November  11 - 20  '96 News Wire

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BEIRUT, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The Daily Star, Lebanon's sole English- language daily, reappeared Tuesday 11 years after it ceased publication at the height of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war.

The newspaper's owner and publisher Jamil Mroueh said his publication would endeavor to be a window to the world for its readers.

``We shall marshall all our professional resources to keep the Lebanese public up-to-date on all areas of interest, including science, technology, politics, business and the environment..,'' Mroueh said in a front-paged message.

The 16-page daily employs local and foreign staff, including British, American and Irish editors.

The Daily Star was forced to close in 1985 after most of its foreign staff fled a wave of hostage-taking of westerners in Lebanon.

Eco News, an economic weekly, is Lebanon's other English-language newspaper. There are also a number of French-language newspapers.

Addressing the 128-member National Assembly, which is to meet next week to cast a vote of confidence, Hariri said his 30-member Cabinet plans a Ministry of Industry ``to affirm the role of industry in boosting the national economy and creating new job opportunities.''

The prime minister said: ``We affirm our determination to continue the challenge of (introducing) reforms and fight corruption and social chaos.''

He also promised:

-- To end public ``suffering'' lingering from the 1975-90 civil war with ``a productive economic policy'' aimed at reactivating industry, agriculture and tourism.

-- To help improve living conditions by providing housing facilities and boosting public health, education and transport.

-- To limit foreign manpower ``in sectors where it competes with the Lebanese workers.''

More than 1.5 million Syrians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Egyptians work in Lebanon, mainly in construction, agriculture, street-cleaning and domestic jobs.

His platform reflected a bid to ease economic hardships and reduce the threat of labor strikes. Last month, a report by the United Nations Development Program estimated Lebanon's poor at 1 million, from a total population of 3.1 million.

Hariri, a billionaire who came to power in 1992, has been accused of miring the country in debt by relying on foreign borrowing and increasing taxes to pay for his multibillion-dollar postwar reconstruction.

``Economic, financial and social stability should be granted special attention,'' Hariri said, adding that he would go ahead with development projects that would ``increase government revenues.'' He added: ``Any increase in expenditures should be accompanied by measures to increase revenues.''

Hariri also said Lebanon remained committed to the peace-for-land principle of the Middle East peace process and would continue close coordination with Syria.

He conferred extensively with Syrian officials before naming his Cabinet. Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon, where it bases at least 35,000 troops over two-thirds of Lebanon's territory.

In line with Syrian policy, Hariri also reaffirmed that hard-line guerrillas have a legitimate right to attack Israeli forces occupying their border buffer zone in south Lebanon.

The call was issued by a broad spectrum of opposition groups, labor unions and media workers who held a meeting in Beirut last Friday calling on Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to change his government's priorities. The meeting was the biggest opposition gathering since Hariri took office in October 1992.

It demanded the lifting of a three-year-old ban on public demonstrations and cancellation of a government decision to close scores of private radio and television stations and set up a follow-up committee to propose concrete action against the government.

A statement issued by the committee Tuesday said: ``The follow-up committee for the national gathering calls on the Lebanese people to take part in a peaceful demonstration on Nov. 28 and declares Thursday a general strike day.''

BEIRUT, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Iran-backed Hezbollah on Tuesday slammed the German authorities for accusing Iran's supreme spiritual guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of ordering the assassination of Iranian Kurdish separatists in Berlin.

A Hezbollah statement, released in Beirut, said the German accusations constituted a ``blunt provocation of Muslims.''

``The German authorities have recently surprised us with a crazy campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran...to the extent it reached the sacred symbols of the Islamic nation,'' the statement said.

It strongly condemned what it called as Germany's ``stupid'' policy and ``negative positions'' toward ``our Islamic nation and honest leadership.''

The Hezbollah, or Party of God, has been fighting to drive Israel from southern Lebanon.

The Hezbollah statement was referring to accusations made by German prosecutors against Khamenei, accusing him of state terrorism for ordering the 1992 assassination of four Iranian Kurdish separatists in Berlin.

The statement warned the German government against ``proceeding with such irresponsible practices which would not allow it to play any role in the Muslim world.''

``Germany will then put itself in a state of enmity with the Muslim nation, which will not keep silence over whoever harms its sacred symbols,'' it said.

``We call on Germany to resort to reason, reconsider its policies and avoid becoming a puppet in the hands of America and Israel.''

He said a two-month investigation had revealed that the money was embezzled by means of fraud in fiscal stamps.

News reports had suggested before his announcement that up to 15.57 billion Lebanese pounds ($10 million) had disappeared.

Seniora told a news conference that two U.S. accounting firms, Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen, had taken part in the investigation.

``The 3.8 billion Lebanese pounds is a realistic figure,'' Zuheir Shuraiki of Deloitte & Touche told reporters.

The investigation began after the disappearance of Finance Ministry employee Raafat Suleiman, Seniora said.

Suleiman, who had been in charge of the fiscal stamps office, was still being sought, Seniora said.

A second employee, who was not named, has been arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice, the minister said.

Seniora promised that the money would be restored in full after the Finance Ministry ``confiscated cash money belonging to Suleiman'' that had been discovered since his escape.

Arrest warrants were issued in October for six suspects in the case, but Seniora did not provide an update on their status or describe how fiscal stamps had been used in the embezzlement.

BEIRUT, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Richard Jones said Friday his country has invited foreign ministers of 30 countries to take part in a conference meant to help rebuild war-damaged Lebanon.

Jones made the announcement after a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz during which he handed him a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

``It included a copy of letters sent to countries that were invited to the meeting,'' he told reporters.

Jones said foreign ministers of 30 countries were invited to take part in the ``Friends of Lebanon'' conference, scheduled for Dec. 16 in Washington to be chaired by Christopher.

Other participants will include representatives from international institutions, such as the World Bank, he said.

The Washington conference was the first tangible result of the April 26 Understanding that was brokered by the United States to end Israel's 17-day offensive against Lebanon.

The accord, which codified rules of combat between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon, also established a consultative group, made up of the U.S., France, Russia and the European Union, to help rebuild Lebanon.

The soldiers found the drugs in a dawn raid at Iaat, a village just west of the ancient city of Baalbek, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Beirut, the police said.

A suspect, identified as Hussein Abdel Sattar, was arrested at the house where the hashish cache was discovered.

Syria bases some 35,000 troops over two-thirds of Lebanese territory, and is the main power broker in the country.

Earlier this month, Lebanese police seized about 285 pounds (130 kg) of cocaine that had been smuggled from Colombia into Lebanon, and dismantled a drug trafficking network in which a Lebanese soldier was implicated.

During the 1975-90 civil war, Lebanon was one of the world's major producers of hashish. Heroin was also processed on a large scale in the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanese and Syrian forces have destroyed large fields of hashish and opium since the end of the war.

ANI quoted a source close to the meetings as saying that the team also held talks on the economic and financial situation of the war- ravaged country with other Lebanese ministers and financial leaders.

The visit was to prepare a report in the coming few weeks that would define Lebanon's credit standing in the world financial map, the source said.

MARJAYOUN, Lebanon, Nov 14 (Reuter) - A pro-Israeli militiaman was killed on Wednesday after Hizbollah guerrillas attacked his post in south Lebanon, pro-Israeli militia sources said.

The South Lebanon Army (SLA) militiaman died shortly after sustaining serious wounds in the attack against an SLA post in the central sector of Israel's south Lebanon occupation zone, SLA sources said.

In Beirut, the pro-Iranian Hizbollah (Party of God) claimed responsibility for the assault. Hizbollah and other fighters attack Israeli troops and their SLA allies in a bid to oust them from the 15-km (nine miles)-wide occupation zone.

In Jerusalem, Israeli security sources said an SLA member was killed in clashes with Hizbollah guerrillas in the central sector of the south Lebanon zone.

``A South Lebanon Army soldier sustained serious wounds in an attack in the central sector of the security zone,'' the sources told Reuters.

``He died of his wounds,'' the sources said.

Some 1,000 Israeli troops and the 3,000-strong SLA patrol the border zone set up in 1985 to deter cross-border guerrilla raids on northern Israel.

A TMA official said the 240 ground workers resumed work and its 86 pilots will return by the start of next week at the latest. TMA suspended activities on August 5 and two of its six aircraft are on lease to Kuwait Airlines.

On Monday TMA invited shareholders to subscribe in a new share issue to increase its capital to 60 billion Lebanese pounds from six million. It said subscriptions will be open November 14 to December 14.

TMA is owned by the Lebanese Company for Air Investment, which is 73 percent owned by prominent banker Farid Raphael. Former education minister Najib Abu Haidar holds 10 ercent,

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt six percent and financier Georges Yaacoub five percent. The rest is owned by small investors.

TYRE, Lebanon, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Two Lebanese civilians were wounded Tuesday when Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of a southern Lebanon village, apparently to retaliate for a guerrilla attack on an Israeli patrol, Lebanese security sources said.

Shells hit the outskirts of Froun, a village east of the port city of  Tyre, wounding two people working in a field. They were hospitalized, the sources said. Their condition was unknown.

The shelling took place after guerrillas from Lebanon ambushed an Israeli patrol at the edge of Israel's self-proclaimed southern Lebanon ``security zone,'' the sources said.

There was no immediate report about casualties in the attack and no claim of responsibility.

Hezbollah and several other Lebanon-based hard-line groups that oppose the Middle East peace process are seeking to force Israel to withdraw from occupied territories.

Their chief target is Israel's 9-mile-deep (15-km) self-proclaimed security zone set up inside southern Lebanon in 1985 to protect northern Israel from guerrilla attacks. About 1,000 Israeli soldiers and the 1, 800-member militia control the enclave.

Mansur Hasem Azzam, 35, from the south Lebanese village of Faradis was arrested last Monday for alleged activities against the state of  Israel. Publication of the 15-day detention was prevented until this week by a court in the coastal city of Acre.

Azzam is suspected of working with members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia that opposes the Israeli presence in south Lebanon. Israeli police officials had requested the censorship due to what they called a very sensitive and complicated investigation of Azzam.

A month and a half ago another Lebanese citizen, Ahmed Naim Benzak, 21, was arrested by Israel on suspicion he helped fire Katyusha rockets toward Israelis. Benzak, a member of Hezbollah, did not deny the charges in a military court.

Benzak told journalists at his hearing ``I am proud of what I did. It was an honor for me to shoot Katyushas and even if I stay in jail, there will be thousands who will take my place.''

Hezbollah hopes through guerrilla tactics to oust Israel's forces and its ally, the South Lebanese Army, from the 15-kilometer (9-mile) wide security zone Israel established in the mid-1980s to protect its northern communities from attack.

``Lebanon has made a remarkable initial recovery after 15 years of war and civil strife,'' the report said. ``While Lebanon must still overcome economic vulnerabilities, prospects for sustained recovery and continued growth are good.''

The report was prepared for the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington and was issued at the start of October.

``Growth has averaged 7.2 percent over 1993-95 as the economy stabilised and the reconstruction programme took off. The recovery has brought per capita incomes from less than $1,000 in 1990 to an estimated $2,700 in 1995,'' it said.

The government's exchange-based stabilisation policy had led to an appreciating currency and brought inflation down to single digits in 1996 from about 100 percent in 1992.

Foreign exchange reserves had been replenished, with central bank reserves rising to $8 billion at the end of 1995, including $3.6 billion in gold, while commercial banks held about $2 billion in net foreign assets.

The Bank said Lebanon's overall fiscal deficit remained large at about 18 percent of GDP while revenues had risen from 6.5 percent of GDP in 1990 to 17 percent in 1995 and non-interest current expenditures had been contained.

``The government is aware that sustaining the confidence that has been placed in it and the Lebanese economy will require it to continue pursuing the dual goals of macro economic stabilisation -- in particular by further reducing the fiscal deficit and containing domestic debt levels -- and reconstruction of physical, social and institutional infrastructure,'' the Bank said.

The primary current fiscal balance had been brought into surplus but reconstruction had led to a sharp rise in public investment to more than nine percent of GDP and growing domestic debt had pushed interest payments to more than 10 percent of  GDP, the Bank said. ``Outstanding external public debt, however, remains very low at $1.3 billion at the end of 1995, or 12 percent of GDP,'' it said.

Lebanon had forged innovative and effective private-public partnerships to begin rebuilding downtown Beirut and provide the infrastructure Lebanon needed to regain its place ``as a major Middle Eastern business crossroads,'' it added.

``These initiatives have been supported by renewed confidence on the part of private lenders and investors,'' the report said. It noted that the government's three Eurobond issues totalling $800 million were at ``fairly modest spreads compared to ...other developing countries'' and that Solidere that had raised $650 million to start rebuilding Beirut.

To continue reconstruction and lay the basis for sustained growth led by the private sector, the government planned to rely more heavily on private sector participation and longer term external borrowing and grants rather than short-term domestic borrowing, the report added.

The radio and Israel's Itim news agency said the man was from Freedis village and was suspected of belonging to a hostile organization. But they gave few other details. It was not clear where Israel detained the man.

A magistrate's court in Acre, northern Israel, last week ordered the man be held for another 15 days pending a police investigation. The radio and Itim said the judge allowed news of the affair to be published Monday at the request of journalists.

Some 1,000 Israeli troops and the 3,000-strong South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia backed by Israel patrol a nine-mile deep Israeli occupation zone in Lebanon to deter cross-border assaults on the Jewish state's northern communities.

BEIRUT, Nov 11 (Reuter) - Casino du Liban, the Middle East's most famed entertainment establishment before the 1975-90 civil war, will reopen next month after a stoppage of more than 20 years, Compagnie du Casino du Liban has said.

Compagnie du Casino du Liban said in statement published at the weekend that the casino would open its doors to the public on December 4, a day after the official reopening ceremony by Lebanese President Elias Hrawi.

``The new casino will be one of the most luxurious touristic entertainment centres in the Middle East,'' Habib Letayef, president of the Compagnie du Casino du Liban, said in the statement.

The casino, Lebanon's pre-war symbol of high life, closed at the start of the civil strife.

Famed for spectacular shows that featured skimpily-clad women, as well as fountains, fireworks, elephants and dolphins, it was badly damaged in battles between rival Christian militia forces during the war.

One militia used the casino for private television shows. In May, Compagnie du Casino du Liban signed a $50 million syndicated loan agreement with 10 Beirut banks to finance the rehabilitation of the casino, which overlooks the picturesque bay of Jounieh north of Beirut.

The statement said that the casino would have gaming rooms with 60 tables and 318 slot machines as well as five restaurants.

A 1,200-seat theatre and an entertainment hall for 750 spectators and two more restaurants are expected to be completed in 1997, it added.

A five-star hotel overlooking the bay will also be built. The casino has contracted London Club International and Lebanon's Albert Abella to manage the gaming and catering.

SIDON, Lebanon  Nov 11 (Reuter) - Israeli fighter jets raided Hizbollah targets in south Lebanon Sunday in apparent retaliation for weekend attacks by the pro-Iranian guerrillas that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded five.

Lebanese security sources said the planes fired at least three rockets before night fall into Jabal Safi in Iqlim al-Toufah hills used by Hizbollah (Party of God) guerrillas to attack Israeli forces occupying a border zone to the south.

There was no immediate report of casualties in the air raid, the first air attack into Lebanon in more than a month. The air strike came hours after three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, by anti-tank fire from the Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas in the western flank of the south Lebanon zone.

Saturday, Hizbollah guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two with machinegun and anti-tank rocket fire at an Israeli post in the same area of the border zone.

Saturday's attack -- in which Hizbollah Sagger missiles scored direct hits destroying a Mirkava tank according to pro-Israeli militia sources -- was the bloodiest assault on Israeli forces in south Lebanon in more than two weeks.

On Oct. 25, two Israeli soldiers were killed and four wounded when a Hizbollah bomb hit their patrol.

Hours before Sunday's air raids, Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told a group rally in Beirut that the guerrilla war against Israeli forces and their local militia allies will continue until south Lebanon is liberated.

``I say to all the Zionist leaders...as long as our land is occupied there will be resistance attacks and operations, there will be a bloody challenge and there will be martyrdom,'' the black-turbaned cleric told the rally.

``Death to Israel...War, war until victory,'' chanted back the crowd of thousands of militants and supporters commemorating ``Martyr's Day'' to honor guerrillas killed in confrontations with Israeli forces on the last active Arab-Israeli front-line.

In Israel, the army said that in Sunday's attack an Israeli force came under anti-tank fire while chasing two guerrilla groups in the western sector of the zone. Mortar bombs were also fired at Israeli forces, it added.

Hizbollah said in a statement in Beirut its guerrillas opened fire twice at an armored force in the Basseel area, ``inflicting a number of casualties, dead and wounded.''

The group has killed 24 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon this year -- topping by one 1995's total. Some 1,000 Israeli troops and the 3,000-strong South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia patrol the nine-mile-deep zone set up by Israel in 1985 to deter cross-border assaults on northern Israeli settlements.

Israel launched a bloody 17-day blitz dubbed ``Operation Grapes of Wrath'' against Hizbollah in April that killed 200 Lebanese, mostly civilians. A U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement ended the blitz and Hizbollah Katyusha rocket attacks on Israel.

The cease-fire agreement bars Hizbollah and Israelis from launching attacks against or from civilian areas but allows guerrilla raids on Israeli troops in south Lebanon and gives both sides the right of self-defense.

Yosra Qaansoh told the daily newspaper al-Anwar that her husband Ali Nasrallah, seven children and herself were ordered to leave their house in the village of Houla in the Israeli-held zone on Friday to Shaqra just outside the border strip.

``They told us: 'The reason for your expulsion is because your son Hassan Ali Nasrallah fled his service in the South Lebanon Army (SLA) more than two months ago. Your return home depends on Hassan's return to his service','' Qaansoh said.

She said the message was relayed to her family through ``a man collaborating with the Israeli occupation forces.''

``We asked that we be allowed to take some clothes and utensils with us but our request was rejected,'' added Qaansoh, who is staying with most of her children at her sister's house near Tyre port, some 12 km (eight miles) north of the zone.

Her husband stayed in Shaqra with two sons to tend to their flock of sheep.

Lebanon had complained last month to a five-nation group monitoring a ceasefire understanding in Lebanon over the expulsion of two Lebanese families from the south Lebanon zone held by some 1,000 Israeli troops and the 3,000-strong SLA.

But the delegates of the United States, France, Israel, Lebanon and Syria comprising the group failed to reach agreement on the complaint last week and agreed to raise the matter in diplomatic channels on a bilateral basis.

The group was set up to monitor breaches of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire understanding that ended a 17-day Israeli blitz on Lebanon in April.

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