BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s prime minister designate proposed forming a mixed cabinet of MPs and unelected figures after he got backing from Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies, and his own supporters rejected a government solely of techocrats. Fuad Siniora, speaking after a meeting with President Emile Lahoud on Friday, said “such a cabinet, composed of deputies and non-deputies, has received the support of more than 100 deputies, or 78 percent of parliament.”He said he was waiting for the president’s response.Siniora described what is the fourth proposed lineup since he was designated on June 30 to form a government as a “homogeneous working team qualified to face the political, economic and security challenges facing the country”. “We face a political vacuum and a deterioration of the security situation, as well as various attempts, at home and abroad, to demonstrate that the Lebanese are not capable of governing themselves.” He said his proposed line-up was the “best possible formula for a reformist cabinet.” It also had the “agreement” of Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal, although not that of Christian firebrand Michel Aoun. Any role for Hezbollah in the new government is likely to complicate international demands for the disarmament of its military wing, which still exclusively patrols the formerly Israeli-occupied south, in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution passed last September.Earlier, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt spoke out strongly against Siniora’s previous proposal, only made on Thursday, which called for an entirely non-party government. “We refuse to discuss a government of technocrats,” Jumblatt told the Al-Mostaqbal daily, owned by the family of the bloc’s leader Saad Hariri.

While commending Lebanon for taking impressive steps to promote gender equality, members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged the country to eliminate discrimination in marital and family relations, as well as citizenship, combat persistent gender stereotypes, and focus more attention on violence against women, as it took up that country

BEIRUT, July 14 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s prime minister said on Thursday he would seek to form a government of technocrats after failing to win agreement on a cabinet drawn from political groups no longer forced to bend to Syria’s will.Fouad Siniora, a member of a coalition that pushed for Syria’s pullout from Lebanon, made the announcement after talks with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud confirmed that squabbles had scuppered his proposed cabinet of politicians.The next government, the first since Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April, faces many challenges including reestablishing stability after a series of bombings and assassinations, political reform and tackling a huge debt. It also has to deal with a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding the disarming of anti-Israeli Hizbollah guerrillas. “I agreed with his excellency the president that we go ahead with preparing a government line-up from outside parliament, from people who have political know-how but are not members of parties,” the prime minister-designate told reporters. He indicated the cabinet would be made up of 24 ministers. Political sources said Siniora would now have to come up with a team of technocrats with political links so that they would win the backing of the various parties.

DAMASCUS, July 13 (Reuters) – Syria’s deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Wednesday his country wanted Lebanon to join it in any peace talks with Israel. “The Syrian and Lebanese tracks have not separated and the reason is very clear,” Waleed al-Mualem told Syria’s Al Thawra and Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspapers in a joint interview.  “When we negotiate with the Israeli enemy together we can achieve better results.” Mualem voiced confidence that Lebanon, now clear of Syrian troops for the first time in three decades, would not sign any separate peace with Israel under U.S. influence.  “Lebanon has a choice now: either the American direction, which means Israel — a remote possibility because of what we know of the Lebanese people — or the Arab direction. Syria will be the bridge for Lebanon in the Arab direction,” he said.Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April under intense international pressure following the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February. Previously the main powerbroker in its smaller neighbour for three decades, Syria has always opposed any separate peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.  Mualem said such an agreement was the real agenda of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, whose demands were partly fulfilled by the end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon. The measure also calls for the dismantling of all militias in Lebanon, mainly anti-Israel Hizbollah guerrillas.

Maria el-Beissari, center, wife of Lebanese Col. Elias al-Beissari, chief of security of Lebanon‘s outgoing deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr, is comforted in the hospital after her husband was seriously injured in a car bomb that hit the motorcade of Murr in the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 12, 2005. The car bomb, slightly wounded Murr and killed at least one other person, Tuesday, officials said. A string of bombings has hit Lebanon this year. The explosion left one vehicle a charred and twisted wreck, and several nearby cars and buildings were damaged. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)

Lebanese security forces and civilians gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Beirut. Lebanon‘s defence minister was wounded by a car bomb outside Beirut that killed at least two and injured nine others in the latest attack on a leading political figure, state TV reported.(AFP/Joseph Barrak) For more pictures pls click READ MORE

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A car bomb hit the motorcade of Lebanon’s outgoing deputy prime minister Tuesday, wounding him and killing at least one other person, officials said. A string of bombings has hit Lebanon this year. The blast left one vehicle a charred and twisted wreck and damaged several others in the motorcade of Elias Murr, who is also the outgoing defense minister. Murr, who was slightly wounded, later released an audiotape from the hospital saying his was all right. At least 12 other people, including the Mexican ambassador’s wife, were also wounded, officials said.President Emile Lahoud, Syria’s staunchest ally in Lebanon, has reportedly been pressing for Murr

Deputy Assistant Secretary Dibble: Good morning. I am delighted to be back in Beirut after almost a year since my last visit. I just had very good discussions with Ambassador Assaker. We discussed regional and Lebanese developments. The United States looks forward to further supporting Lebanon once the government is formed. We hope that this will happen as soon as possible to enable us to further to offer assistance and for Lebanon to move forward. So again thank you. I am delighted to be here.
Question: Are you planning to meet Minister Trad Hamade?
Deputy Assistant Secretary Dibble: No, I have no plans to meet him. The purpose of my visit is to participate an American Chamber of Commerce event tomorrow evening. But I am taking advantage of my time here to have other meetings and to get the latest on the situation.
Question: What is your opinion now about the change in politics in Lebanon? Because before eleven months you have been here, how do find Lebanon now?Deputy Assistant Secretary Dibble: Well, I think Lebanon is at a crossroad. There is a window of opportunity to move forward on important issues of political and economic reform. We look forward to working with the new government when it is formed. We hope it is formed quickly, so that the people of Lebanon can get on with the business at hand and the international community can offer its support to Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he will abide by any decision that Lebanon takes on disarming Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon. Lebanon hosts more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees, including thousands of armed guerrillas from the mainstream Palestinian Fatah faction, in densely populated camps around the country that are off limits to the Lebanese government.Authorities fear there would be bloodshed if they go into the camps, where many Islamic militant fugitives are known to be hiding. The first refugees came to Lebanon after the 1948 war that saw the creation of Israel.”We are guests in Lebanon, temporary guests, and we are subject to Lebanese laws just like everybody else in Lebanon,” Abbas said after talks with President Emile Lahoud. Abbas arrived in Beirut Friday from neighboring Damascus where he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Besides meeting with Lahoud, Abbas will see Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati. He is also scheduled to meet with a Palestinian delegation from refugee camps in Lebanon.Abbas is widely expected to discuss the issue of disarming Palestinians living in the country as demanded by U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, which calls on Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias to give up their weapons.The resolution of last September refers to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrilla group

By Lin Noueihed, BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon may be racked by bombings and fresh out of its first elections since Syrian troops pulled out, but for its summer music festivals the show must go on.  Held among the ruins of a Roman city and in a 19th century mountain palace, the Baalbek and Beiteddine festivals begin on Thursday, hoping to turn the gaze from the country’s political turmoil to its classical, pop, world and Arabic concerts. Organizers feared they would have to cancel the al fresco performances when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated in February, touching off large street protests. A series of ensuing explosions and killings fueled those fears. Anti-Syrian Lebanese columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2, the day Beiteddine Festival was due to announce its 2005 lineup. Its organizer Nora Jumblatt was in a hotel preparing for the press conference when she heard the news and called it off. “We passed through a period when we were worried we would not be able to do it, but we didn’t cancel, we waited. We changed the dates, we cut the number of shows to fit the situation and we waited,” Jumblatt, wife of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, told Reuters. “Don’t forget, Beiteddine Festival began during the war. In 1985 things were very difficult and we did it then.”The Beiteddine Festival was launched in the midst of the 1975-1990 civil war, which divided Lebanon into Christian and Muslim enclaves and pitted neighbor against neighbor, nowhere more so than in the mountains where it is held.