Khazen – Page 937

Hezbollah aims to snatch soldiers, Israel returns bodies

adminNovember 25, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

NAQURA, Lebanon (AFP) – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the capture of Israeli soldiers, as the Jewish state returned the bodies of three fighters of the Lebanese Shiite movement killed in clashes. During a ceremony to honour those killed, Nasrallah told militants it was their duty to try to capture Israeli soldiers, to use as bargaining chips for the release of Lebanese held by Israel.

"It is our natural right to capture Israeli soldiers, it is even our duty … it is not a terrorist act, nor a crime … but a natural right," said Nasrallah. Israel said that Monday’s clashes in which the fighters died were sparked by "a deliberate and concerted attack by Hezbollah aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers".

UN quizzes Lebanese colonel in Hariri probe

adminNovember 25, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Beirut – United Nations investigators on Thursday questioned a Lebanese army colonel named in a UN report as one of the officials in charge of wire-tapping slain former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, security sources said. The investigators, accompanied by Lebanese police, searched the home of Colonel Ghassan Tufayli who was head of the Lebanese military intelligence’s surveillance unit, the sources said.

There was no comment from the Lebanese army or the UN investigating commission on the report. Tufayli was allowed to go after several hours of questioning. It was not immediately clear whether he faced possible charges. Lebanon has already charged four pro-Syrian security generals, including the ex-military intelligence chief, Raymond Azar, in connection with the February 14 killing of Hariri and 22 others near Beirut’s seafront.

Israel returns bodies of Lebanese gunmen

adminNovember 25, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

ROSH HANIKRA, Israel (Reuters) – Israel returned on Friday the bodies of three Hizbollah guerrillas killed in a clash earlier this week in a move that military sources said was aimed at easing tension on the Lebanese border.The three were killed on Monday in one of the fiercest battles on the border since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

The bodies were handed over on Friday morning to officials from the International Committee for the Red Cross at the Rosh Hanikra crossing on the Israeli-Lebanese border."The bodies were returned as a confidence-building gesture to create calm along the Israel-Lebanon border," a military source said.Four gunmen died during Monday’s Hizbollah raid of Ghajar, a divided village that straddles the border. Lebanese sources said the raid aimed, but failed, to seize Israeli soldiers who could be traded for Arabs jailed in Israel.

Maimed Lebanese anchorwoman returns to TV

adminNovember 24, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

BEIRUT (AP)

US urges Lebanese opposition leader Aoun

adminNovember 24, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials urged Lebanon’s Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun to back a broad, reform-minded coalition for his country but renewed their opposition to the militant Islamist group Hezbollah. Former Prime minister Aoun, and now a member of the Lebanese parliament, met with senior US officials as part of a two-week visit to the United States begun on November 14.He conferred with David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and was meeting later Wednesday with Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, number three in the State Department.

A State Department official, who asked not to be named, said the talks covered the investigation into the February 14 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.Also discussed was this week’s violence on the Lebanese-Israeli border and UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah as well as an end to the Syrian presence in Lebanon. "We are encouraging … General Aoun to support a broad coalition of political parties as Lebanon struggles to implement political economic and constitutional reforms," the official said.

Israel to return bodies of Lebanese gunmen -source

adminNovember 24, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

JERUSALEM, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Israel plans to return the bodies of three Lebanese Hizbollah gunmen slain in a fierce border clash, in hope of easing tensions with the guerrilla group and Beirut, Israeli security sources said on Thursday. Four gunmen died during a Hizbollah raid on Monday which Lebanese security sources said aimed, but failed, to seize Israeli soldiers who could be traded for Arabs jailed in Israel.

One of the dead was retrieved by the Lebanese but the rest remained on the Israeli side of Ghajar, a divided border town. Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded in the clashes, the fiercest since the Jewish state withdrew forces from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation. Israel retaliated for the Hizbollah raid with shelling and air strikes.

Leeza-Maria El Khazen

adminNovember 24, 2005Leeza-Maria el KhazenComments are off for this post

Leeza-Maria El Khazen recently founded Lynx Production, a feature film production company. Prior to the creation of Lynx she was Vice President of Feature and Business Development at Franchise Pictures. She had been with Franchise since its inception in 1998 and has worked on the development and production of a number of high profile pictures […]

Cheikh Walid el Khazen (Order Of Malta)

adminNovember 24, 2005Cheikh Walid el KhazenComments are off for this post

Cheikh Walid el Khazen has been appointed as Counsellor and Charg

Israel army rescues wayward paraglider from Lebanon

adminNovember 23, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

JERUSALEM (Reuters) NOV23 – Israeli troops exchanged fire with Hizbollah gunmen Wednesday to provide cover for an Israeli paraglider pilot who drifted into Lebanon by accident, military sources said. They said the paraglider, which took off from the Israeli border town of Manara, went astray and landed just inside Lebanese territory."Soldiers who were near that […]

Lebanese MP General Aoun supports disarming Lebanon”s Hizbollah

adminNovember 23, 2005UncategorisedComments are off for this post

POL-US-LEBANON-AOUN Lebanese MP General Aoun supports disarming Lebanon’s Hizbollah WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (KUNA) — Lebanese MP, General Michel Aoun, said on Tuesday he supports the disarmament of Hizbollah.Aoun, a formerly exiled Lebanese Prime minister who recently returned to his country after Syria’s withdrawal this year, made the remarks at a news conference one day after Hizbollah fighters clashed with Israeli soldiers on the uneasy border between Israel and southern Lebanon, where Hizbollah remains largely supported by the majority Shiite Lebanese there.

"Hizbollah has real backing from Shiites and is a political force, but it is time for them to become part of making Lebanon a great country again," said Aoun, adding that security could be restored in Lebanon by the disarmament of groups outside the central government. At least three Hizbollah fighters were killed by Israeli forces in the most escalated fighting between the two sides since Israel withdrew from Lebanon five years ago. Aoun, who is on a week-long visit to Washington, said he met with members of Congress and US officials at the State Department and National Security Council (NSC) at the White House to "exchange ideas" on issues of interest pertaining to Lebanon and the Middle East.