News

 Wednesday June 20, 2007

A Lebanese army officer said Wednesday the military was now in full control of the new part of Nahr al-Bared.
"All of the buildings in the new part of Nahr al-Bared where the terrorists were dug in have been taken, and one could say fighting has stopped in this area," an army officer told AFP.
Lebanese troops earlier on Wednesday were clearing out the remaining pockets of resistance in Nahr al-Bared, Future TV said.
It said the army’s artillery continued shelling the southern front, cornering diehard militants in what has been known as the "old camp," a small segment on the southern tip of Nahr al-Bared.

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Lebanese helicopters fly after firing at targets at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, June 19, 2007. (Loay Abu Haykel/Reuters)

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Arab League Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, left, meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, right, at the government house in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday June 19, 2007. Moussa began a three-day visit to Beirut on Tuesday to hold meetings with rival politicians in an attempt to help find a solution to the political crisis. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Tuesday June 19, 2007

- Exclusive Report

EXCLUSIVE - “Al Anbaa called MP Walid Eido 15 mins prior to his assassination: the court…”

 

Bush says all options on table on Iran
Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:47PM EDT

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated on Tuesday that all options were on the table in dealing with Iran's nuclear challenge.

At the start of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush was asked if military action remained an option for dealing with Iran.

"My position has not changed. All options are on the table. I would hope that we could solve this diplomatically," he replied.

Bush said it was important that Iran faced "consequences" such as sanctions and other economic measures for defying the international community over its nuclear program. "There's a price to be paid," Bush said.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

New Today's NEWS [ LINK ] (wait for it to load)
- New Updated Blog [ Cedars Revolution Blog ]

New UN Sec Council Resolution 1757 [ .pdf ]
- New UN 1757 Meeting Record [ .pdf ]

- Cedars Revolution Blog Stories

Kommersant - Russian Mig-31E to Syria with Iranian Money

PRAVDA - Russia to sell large batch of jets to Syria on Iran’s money

UN - Security Council Video Briefing - Lebanon

UN - Spokesperson’s Noon Briefing Questions and Answers

UN - Security Council Statement to investigate murder of Walid Eido

UN - HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING 18 June 2007

UN - SG STRONGLY DEPLORES ROCKET ATTACK ON ISRAEL

UN - SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON LEBANON

Levant Watch BULLETIN No.197 - Levant News

Elias Bejjani Syria, Iran behind firing rockets on Israel

Lebanon: Syria’s opponents remain targets

Walid Phares Syro-Iranian massacre of politicians in Lebanon

Elias Bejjani No peace w/o international forces along borders

Standing up to killers: Syria must answer for its murders

MEMRI - Saudi columnist in scathing criticism of Hezbollah and Syria

Syrian and Iranian Generals in Intensive War Consultations

Recent killings of top Lebanese figures

Profile: The Late Beirut MP Walid Eido

UN Security Council statement condemns Beirut terrorist attack

Statement by Sec Condoleezza Rice - Assassination of Walid Eido

Moscow Releases Nuclear Fuel for Iran’s Bushehr Reactor

UN Security Council Meeting - 1559

Levant Watch BULLETIN No.196 - Levant News

 

Briefs

1140 GMT -- ISRAEL -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak took over as defense minister June 19. He replaces former Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who was widely criticized for his handling of the conflict with Hezbollah.

1135 GMT -- ISRAEL, PNA -- Israeli tanks June 19 entered the Gaza Strip near the Erez Crossing, close to where nearly 150 Palestinians have been trapped since attempting to flee Gaza when Hamas took over. An Israeli army spokesman said the army entered to protect the crossing, where a security officer loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was shot down and several others wounded June 18.

 

Russian MiG delivery for Syria
Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:25:58
A MiG-31E fighter-interceptor
Russia has begun to implement a contract it signed with Syria for the delivery of five MiG-31E fighter-interceptors.

Rosoboronexport signed the contract with Damascus at the beginning of the year, Russia's online daily Kommersant reported Tuesday.

Syria is receiving planes from the reserve of the Russian Air Force that are being modified to the purchaser's specifications because production of the MiG-31 was halted in 1994.

“Export orders are starting to come in for the MiG-31. We are offering the MiG-31E on a trade-in basis for countries that have the MiG-25 interceptor,” deputy general director of the state MiG Russian Aviation Construction Corp. Vladimir Vypryazhkin told Kommersant on Monday.

Libya and Syria are the only countries that have MiG-25 fighter-interceptor and recognizance aircraft at present. India recently retired its MiG-25s.

MiG-31E fighter-interceptors are being sold abroad for the first time and are similar in their technical specifications to the MiG-35 model Russia is now offering India.

The total value of the contract for the MiG-31 and MiG-29M/M2 aircraft is estimated at $1 billion.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was in Moscow last December for negotiations with his Russian counterpart, during which he expressed willingness to replace the country's aging MiG-25 planes with the version of MiG-29 or MiG-31.

HRF/BGH

 

Two more Lebanese soldiers were killed on Tuesday during intense fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants holed up in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, an army spokesman said.

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A man at right fires a gun as the coffin of Lebanese Army soldier Mohamad Farouk Halag, 23, is carried to be buried in a graveyard in the village of Nabey Yisha in northern Lebanon, Tuesday, June 19, 2007. Halag was one of three Lebanese soldiers killed Monday by an explosion in the Palestinian Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. Lebanon's army continued to battle al-Qaida-inspired fighters in the camp on Tuesday as the troops inched toward the militants' strongholds. Officials said two more soldiers were killed in the fighting. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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Smoke trails from projectiles are seen during fighting in the Palestinian Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 19, 2007. Lebanon's army battled al-Qaida-inspired fighters in the camp in northern Lebanon on Tuesday as the troops inched toward the militants' strongholds. Officials said two soldiers were killed in the fighting. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

 Monday June 18, 2007

Three Lebanese soldiers were killed in clashes with Fatah al-Islam terrorists in north Lebanon's Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.
A previously unknown militant Islamic group which calls itself the "Jihadi Badr Brigades-Lebanon Branch" claimed Monday responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel and vowed it would continue its attacks on the Jewish State.

 A previously unknown militant Islamic group which calls itself the "Jihadi Badr Brigades-Lebanon Branch" claimed Monday responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel and vowed it would continue its attacks on the Jewish State. Naharnet

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Damascus ordered Sunday's Katyusha attack on N. Israeli Kiryat Shemona, causing no casualties. But there is more to come

June 17, 2007, 11:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

A Katyusha rocket that did not explode in Wadi Taibeh north of Israeli border

A Katyusha rocket that did not explode in Wadi Taibeh north of Israeli border

The three 107mm rockets fired against Kiryat Shemona from Wadi Taiba Sunday, June 17, by a Palestinian radical group called Ansar Allah based in the Ain Hilwa refugee camp near Sidon was ordered by Syrian military intelligence as the first in a series,DEBKAfile’s military sources report. Hizballah intelligence officers supplied the rockets and pinpointed the launching site to make sure they struck the Israeli town. Residents rushed for bomb shelters for the first time since the Lebanon War ended eleven months ago. A factory and parked vehicles were damaged.

The hit squad drove up in a rental Toyota, rigged the rockets and drove off.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that Syria and Hizballah are preparing an escalating series of rocket barrages against norhern Israel civilian and military locations in the coming weeks. It is a stage in an overall plan orchestrated by Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah to stage attacks in Lebanon, Israel and Palestinian territory. Its objectives are to destabilize the pro-Western Siniora government in Beirut and whittle down Israel’s deterrent strength.

Rocketing Kiryat Shemona was Stage 3 of the plan. Two rockets damaged a factory and a parked vehicle in separate parts of Kiryat Shemona. A third landed near a UNIFIL position inside Lebanon.

Stage one is the five-week old radical Islamic, pro-Damascus uprising in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, which the Lebanese army has not yet subdued. Stage two was Hamas’ just-completed capture of the Gaza Strip from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that in the name of “restraint,” Israel’s government and military leaders refrain from connecting the dots of the campaign ahead and its links to Tehran and Damascus in time to foil it, in the same way as they glossed over Hizballah’s build-up for the 2006 Lebanon war.

According to our intelligence sources, a former Fatah officer called Jamal Suleiman is Ansar Allah’s leader. He moved to Damascus in the 1980s and returned to the Ain Hilwa in Lebanon in April loaded with cash. He then began recruiting for his Ansar al Allah, working to exactly the same Damascus-designed format as the Fatah al-Islam was embedded in the northern camp of Nahr al-Bared.

If Israeli leaders refuse to call a spade a spade, Fatah leaders are more outspoken. Sunday, Azam al Ahmad declared in an interview in Ramallah that the perpetrators of the crime [against the Palestinian Authority in Gaza] are the same people who sent assassins to murder the Lebanese politician Rafiq Hariri, “Both come from the same hand [Syria],” he said.

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Onlookers stand at the scene of a rocket attack in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona June 17, 2007. Two Katyusha rockets hit Kiryat Shmona near the border with Lebanon on Sunday, the Israeli army and police said. It was the first such attack since last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. REUTERS/Haim Azulay (ISRAEL)

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A Lebanese army officer speaks on his mobile as he stands near a rocket apparently left behind by guerrillas at the alleged site where rockets were fired into northern Israel from an area between the southern Lebanese villages of Adaisseh and Taibe. Militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel for the first time in 10 months, with the army saying a Palestinian organisation was behind the strike, without naming it.(AFP/Ali Dia)

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A Lebanese army officer shows journalists a Katyusha rocket found in a field of olives in Taibeh village, southern Lebanon, June 17, 2007. Two Katyusha rockets hit the nothern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona near the border with Lebanon on Sunday, the Israeli army and police said. Witnesses in south Lebanon said a Lebanese army patrol found the launch site near Taibeh where one of the Katyusha rocket apparently failed to launch. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher (LEBANON)

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Indonesian U.N. peacekeepers, stand in front of an unfired 107 millimeter rocket that was set to be launched to Israel, in the southern Lebanese village of Taibeh, at the Lebanese-Israeli border, Lebanon, Sunday June 17, 2007. The Lebanese army discovered a rocket that was set to be launched Sunday on Israel and prevented it from being fired, shortly after three were launched and two landed in the Jewish state, Lebanon's military said in a statement. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

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Israeli soldiers prepare mobile artillery units by the Israel-Lebanon border, near the northern town of Kiryat Shmona June 18, 2007. Suspected Palestinian fighters in Lebanon hit a northern Israeli town with two Katyusha rockets on Sunday, Lebanese and Israeli officials said. Israeli forces did not retaliate and the government made clear it wanted no escalation into another border war. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL)

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, pictured 03 June 2007, on Sunday for talks which focused on the fallout from Hamas's bloody seizure of Gaza and the situation in southern Lebanon.(AFP/File/Yuri Cortez)

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Newly-appointed prime minister Salam Fayyad (R) shakes hands with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (L) during the swearing in ceremony of the new emergency cabinet in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas swore in a new cabinet on Sunday and outlawed Islamist Hamas fighters after their violent seizure of Gaza, as Israel came under rocket fire from Lebanon in a new front to the crisis.(AFP/Abbas Momani)

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A flash is seen as a Lebanese Army tank fires at a building during fighting in the Palestinian Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, Lebanon, Monday, June 18, 2007. Fierce fighting erupted in and around the besieged camp in northern Lebanon on Monday as Lebanese troops resumed bombardment of al-Qaida-inspired militants barricaded inside. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, walks with Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Syria Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa at the Ash-Shaeb presidential palace Monday June 18, 2007. Al-Sabab flew in earlier in the day for talks with Assad on regional issues, especially the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iraq. His visit is part of a three-nation Arab tour that would take him to Jordan and Egypt .(AP Photo Bassem Tellawi).

 Sunday June 17, 2007

Shocking: NBN TV Gloats about Assassination

Iranian and Syrian Funded NBN TV Gloats about the Assassination of MP Walid Eido. Nabih Berri Network is the TV station of Nabih Berri, he is the leader of Amal, his movement is supported, funded, trained and many believe directed by Syria and Iran. 

Watch this Shocking Video and let us all consider what Syria and Iran are really doing in the Lebanon.

Also to those who conspire with Syria and Iran, "There can be No Peace and Stability without Justice" (Z.Kalilzad 5/30/2007 in passing UNSCR 1757)

Lebanese army helicopters fire four guided air-to-ground missiles at radical positions in northern refugee camp
June 17, 2007

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Lebanese army helicopters fire four guided air-to-ground missiles at radical positions in northern refugee camp Sunday

It was the second time guided missiles had been used against Fatah al-Islam and their pro-Damascus allies in the Nahr al-Bared camp under siege for a month.

The two French-made Gazelle helicopters were provided by the United Arab Emirates. Debka

The Lebanese army has wrested control over 90 percent of Fatah al-Islam strongholds in the northern Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, the state-run National News Agency said Sunday.
It said the southern and eastern parts of Nahr al-Bared were now under "full army control."

Police arrested four people in connection with the kidnapping of three policemen in south Beirut.
The Lebanese army is close to winning the war against terrorists from Fatah al-Islam holed up inside the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. (From An Nahar - Naharnet.com)

Phares Op Ed: "Syro-Iranian massacre of politicians in Lebanon"
By Phares Op Ed, Jun 15, 2007
 
Syro-Iranian massacre of politicians in Lebanon
Walid Phares

Return to Main Page With the assassination of Lebanese MP Jebran Tueni in December 2006, months after the murder of political leaders George Hawi and Samir Qassir during the summer, the Syro-Iranian terror war room had opened a bloody hunt against the democratically elected Lebanese Parliament. After the withdrawal of regular Syrian forces from Lebanon in April 2005, Bashar Assad and his allies in Tehran designed a counter offensive (which we described then and later) aiming at crumbling the Cedars Revolution. One of the main components of this strategy was (and remain) to use all intelligence and security assets of Syria and Iran in Lebanon in order to “reduce” the number of deputies who form the anti-Syrian majority in the Parliament. As simple as that: assassinate as many members as needed to flip the quantitative majority in the Legislative Assembly. And when that is done, the Seniora Government collapses and a Hezbollah-led cabinet forms. In addition, if the Terror war kills about 8 legislators, the remnant of the Parliament can elect a new President of the Republic who will move the country under the tutelage of the Assad regime.

As incredibly barbaric as it seems in the West, the genocide of the legislators in Lebanon at the hands of the Syrian regime and its allies is very “normal” by Baathist (and certainly by Jihadist) political culture. During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein executed a large segment of his own Party’s national assembly to maintain his regime intact. In the same decade, Hafez Assad eliminated systematically his political adversaries both inside Syria and across Syrian occupied Lebanon to secure his control over the two “sister” countries. So for Bashar to order the assassination of his opponents in Lebanon as of the fall of 2004 to perpetuate his domination of the little Baathist “empire” is not a stunning development: it is the standing procedure in Damascus since 1970.

And to “achieve” these goals, the junta in Syria has a plethora of tools and assets left in Lebanon. First, the vast Syrian intelligence networks still deeply rooted in the small country; second, the powerful Iranian-financed Hezbollah with its lethal security apparatus; third, the Syrian-controlled groups within the Palestinian camps from various ideological backgrounds including Baathists, Marxists, or even Islamist such as Fatah al Islam; fourth the pro-Syrian and Hezbollah sympathizers “inside” the Lebanese Army as well as the units and security services still under the control of General Emile Lahoud; fifth, the client militias and organizations remote-controlled by Syrian intelligence such as the Syrian National-Social Party; and sixth, operatives inserted within political groups gravitating around Damascus such as those of Sleiman Frangieh, Michel Aoun and Talal Arslan. In short, the Syro-Iranian axis has a wide array of security and intelligence assets from which it can select the most appropriate perpetrators for each “take down.” The Assad regime has its “own” Sunni operatives to kill Sunnis, Christians to murder Christians and Druze to eliminate Druze and has the full resources of Hezbollah terror to obstruct the Government of Lebanon and ultimately crumble it.

The “reduction” –both physical and political- of the Lebanese Parliamentary majority began as soon as the assembly was elected in the spring of 2005. The Lebanese opposition to Assad and Hezbollah got originally 72 seats out of the 128 members, a comfortable majority to resume the “liberation” of the country from occupation and Terrorism. In December of 2006 a car bomb kills MP Jebran Tueni bringing the majority to 71. Though he is quickly replaced by his father Ghassan, the latter’s old age and unwillingness to pursue the same anti-Terrorist activism is a negative in the big battle. In January 2006 a majority-MP Edmond Naim, dies of old age. The anti-Cedars revolution pressure brings in Pierre Daccache, “neutral” in principle, but essentially close to now Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun. Since, the majority has 71 seats. In December of 2006, majority-MP Pierre Gemayel is assassinated by Syrian operatives. The number of dedicated MPs falls to 70. Few weeks ago, Syrian threats compel the Alawi MP from the north to quit the majority, bringing the number to 69. Today’s assassination of Sunni Walid Eido, a fierce opponent to the Syrian regime brings the number of MPs to 68. Four more assassinations and the Parliamentary majority in Lebanon would collapse, bringing back Ahmedinijad and Assad’s Terror power to the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean.

What can be done to stop the legislators’ massacre in Lebanon and its dramatic consequences?

The UN Security Council, under resolutions 1559 and 1701 should intervene massively by ordering and overseeing the following steps:

a)Put all remaining 68 MPs under direct international protection. A special international security force should be dispatched to Lebanon, gather the endangered legislators in one or several protected locations and escort them later to perform their constitutional duties.

b)Ask the Lebanese Government of Mr Seniora to organize the appropriate legislative elections in the districts of Matn and Beirut to replace the assassinated MPs Gemayel and Eido. Dispatch UN observers to oversee these elections.

c)Ask the Lebanese Parliament to elect a new President during the constitutional period beginning in August and escort the 68 endangered MPs (plus the two newly elected ones) to the location of the Presidential elections and provide security during the voting process.

By doing so, the UNSC would be implementing its own resolutions, fulfilling the democratic process in Lebanon and fighting back against Terrorism with the power of the people of Lebanon. For when a new democratically elected President is elected in Lebanon, the road –still very difficult and dangerous- to democracy will be paved.

Dr Walid Phares is the Director of Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy and the author of the War of Ideas. Dr Phares was one of the architects of UNSCR 1559.

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Cedars Revolution Radio Show

In Lebanon and the Middle East Listen to our 1 hour radio show on Radio Al-Machrek

- Sunday June 17th on 756AM or 99.9FM at 2pm Beirut Local Time

- Sunday June 17th 2pm [ Internet Link ]

- or Listen Now - ( .mp3 ) 

This weeks special broadcast:

First portion The Secretary General of the World Council for the Cedars Revolution Tom Harb talks about the situation on the ground, UN Res. 1559/Syrian Withdrawal from Lebanon, Why the Lebanese Government refuses to ask the International Community to disarm militias and protect the civil society in Lebanon from Iranian and Syrian manipulations on the Lebanon that is fueling a Civil War, UN Res. 1701, Smuggling, Tunnels, and more.

 

The second portion Eblan Farris from the Washington Bureau of the World Council for the Cedars Revolution interviews the Director and Beirut Chief of the World Council for the Cedars Revolution Mr. Toni Nissi. In this interiew the Director is asked about MP Walid Eido, the current situation on the ground, UN Res. 1559/Syrian Withdrawal from Lebanon, Why the Lebanese Government refuses to ask the International Community to disarm militias and protect the civil society in Lebanon from Iranian and Syrian manipulations on the Lebanon that is fueling a Civil War, UN Res. 1701.

 

Last part Eblan Farris issues a Condemnation on the Assassination of MP Walid Eido, His Son and other Lebanese. Eblan continues with an open Letter to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and His Democratically Elected Government - in a show of support - with an urgent request to ask the UN - who is waiting to help Lebanon, but needs its request - to request under a Chapter 7 UN SCR a new role for UNIFIL to help stop this Abyss that is being imposed on the Lebanon.

 

 

Click to Listen (.mp3)

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The coffin of Lebanese Army soldier Elias Hana Ahmar, 21, is carried during his funeral procession in the village of Dreb in northern Lebanon, Saturday, June 16, 2007. Ahmar was killed Friday in the Palestinian Nahr el-Bared refugee camp when a bomb went off in a building the Lebanese Army had entered, friends of his family said. Lebanese troops raided an Islamic militant position inside the besieged camp, sparking a battle that killed at least four soldiers Friday in renewed fighting in the four-week-old siege of the north Lebanon camp. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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Georgette, the mother of Lebanese lawyer Ghassan Dawoud, who was killed on Wednesday in an explosion that assassinated Walid Eido, an anti-Syrian legislator, mourns over his coffin inside a Church during his funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday June 16, 2007. After yet another assassination, Lebanon's anti-Syrian politicians accuse Damascus of trying to end their rule by killing members of the parliament majority one by one. The slaying of anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent member of the majority coalition, in a massive Beirut car bombing has sparked a new political battle, fueling the rifts that are already putting Lebanon's democracy at the risk of a total breakdown. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)

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Alia, the mother of Lebanese Nejmeh Club soccer player Hussein Dokamk, 25, holds her son's portrait during his funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday June 16, 2007. Dokamk who was killed on Wednesday in an explosion that assassinated Walid Eido an anti-Syrian legislator. After yet another assassination, Lebanon's anti-Syrian politicians accuse Damascus of trying to end their rule by killing members of the parliament majority one by one. The slaying of anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent member of the majority coalition, in a massive Beirut car bombing has sparked a new political battle, fueling the rifts that are already putting Lebanon's democracy at the risk of a total breakdown.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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Lebanese fans of Lebanese Nejmeh Club soccer player Hussein Dokamk, 25, killed with teammate Hussein Naiim on Wednesday in an explosion that assassinated Walid Eido an anti-Syrian legislator, gather around two ambulances bearing their coffins in front of their stadium club were the explosion happened, seen in the background, during their funeral procession in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday June 16, 2007. After yet another assassination, Lebanon's anti-Syrian politicians accuse Damascus of trying to end their rule by killing members of the parliament majority one by one. The slaying of anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent member of the majority coalition, in a massive Beirut car bombing has sparked a new political battle, fueling the rifts that are already putting Lebanon's democracy at the risk of a total breakdown.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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 Saturday June 16, 2007

The Lebanese Government set August five a date for by-elections in Beirut and the Metn province.Naharnet

Bush Hints Syria Killed Lebanese MP
Friday, June 15, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

President George W. Bush on Wednesday indirectly accused Syria of involvement in the Beirut blast that killed a Lebanese anti-Syrian MP and nine others. US officials said the attack was aimed at undermining democracy in Lebanon. "There has been a clear pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Lebanon since October 2004," Bush said in a statement."Those working for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon have always been the ones targeted. -AFP (France)

 Clashes renewed Saturday morning between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam militants at the Northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.
 TV footage showed heavy shelling on the eastern sector of the camp.
 LBCI TV said militants are sniper-firing from Nahr al-Bared’s southeastern sector.
 At noon, heavy fighting erupted at the southern sector of the camp, LBCI said.Naharnet

 

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