By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s prime minister-designate announced his new Cabinet on Tuesday, a government dominated by opponents of Syria, although it includes a member of the militant Hezbollah group, which Washington brands a terrorist organization. The 24-member Cabinet, the first since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, omits prominent Christian representation of followers of former Gen. Michel Aoun.The formation of the new Cabinet brings to an end almost three weeks of political squabbling over key posts. Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud repeatedly demanded changes in Prime Minister-designate Fuad Saniora’s suggested lineups.Aoun, the former army commander who returned to Lebanon from 14 years of exile in France, wanted the Justice portfolio but was refused. It went instead to Lahoud ally Charles Rizk.Hezbollah’s Mohammed Fneish received the power and hydraulic resources ministry, while the militant group’s ally, Tarrad Hamadeh, retained the post of labor minister.The key Foreign Ministry went to Shiite Fawzi Salloukh after negotiations with Hezbollah and its rival Amal movement. Salloukh is a former veteran diplomat who served for more than three decades with the foreign corps. He does not belong to either group, but was acceptable to both.Saniora said he was “proud” of Fneish’s participation and promised that the Cabinet will work on improving relations with Syria, which have suffered since the withdrawal.The new administration also includes ministers close to Lahoud, including his son-in-law, former Defense Minister Elias Murr, who survived an assassination attempt on June 12. He retains the Defense portfolio.Most other posts in the Cabinet, which includes 12 Christians and 12 Muslims per Lebanon’s sectarian political system, went to members of lawmaker Saad Hariri’s Future Movement and his allies.Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the influential Maronite Church, on Sunday refused to bless Saniora’s list because it included no Aoun supporters, Lahoud media adviser Rafik Shalala said.

MASNAA BORDER POST, Lebanon – Sheltering from the searing heat in the shade of his truck, a red-faced and sweating Ali Bakri glared angrily at the endless line of cargo trucks stranded on the Lebanese-Syrian border. “We are being treated like animals. We have no food, no water to wash. How long can this go on?” the 35-year-old Jordanian trucker said Monday.Fresh fruits are turning to mush as customs officials carry out excruciatingly thorough searches, spending up to an hour with each vehicle. Previously, Syrian officials gave only cursory searches and often simply waved drivers through. Truckers now wait in line a week or more.The drivers and their cargo are a casualty of the souring relations between Lebanon and Syria since Damascus was forced to relinquish its three-decade-long military grip on Lebanon three months ago.Many Lebanese say Syria has clamped what amounts to a land and sea siege on its tiny neighbor to exact revenge following the withdrawal of thousands of troops. But the Syrians say the strict measures are aimed at catching saboteurs and militants.France, a close Lebanese ally, has criticized the Syrian border actions. U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen briefed European Union foreign ministers on the dispute Monday and urged Lebanon and Syria to end the impasse.Lebanon’s only land outlet is via its shared border with Syria, through which 60 percent of Lebanese exports pass on their way to other Arab and Gulf markets, officials say. The dispute is estimated to be costing Lebanon over $300,000 a day.

Lebanon’s parliament has approved an amnesty for Christian militia leader Samir Geagea, who is currently serving a life sentence.  He is the only Lebanese warlord to be punished for crimes during the long civil war which ended in 1990. A campaign for his release has gathered strength since the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri, […]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s prime minister designate proposed forming a mixed cabinet of MPs and unelected figures after he got backing from Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies, and his own supporters rejected a government solely of techocrats. Fuad Siniora, speaking after a meeting with President Emile Lahoud on Friday, said “such a cabinet, composed of deputies and non-deputies, has received the support of more than 100 deputies, or 78 percent of parliament.”He said he was waiting for the president’s response.Siniora described what is the fourth proposed lineup since he was designated on June 30 to form a government as a “homogeneous working team qualified to face the political, economic and security challenges facing the country”. “We face a political vacuum and a deterioration of the security situation, as well as various attempts, at home and abroad, to demonstrate that the Lebanese are not capable of governing themselves.” He said his proposed line-up was the “best possible formula for a reformist cabinet.” It also had the “agreement” of Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal, although not that of Christian firebrand Michel Aoun. Any role for Hezbollah in the new government is likely to complicate international demands for the disarmament of its military wing, which still exclusively patrols the formerly Israeli-occupied south, in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution passed last September.Earlier, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt spoke out strongly against Siniora’s previous proposal, only made on Thursday, which called for an entirely non-party government. “We refuse to discuss a government of technocrats,” Jumblatt told the Al-Mostaqbal daily, owned by the family of the bloc’s leader Saad Hariri.

While commending Lebanon for taking impressive steps to promote gender equality, members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged the country to eliminate discrimination in marital and family relations, as well as citizenship, combat persistent gender stereotypes, and focus more attention on violence against women, as it took up that country

BEIRUT, July 14 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s prime minister said on Thursday he would seek to form a government of technocrats after failing to win agreement on a cabinet drawn from political groups no longer forced to bend to Syria’s will.Fouad Siniora, a member of a coalition that pushed for Syria’s pullout from Lebanon, made the announcement after talks with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud confirmed that squabbles had scuppered his proposed cabinet of politicians.The next government, the first since Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April, faces many challenges including reestablishing stability after a series of bombings and assassinations, political reform and tackling a huge debt. It also has to deal with a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding the disarming of anti-Israeli Hizbollah guerrillas. “I agreed with his excellency the president that we go ahead with preparing a government line-up from outside parliament, from people who have political know-how but are not members of parties,” the prime minister-designate told reporters. He indicated the cabinet would be made up of 24 ministers. Political sources said Siniora would now have to come up with a team of technocrats with political links so that they would win the backing of the various parties.

DAMASCUS, July 13 (Reuters) – Syria’s deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Wednesday his country wanted Lebanon to join it in any peace talks with Israel. “The Syrian and Lebanese tracks have not separated and the reason is very clear,” Waleed al-Mualem told Syria’s Al Thawra and Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspapers in a joint interview.  “When we negotiate with the Israeli enemy together we can achieve better results.” Mualem voiced confidence that Lebanon, now clear of Syrian troops for the first time in three decades, would not sign any separate peace with Israel under U.S. influence.  “Lebanon has a choice now: either the American direction, which means Israel — a remote possibility because of what we know of the Lebanese people — or the Arab direction. Syria will be the bridge for Lebanon in the Arab direction,” he said.Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April under intense international pressure following the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February. Previously the main powerbroker in its smaller neighbour for three decades, Syria has always opposed any separate peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.  Mualem said such an agreement was the real agenda of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, whose demands were partly fulfilled by the end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon. The measure also calls for the dismantling of all militias in Lebanon, mainly anti-Israel Hizbollah guerrillas.

Maria el-Beissari, center, wife of Lebanese Col. Elias al-Beissari, chief of security of Lebanon‘s outgoing deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr, is comforted in the hospital after her husband was seriously injured in a car bomb that hit the motorcade of Murr in the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 12, 2005. The car bomb, slightly wounded Murr and killed at least one other person, Tuesday, officials said. A string of bombings has hit Lebanon this year. The explosion left one vehicle a charred and twisted wreck, and several nearby cars and buildings were damaged. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)

Lebanese security forces and civilians gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Beirut. Lebanon‘s defence minister was wounded by a car bomb outside Beirut that killed at least two and injured nine others in the latest attack on a leading political figure, state TV reported.(AFP/Joseph Barrak) For more pictures pls click READ MORE

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A car bomb hit the motorcade of Lebanon’s outgoing deputy prime minister Tuesday, wounding him and killing at least one other person, officials said. A string of bombings has hit Lebanon this year. The blast left one vehicle a charred and twisted wreck and damaged several others in the motorcade of Elias Murr, who is also the outgoing defense minister. Murr, who was slightly wounded, later released an audiotape from the hospital saying his was all right. At least 12 other people, including the Mexican ambassador’s wife, were also wounded, officials said.President Emile Lahoud, Syria’s staunchest ally in Lebanon, has reportedly been pressing for Murr