebanon, two soldiers were killed and two wounded north of Marwaheen, an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman said, speaking anonymously by regulation. That town is one of several new locations where Israeli forces are operating, said Milos Strugar, a spokesman for the UN Interim Force. Exchanges of fire in the area are ``heavy,'' Strugar said, and soldiers maintained a presence in the villages of Ayta al- Shaab, Maroun al-Ras, Mais al-Jabal and Kfarkila.

In a separate operation, aircraft fired missiles early today near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, killing eight Palestinians, unidentified Palestinian medical officials and witnesses said.

... Israeli forces had created a security zone encompassing 20 villages in Lebanon...

The army declined to comment on reports that Israeli forces had created a security zone encompassing 20 villages in Lebanon. Israel hasn't launched a full-scale military attack on Lebanon or Hezbollah since pulling troops out of an area of southern Lebanon held for 18 years until May 2000.

Israeli jets dropped leaflets at about 6:45 p.m. local time today on two areas in southern Beirut, urging its residents to leave, Lebanon's national news agency reported.

Lebanese Deaths
More than 900 Lebanese have been killed since the fighting began, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a video statement. Sixty-five Israelis have been killed, according to the military and police in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes by Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel and Israeli air raids in Lebanon.

Hezbollah's resisting so forcefully to Israel has raised their popularity...

Lebanon's acting foreign minister said he doubts that his government would agree to invite a European-led peacekeeping force into southern Lebanon because of opposition from Hezbollah and its allies Syria and Iran, the Washington Post reported today, citing an interview with Tareq Mitri in New York. ``Hezbollah's resisting so forcefully to Israel has raised their popularity'' during the current conflict and the group's views on the size and mandate of an international force must be considered, Mitri told the newspaper.

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