By BENNY AVNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun, UNITED NATIONS - The Arab League's secretary-general, Amre Moussa, tried recently to mediate between Syria and Lebanon, reportedly offering to end a Syrian assassination campaign against Lebanese journalists and politicians. Diplomats and editorialists in the region said over the weekend that the effort, which was perceived in Lebanon as an attempt to defend Syria, backfired and highlighted the league's weaknesses.

Yesterday, Mr. Moussa officially denied ever relating a Syrian offer to end assassinations in Lebanon. Reports in the Lebanese press over the weekend were "completely unfounded," Mr. Moussa said in a statement, denying that upon arriving from Damascus in mid-December he relayed an offer that Syria would completely cease an assassination campaign if the Lebanese government ignores U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 and ends its support of the U.N. probe into the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 27 (UPI) — A Syrian national was arrested in Beirut on Tuesday in connection with the bombing that killed …

Daily Star, Lebanon's influential Maronite Patriarch advised President Emile Lahoud to restore the presidential position to its former significance saying that "history will record the stand that you, the president, will take for the sake of the nation." During Christmas Mass at Bkirki Sunday, attended by the president in the front row, the prelate indirectly suggested that Lahoud should reconsider whether remaining in office would serve the interest of the country and the reverence of the presidential post.

For the first time, Sfeir - who unofficially has the last word on who becomes the next president - publicly implied that he backed Lahoud's early departure from office. "It is your responsibility, your Excellency, as the head of state, to lead Lebanon and the Lebanese to safety and preserve the Constitution and national unity. "If the president is not up to the task, then it is up to him to judge whether remaining in his post or resigning would honor this position or dishonor it."

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has accused Syria of terrorising Arab countries and has urged the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, to intervene. Mr Jumblatt, Lebanon's most prominent anti-Syrian politician, said Syria was "taking the path of terrorism in order to evade international pressure". He said Mr Moussa "must go to Damascus to stop the murders in Lebanon". A UN inquiry has implicated Syrian officials in the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in February.

Many Lebanese also blame Syria for the murder of the anti-Syrian journalist and MP, Gibran Tueni, earlier this month. Damascus has denied any involvement in either killing. 'We will not cave in' Mr Jumblatt charged that Syria controlled a variety of "instruments and terrorist factions capable of scaring Arab regimes", in an interview with the Lebanese satellite channel LBCI. He told Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper that "we have received several messages threatening public bombings, and our response to that is that we will not cave in under their terrorist ways".