BEIRUT, January 7 (RIA Novosti) - Former army commander and prime minister of Lebanon Michel Aoun said in an interview with RIA Novosti Sunday that cooperation between Russia and the U.S. is important for the world as a whole, including the Middle East."Russia is now not a side in the conflict, it plays the role of helper in funding the needed solutions, and this is right," he said.

"The arms race [between the U.S. and the Soviet Union] and creating threats for one another has become a thing of the past, and there is now an exchange of interests, a mutually complementary search for important solutions, which is having a positive effect on the world as a whole, particularly in the Middle East region," Aoun said.On Russia's role in the Middle East in recent years, General Aoun said, "Moscow has no direct influence on events in Lebanon, but it is capable of significantly altering the progress of events in the region with its membership of the UN Security Council, as a state with a veto right."Aoun said Russia is attempting to reduce international pressure on Lebanon's neighbor Syria, without imposing any conditions on its leadership. "Russia defends Syria to give it another chance, but Syria should, in its turn, pass a lot of tests to justify this relationship," he said.

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat- Walid Junblatt, head of the Democratic Gathering bloc in the Lebanese parliament, has continued his campaign against the Syrian regime, which he described as a "family regime." He rejected any settlement with this regime "after the assassinations and assassination attempts it carried out in Lebanon." Junblatt explained to Asharq al-Awsat some aspects of the telephone interview conducted with him by the newspaper Washington Post two days ago, considering that the talk that he called on the United States to invade Syria was a "hasty interpretation" of what he said, but at the same time he called for change in Syria "because the Syrian people deserve this." Junblatt said "the Syrian regime's filibustering with regard to an international trial and its exertion of pressure on some parties in Lebanon regarding this subject is aimed at escaping an international solution similar to the trial of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosivic.

 He emphasized that "the only solution is this method (international trial), which will put both Syria and Lebanon at ease." Junblatt explained that the his talk that the Americans came to Iraq in the name of the majority does not mean that invasion is the solution, considering this "a hasty interpretation" of his talk, but he stressed that "one day there must be democratic change in Syria that will give the people the chance (to govern themselves). Until now the regime in Syria is a family regime and not the regime of the Ba'th Party or the regional command of that party. The Syrian people deserve a chance to govern themselves."

Asked whether he supported change, regardless of the method, Junblattt said: "Syria has capacities and efficiencies that can carry out a democratic and peaceful change." He strongly rejected the "blackmail" practiced by the Syria regime, which is telling the international community "either us or chaos." He cited several examples of the downfall of regimes similar to the Syrian regime, such as the collapse of the former USSR and its satellite regimes.

5 January 2006, Lebanon: Latest charge against human rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby must be dropped and all harassment against him ceaseHuman rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby is due to appear before the Military Court in Beirut on 9 January charged with slandering the