BEIRUT (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has pledged to help enforce stability in Lebanon, including efforts to secure a prisoners’ swap with Israel. Prodi, whose country will soon be the leading contributor of troops to the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, said Rome was eager to help boost Lebanon’s political stability and reconstruction.
"Not only Italy, but all of the European Union, is willing to make an effort to stabilise the country and stabilise the area," he said during a media conference with his Lebanese counterpart, Fuad Siniora.Asked about potential Italian help to secure a prisoner exchange, Prodi said: "We discussed this issue… and I said that helping to resolve this issue will help restore peace.
"But I cannot say more," he added Wednesday.The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12 in a bid to secure a prisoner swap. Israel responded with a massive month-long offensive on Lebanon.The war ended on August 14 under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for Israel’s pullout from south Lebanon and the dispatch of Lebanese army troops in tandem with a deployment of a boosted UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Clancy Chassay in Beirut, The Guardian, The Lebanese government is facing heavy pressure to resign over its handling of the war with Israel and the ensuing reconstruction effort, with almost seven out of 10 voters calling for early elections, according to a poll published today. The results come just over a week after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the dissolution of the government and the formation of a national unity government, to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese at a rally in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
AMMAN (JT) 
By Noor Akl for (CNN) — With 220 kilometers of Mediterranean coastline and 300 days of sun per year, Lebanon’s beaches are one of the country’s main assets and millions of dollars have been invested in the past few years to develop dozens of resorts along the coast.But these same resorts are now counting the losses inflicted by Israeli strikes and ensuing oil spills which have turned the Big Blue into a Big Black.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 30, By MICHAEL SLACKMAN 
JERUSALEM (CNN)October 1, 2006 — United Nations peacekeepers Sunday denied Israel’s assertion that it had completely withdrawn all of its soldiers from southern Lebanon.UNIFIL spokesman Alexander Ivanko told CNN Israeli troops still control the border village of Ghajar.
daily star, sept 30, BEIRUT: More help from UN member states is needed to advance the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, the head of the UN probe, Serge Brammertz, said on Friday. Briefing the UN Security Council on his second report, which was issued Monday, Brammertz said the investigations have progressed but that there should be "continued backing" from the international community for the probe. He said that so far, most of the member states that the UN has asked for help or information have responded in a timely fashion, including Syria, whose cooperation Brammertz called "generally satisfactory." 
HARISSA, Lebanon (AFP) Sun Sep 24, – Anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea scoffed at Hezbollah’s claims of victory in its devastating conflict with Israel, during a rally attended by tens of thousands. "We are the victors, and yet we do not feel it was victory but rather that a real catastrophe befell our country, and that our fate and destiny are at the mercy of the winds," said the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader and member of Lebanon’s "March 14" group Sunday.
BEIRUT, Lebanon -Sept. 22 – 
