Beirut, 16 Dec. (AKI) – Authorities in Lebanon have arrested three people in connection with the murder of prominent anti-Syrian politician and …

Beirut, 14 Dec. (AKI) - Nineteen-year-old Samer Qays, on Wednesday refused to join the thousands who on turned out to pay their last respects to murdered anti-Syrian politician Gibran Tueni. While Beirut's Christian districts came to a standstill for the funeral procession, life in the city's eastern, mostly Hezbollah dominated areas, like Qays's neighbourhood Haret Hreik, went on as usual. "Joining the procession today means believing the lies fabricated by the Israelis and the Americans," said Qays.

"Our martyrs are not those who work for the Americans," he said, pointing to the photographs of Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes with the Israeli army. "Syria has nothing to do with the attack against that journalist (Tueni), it is Israel that killed him."Sharing this view is Abu Abbas, 67, a Shiite Muslim jeweller, whose shop is situated in the main street of Ghbeiri, a district near to Haret Hreik.  "Israel is behind all this, there is no doubt on that," says Abu Abbas, adding that it is the "Israelis who want to control Lebanon," and not the Syrians. But another Ghbeir resident, Wassim al-Utr, 35, disagrees. "I think it was the Syrians [who killed Tueni]. Syria will not leave the country (Lebanon) without leaving it in flames".

 By Warren Hoge The New York Times,  The United Nations Security Council struggled over a resolution extending the term of the UN investigation into the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, and expanding its scope to include other recent politically motivated killings in Lebanon.Drafted by France, co-sponsored by Britain and the United States and scheduled for a vote Thursday, the resolution gives the inquiry another six months, to June 15, and posits the possibility of further extension if requested by Lebanon.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hundred of thousands of Lebanese bid farewell on Wednesday to anti-Syrian publisher and lawmaker Gebran Tueni, turning his funeral into an outpouring of anger against Damascus, which they blame for his murder.Tueni's assassination on Monday has caused serious political rifts in Lebanon, bringing the government to the verge of collapse.

 Many thousands, most of them waving Lebanese flags, answered a call by anti-Syrian politicians for a large turnout at Tueni's funeral, carrying his flag-draped coffin on their shoulders through the streets of central Beirut to the Greek Orthodox church where a service will be held. Pls click "READ MORE" to view pictures.