March14: Hezbollah arms are the main problem

March 14 General Secretariat issued a statement, following its weekly meeting Wednesday, saying Hezbollah’s arms are the primary source of contention in designing a national defense strategy.

According to the statement, the March 8 alliance intends to obstruct UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and (more…)

Egypt pushing for a Nuclear Free Middle east Zone

Israel may come under new pressure next month at a U.N. meeting on atomic weapons as the United States, Britain and France consider backing Egypt’s call for a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear arms, envoys said.

The 189 signatories to the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will meet at U.N. headquarters in New York for a May 3-28 conference on the troubled pact whose credibility, analysts say, has been harmed by the atomic programs of Iran and North Korea and the failure of the big nuclear powers to disarm. (more…)

Lebanese President: Efforts towards a reconciliation between Egypt and Syria are underway

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has said that efforts towards a reconciliation between Egypt and Syria are underway, adding that the interests of the Arab people are “safeguarded when their governments are united.” His comments were delivered on Tuesday at a meeting with the Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association. (more…)

Can conservationists save Oscar Niemeyer’s fairground in Lebanon?

Once the pride of Tripoli, Lebanon – designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer – the international fairground became another casualty of the 1975 civil war. It hasn’t recovered yet.

Baroud updates the president on security in Lebanon

Interior Minister Baroud held a meeting attended by military and security officials, in addition to State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, to follow up on their preparations ahead of the upcoming municipal elections. (more…)

Ban urges Lebanon, Syria to demarcate borders

In his report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 on Monday , U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has called for serious action to deal with the “dangerous” presence of Palestinian bases outside refugee camps in the Bekaa valley.

The report, written by Terje Roed-Larsen, said the world body was not in a position to independently verify the alleged arms transfers to Hezbollah. However, he said all sides in Lebanon and outside it should stop all efforts aimed at taking possession of or transferring weapons. (more…)

Kuna: Assad to meet Mubarak in Sharam Al-Sheikh

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will soon meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, in Egypt for the first time in over four years, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported on Tuesday. (more…)

Lebanon PM: Scuds accusations like Iraq’s WMD

Lebanon’s prime minister compared accusations that Hezbollah has obtained Scud missiles to charges that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction ahead of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. (more…)

US Summons Senior Syria Diplomat Over Arms Transfer To Hezbollah

The U.S. State Department summoned the senior Syrian diplomat in Washington on Monday to accuse his government of “provocative behavior” in supplying arms to the Iranian-aligned militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A department statement announcing the complaint was imprecise about the alleged arms deals by the Syrians. It alluded to the transfer to Hezbollah of Scud ballistic missiles but did not say explicitly that Syria was behind such a deal.

Israel’s President Shimon Peres last week directly accused Damascus of providing the missiles, which can carry a warhead of up to one ton, making them far larger than the biggest rockets previously in Hezbollah’s arsenal. They are also more accurate. (more…)

Third Iraqi al-Qaeda leader killed

US and Iraqi forces have killed another al-Qaeda leader in northern Iraq, officials say.

Ahmed al-Obeidi died in an operation in the northern province of Nineveh, Iraqi military spokesman Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi said.

The news comes the day after the government announced two leading militants had been killed.

Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who led an affiliate group, died on Sunday. (more…)