All are United in Lebanon…

For Lebanese, war goes on
The State By Christine Spolar Chicago Tribune (MCT) BEIRUT – Sunnis, Shiites, Druze and Christians appear to be united by a single thought in today’s Lebanon: The war isn’t over. The signs, they say, are everywhere. A United Nations-brokered cease-fire to end the 34-day conflict between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon so far has been uneven and unable to ensure the full restoration of gas supplies and electricity. Lebanon’s central government is so disorganized that it has yet to mount a nationwide relief effort. The international community took two weeks after the truce to decide the rules of engagement for its peacekeepers. And the United States, once considered a reliable democratic force, is seen as too invested in Israel and too enmeshed in its Middle East battles to be trusted. “Sure, I’m scared for the future,” said Nabil John, a businessman who at age 14 fought for a Christian militia during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s. “After the civil war, I learned that…  Click here to read more »

UN troops began taking up positions in Lebanon…

9:52 AM ET | | | From wire reports JERUSALEM — Forces from the United Nations and Lebanon have taken responsibility for part of the country’s southern border for the first time in more than 20 years. Lebanese and U.N. troops began taking up positions in southern Lebanon two weeks ago as part of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. The Israeli army said Thursday that it has transferred control over a portion of the Israel-Lebanon border to Lebanese and international troops. Israeli forces withdrew Wednesday from a small area of the border near the Israeli town of Metulla, putting Lebanese and international troops in control of a section of the border for the first time in more than two decades, the army said Thursday. Before the war, Hezbollah had been effectively in charge of southern Lebanon, which they used as a base to launch sporadic attacks on Israel. When the fighting ended, Israeli troops…  Click here to read more »

Lebanese-Israeli Border…

LEBANESE-ISRAELI BORDER – The wheelchair-bound Lebanese man had already been stuck just inside the Israeli side of the border for four hours and the Hezbollah intelligence men were ready to take matters into their own hands. With only a half-full bottle of water with him and Israeli authorities apparently not willing to accept him inside Israel, time was fast running out for the would-be defector. “There are negotiations going on between our higher-ups in Naqqoura [the southernmost Lebanese city on the Mediterranean coast before Israel and a major UN base] and Israel, but until the Israelis tell us they don’t want him and allow us to bring him back, there’s nothing we can do,” said an Indian United Nations peacekeeper. Next to a UN jeep, the Hezbollah intelligence men had parked their aging white Mercedes. One of them had flattened himself behind the chassis and was watching the Israeli side through binoculars. “If you come with me, we’ll go in and get that…  Click here to read more »

Israel has quit two thirds of seized Lebanon…

Israel says has quit two thirds of seized Lebanon land
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Israel’s army has handed over more than two thirds of the territory it captured in southern Lebanon to UN troops and Lebanese forces since a truce with Hezbollah took effect, the army said on Thursday. “The army is controlling less than a third. The rest…  Click here to read more »

940 million pledged to Lebanon

Iternation donors have pledged nerly double the amount originally sought by Lebanon on 8-31-2006 in Stockholm.