WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Thursday moved to freeze US assets of anyone considered a threat to the Lebanese government, saying the country’s sovereignty and democratic institutions "are increasingly under attack." President George W Bush included in the freeze order announced Thursday anyone pushing to reassert Syrian control in Lebanon. and anyone judged contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in the country.
"The president signed this executive order because Lebanon’s sovereignty and democratic institutions are increasingly under attack," said US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.Johndroe cited recent assaults by "extremist" armed groups on the Lebanese army, the June 13 assassination of Judge Walid Eido, and reports that Syria’s allies and proxies in Lebanon may be preparing an alternate government, as signs of the threat.
The executive order to freeze the assets, dated August 1, said that threats against Lebanese stability and moves to restore Syria’s former dominant influence in Lebanon would "contribute to political and economic instability in (Lebanon) and the region and constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
Aug 3, NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) – Lebanese soldiers fought fierce battles on Friday with Islamists holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp with eyewitnesses reporting fires raging in a small area still controlled by the militants. An AFP correspondent saw two Katyusha rockets being fired from within Nahr al-Bared camp north of Tripoli by the militants, with one projectile hitting a nearby power station.
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s Byblos Festival will still go ahead this weekend despite continuing political tensions and security worries in the country, the organisers said on Friday. The Mediterranean country’s usually vibrant cultural scene has been massively curtailed since last year’s devastating war 
By Nour Samaha , 
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) – A Lebanese soldier was killed on Tuesday in clashes with Islamist fighters as the army closed in on the extremists’ positions in a bombed-out refugee camp, a military spokesman said. We have a martyr today. He was killed in the confrontations" with militiamen of the Islamist group Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon, the spokesman who did not wish to be identified told AFP."We are continuing the operation. The army is extending its deployment to new positions in the camp where we are further tightening the noose on the gunmen to force them to surrender," he said.
PARIS (Reuters) – Rival Lebanese politicians met at a state-owned chateau near Paris on Saturday in a French-sponsored attempt to discuss ways of ending the 8-month-old political crisis gripping their country. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, hosting the closed-door two-day meeting at the Chateau de Celle-Saint Cloud, first addressed the gathering with a few words in Arabic.
AFP, Lebanon’s worsening political and security situation is likely to have a negative impact on the UN probe of the 2005 murder of Lebanese former Premier Rafik Hariri, according to a UN report released Thursday. The 20-ipage document, which reviews progress made by the enquiry commission led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz since its March report, expressed concern about the deteriorating environment in Lebanon over the past few months. "Although the commission – in close cooperation with the Lebanese authorities – has put in place mitigating measures to protect its staff and premises, the deterioration in the political and security environment is likely to have a negative effect on the Commission’s activities in the coming months," the report warned. 
