BEIRUT (Reuters) – The head of Lebanon’s Hizbollah guerrilla group has called on Saudi Arabia and Egypt to intervene to resolve a crisis brewing in Lebanon. In an interview published on Wednesday in the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared to back Saudi mediation to ease tensions between Lebanon and Syria, and called for efforts to resolve rifts among Lebanese leaders.

"Intervention is a must and there can’t be any Arab delay to do what is necessary," Nasrallah said. "The situation in Lebanon is bad and it has dangerous repercussions." Lebanon has been gripped by a political crisis since pro-Syrian Shi’ite ministers boycotted the cabinet five weeks ago, paralyzing a government dominated by anti-Syrian officials of a Sunni-led parliamentary majority coalition.Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has said that Saudi Arabia has presented Lebanon and Syria with a plan to defuse tensions between the two countries.

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BEIRUT, 18 January (IRIN) – The UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) refuted accusations that it had reduced the quality of medical care for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, following reports of deteriorating health services. "UNRWA has reduced neither the quantity nor the quality of medical care," said Hoda al-Turk, assistant public information officer at UNRWA. "On the contrary, it has signed an agreement with a hospital that offers first class medical care at a very reasonable cost."

The hospital in question is the state-run Beirut University Hospital (BUH), with which the relief agency signed a contract on 1 January to provide specialised treatment for serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Palestinian refugees expressed frustration over the move, however, saying that the hospital in Beirut was too far away for those in the far north or south of the country. BUH is situated 40 km and 75 km respectively from the southern camps of Sidon, and Tyre. More than 60 km separate it from the northern camps of Tripoli, and 75 km from the camps of Baalbak in the east.

By Rasha Elass, DAMASCUS (Reuters) – For generations, Lebanese shoppers have journeyed to neighboring Syria to stock their larders and buy clothes and even furniture at bargain prices.But many have stayed at home since the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri last February put a chill on once-cosy relations between the two countries."I used to buy everything from Syria. My wife and daughters would head up there every couple of weeks to buy food, clothes, washing powder because it is less than half the price," said Hassan, a Lebanese driver with seven children living at home.

"We haven’t been since Hariri’s death because we heard that they have been insulting and humiliating the Lebanese. I am too scared to let my family go but it is really costing us. We cannot afford to have all the stuff we have been used to." With tensions between Syria and Lebanon at an all-time high, especially since a United Nations inquiry implicated top Syrian officials in Hariri’s murder, Syrian merchants are suffering.

BEIRUT, Jan 17 (Reuters) – About 10,000 Lebanese students, chanting "America out", marched to the U.S. embassy near Beirut on Tuesday to protest against Washington’s policy in Lebanon. The protest, called by pro-Syrian parties including Shi’ite Muslim Hizbollah, came three days after clashes between police and a much smaller anti-U.S. demonstration in downtown Beirut.

But there was no sign of trouble as protesters, waving Lebanese flags, defied winter weather to march to the U.S. embassy complex in Awkar village north of the capital. Hundreds of police blocked roads leading to the embassy and stopped the crowds from reaching the complex itself."America stay away from Lebanon so that the civil war does not return," the crowd chanted. "Beirut is free, America out." The protest coincided with a worsening political crisis that has paralysed the government and split it between pro-and anti-Syrian factions.