Free Republic

Formation of a Lebanese government with the 1st participation of Hezbollah BEIRUT - Lebanese the Prime Minister indicated Fouad Siniora formed Tuesday a government of 24 members, which obtained the downstream of president Emile Lahoud and in which the movement Shiite of Hezbollah takes part for the first time. The composition of the government was announced with the press with the presidential palate of Baabda, close to Beirut, after the second maintenance in the day between MISTERS Lahoud and Siniora. Mohammad Fneich, member of Hezbollah, saw themselves allotting the wallet of Energy and Faouzi Saloukh, an independent Shiite, the...

...Ever since President Bush settled on a policy of promoting democracy in the Middle East, he has been repeatedly lambasted for his alleged hypocrisy: Why advocate democracy for Iraq and Lebanon, say the critics, but not for autocratic U.S. allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia? In this telling, "democracy" is said to be just an alibi for the pursuit of narrow U.S. interests, especially a steady supply of oil. Well, so much for that view. On Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveled to Cairo and then Riyadh and, in soft tones, delivered a stark message: America would no...

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - President Emile Lahoud will not bow to pressure from the anti-Syrian opposition to resign, a senior aide said Sunday as the crisis in Lebanon deepens since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lahoud's media adviser stressed the president can be forced to step down only if he is impeached by Parliament for either violation of the constitution or high treason. "Since these two matters have not occurred ... this issue is out of the question for the president," Rafik Shalala told The Associated Press. Lahoud, Shalala said, "will not relinquish power and...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's pro-Syria president said Saturday that he will not attend an Arab summit due to political turmoil in his country as investigators searched for clues to a car bomb that rocked a largely Christian neighborhood in Beirut, injuring nine people. President Emile Lahoud did not elaborate on his decision not to participate in Monday's summit in Algeria, but it came as Syria withdraws troops from Lebanon after facing heavy pressure from the United States and fellow Arab countries to end a three decade presence. The attack devastated an eight-story apartment building in the largely Christian New Jdeideh...

Lahoud's Police Regime Seen Crumbling with Syria's ExitPresident Lahoud's Syrian-sponsored regime is desperately fighting for survival amid a snowballing opposition drive to oust him before the spring elections in the explosive aftermath of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.The embattled president tried to defuse the nation's turbulence by asserting that a military government was "out of the question as far as I am concerned." But the opposition remained adamant that his police state must be dismembered and all his hand-picked commanders of the nation's major security services fired. The crisis climbed to a new zenith Thursday when Surete Generale chief Brig....

BEIRUT - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister who was forced to resign last week was set to return to his job on Thursday, faced with the daunting task of forming a government with pro-Damascus allies and anti-Syrian opponents. More Syrian troops pulled back to eastern Lebanon, with some crossing the border, in the start of a two-phase withdrawal, and President Bush piled pressure on Damascus to end the "heavy-handed" influence of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. But pro-Syrian rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of Beirut and Damascus in the last two days dwarfed previous protests in...

A historic moment in the Middle East occurred Monday evening when Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced his government's resignation Monday, prompting a cheer from more than 25,000 flag-waving opposition demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers near parliament. "I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon," Karami said. The resignation was a huge victory for the opposition and the most dramatic moment yet in the...

Ah, the travails of a tiny country caught at the crossroads of greater powers. Sound familiar? Lithuania? Armenia? Israel? There have been so many holocausts that we could easily pick one out of a hat and discuss it. But because of recent developments in Damascus and Beirut, we’ll discuss Lebanon today. In a move I found quite surprising, the U.N. Security Council voted Friday in, support for a free and fair electoral process in Lebanon's upcoming presidential election, conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence. The new U.N. resolution also called for, the restoration of...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States is calling for the immediate withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, according to a a draft resolution circulated in the U.N. Security Council late Tuesday. The new measure also offers support for elections under the current Lebanese constitution, which would rule out a second term for pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. The United States decided to press for a resolution - with the support of France, Lebanon's former colonial ruler - after what many saw as a Syrian-engineered move to change the constitution to extend Lahoud's term. The resolution calls on the council "to...

Political bickering, poor governance and economic woes - with foreign debt of $53.7b - weigh down the country THERE'S much about Beirut that recalls Singapore: the greenery, the lively, urban lifestyle, good schools and eating places, a colourful port, low crime. But look again. One in four passers-by is not Lebanese, but Syrian - about a million of them in a nation of barely four million native Lebanese. Some 30,000 Syrian troops man roadblocks. Other Syrians work as labourers in the booming construction business. Some beg. And some - installed in Lebanon's intelligence service - help monitor the movements of...

Lebanon, Syria agree on response to 'enemy'; Hezbollah shells IDF posts Smoke rising from the area near Kfar Shouba, in southern Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on Monday. (AP) Last Update: 27/10/2003 23:20 Hezbollah fires shells at IDF positions on Lebanese border By Uri Ash, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Reuters The Lebanese army said on Monday it had agreed with Syria on ways to confront "enemy" threats, hours after Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas traded fire. Earlier in the day, one Israel Defense Forces soldier was lightly wounded Monday when Hezbollah attacked IDF positions in the Har Dov...

TEHRAN -- Secretary-General of the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Jibril praised on Wednesday Iran's Leader for his key anti-Israel stances. In an interview with IRNA in Damascus, Jibril commented on a message by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and said the Leader's message was the most valuable and, in Fact, a decoration of honor for the Palestinian nation. Ayatollah Khamenei in a message on the occasion of the martyrdom of Ahmad Jibril's son recently said his martyrdom would reinforce the already firm resolve of the Palestinians in their resistance and struggle...