[LCM Articles] Articles on Lebanon and Syria

[Walid Georges Chamoun]

LEBANON-SYRIA: Russia Opposes UN Action on Syria
British Broadcasting Corporation
Moscow says it will block any UN effort to impose sanctions on Damascus over its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri. The UN Security Council is considering a plan - drafted by France, the US and UK - to threaten Syria with sanctions. Russia, a long-term ally of Syria and a permanent Security Council member, has the power to veto any draft resolution. Syria has rejected a UN report that accuses it of plotting Hariri's death and blocking an investigation into it. Its ambassador to the UN said the team led by German investigator Detlev Mehlis was guilty of bias and some countries were fanning "the flames of hatred against Syria". The draft UN resolution proposed by France, the UK and US urges Syria to arrest any of its nationals seen by UN investigators as suspects in the Hariri assassination. The document says that the UN Security Council intends to consider "further measu res", including possible sanctions, if Syria does not fully co-operate with the inquiry. These sanctions are not spelled out. The draft would also impose an asset freeze and travel ban on anyone considered a suspect in the UN inquiry. It also says that Mr Mehlis and his team should be allowed to "interview Syrian officials or other individuals" described as "relevant to the inquiry"
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Links to related articles:
. ARTICLE: Assad Says Accused Syrians May Face Trial, Washington Post (Oct. 26)
. REPORT: Report Of The International Independent Investigation Commission Established Pursuant To Security Council Resolution 1595 (2005), United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (Oct. 20)
. FACTS AND FIGURES: People cited in UN probe of Lebanon killing, Reuters AlertNet

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LEBANON-PALESTINE: Lebanon Army Encircles Pro-Syria Palestinian Bases
Reuters AlertNet
Lebanese troops and tanks encircled military bases controlled by Damascus-backed Palestinian militants near the border with Syria, witnesses said on Wednesday. They said the army had set up a checkpoint at the border village of Sultan Yacoub in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) runs a bunker dug into the hills. Army commando units and tanks also deployed in force along other parts of the remote border where suspected Palestinian gunmen shot dead a civilian army contractor on Tuesday. A security source said the army had tightened its grip along the border and around the Palestinian camps and outposts weeks ago but was on heightened alert after the killing of the contractor, who was part of a team surveying the border. The issue of armed pro-Syrian Palestinia n groups in Lebanon has moved to centre stage after a U.N. Security Council resolution last year demanded Syrian troops withdraw from Lebanon and all militia disarm. Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April, but military outposts run by militant Palestinian groups backed by Damascus still dot strategic hilltops and remote valleys along the rugged frontier and south of Beirut.
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Links to related articles:
. ARTICLE: Syrian arms still flow to Lebanon -U.N. report, Reuters AlertNet (Oct. 26)
. ARTICLE: Beirut wants Palestinian bases out, Christian Science Monitor (Oct. 20)
. ARTICLE: Rice accuses Damascus of 'stirring up difficulties in Palestinian camps' in Lebanon, Daily Star (Oct. 17)

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