DAMASCUS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a scathing attack against Lebanon’s leaders on Thursday, accusing them of turning their country into a hotbed of conspiracy against Damascus. In an unprecedented attack on the Beirut government, Assad said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had allowed Lebanon to become a base for Syria’s enemies.
"The truth we see today is that Lebanon has become a passageway, a factory and a financier of these conspiracies," he said in a televised speech.Syria, long the main power-broker in Lebanon, ended its three-decade military presence in its neighbour in April amid an international outcry and mass protests over the February killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.Assad accused Hariri’s supporters of exploiting his death for political ends, saying the late Hariri had been Syria’s main ally in Lebanon."The truth is those people, or most of them, are blood merchants. They created a market out of Hariri’s blood … Everything has a price," Assad said.
Massoud A. Derhally takes a taxi from Damascus to Beirut, in the process getting a first-hand view of real life and politics in Syria.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Friday that Hezbollah (Party of God) is a security-keeping force in the south of the country. "Hezbollah is not a militia group but a military force against foreign occupation," the minister told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel. 
BEIRUT, Nov 7 (KUNA) — US Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Dibble held talks here with Lebanese officials Monday regarding preparations of the upcoming international conference to support Lebanon.
