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The Cedar Revolutionaries briefly lost their focus after the million-person demonstration in Martyr's Square. They weren't sure what to do next, exactly, aside from setting up a tent-city next to Rafik Hariri's grave site. Some dissidents felt like they had already won - when they clearly had not. Others were worried they would never be able to bring yet another million people down to the square for demonstrations. The Syrian puppet regime in Beirut has been playing for time, changing the subject, and coming up with all manner of public distractions - the Pope's funeral was only the latest. People...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister said on Tuesday he would step down because he could not persuade anti-Syrian opposition figures to join a national unity government to lead the country to elections due in May. In a move that could delay those polls, Omar Karami told reporters he was not willing to lead a cabinet that did not include both pro-Syrian loyalists and opposition. "I am not willing to form a government of this sort and I came to put the speaker in the picture," he said after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. "I am going to see...

Bush calls on Hezbollah to disarm Bush urged Hezbollah not to threaten Mid-East peace US President George W Bush has said Hezbollah could "prove" they are not a terrorist group by laying down arms and not threatening Mid-East peace."We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation," he said. Last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice restated the US position on Hezbollah after media reports said it had changed. Hezbollah is a powerful political and military movement in Lebanon. Last week it staged a huge pro-Syrian rally. Hundreds of thousands of people answered the group's call and took to the...

Opposition spearhead Walid Jumblat has urged President Lahoud to leave Lebanon aboard the last withdrawing Syrian tank, holding him along with his intelligence service commander responsible for ex-Premier Hariri's assassination."The Syrian-dictated extension of Lahoud's presidency has been terminated by the people of Lebanon in their massive demonstrations at Hariri's graveside. Lahoud has to step down," Jumblat said. "I advise him to leave Lebanon with his security commanders on the last withdrawing Syrian tank." The head of the Progressive Socialist Party made his remarks from his palatial mansion in Moukhtara in interviews carried by An Nahar and Al Mustaqbal Tuesday as...

BEIRUT (AFP) - Syria took a further step toward ending its military presence in Lebanon as it began to dismantle its intelligence apparatus here in a move that drew a guarded welcome from the United States. The move came a day after close to a million people rallied in central Beirut in response to a call by the opposition to add punch to its call for a complete and expeditious Syrian military pullout. Prime Minister-designate Omar Karameh, a Syrian sympathizer, was meanwhile struggling to form a new government of national unity in the face of stiff demands from an energized...

During the peaceful demonstrations in Lebanon last week, protestors carried huge photo posters of the heads of the intelligence services in Lebanon calling for their resignation or ouster. The thousands of protestors clearly broke the fear barrier by making such a public call against the dark forces that they accuse of running a police state. The intelligence services are the main power brokers in most of the Arab world irrespective of whether the country in question is a monarchy or a republic. And what has happened in Lebanon is certainly shaking up intelligence services throughout the Arab world. Political systems...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, a strong critic of Syria's control in Lebanon who left Monday for a meeting with President Bush (news - web sites), has emerged as a key opposition figure whose influence cuts across sectarian lines in this religiously diverse nation. The soft-spoken 84-year-old patriarch, head of the 900,000-member Maronite Catholic Church, began criticizing Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs when few dared challenge the authority of the pro-Syria government and its Syrian backers. His first major salvo came in September, months before Lebanon was thrust into the spotlight with the Feb. 14 assassination of former...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - About 2,000 pro-Syria demonstrators denouncing what they said was American interference in Lebanon marched toward the U.S. Embassy in a Beirut suburb Tuesday, and scores of riot police and soldiers used barbed wire to block the approaches to the compound. The protesters, waving Lebanese flags and chanting, "Ambassador get out! Leave my country free!" stopped at the barbed wire blocking the road about 500 yards from the fortified hilltop compound. The crowd did not try to break through. A day earlier, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the capital in the largest anti-Syrian protests yet since...

Syrian agents start Beirut pullout Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:45 PM GMT By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian intelligence agents have begun evacuating their headquarters in Beirut, partially meeting a key U.S. and Lebanese opposition demand for an end to three decades of Syria's tutelage over its neighbour. Witnesses said on Tuesday the Syrians were loading equipment from the headquarters in the Ramlet al-Baida district onto two pick-up trucks and removing pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father Hafez from around the building. Syria's often feared intelligence presence has been a key element in its political...

BEIRUT: Up to one million anti Syrian protesters chanting "truth, freedom, national unity" marched into Downtown Beirut in Lebanon's biggest rally since the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri a month ago. Flag waving demonstrators from across Lebanon filled Beirut's Martyrs' Square, next to Hariri's grave, to hear opposition leaders demand the sacking of Lebanon's top security chiefs, a total Syrian pullout, and an independent investigation into Hariri's murder. Unlike many of the recent anti-Syrian protests, Sunni Muslims from Hariri's hometown, Saida in the South, Tripoli and Akkar in the North, and Bekaa from East Lebanon, joined the demonstration....

THE WASHINGTON TIMES BEIRUT -- Hundreds of thousands of people swarmed the streets yesterday chanting "freedom, sovereignty, independence" in by far the largest of a half-dozen demonstrations held in the past month. Published estimates put the size of the anti-Syrian crowd at between 800,000 and 1 million -- roughly twice the size of a pro-Syrian rally organized a week ago by the radical movement Hezbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist group. Waving Lebanese flags and signs that read, "No to half-measures," the marchers held Syria accountable for the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a mysterious...

The battle for the streets of Lebanon reached new heights yesterday when hundreds of thousands of anti-Syria protesters, some with Lebanese flags painted on their faces, swamped the centre of Beirut. Few had any doubt that it was the biggest demonstration the city had ever seen, or was likely ever to see, easily outstripping last week's pro-Syria rally, which drew a crowd of about half a million. The Lebanese opposition had been stunned by the size of Hizbullah's rally last week and spared no effort to out-do it yesterday. Buses were chartered to bring demonstrators to the capital from around...

3/14/2005 Filed under: RevolutionsMiddle EastSyria Lebanon — “HUMAN TSUNAMI” COVERS BEIRUT UPDATE: Scroll to the end for all latest updates on the protests!Hizb’allah is showing up less and less in the wire — which may or may not be good. But right now, the focus is on the opposition and what moves they will make in face of the pro-Syria protest last week that brought Kharami back to the premiership. Yesterday, protestors got a little creative, by coordinating with each other to make a giant flag using colored boards. Various opposition groups as well as Hariri’s Tayyar Al Mustaqbal (Future...

BEIRUT, 15 March 2005 — Over one million opposition backers chanted “Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence” and unfurled a huge Lebanese flag in central Beirut yesterday, throwing the biggest protest yet in the opposition’s duel of street rallies with supporters of Syria and the Lebanese government. Crowds of men, women and children flooded Martyrs’ Square, spilling over into nearby streets, while more from across the country packed roads into Beirut — responding to opposition calls to mark a month since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. His slaying sparked a series of protests against Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon....

'Record' protest held in Beirut Beirut's Martyrs' Square was packed solid with people Nearly one million people gathered for an opposition rally in Beirut, officials say - a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.The demonstration surpassed recent pro-Syrian rallies and is thought to be the biggest in Lebanese history. The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut says the crowds turned the city centre into a sea of red, white and green - the colours of Lebanon's national flag. They were protesting against the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon. Syria has pulled back some of its...

March 15, 2005 Huge Demonstration in Lebanon Demands End to Syrian Control By NEIL MacFARQUHAR ************************************ Associated PressHundreds of thousands jammed the center of downtown Beirut today in the largest rally yet demanding the withdrawal of Syrian forces. ***************************************** EIRUT, Lebanon, March 14 - Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition regained the momentum on Monday as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed Beirut's central square to demand the end to Syrian control of their country.Seemingly every available space around the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white striped Lebanese flag, in a showing that easily rivaled a pro-Syria rally last...

Walid Phares e-mails: 1. As of 3 PM (Beirut time) Monday, a massive anti-Syrian demonstration will be taking place in downtown Beirut. In response to last week's Hizbollah march, the growing democratic opposition has mobilized a large segment of Lebanon's civil society for a showdown with the Syrian occupation. 2. Sources from Lebanon said "entire villages, neighborhoods and corporations will be marching," They stated that "the withdrawal of the Syrians two days ago from the northern part, will allow tens of thousands more to rally the demo." 3. While Hizbollah march was fully financed by Iran, Syria and Lebanon's intelligence...

Tonight's show All this week, Anderson is live in Lebanon as crowds gather to call for an end to Syria's presence in the country. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty, independence," and waved a sea of Lebanese flags in Beirut on Monday, the biggest anti-Syrian protest yet in the opposition's duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government. Crowds of Druse, Christians and Sunni Muslims flooded Martyrs' Square and spilled over into nearby streets — responding to an opposition call to turn out for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. "We are coming to liberate our country. We are coming to demand the truth," said Fatma Trad, a veiled Sunni Muslim woman who traveled from the...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 3/14/05 - Beirut, Isfahan, Arak BREAKING: Beirut, Lebanon- Freedom breaking out by the Millions BREAKING: Isfahan, Iran's Uranium Conversion Facility. BREAKING: Arak, Irans' 40-megawatt nuclear reactor. QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU PROBABLY WILL NEVER SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA War for Enduring Freedom - THE GOOD, THE BAD, and the UGLY ========= Beirut ========= In Beirut, Lebanon, freedom rings as a million and more Lebanese oppose Syria and Iran. More than twice what the MSM reported for the pro-terrorist demonstrations of Hezbollah and Syria last week, the MSM...