Iranian FM met with Hezbollah’s Nasrallah

Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki was in Lebanon today to meet with Lebanese officials. He also met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Netanyahu holds marathon talks on Israel-Hamas swap

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held marathon talks with cabinet ministers on Monday on a prisoner swap with Gaza’s Hamas rulers as the parents of a captive soldier held a vigil outside his office. Source: Reuters

Cabinet meets for first time since winning vote of confidence

The Lebanese cabinet is meeting for first time since winning vote of confidence and Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to brief the cabinet on the results of his visit to Damascus over the weekend.
Hariri sources have reportedly revealed that Hariri seems comfortable with the results of his visit particularly since the Syrian President Bashar Assad broke on several occasions with protocol during his visit. Assad has reportedly treated Hariri as a head of state when he invited him to stay at the Tishreen palace (an honor accorded to heads of states) and drove Hariri in his own vehicle.
The sources also hinted that the PM could make another visit to Damascus at the head of a ministerial delegation to discuss bilateral economic and trade agreements between the two countries .
The sources noted that the talks between the two sides led to agreement on several issues including border demarcation and giving priority to economic and trade cooperation.
According to Nahar said Hariri and Assad held eight hours of talks during three meetings last Saturday and Sunday.
Earlier today ,PM Hariri urged prompt investigations of the Syrian bus incident in order to identify the perpetrators, prosecute them as soon as possible, and refer them to the concerned judicial side.

Syrian bus with 25 passengers was attacked in northern Lebanon

A Syrian bus with 25 passengers was reportedly attacked by unknown assailants at 2:30 a.m. (GMT 0030) in Deir Ammar on the road between Tripoli and Akkar in northern Lebanon and a Syrian citizen was reportedly killed in the attack.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem has reportedly called his Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami with regard to the attack and called on the Lebanese authority to investigate the attack to identify the criminals and those who are behind them and inform Syria the result as soon as possible.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the name of the victim is Abdullah A.A. 17 and that 7 shots were fired at the bus .

A Lebanese soldier stands at the site of an attack on a Syrian bus in Deir Ammar on the road between Tripoli and Akkar in northern Lebanon

Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral turns to opposition protest

Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners turned the funeral procession of the country’s most senior dissident cleric into an anti-government protest Monday, chanting “death to the dictator” and slogans in support of the opposition amid heavy security.
Witnesses said security forces clamped down in Iran’s holy city of Qom where massive crowds streamed in for the funeral rites for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died Sunday at age 87.
Marchers held aloft black-rimmed portraits of Montazeri and green banners and wrist bands in a powerful show of support for the Green Movement of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who attended the funeral along with another prominent protest leader, Mahdi Karroubi.

Seized North Korean arms were Iran-bound: report

A plane loaded with weapons from North Korea that was recently impounded in Bangkok was bound for Iran, according to documents obtained by arms-trafficking experts.
The flight plan of the Ilyushin-76, obtained by researchers in the U.S. and Belgium, shows that after Bangkok the plane was due to make refueling stops in Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine before unloading its cargo in Tehran. Iranian officials didn’t respond to requests for comment. WSJ

Al-Manar: Jumblatt will comment Monday about Hariri’s visit to Syria

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt refused to comment today about Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus saying he will wait for the findings of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon , but according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV he will comment in his weekly article in Al-Anbaa newspaper tomorrow

Gemayel: What is important now is what comes next

Gemayel: What is important now is what comes next

Former Lebanese president and Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel told LBCI television on Sunday that Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Syria is not considered “official,” since it was not discussed by the cabinet.
He added that the trip was “neither the beginning nor the end of the world,” adding, “We were hoping that it would take place under different circumstances and include a clear agenda.”
Gemayel said , Hariri “wanted it this way” and the Kataeb supported him from the beginning. He added that “what is important now is what comes next.”

Larijani: Iran backs Hamas and Hezbollah, both ‘stood up to Israel’

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Sunday with Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani in the first high-level talks between both countries since relations were strained after Israel’s war on Gaza.
Larijani, who met Mubarak and Egyptian parliament speaker Ahmed Fathi Surur for two hours, described the meeting as “very good and constructive.”
“The two countries’ vision on bilateral relations are positive, which is key to the development of the relationship between them,” Larijani told reporters.
He said Iran backs the Palestinian Hamas movement and Hezbollah in Lebanon because both Islamist groups “stood up to Israel” while stressing his country “supports and encourages Egyptian efforts for Palestinian reconciliation.” AFP

Lebanon bids farewell to prince Faisal Arslan

A funeral was held today in Aley to bid farewell to Prince Faisal Majeed Arslan , brother of MP Talal Arslan and son of the late Druze leader Prince Majid Arslan. The funeral was attended by many politicians and Lebanese dignitaries including representatives of all the Lebanese leaders. PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt attended the funeral in person and was accompanied by Druze ministers Ghazi Aridi and Wael Abu Faour and several Democratic Gathering MPs including Marwan Hamadeh