PARIS (AFP) – Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt met here for the first time in 20 years with his former wartime archfoe and now an ally in the opposition, exiled former Prime minister and army leader Michel Aoun, a spokesman for Aoun told AFP.  The two men “called for the opposition to join the government that will be formed soon under prime minister designate Nagib Miqati,” said spokesman Simon Abiramia. “They insisted that the opposition needs to be united in order to achieve common goals” during the 30-minute meeting in Aoun’s Paris residence, he said. Jumblatt, who has been on a visit to France since Wednesday, and Aoun are two key figures of the Lebanese opposition leading the campaign seeking to end Syria’s military and political dominance of the country.

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer  BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s president on Friday named moderate pro-Syrian lawmaker Najib Mikati as prime minister, breaking a political deadlock and reviving chances for holding parliamentary elections next month. The announcement came two days after Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami ended his efforts to form a Cabinet after nearly seven weeks. Mikati, an opposition-backed former public works minister, won the position after President Emile Lahoud polled legislators or their representatives from the 128-member parliament. Lahoud consulted with the speaker of parliament about the results and then summoned Mikati to the presidential palace and asked him to form the next government, said presidential spokesman Rafik Shalala.

By Nadim Ladki  BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud began consultations with parliamentarians on Friday to name a new prime minister to lead the country to a general election set for May. Political sources said the selection of the new prime minister was now a two-horse race between outgoing Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad, a staunch ally of Damascus, and the more moderate former minister Najib Mikatti, a wealthy businessman with close ties to Syria. Lebanon has been without a government since Feb. 28, two weeks after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri plunged the country into its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

(Reuters) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian political coalition was in disarray on Thursday, with a key figure saying he could no longer work with President Emile Lahoud, another top ally of Damascus. Tensions boiled over a day after Prime Minister Omar Karami stepped down after he failed to agree a cabinet with pro-Syrian allies, deepening the worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. With Syrian forces streaming out of Lebanon in line with an April 30 deadline for an end to Damascus’s 29-year-old military and intelligence presence, its allies in Beirut are increasingly squabbling over how to move forward.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian prime minister designate said on Wednesday he was stepping down after failing to form a new government to lead the country to general elections scheduled in May.  Omar Karami’s resignation made timely elections more unlikely and deepened the political crisis triggered by the February assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. “We have once again reached a dead end,” Karami told reporters. “That is why I have invited you today to present my resignation.” But Karami said there was still enough time to hold the elections before the current parliament’s term expires on May 31. The constitution requires the government to call elections at least a month before the vote.

BEIRUT, International Herald Tribune   The anniversary this year of “April 13” – the spark that started Lebanon’s civil war – is like no other. Three decades after a gun attack on a bus triggered the 15-year sectarian conflict, Lebanon is once again in the throes of violence and political turmoil, after 15 years of relative calm and rebuilding. Still, this anniversary for the first time is characterized by Christian-Muslim unity and by the imminent dawning of an era when Lebanon will be free of foreign armies. Syria has pledged to withdraw its army by April 30, in compliance with UN and U.S. demands. Ending Syria’s 29-year dominance of Lebanon would have been unthinkable a few months ago. It came only after weeks of anti-Syrian protests and international pressure brought after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. sraeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, and most Palestinian guerrillas – key players early in the civil war – also have left. The remaining gunmen are largely confined to refugee camps with their light weapons. In 1975, in contrast, they were running a separate state within Lebanon.

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Thirty years after Syria’s tiny neighbour Lebanon plunged into civil war, the region’s dominant powerbrokers in Damascus have witnessed a dramatic political reversal caused in part by the very troops sent in to separate the warring sides.  With Washington heaping pressure on Syria, and the United Nations demanding it pull its soldiers from Lebanon, the Syrian leadership has found itself on the defensive not only in Lebanon but also in the wider region. It’s “the end of the regional role of Syria”, says Syrian political analyst and writer Michel Kilo, stressing that the withdrawal of the estimated 14,000 troops who were still in Lebanon last year would also have an impact on Syria’s power structure, economy and society in general.

By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt rejected a delay in upcoming elections and urged opposition factions on Sunday to draw up a political program for Lebanon after a May general election. Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami is expected to unveil a long-awaited new government on Monday to lead the country into the election but his insistence on a new law organizing the poll makes a delay almost inevitable. “Of course we insist on elections on schedule,” Jumblatt told a news conference, predicting an opposition win regardless of the shape of the electoral law. “I call on the opposition to meet and come up with a program, because it’s not enough that we reach the elections and vote. We should have a clear and ambitious answer to what’s next,” the Druze chieftain, an ally-turned-foe of Syria, said. “In the end of the day, we will win the elections.” Staunch anti-Syrian Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told local media he planned to return to Lebanon on May 7, ending nearly 14 years in exile.

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon said Friday that it will cooperate with a United Nations probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but Lebanese authorities want it finished as soon as possible. A U.N. Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, France and Britain, authorized an international investigation into the assassination on Feb. 14. Thursday’s 15-0 vote came two weeks after a U.N. fact-finding team issued a report saying a Lebanese investigation was flawed and didn’t meet international standards. “It is in Lebanon’s interest that the international investigation team into the terrorist crime of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, called for by the Security Council, be completed as soon as possible in order to know the truth,” said Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.