Russia to keep up diplomacy against war in Iraq: Mideast envoy

BEIRUT, March 6 (AFP) - Russia's Middle East envoy Andrei Vdovine said here Thursday that his country, a veto-bearing member of the UN Security Council, will keep up its diplomatic efforts to prevent a US-led war in Iraq. "The war would be a catastrophe that would result in more extremism, religious and ethnic divisions and instability that would be bad not just for us, but also for Europe and the United States," he said after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

He said that Iraq's ongoing destruction of its Al-Sammoud 2 missiles and its permission for Iraqi scientists to be interviewed by UN arms inspectors were both positive developments. "Russia, France, Germany and China are for continued inspections and will not allow a new resolution that would open the way to the use of force as advocated by the US," said the envoy.

Foreign ministers from France, Germany and Russia meeting Wednesday in Paris said their countries would oppose a new UN resolution on Iraq. China added its voice to the group on Thursday. China, France and Russia -- along with the United States and its ally Britain -- all have veto powers in the 15-member UN Security Council. A new resolution would require nine votes and no veto to pass.

Lebanese factions find truce in opposition to Iraq war

by Pascal Mallet

BEIRUT, March 6 (AFP) - Lebanon's Syrian-backed government and the Christian Maronite opposition are enjoying an undeclared truce, as their mentors in Damascus and the Vatican find common cause in rejecting a US-led war on Iraq. Bemused Beirut newspapers reported Thursday how General Rustom Ghazaleh, the head of Syria's all-powerful intelligence agencies in Lebanon, proposed a toast Wednesday to the head of the Maronite church, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir.

He raised his glass at a dinner attended by the heads of Lebanon's security services, after church leaders at their monthly meeting denounced "the logic of violence and the war which is being prepared against Iraq before all peaceful methods are exhausted."

The bishops of Lebanon's largest Christian community expressed regret at the failure of Arab states to unite over Iraq at their summit last weekend, and hailed the speech "full of wisdom and foresight" which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made at the meeting in Egypt.

Syria had already pleased the Maronite hierarchy last month by pulling between 3,500 and 4,000 of the troops based in Lebanon out of the Christian majority north in a surprise redeployment. The move, the third pullout since 2001, cut back the Syrian garrison in Lebanon to below 20,000, compared with 35,000 three years ago, according to a Lebanese military source.

At the same time, in recent meetings in Damascus with Lebanese politicians, Assad has expressed his "deep respect" for Sfeir, a long-time critic of  Syria's unbridled influence over its neighbour. The mutual back-slapping is a far cry from the traditional execrable relations between the two sides, particularly over the past few years.

In 2000 the Maronite Bishops Conference launched a campaign aimed at securing the total withdrawal of Syria's forces from Lebanon, provoking the ire of Damascus.

Syrian-backed Lebanese authorities launched a crackdown on the Christian opposition community, banning demonstrations and making arrests in mid-2001. Last September they shut down the opposition MTV television station and an associated radio.

MTV is still closed, and students from the French-speaking Jesuit St. Joseph's University were banned late Wednesday by police from marching in the street to demand its reopening. An analyst for the French-language daily L'Orient Le Jour, Philippe Abi-Akl, commented Thursday that the warming of relations between the Maronite Church and Syria did not mean a reconciliation.

Damascus still perceives the activities of the Christian parties which are not represented in the Syrian-controlled government to be a threat to Lebanon's stability. Syria's ruling Baath party also fears the consequences of a war on Iraq likely to be waged by the United States, which considers Assad's regime to differ only in degree from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud paid tribute Wednesday to the anti-war stance of Pope John-Paul II, while adding "any attempt to destroy Lebanese unity must be quashed" in view of the "serious and delicate situation" in the Middle East.

Opposition MP Nassib Lahoud told AFP the regional situation and the question of Lebanese-Syrian relations were separate matters. "On the regional question, we are happy that Lebanese are united and in harmony with Syria," he said.

The question of Damascus-Beirut ties, meaning Lebanon's full independence, still needed to be tackled, Lahoud added, "when the time is right."

Tension runs high in Lebanon refugee camp as Fatah hunts fundamentalist

AIN EL-HELWEH, Lebanon, March 5 (AFP) - Tension ran high Wednesday in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp after the Fatah faction was tasked with capturing an Islamic fundamentalist chief for killing a camp guard.

Dozens of armed and masked gunmen were posted outside Fatah and Palestinian police offices while others fanned out in Ain el-Helweh camp's Al-Sifsah district where wanted fundamentalist Abdullah Shraidi's group is based. The show of force came after a meeting of Islamist and secular groups at which Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah was put in charge of arresting Shraidi and handing him over to Lebanese authorities.

Fatah's chief in Lebanon Sultan Abul Aynain called for a "surgical operation to eliminate the Shraidi cancer, which endangers the camp." Shraidi killed a guard in the camp on Sunday after the death of Egyptian fundamentalist Abdel Sattar al-Jad in a car bomb. Last summer, Shraidi sheltered a Lebanese fundamentalist who killed three Lebanese policemen.

The guard worked for local Palestinian police chief Abu Nidal al-Asmar, who is in charge of security in the south Lebanon camp, which is home to 70,000 Palestinians. Lebanese security forces do not intervene in the Palestinian camps, leaving maintenance of law and order to the camp leadership.

Lebanon's Maronite patriarch leads prayers for Iraq peace

HARISSA, Lebanon, March 4 (AFP) - The head of Lebanon's Maronite Church, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, led prayers here Tuesday for the success of efforts by Pope John Paul II to prevent a US-led war against Iraq.

"The pope has invited us to hold prayers as part of his efforts to prevent a war in Iraq and halt the violence in the Holy Land," the cardinal told an ecumenical service in this mainly Christian hilltown 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Beirut.

"It's absolutely impossible to safeguard the future of mankind through terrorism and the logic of war. We, the world's other Christians, are called upon to act as guardinas of peace," he said. Representatives of Lebanon's Maronite head of state, President Emile Lahoud, Sunni Muslim prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, Shiite Muslim parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and Druze leader and MP Walid Jumblatt attended the service, along side members of the anti-Syrian opposition and pro-Iraqi groups.

Israel keeps close eye on Hezbollah as Iraq war clouds gather

by Jean-Luc Renaudie

MITZPE ADI BASE, Israel, March 3 (AFP) - With a war in Iraq and the threat of regional instability looming, the Israeli army is working to keep a lid on its flashpoint border with Lebanon, watching every move by the Hezbollah militia on the other side of the "blue line".

Four young female soldiers sit behind their computer surveillance screens for hours on end, one for each sector of the border which is spanned by a sophisticated network of cameras which they can rotate from their office. They keep their eyes peeled for the slightest movement of any rock, tree or bush which could hide a militant from the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah planning to infiltrate Israel. "Our mission is also to guide helicopters, infantry and artillery units to intercept Hezbollah commandos," one of the young soldiers says.

Her screen flashes pictures of cows quietly grazing in the lush pastures of the mountainous border area. "Don't be deceived by these pastoral scenes," the base commander warns. "Our duty is to prepare for the worst.'

He proudly displays videos shot with infra-red cameras with footage of a Hezbollah commando fleeing after being spotted by the Israeli army or of "the son of a Hezbollah MP" shot in the shoulder for coming too close to the electric fence marking the border.

A few kilometres along the frontier, the next major base of the Israeli army is Tzipporen, which looks like a giant concrete ship, with as its mast a tall metallic tower pointing huge satellite dishes in all directions. On the other side of the barbed wire, three militiamen wearing black anoraks and standing by a Hezbollah flag keep an eye on the agitation on the Israeli side through their binoculars and give their account of a visit by a group of journalists on their walkie-talkies.

A stone's throw away, an Indian peace-keeper from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon watches the scene from the entrance of the base. Barely a metre (yard) inside the fence, Hezbollah put up half a dozen posters depicting grisly killings.

A picture of a Hezbollah militant holding the severed head of an Israeli soldier bears a caption addressed to the Israeli prime minister. "(Ariel) Sharon, don't forget your soldiers are still in Lebanon," it says, referring to troops captured by the Shiite group.

"This poster has something barbaric about it, but it's better not to destroy it or cover it with paint, because if we do, Hezbollah will put up dozens of others," says an officer from the base. Israeli military officials stress that they are careful not to let themselves "be dragged into a provocation by Hezbollah" as US-led war drums pound ever louder around the region.

"There are three possible scenarios," says a high-ranking officer. "Either Hezbollah stays put in order to keep off the empire of evil list drawn up by the United States, or it launches a few targeted attacks on military positions, or they cross the red line and fire rockets and mortar rounds on civilian towns, in which case we have to react," he explains, asking not to be identified.

However he reckons the first scenario the most likely. Hezbollah leader "Hassan Nasrallah is an intelligent man who knows exactly how far he can go with Syria and Iran's green light," an Israeli general told reporters during a meeting at the northern command headquarters.

But Israel takes the Hezbollah threat very seriously. According to Israeli military sources, the Shiite organisation has "some 10,000 rockets, most of which are deployed and have a range of up to 75 kilometres (50 miles) enabling them to hit Israeli towns such as Haifa or Hadera," the general says.

"Hezbollah has received massive rocket supplies from Syria and these deliveries have reached unprecedented levels in recent months," he adds. When asked about the possibility of a preventive strike against Hezbollah, the general is evasive. "We don't rule out any option," he says, stressing that "as far as we are concerned Syria is entirely responsible for all (its) operations."

Israel must end threat posed by Hezbollah missiles: army officer

JERUSALEM, March 1 (AFP) - Israel must end the threat posed by missiles of   the Lebanese fundamentalist movement Hezbollah, and the opportunity may arise during a war against Iraq, a senior Israeli army officer said Saturday.

Israel "must sooner or later get rid of the threat posed by the rockets in the hands of Hezbollah," the officer said on condition of anonymity, quoted on army radio. The prospect of a US-led war against Iraq "will create a new situation in the Middle East" that could allow the Jewish state to take action against the missile threat, he added, without elaborating.

The official said Syria's Scud D missiles, capable of striking Israel, were also a threat. Hezbollah's chief, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has warned Israel against exploiting any war against Iraq to attack Lebanon and Syria, and has vowed solid retaliation by his group.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said in early January that Israel would strike "terrorist infrastructure" in Lebanon if Hezbollah decided to stage attacks during any war in Iraq. Hezbollah was set up by Iran, which also equipped the militia and remains its main financier, but the guerrilla group enjoys both political and logistical support from Syria and the pro-Syrian Lebanese government. Its resistance was key in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000.

Lebanese president calls on Arab summit to reject war

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, March 1 (AFP) - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Saturday called on an Arab summit here to reject a war on Iraq or any other Arab country. "We reiterate our rejection of any war on Iraq, or on Kuwait or any other Arab country," Lahoud, the outgoing chair of the Arab summit, said at the opening of the meeting in this Red Sea resort.

Lahoud also called on Iraq "to cooperate with the United Nations and the (weapons) inspectors," tasked with disarming Baghdad. He also voiced support for a French-German initiative submitted to the UN Security Council, which is aimed at reinforcing inspections in Baghdad and that stipulates the deployment of a UN force in Iraq.

"The French-German declaration, backed by Russia, the French-African summit and the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as the recent meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the Vatican, have highlighted the rejection of a war because of its human and political consequences," Lahoud said. After delivering his speech Lahoud handed over the rotating presidency of the Arab to Bahrain's King Hamad.

American girls in Lebanese child-custody dispute return to US

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (AFP) - Three adolescent US girls at the center of an international child custody dispute in Lebanon returned to the United States this week, the State Department said Friday. Jamie and Jennie Slim -- who had been holed up at the US embassy in Beirut since December prompting complaints from Lebanese lawmakers -- and their sister, Jessica, returned to the United States on Thursday, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"It's very good news, it's something we have been working on for quite a while," he said. "I can confirm to you that the three Slim sisters, all of whom are minors and United States citizens, returned to the United States yesterday." "We thank the government of Lebanon for working to resove this difficult case in accordance with US, Lebanese, Canadian and international law," Boucher told reporters.

Boucher declined to give further details of the controversial case which arose when the girls's mother accused their father -- her estranged husband Bahnam Slim, also a US-Lebanese dual citizen -- of abducting them in violation of a court custody ruling.

Banham Slim then forbid the children from visiting their mother over the Christmas holidays. Jamie and Jennie Slim were detained by authorities at the Beirut airport in mid-December when it was discovered they were trying to leave the country without their legal guardian's consent as required for minors under Lebanese law.

The two girls then fled to the US embassy hoping diplomats there could arrange for them to see their mother, but Banham Slim accused the embassy of  kidnapping the girls. On December 19, a Lebanese parliamentary committee said the embassy was trampling on Lebanon's sovereignty by giving refuge to the sisters, beginning a lengthy ordeal during which the girls remained in the embassy compound.

The Slim case was raised by Washington at the highest levels in Beirut with US ambassador Vincent Battle bringing the matter to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri as well as the foreign ministry. "We firmly believe that returning the children to their custodial mother in the United States will ensure their well-being," the embassy had said in a December 19 statement.