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Rice shuns Lahoud
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BEIRUT (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Lebanon, keeping up US pressure on Syria and pointedly avoiding any encounter with President Emile Lahoud. Amid stringent security measures in Beirut, Rice met leaders from the Lebanese parliamentary majority in a bid to shore up the government’s drive for reform and full sovereignty.

She also vehemently reaffirmed Washington’s call for Syria to cooperate fully with the inquiry into the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri as the head of the probe held a new round of talks in Damascus."The sole purpose of this trip is to express support for the Lebanese people and for the Lebanese government as they try to recover fully their sovereignty and they continue their efforts to reform," Rice told reporters.During the lightning visit, Rice met officials including Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, President of the Chamber Nabih Berre, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri and Jounblatt simultaneously.

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French plot seen in moves to oust Lebanon president
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BEIRUT (AFP) – The entourage of Lebanon’s under-fire President Emile Lahoud has hit back at moves in parliament to oust him, accusing former colonial power France of being behind the "coup" plot.

A source close to Lahoud charged late Saturday that French President Jacques Chirac had set up a working group under his chairmanship charged with working with anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon "to provoke a coup d’etat against the constitution and the (1989) Taef accords" that ended the 1975-90 civil war.

"I deplore the French president’s determination to meddle personally in Lebanese affairs," the source told AFP.Anti-Damascus politicians, who have held a majority in parliament since Lebanon last year held its first elections in three decades free of Syrian troops, on Thursday launched a petition in the legislature calling for Lahoud to step down by March 14.

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Chirine Njeim
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SESTRIERE, Italy – Almost everyone who meets Chirine Njeim for the first time, looks into her blue-green eyes and says, "You’re from Beirut?"Eventually, they see the skis and snow pants and boots and red winter jacket with the word Lebanon across the back, and say, "An Olympic skier from Lebanon?""A lot of people are confused," Njeim said. "I can understand that."

Lebanon, land of camels and sun and sand, also has mountains, snow, six ski resorts and light-eyed 21-year-old Njeim. She learned to ski at age 3, became good enough to compete internationally and developed anorexia in her zeal to be even better.Now recovered and up to 130 pounds – 46 more than her one-time dip to 84 preceding the Salt Lake City Olympics – Njeim (pronounced nJIM) is one of two Turin Olympians representing Beirut. The other, Patrick Antaki, is a 41-year-old skeleton slider who lives in Plano, Texas, and has U.S.-Lebanese citizenship.Njeim carried the Lebanese flag as the only Olympian from her country at the 2002 Winter Games, when she was starting to recover and barely weighed 100 pounds and was "terrified that I’d fall and trip with it," she said.

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The Role of Hizbullah
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By Mayssa el khazen, Islamic radicalism first erupted in Lebanon following the 1979 Iranian revolution and 1982 Israeli invasion.  These two events marked the start of Hizbullah, a movement that would acquire the support of the Lebanese Shiaa and that would take on a crucial and defining post in Lebanese politics.  Hizbullah, meaning the Party of God and backed by Iran, emerged to become an important and pivotal force in Middle Eastern politics in general and particularly in Lebanese society.  Amal, a Shiaa movement which means

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President Lahoud under pressure
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BEIRUT –  Camps of  the 14 March called on President Emile Lahoud to resign by March 14. They called on the president "to resign immediately and will give him until March 14," in a statement issued after the leaders of the majority group held a meeting in Beirut. On Wednesday, President Lahoud vowed to complete his […]

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President Lahoud under pressure
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BEIRUT –  Camps of  the 14 March called on President Emile Lahoud to resign by March 14. They called on the president "to resign immediately and will give him until March 14," in a statement issued after the leaders of the majority group held a meeting in Beirut. On Wednesday, President Lahoud vowed to complete his […]

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Aoun meets with Feltman to clarify pact with Hizbullah
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BEIRUT: Following his first meeting  with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman after the statement of understanding was inked between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah, FPM leader MP Michel Aoun said the meeting was an opportunity to explain to Feltman certain terms so the document would not be misunderstood. Last Monday, Hizbullah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Aoun issued a joint statement of understanding in support of the arms of the resistance so long as there are occupied Lebanese territories.

The statement also calls for national dialogue to resolve pending issues, implement democracy, draft a new electoral law, establish a strong and modern country and resolve the security situation. peaking from Rabieh, Aoun said the statement was put within its framework, adding the FPM is ready to provide any information to any person wishing to inquire about it. Asked about negative criticism the initiative drew, especially from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, Aoun emphasized "there was no negative criticism, only a request to explain certain terms."

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UN presses Lebanon over Hizbollah weapons claim
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By Mark Turner at theUnited Nations, The United Nations has called on the Lebanese government to explain allegations that the Lebanese army aided the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed militant Islamic group.A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in 2004, called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

UN officials have warned for some time that weapons and personnel are flowing from Syria to militia in Lebanon, but the issue had taken a relative back-seat during an international investigation into last year’s murder of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.It rose to new prominence, however, following allegations that several truckloads of light weapons and missiles were transferred on January 31, after which, according to officials, the Lebanese army all but acknowledged it was playing a role.

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Iran’s FM confers with Lebanese spiritual leaders
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Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki Thursday held separate meetings with Lebanese spiritual leaders to discuss latest developments in the Muslim and Arab world and stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran on international issues. In his meeting with the Lebanese Religious Leader Muhammad Hussein Fazlallah, he referred to the significant role of Ulema in guiding Muslim communities and said the Ulema have focal role in restoring law and order.

Highlighting Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, he said new government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to act based on justice seeking and loving people which led to massive presence of people in national rallies to mark the 27th anniversary of triumph of the Islamic Revolution on February 11. On Iran’s legitimate rights on peaceful application of nuclear energy, Mottaki said the issue of scientific and technological know-how is not a simple issue to be ignored because implementation of the task is a national demand and the psychological and political war master-minded by the US has nothing to do with the firm determination of Iranian nation.

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Lebanese president vows to continue tenure
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BEIRUT, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) — Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Wednesday rejected demands by the country’s anti-Syrian groups to resign, vowing to hold the post until the end of his tenure. "He is committed to his oath until the last day of his constitutional tenure," Lahoud’s office said in a statement.     In Tuesday’s mass protest in […]

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