The meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Saudi King Abdullah was "very good," informed sources told An Nahar newspaper, stressing that the premier is still awaiting the March 8 forces to execute their commitments made for the success of the Saudi-Syrian mediation.
The Hariri-Abdullah talks at dawn Monday Beirut time lasted for a long time at the king's suite at the Plaza hotel in New York, the sources said.
Full StoryU.S. President Barack Obama has expressed concern over the crisis that has erupted in Lebanon over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"I think we are all deeply concerned with the special tribunal there (Lebanon) and making sure that justice is appropriately served," Obama said Monday following talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Oval Office.
Full StoryU.N. chief Ban Ki-moon added his backing to the work of a U.N. tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in a meeting with his son, current premier Saad Hariri.
During the one-hour meeting in New York on Sunday, Hariri urged Ban to increase pressure on Israel to end all violations of Lebanese borders, and to help prevent it from exploiting underwater oil and gas.
Full StoryMustaqbal official Mustafa Alloush on Monday said Prime Minister Saad Hariri will not allow "certain red lines" to be crossed.
"There are certain red lines that PM Hariri will not allow to be crossed regardless of any intervention," Alloush told the Voice of Lebanon radio.
Full StoryLebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra on Monday warned there is no solution in sight unless the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance stops hijacking of State institutions.
"If the March 8 camp was not convinced that State institutions must stop being hijacked, we are not heading toward a solution soon," Zahra told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri's advisor MP Ali Hassan Khalil reassured the Lebanese that the battle of the March 8 forces was with the Israeli enemy and not with any local party.
All parties "should unify because the real danger on Lebanon and all the Lebanese comes from the Israeli enemy which is seeking to shatter Lebanon and the region," Khalil said.
Full StoryA government official said Friday that the Syrian-Saudi initiative calls for clear steps to ease tensions in Lebanon and reduce the rhetoric among the rival political parties.
"All of the steps center on a single objective which is domestic stability and the ability of Lebanon to absorb the indictment" that will be issued by the international tribunal, the official told Agence France Presse.
Full StoryAMAL MP Qassem Hashem accused the U.S. of thwarting attempts by Saudi Arabia and Syria to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis and said the March 14 forces were procrastinating until the release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"The U.S. is playing the role of obstructer to this initiative," Hashem told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily in an interview published Friday. Washington "was lately ready to thwart this initiative."
Full StoryThe Health Ministry's Director-General, Walid Ammar, reassured the Lebanese on Friday that the H1N1 strain has become similar to seasonal flu saying there were currently some cases in Lebanon but not as much as last winter's levels.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station, Ammar said illness caused by the virus requires no extraordinary measures and that complications could only arise in pregnant women, children under the age of five and people with chronic diseases.
Full StoryIran would use Hizbullah to launch massive rocket attacks against Israel if the Jewish state targets Tehran's nuclear facilities, analysts told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post.
"The Iranians – who are largely responsible for building up Hizbullah to such an extent that today it has more firepower than 90 percent of the countries of the world – would 'call in their chips,' and the organization would launch massive rocket attacks against Israel's home front," the analysts said about a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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