Hezbollah urges France to ‘curb Israeli hostility’

A Hezbollah delegation met with the French Senate ( Upper House) President Gérard Larcher at Qasr el Snaoubar ( Pine palace ), headquarters of the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign affairs , according to a party statement.

The delegation included Hezbollah International Relations Officer Ammar Moussawi and party MPs Ali Fayyad and Nawwar Sahili.

“We ask that France take a firm stand and work with the international community to rein in Israeli aggressiveness,” according to Hezbollah statement
The delegation blamed Tel Aviv’s policies for the tensions in the region, adding that Lebanon maintains the right to retaliate against any possible Israeli attacks.
The Hezbollah delegation asked France to work with the international community “to limit Israeli hostilities.”

“The delegation also praised France’s desire to support Lebanon, its people and institutions,” the statement said.

Countdown to Jumblatt’s visit to Syria: Few more days

In an interview with MTV on Tuesday, Progressive Socialist Party media Officer Rami al-Rayess said that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt might visit Damascus within days, adding that the date of the visit will be announced, once it is set.
There were some rumors in the media this morning that Jumblatt will be in Syria within hours , but General Secretary of the Progressive Socialist Party Sharif Fayyad issued a clarification in which he stated that “Jumblatt is on his way to Damascus in politics but the date of his trip has not been set yet”.
Jumblat, who is in Qatar met Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun at the Lebanese embassy in Doha.
Local media said the Jumblat-Aoun meeting, which took place before noon Tuesday, was attended by Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi, PSP MP Nehmeh Tomeh and Water and Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law.
They said Aoun is likely to visit Mukhtara on Saturday.
Jumblatt whose father was assassinated by the Syrian regime  is under heavy criticism from within the Druze  community  for being so anxious to visit Syria.

8 arrested for drug possession in Lebanon

8 people , including 2 Iranians were arrested, at the Dahr al-Baidar security checkpoint for possession of drugs which they were moving from Bekaa to Beirut.
The suspects were arrested in 3 stages . The drugs confiscated included Cocaine , Opium, Hashish and Heroin. The detainees were turned over to the Office of Drug Control who will later refer them to the relevant court.

6 of hit squad suspected of killing Hamas man ‘had UK passports’

Six members of an 11-strong hit squad suspected of killing a senior Hamas military commander in Dubai entered the country using British passports, police said last night.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, 49, was killed on 20 January in his hotel room, hours after arriving in the state. Last month Hamas claimed Israeli agents assassinated Mabhouh, who was wanted for the killing of two Israeli soldiers in 1989.
Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai’s chief of police, said yesterday that 11 people, including one woman, were wanted over the killing. He said all suspects had European passports. In addition to the six British passport holders, three were carrying Irish passports and the two others were from France and Germany, Tamim said. guardian.co.uk / Telegraph.uk

Suspects wanted in connection with the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, clockwise from top left : Michael Lawrence Barney, James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Paul John Keeley, Melvyn Adam Mildiner Photo: AP

Update: Passports fake, say UK and Ireland
The British and Irish governments have said that passports belonging to the alleged killers of a top Hamas official are fake.
Ireland said the names Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron, and their passport numbers, did not match anything issued by its officials.
Britain said it believed six British passports were also fakes. BBC
In Dubai Tamim told reporters that security camera video obtained by his investigators showed the team at work in Dubai in the hours leading up to the assassination in a luxury hotel last month.
On Tuesday, a newspaper Web site in Dubai published the video released by the authorities, which appears to show the suspects following the Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

ET409 crash: Should the search for victims continue or stop?

Shiite Ulamas ( Muslim scholars) are likely to issue a Fatwa, or Islamic ruling, to end the search for the remaining victims of the Ethiopian plane flight ET409 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last Jan. 25th killing all 90 people on board.
The Ulamas, tend to believe that the “sea, in itself, is a legitimate graveyard,” and therefore, search operations can stop.
Ulamas’ viewpoint and expected fatwa are likely to gain support of political and Shiite authorities.
Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan, President of the Higher Shiite Council however, is not in favor of ending the search until all remains of victims are found
In a statement issued late Monday, Qabalan stressed” the need to recover all the bodies from the sea so that we can carry out our duty of burying the victims in the soil.”
Qabalan urged the Lebanese army and security forces to carry on efforts to pull all the remains of victims from the sea off the coast of Naameh south of Beirut.
The families of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash victims are expected to meet with Sheikh Qabalan at 2pm on Wednesday.

Burns in Beirut for talks with key officials

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns arrived in Beirut Tuesday for talks with Lebanese officials on bilateral ties and regional issues

Burns is expected to meet with President Suleiman, Prime Minister Hariri, and other Lebanese leaders. During his visit to Lebanon he is expected to confirm United States’ continued support for a sovereign and independent Lebanon.

On February 17 he is expected to head to to Syria to meet with President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem.

During this trip to the region Burns will be also visiting Turkey, and Azerbaijan according to the US state department

ET409 crash: Missing part of black box recovered

The part that was missing from the cockpit voice recorder ( CVR black box) that was found on February 10 was recovered Monday , Lebanon’s Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi announced.

Aridi said the recovered part was handed over to the investigation committee formed to probe the plane crash.

This part holds the memory of the CVR of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 that crashed last January 25 minutes after take off from Beirut airport … it is the most crucial part of the box.

It was retrieved by the Lebanese army divers. A statement issued by the Lebanese army said navy commandos recovered the memory recorder of the cockpit voice recorder off the coast of Naameh, the site of the plane crash.

The other black box the flight data recorder ( FDR) was already found and sent to Paris for analysis

Meanwhile, search teams were able to pull more remains of victims on Tuesday.

The remains of 11 more plane crash victims were identified on Monday, raising the number of Lebanese victims identified to 41 from 54.

Hariri: Lebanon on the path to economic & social reform, stability and modernity

During a speech at a dinner   at the grand Serail in honor  of   visiting French Senate President Gérard Larcher , Lebanon’s PM Saad Hariri said:“Lebanon is engaged on the path to economic and social reform, stability and modernity,” pointing out that “the Lebanese national unity government, which includes all the political parties of Lebanon, is determined to work for a more prosperous and stable Lebanon .”Larcher responded by reiterating French support for a unified, free, independent and sovereign Lebanon.

Hamas arrests British journalist in Gaza

A British journalist has been arrested by Hamas authorities in Gaza and detained for 15 days of questioning, Hamas officials said on Monday, citing suspicion of unspecified security offenses.
The Hamas Interior Ministry said in a statement that the journalist, Paul Martin, who was arrested on Sunday, was suspected of “violating Palestinian law and security in the Gaza Strip.”
Martin was not reporting in Gaza at the time of his arrest but had come voluntarily to testify for a Palestinian man ( Mohammed Abu Muaileq) on trial in a Hamas military court, accused of collaborating with Israel. Martin, who has produced reports for the BBC, among others, was arrested in the courtroom and taken to jail.

Correction:  Photo replaced with the right Paul Martin,  thanks  to Mr Houssam Moghrabi ’s comment

Abbas awaits U.S. answers before talking to Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday he was still waiting for the United States to explain how it might help restart peace talks before he will consider reopening those negotiations.
A senior aide to U.S. mediator George Mitchell will meet Abbas in the coming days, a senior U.S. official said.
Abbas has resisted U.S. and other Western pressure to resume negotiations with Israel which were suspended over a year ago. He has insisted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu impose a complete freeze on the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“We are still awaiting the American administration’s response regarding their proposals,” Abbas said of suggestions that Washington could host “proximity talks” involving officials, but not leaders, from the two sides as a way of preparing for a full-scale resumption of negotiations. Reuters