Elementor landing recent post test – Page 2290

Danish consulate over cartoons

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February 5, 2006

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By Laila Bassam, BEIRUT (Reuters) - Angry Lebanese demonstrators torched the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday, further escalating a violent turn in protests over the publication by European newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.Thousands of protesters, some carrying green Islamic flags, chanted "God is Greatest" outside the burning building as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.

Some stood on top of a fire engine, one of three damaged by protesters to prevent fire fighters putting the blaze out. It was not immediately clear if the building was empty. On Saturday furious Syrians had set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus. They also damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission but were held off by riot police.

The Scandinavian countries and the United States condemned Syria for failing to protect the embassies. Lebanese security forces had fired tear gas at a crowd of about 20,000 as they marched towards the Danish consulate. Pls click "READ MORE" to view pictures.

Calls for solidarity with Lebanon

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February 3, 2006

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Uncategorised

French TV broadcaster Christine Ockrent yesterday hosted a Reporters Without Borders evening of solidarity with Lebanon, where newspaper journalists Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni were murdered last year and Lebanese TV presenter May Chidiac was maimed by a bomb. Relatives of the victims and leading French and Lebanese figures took part in the event, held in the Orsay Museum auditorium in Paris, and paid homage to the victims.

Tueni

Lebanon compromise avoids showdown with UN

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February 3, 2006

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Uncategorised

By Lin Noueihed, BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's declaration that Hizbollah is a resistance movement was a compromise aimed at ending a political crisis without provoking a showdown with the U.N. Security Council which demands the guerrilla group disarm.Five Shi'ite ministers had launched a government boycott on December 12, paralysing the country and sparking a slanging match between politicians for and against Hizbollah keeping its arms.

Talks to secure their return had faltered over a Shi'ite demand that the cabinet explicitly state that Hizbollah was not a militia but an anti-Israeli resistance group. Hizbollah has been under pressure to lay down its weapons since the U.N. Security Council demanded 16 months ago that foreign troops leave Lebanon and all militias there disarm. Pro-Syrian Hizbollah and Amal, Lebanon's main Shi'ite parties, announced an end to the seven-week government boycott on Thursday after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told parliament that Hizbollah had always been considered a national resistance organisation. He did not use the word militia.Political sources read Siniora's words as a way to coax Shi'ite parties to rejoin the government, while not rejecting the U.N. resolution 1559 on militia disarmament.

Border tension over Lebanon shepherd death

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February 2, 2006

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Uncategorised

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Hezbollah accused Israel of killing a Lebanese shepherd in the disputed region of Shabaa Farms in south Lebanon and vowed to avenge the slaying. The 17-year-old shepherd and a hunter disappeared Wednesday afternoon in the area, a common backdrop to Hezbollah-Israeli skirmishes. The hunter returned safely, but the shepherd's body was found Thursday in the area by U.N. peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

The body, riddled with bullets, was taken to a nearby hospital where the victim's family and co-villagers gathered, shouting anti-Israeli slogans to protest against Israel's frequent violations of the U.N.-drawn Blue Line along the border. Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel Wednesday against killing the Lebanese shepherd, vowing to retaliate "without taking permission from anyone." He said Hezbollah militants will punish the killers without hesitation.