Aoun & Hariri will finally meet today in Paris

Beirut & Paris – A long-awaited meeting between Free Patriotic
Movement chief Gen. Michel Aoun and parliamentary majority leader MP
Saad Hariri will take place in Paris on Wednesday, where the two rivals
will discuss the imminent presidential election.

Hariri arrived in Paris late Tuesday after winding up talks in Cairo
with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak that aimed at facilitating the
election of a new president for Lebanon.

Aoun arrived in Paris earlier on Tuesday. He was accompanied by MP Ghassan Mkhaiber of the Reform and Change Bloc.

Turkey this time not Lebanon….

A cross-border raid, soldiers killed and captured: Hezbollah-Israel
2006, or PKK-Turkey 2007? And yet, out of great similarities are born
great ironies: while the US is now crying out for “restraint”,
restraint was the farthest thing on its mind last year. It doesn’t take
a great stretch of the imagination to envision what the US reaction
would be if Turkey started shelling the Green Zone in Baghdad, and
bombarding its bridges. Suffice it to say, I don’t think Condi will
coolly accept it as “the birth pangs of the Middle East”… As our good
old saying goes, “If you have no shame, do as you wish!”

Source:Lebanese blogger forum

Massive wild fires in Lebanon suspected to be terrorism

Eioun al-Samak, Lebanon – Fires raged on
Wednesday for the second time this month across hectares (acres) of
forest in Lebanon, threatening the natural wealth of a country once
known as the Switzerland of the Middle East.

Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa pointed an accusing finger at unidentified assailants charged of starting the fires.

“The big question is: how did these fires start late at night and in
areas that are not linked to the road network,” Sabaa told Voice of
Lebanon radio.

Cluster Bombs

I have not posted on cluster bombs in awhile sorry about that here are some stories that you should take a look at.

Israel impeding effort to clear cluster bombs
Daily Star – Lebanon, Lebanon - Oct 17, 2007
BEIRUT: Ninety percent of the land contaminated by cluster bombs
in South Lebanon should be cleared by the end of 2008, the United
Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC), said on Wednesday “A
number of factors caused the delay in clearing all …

Bombie Survivors Tour: Speakers from Lebanon and Laos reflect on …
EMU News, VA - Oct 21, 2007
Speakers from Laos and Lebanon reflect on the tragic effects of cluser bombs on their families, communities, and countries.

Israel blamed for Lebanon cluster bombs
United Press International - Oct 18, 2007
TYRE, Lebanon, Oct. 18 (UPI) — The UN Mine Action Coordination Center expects to have southern Lebanon cleared of cluster bombs by the end of next year, officials said Wednesday. Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the agency, blamed Israel for the slow …

Cluster bomb kills Briton in south Lebanon
Reuters - Oct 11, 2007
BEIRUT, Oct 11 (Reuters) – A British man was killed on Thursday while clearing cluster bombs dropped on south Lebanon by Israel during its war with Hezbollah guerrillas last year, a UN spokeswoman said.

AFPIsraeli cluster bomb kills British deminer in Lebanon
AFP - Oct 11, 2007
“He was the supervisor of a team that has been clearing cluster bombs in that area and there was an accident with a cluster bomb that resulted in his death,” Farran said. “Whether he stepped on the cluster bomb or moved it we’re not sure.

British sapper dies in cluster bomb explosion in south Lebanon
International Herald Tribune, France - Oct 11, 2007
The
man, whose identity was not revealed pending notification of next of
kin, was working as a supervisor for ArmorGroup, a British-based
company that has been clearing unexploded ordnance and cluster bombs in south Lebanon for MACC since September …

Serbia conference of anti-cluster bomb coalition confident of …
International Herald Tribune, France - Oct 4, 2007
AP BELGRADE, Serbia: Representatives from states affected by the use of deadly cluster bombs said Thursday they were confident that a new treaty banning the weapon will be signed next year.

What a ‘Safe’ Cluster Bomb Did: Rebecca Murray
Antiwar.com, CA - Oct 15, 2007
Occupied until 2000 by Israel and its local proxy army, the SLA, it was one of the first targets for cluster munition strikes last summer.

Via: Google News

News Lebanon: U.S. Troops threatened by hizbullah

Hizbullah Threatens U.S. Troops On Lebanese Soil
Hizbullah threatened Monday that U.S. troops would be treated as “occupation forces” on Lebanese soil.
Hizbullah official Nawaf Mussawi made the threat in a statement to Agence France Presse.

He was commenting on alleged plans by the United States to set up a military base in Lebanon, a charge that has been made by as-Safir newspaper and denied both by the government and Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman.

“It is impossible to accept such a project. American soldiers on Lebanese soil will be considered an occupation force and will be treated as such,” Mussawi told AFP.

“Let the Americans take (interpret) this message as they wish.”

On Thursday, the pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper As Safir reported that Washington had presented an official request to the Beirut government for the creation of U.S. army bases in Lebanon.

Despite the official denials, Hizbullah continued to warn against any such alleged plans.

On Sunday, Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the creation of U.S. military bases in Lebanon would be considered a “hostile act.”(AFP-Naharnet)

Source: Naharnet