AFP, Lebanon's worsening political and security situation is likely to have a negative impact on the UN probe of the 2005 murder of Lebanese former Premier Rafik Hariri, according to a UN report released Thursday. The 20-ipage document, which reviews progress made by the enquiry commission led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz since its March report, expressed concern about the deteriorating environment in Lebanon over the past few months. "Although the commission - in close cooperation with the Lebanese authorities - has put in place mitigating measures to protect its staff and premises, the deterioration in the political and security environment is likely to have a negative effect on the Commission's activities in the coming months," the report warned.

The report, which was made available to the 15 members of the UN Security Council, pointed to the ongoing fighting between the Lebanese Army and Islamic militants as well as to the assassination of March 14 MP Walid Eido and the attack on a convoy of UN peacekeepers that left six of them dead in South Lebanonlast month. The report also takes note of the coming into force of the international court to try suspects in the Hariri murder in line with a Security Council resolution adopted May 30.

RABIEH, Lebanon (AFP) - Retired General Michel Aoun with less than 11 weeks to go before presidential elections, sees his candidacy as the only way out for a Lebanon deep crisis. "Maybe I am the key because I am independent, love Lebanon, and am a free man, with no foreign capital behind me ... I can be the bridge between all sides," he said. "I can't guarantee anybody else. I know my country, our politicians ... I don't want a mistake," Aoun told AFP in an interview at his  villa headquarters in the affluent mountain resort of Rabieh, northeast of Beirut

The Maronite Christian opposition leader said he was opposed to a "weak" consensus candidate coming forward in a bid to break the deadlock, warning that such a scenario could spark further instability and "destroy the country."All-party talks taking place near Paris this weekend were "an opportunity for all parties to expose their points of view ... and for a possible initiative born of a synthesis," Aoun said."If we are not optimistic, why go to Paris? We have to give a chance to all initiatives," he said.Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement won a vast majority of the Christian vote in 2005 legislative elections, after Syria ended its almost three decades of military domination of Lebanon under international pressure following former premier Rafiq Hariri's murder.

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer, TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Under constant artillery fire from the Lebanese army, Islamic militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon shot back with rockets on Friday. Regular artillery and tank fire fell on Nahr el-Bared, sending plumes of black smoke rising in the air over the refugee camp's bullet-punctured buildings.

Apparently trying to ease the military pressure and expand the battles outside the camp, the al-Qaida-styled militants unleashed a volley of Katyusha rockets at the army. A total of nine rockets crashed into nearby villages, as well as in orange and grape groves, security officials and the state-run National News Agency said. The rockets caused some damage but no casualties, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media."It has more a psychological effect than a military effect," said Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general.Fatah Islam gunmen also traded heavy fire with the troops circling them in the refugee camp, soldiers said. "They shot back with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns," said a soldier sitting in a military jeep a few hundreds meters from the camp. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The army had reported four soldiers died in the previous day's fighting, but a senior military official raised the death toll to six on Friday.The six soldiers, including an officer, were killed by shrapnel or gunfire during the fierce fighting Thursday when the army unleashed one of its heaviest bombardments against the Fatah Islam militants, said a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make statements.

الأسبابُ الموجِبة لبيان المطارنة

 - Sejean Azzi, جريدة "النهار" في 11 تموز 2007