Lebanese president orders rescue of Palestinian aid ship

October 1st, 2009 Lebanese say UAE pressed them to spy on HezbollahBEIRUT — A Lebanese businessman alleged Thursday that he and several hundred other Lebanese were expelled from the United Arab Emirates country because they refused to spy on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and other fellow citizens. Hassan Alayan said more than 300 Lebanese — mostly Shiites — have been forced to leave the Emirates over the past three months.

September 11th, 2009 Lebanon official: 2 rockets fired toward IsraelBEIRUT — A senior Lebanese military official says two rockets have been fired toward Israel from inside Lebanon. The official says the rockets were fired Friday from the town of Qlaileh, near the Lebanese port city of Tyre.

September 11th, 2009 Rocket fire from Lebanon sparks Israel retaliationBEIRUT — Two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into Israel on Friday, prompting Israel to respond with artillery fire, Lebanese security and military officials said. The exchange, in which no casualties were reported by either side, was the latest in persisting tensions between the two countries.

August 19th, 2009 Lebanese army recaptures prison fugitiveBEIRUT — Lebanese commandos recaptured Wednesday a fugitive from an al-Qaida-inspired group, a day after he broke out of a high-security prison in a spectacular escape. The army said Taha al-Hajj Suleiman of the Fatah Islam group was caught in the woods in the Bsalim area, just north of the Roumieh prison east of Beirut.

July 13th, 2009 Former Lebanese PM Amin al-Hafez dies at 83BEIRUT — Former Lebanese Prime Minister Amin al-Hafez, who served a turbulent two-month term in 1973 before he was forced to resign, died on Monday. He was 83. Al-Hafez died in a Beirut hospital after a long-running battle with an undisclosed chronic illness, medical officials said.

June 22nd, 2009 Man involved in Achille Lauro hijacking diesROME — A Palestinian man who helped plan the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship during which an American passenger was killed has died in an Italian jail. Lawyer Sandro Clementi said Khaled Hussein died of a heart attack early Monday in a jail in Benevento, near Naples.

June 19th, 2009 BEIRUT - The Lebanese Army Friday accused Israel of violating the Lebanese border by establishing an observation post in a restricted area on the outskirts of the Kfarshouba hills. "In clear violation of a restricted area of Lebanese territory, and in an attempt to impose a new reality on the ground, the Israeli enemy Wednesday set up an observation post at the edge of Kfarshouba and a military position overlooking Baathaeel pond," a Lebanese army statement said.

April 25th, 2009 3 men arrested for allegedly spying for IsraelBEIRUT — Lebanese authorities arrested three men early Saturday for allegedly being part of spying ring for Israel, security officials said, in the latest episode in the long-running espionage war between the two countries. Agents grabbed the three — two Lebanese and a Palestinian — from their homes in southern Lebanon during a raid early Saturday, security officials said.

March 24th, 2009 BEIRUT - A Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) official and four of his bodyguards were killed Monday when a roadside bomb targeted their convoy near a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, Lebanese army and Palestinian sources said. Kamal Medhat, assistant to PLO representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki, was killed in the blast near the Miyeh Miyeh camp on the outskirts of the port city of Sidon.

February 7th, 2009 BEIRUT - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman Saturday said he will give instructions to the concerned parties to obtain more information on the missing Iranian diplomats, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. The president's remarks came after meeting with Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Shibani at the presidential palace.

January 29th, 2009 BEIRUT - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora has hit back at Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah for holding his government responsible for the four Iranian diplomats who went missing in 1982, a media report said Friday. In a statement Thursday, Seniora said his government had sent a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon in September last year, urging him to help resolve the issue of Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped during the Israeli invasion in 1982, the NBN TV reported.

January 17th, 2009 SANA'A - A ship with around 300 Somali and Ethiopian migrants aboard capsized in the Gulf of Aden Saturday, Yemen's interior ministry reported. The ministry said in a statement that coast guard authorities rushed rescue teams to search for survivors.

January 16th, 2009 BEIRUT - Visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concerns over the firing of Katyusha rockets from Lebanon into Israel. 'I am concerned for the situation in the south, any additional aggression threatens the stability of UNSCR 1701.

January 7th, 2009 TEL AVIV/BEIRUT - Unknown militants fired at least three Katyusha rockets into northern Israel early Thursday morning, prompting the Israeli army to return fire into south Lebanon, Israeli and Lebanese officials said. Hours later, another Katyusha rocket was fired into northern Israel, Lebanese security sources said.

December 27th, 2008 BEIRUT - Hundreds of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon Saturday marched to the Egyptian embassy here to protest against the Israeli raids on Gaza. Riot police have thrown a security ring around the embassy in western Beirut to prevent the protesters from entering into the premises, Hezbollah Al-Nour radio reported.