BEIRUT (AFP) – Former Christian warlord Samir Geagea has said that the four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in 1982 in Lebanon by members of his now defunct Lebanese Forces militia died at least 20 years ago.

Geagea told AFP that when he became leader of the Lebanese Forces militia in 1986, he learned that the four missing Iranians "for sure died" in captivity.

Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah have repeatedly claimed that the four missing Iranians are still alive and in Israel custody, after being handed over by the Lebanese Forces militia to then ally Israel.

The fate of the four has been one of the major points of indirect negotiations for a swap of prisoners and missing persons with Israel.

Taher Abu Hamdan
AFP

HALWA, Lebanon —  Clashes broke out on Wednesday between the Lebanese army and pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrillas near the Syrian border, wounding two people, and a soldier was detained for several hours, police said.

The soldier, Khaled Ibrahim, was snatched and then freed by guerrillas of the Damascus-based group Fatah-Intifada, which is founded by a Palestinian militant known as Abu Mussa, they said.

Abu Fadi Hammad, the Lebanon representative of Abu Mussa’s group, said that one guerrilla was wounded in the clashes and that the detained soldier had been handed back to the army.

A senior army official said that a soldier was also wounded in the fighting in Wadi Al Asswad village of eastern Lebanon as troops and militants traded fire with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The army, in a statement, said that troops retaliated after coming under fire from "Palestinian elements" during a patrol near "a newly set up position". Soldiers later dismantled the post and confiscated equipment, it said.

The statement did not mention the kidnapping but said that one soldier was "gravely wounded" in the clashes.

By Tali Caspi

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (Reuters) – Just as the sun sets, an explosion rocks a mountain fort close to Israel’s heavily guarded border with Lebanon.

In years past, such a blast might have sent Israeli soldiers scrambling to fend off attack by Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.

But this time the commotion is staged, and the only shooting is by film cameras for the last scene of "Beaufort," a drama about Israel’s whirlwind 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon after a 22-year occupation.

For director Joseph Cedar, who spent much of his mandatory Israeli army service dodging Hizbollah ambushes in the so-called "security zone," making the movie was a catharsis of sorts.

"So many scenes are taken from my own experiences … Just putting it on the screen is therapeutic," he told Reuters on the set, a Crusader-era castle chosen for its resemblance to the Beaufort Fort visible just across the Lebanese border.

"It’s a story of any mountain in any battle. Soldiers died to capture it, died to protect it, and then found out its insignificance," Cedar said after re-enacting the demolition of the Israeli garrison at the fort by withdrawing troops.

by Salim Yassine
BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese leaders have adjourned the latest round of reconciliation talks, still unable to find a consensus on the future of embattled pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

The leaders, following nearly four hours of roundtable talks at parliament house amid tight security measures, set the next round of negotiations for June 8 to continue discussions on the arms of the anti-Israeli Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah.

"Participants did not reach an agreement on the presidency, so they moved on to the remaining item on the table: the strategic defense policy" against potential Israeli dangers on Lebanon, parliament speaker Nabih Berri said Tuesday.

Berri told reporters that the next round of talks will take place on June 8 "because some colleagues have trips abroad and there are some holidays."

By Nicholas Blanford, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

AIN AL-HILWEH, LEBANON – After decades of uneasy relations, Lebanon and its Palestinian population are set to embark on a ground-breaking dialogue to improve conditions in the Palestinian refugee camps and curb uncontrolled armed groups.

"Our homes are all damp and humid and not fit to live in. When it rains, my home is flooded with sewage because the drains can’t take it. And this is the good part of the camp," says the Palestinian resident of this squalid refugee camp on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Sidon.

By working with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which reopens its Beirut office Monday, to ameliorate the plight of refugees like Mr. Khalil, Lebanon hopes to offer Palestinians greater job opportunities and better living conditions to weaken the lure of the many armed Palestinian factions operating in the camps. Though Beirut has long been under international pressure to disarm the groups, the imminent negotiations – regarded as a key step in allaying that pressure – signal a change in how the government plans to tackle the problem.

"This is a major turning point," says Sultan Abul Aynayn, the head of the Fatah movement in Lebanon. "The Lebanese have moved from treating the Palestinians as a security concern to a humanitarian concern."

BEIRUT (AFP) – Tractors started to dismantle sand berms erected by Syrian border guards several kilometers inside Lebanese territory, the head of a municipality in the region said.

Five tractors of the Syrian and Lebanese armies as well as from Aarsal municipality started to remove the berms, under the supervision of administrative and military officials from the two countries, he said.

The operation came after an agreement between Lebanese and Syrian officials in a meeting held on May 9 in the Syrian resort town of Bludan, near Damascus.

"The committee which supervises the works is not entitled to define or draw the borders. The operation is only a solution for the farmers, to allow them to access their lands," said Hujairi.

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday a new Security Council resolution is needed to force Syria "to come out of denial" and recognize Lebanon’s independence by establishing diplomatic relations and setting their border. 
The United States, France and Britain formally introduced the draft resolution Friday in the Security Council. But it faces opposition from Russia, China and other members who say it is not needed and would constitute U.N. interference in bilateral Lebanese-Syrian relations.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton agreed the Security Council should not be involved in their bilateral relations. "But that’s not the issue here," he said. "The question between Syria and Lebanon involves the decades-long occupation of one country by the other, continued meddling in the internal affairs of Lebanon by Syria, and therefore questions of the extension of diplomatic relations here are critical to breaking through the denial that apparently still grips Lebanon."

By SAAD AL-ENEZI, Associated Press Writer

KUWAIT CITY – Syria’s foreign minister said Friday the U.N. Security Council’s involvement in Syria and Lebanon may impede attempts to improve relations between the two countries. 
Foreign Minister Walid Moallem spoke in Kuwait hours after the United States, France and Britain introduced a draft resolution in the Security Council that urged Syria to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon and delineate the border between the two countries. The draft also calls on Syria, as well as Iran, to work for the disarmament of militia in Lebanon