Wed Sep 6, 8:37 AM ET, BEIRUT (AFP) – Two Lebanese soldiers working to clear the country’s south of unexploded ordnance were killed when a still-unidentified object blew up. The incident occurred in Aita al-Jabal, near Bint Jbeil, a day after Lebanese forces moved into the area near the Israeli border that was the scene […]

Israel agreed to lift its air and sea blockade on Lebanon on Thursday at 6 pm local time (1500 GMT) Thursday, a government statement announced. The decision came after guarantees from the United Nations and the United States that international troops would take up positions at the sea and air port in Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received the assurances from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the statement said. According to the statement, German experts are due to arrive with special equipment at the Beirut International Airport later Wednesday, while German naval forces are to patrol the Lebanese shores starting within an estimated two weeks. Until their arrival, the sea patrols will be carried out by Italian, French, British and Greek naval forces, the statement said.

The decision was the result of indirect negotiations between Israel and the Lebanese government under mediation by the US and UN, Israeli media reported. Earlier Wednesday, Israeli military sources admitted that Israel had not choice but to lift the sea and air blockade, because it had no means to enforce it. ‘We regret the fact, but we have no choice. We do not want to hit civilian planes,’ a military official told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa, when asked what Israel would do if civilian aircraft broke the air blockade.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese MPs have continued for a second day their round-the-clock protest at Israel’s continued blockade, almost three weeks after a UN-brokered ceasefire in its deadly onslaught against Hezbollah. Parliament speaker Nabih Berri took part in the protest along with two ministers and nine deputies, with similar size rotations expected to continue until the blockade is lifted, officials said.

Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh said Lebanon was taking steps to get the blockade lifted."The Israeli blockade is in violation of (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701, and we have taken steps to make sure it is lifted," Sallukh said according to the official ANI news agency."The sit-in is an important step toward helping the executive branch in its efforts to lift the blockade."Israel imposed a blanket air and sea blockade on Lebanon following the July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants, a blockade it has maintained despite the halt to hostilities on August 14 following the passage of Resolution 1701.

Source: WFP, Municipal workers have distributed food rations from the WFP to vulnerable families in Beirut