BEIRUT (AFP) – Bahia Hariri, sister of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, is increasingly seen as his possible political heiress, charged with carrying on a mission that has marked politics here for the past 15 years. Within hours Saturday of an explosion in a Christian neighborhood that injured 11 people, she was at the site of the blast to reassure residents, telling them not to afraid. “They (the perpetrators) won’t succeed in terrorizing us,” she declared. With mourning for her brother, killed in a bomb blast February 14, behind her, Bahia Hariri — a deputy from the southern city of Sidon — has also become more prominent in her pronouncements backing the Lebanese opposition.

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR,  BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 19 – On an unseasonably mild day last August, a small group of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s closest political allies could tell from his flushed face and subdued manner that something awful had happened in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where he had been summoned to a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. The four men, all Lebanese Parliament members, recalled waiting for him at the Beirut mansion of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, in the so-called garden, basically a carport paved with concrete bricks, plus one short orange tree in a faux terra cotta tub. Mr. Hariri – wearing an expensive blue suit and a white shirt, his tie loosened – lumbered over mutely and flung himself onto one of a dozen white plastic chairs, his head lolling back and his arms dangling over the edges.

By Lin Noueihed , BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition dismissed the president’s call for talks on Saturday, deepening political divisions hours after a bomb raised fresh fears of a return to the country’s violent past.  Investigators sifted through the rubble left by the blast, which wounded 11 people and gutted the ground and first floors of a residential block in a Christian suburb of eastern Beirut. The bomb had been left in or under a car belonging to a Lebanese-Armenian man who lived in the building, but it was not clear why, Lebanese security sources said.

By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president said Saturday that he will not attend an Arab summit because of political turmoil in his country as investigators searched for clues to a car bomb that rocked a largely Christian neighborhood in Beirut, injuring nine people. President Emile Lahoud did not elaborate on his decision not to participate in Monday’s summit in Algeria, but it came as Syria withdraws troops from Lebanon after facing heavy pressure from the United States and fellow Arab countries to end a three decade presence. The attack devastated an eight-story apartment building in the largely Christian New Jdeideh neighborhood shortly after midnight on Saturday and sent panicked residents in their pajamas into the street.

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon – With Lebanese politicians deadlocked over the formation of a new government as Syria withdraws its forces after 29 years, a car bomb rocked a largely Christian neighborhood in north Beirut early Saturday, injuring seven people and causing extensive damage. The target of the attack wasn’t immediately clear but it added to the political turmoil after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops to east Lebanon and Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been participating in demonstrations for and against Syria since Hariri was killed. Anti-Syrian opposition demonstrations have included large numbers of Maronite Christians.

PARIS (AFP) – Russia joined the leaders of France, Germany and Spain in an appeal for a rapid and “complete pullout” of all Syrian troops and intelligence forces from Lebanon, a joint declaration said.  In their statement the presidents of France and Russia, Jacques Chirac and Vladimir Putin , as well as Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero committed themselves to the implementation of UN resolution 1559 which calls for the full withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. The resolution was adopted in September last year. Putin’s agreement was important because of Moscow’s long-standing links with Damascus.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 18 – Political leaders trying to form a new government in the wake of the past month’s upheavals said today that negotiations had stalled, raising the possibility that nationwide elections scheduled for this spring might have to be postponed. Allies of the pro-Syrian government and the opposition said the two sides disagreed on a number of important issues, including a demand by opposition leaders for an internationally supervised investigation into the murder of Rafik Hariri, who was killed by a car bomb Feb. 14.Opposition leaders, who have been galvanized by a huge outpouring of public support since Mr. Hariri’s death, said they were still waiting for a response to a list of demands they presented two days ago to the caretaker government of Omar Karami. Mr. Karami, leader of the pro-Syrian government, resigned under pressure earlier this month but was asked to return by the Parliament.

By Cynthia Johnston BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria completed the first phase of its troop pullout from Lebanon on Thursday, bringing Damascus closer to meeting U.S. and Lebanese opposition demands that it quit the neighbor it has dominated for three decades.  A Lebanese security source said 4,000 to 6,000 Syrian troops had returned home since the pullout plan was announced on March 5, leaving 8,000 to 10,000 in eastern Lebanon. He said all Syrian forces had pulled back to the Bekaa Valley or crossed into Syria. “There are just some logistics left. But the people went, all of them,” he added United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan expects Syria to fully withdraw its forces before Lebanon’s May elections, U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said after briefing Annan on his recent talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W. Bush met with the patriarch of the Maronite church, Nasrallah Sfeir, and reaffirmed that Syria must withdraw its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.  “I assured his eminence that United States policy is to work with friends and allies to insist that Syria completely leave Lebanon, Syria take all her troops out of Lebanon, Syria take her intelligence services out of Lebanon, so that the election process will be free and fair,” Bush said. The 85-year-old Sfeir, a leading figure in the Lebanese Christian opposition, was making his first visit to Bush’s White House even as Syria has begun to pull back its roughly 14,000 soldiers from Lebanon.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W. Bush left the door open for Hezbollah to play a central political role in Lebanon, urging the Shiite movement to “prove” it does not deserve to be branded a terrorist group.  “We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they’re not, by laying down arms and not threatening peace” between Israel and the Palestinians, said Bush. The White House last week denied a media report that the United States was grudgingly moving into line with efforts by France and the United Nations  to get the group into the Lebanese political mainstream. But aides said privately that Washington faces a quandary how to deal with the group, noting that it wields considerable political clout in Lebanon ahead of May parliamentary elections there.