By Nora Boustany, Saad Hariri , a Lebanese legislator and the son of slain prime minister Rafiq Hariri , said Wednesday that a recently renewed alliance between Iran and Syria and fallout from Tehran's nuclear program could pose a threat to Lebanon."There is an international crisis on this issue. They will have to answer to the international community, not Lebanon," he said at a leadership forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Hariri came to Washington this week to meet with President Bush , Vice President Cheney , Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice , national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley and the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, C. David Wel c h .Iran's standoff with international institutions over its nuclear ambitions could have an impact on Lebanon, Hariri said, given the armed presence in the country of Hezbollah. Lebanon should be spared possible repercussions, he said.

WASHINGTON - Lebanese parliament member Saad Hariri, son of slain prime minister Rafic Hariri, expressed interest in seeing the U.S. send equipment to help Lebanon protect its borders.

Speaking to a crowd of 150 and nearly a dozen TV cameras, Hariri, named to Forbes' list of the World's Richest People, also mentioned he aims to discuss this and other issues--including the investigation into his father's death--with President Bush during a three-day visit to Washington. The pit stop follows meetings earlier in January with French President Jacques Chirac and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney during his Middle East tour focused on the Lebanon-Syria crisis and regional security.
Hariri has lived for the past few months in a self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia, where he holds dual citizenship and lives off a $1.25 billion fortune. Saudi Arabia is also the headquarters for Saudi Oger, a $3.25 billion (sales) construction and telecommunications company that employs 38,000 and was led by Hariri until his political career took off last year.

The leader of the Lebanese group Hizbullah on Tuesday told family members of Lebanese citizens missing in Syria that he would work …

BEIRUT, 23 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Ten months after the start of a sit-in protest in front of UN headquarters in Beirut, the families of Lebanese nationals who have disappeared or been detained in Syria say their campaign for information is making little progress. "None of our demands have been met and nothing new is being done on the issue," said Samia Abdallah, whose brother, a member of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement in Lebanon, was arrested by Syrian agents in 1984.

Families of the missing are demanding that the UN Security Council consider the implementation of last year