Feltman did not visit Damascus

An-Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday that US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman traveled to Damascus to meet with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem after his Beirut visit Sunday.

But according to Lebanon Files Feltman did not travel to Damascus but headed instead to Morocco and he is still there. (more…)

Hariri met Nasrallah’s aide

An-Nahar newspaper reported that Prime Minister Saad Hariri met  at his central house in downtown Beirut with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s political aide, Hajj Hussein Khalil, on Tuesday to discuss the latest domestic developments.

The report did not elaborate further. (more…)

Iraq PM takes foreign gamble to win over rivals

Iraq’s prime minister is using a round of shuttle diplomacy this week to gain regional backing for his bid to stay in power by offering business opportunities in Iraq’s war-damaged economy, political sources said.

A March parliamentary election yielded no outright winner, leaving Iraq in limbo (more…)

Analysis: Lebanon’s Unfulfilled Promise

Free-minded Lebanese are now depressed. Talk of democratic revival has been replaced with gloomy scenarios of a return to civil war.

Analysis: Will Hariri Drop the Tribunal?

To cancel the International Tribunal would not be political suicide, but it would be a shot of madness, and a complete destruction of Rafik Hariri’s state-building project.

France, UK , US warn against meddling with UN tribunal

The United States, Britain, France and others warned on Monday against interference with a U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The remarks during a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Israel-Palestinian crisis came after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is believed to have raised his concerns about the tribunal with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh. (more…)

UN re-enacts Hariri murder in France

A U.N. tribunal carried out a controlled explosion Tuesday at a French military base as part of its investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said in a statement that the explosion at the Captieux military base in southwest France (more…)

Militants attack Chechen parliament, 6 dead

Militants attacked the parliament building in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya on Tuesday, setting off a gun battle that left six people dead and 17 injured. (more…)

Hariri-Nasrallah meeting could take place anytime soon

NBN TV reported that Prime Minister Saad Hariri will meet this evening with Hajj Hussein Khalil, Hezbollah Secretary-General’s Political Assistant.

This comes after As Safir quoted yesterday Labor and Public Works Ghazi Aridi that the Prime Minister and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will be meeting”within the upcoming hours”. (more…)

New TV: This is the first and last interview with Sayyed

New TV on Monday reported that former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed was insulting, rude, vulgar against the station’s interviewer on Sunday and almost kicked the station’s camera crew out of his house.

According to the station, when New TV interviewer George Salibi posed a question to Sayyed about his bank accounts and properties during a Sunday interview, the former security chief grew angry (more…)