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/ 20 June 2007

When Beirut and boom do not mean tourism

Breakfast at an upmarket hotel in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, begins at 6.30am. Nearly three quarters of an hour later, the tables are still set and pristine, the buffet untouched. "There is no one," the restaurant manager said, shaking his head. Beirut should be buzzing, if only with expatriates returning to holiday in their homeland.

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/ 13 June 2007

Anti-Syrian Lebanese MP killed in Beirut blast

Lebanese anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido was killed with at least seven other people on Wednesday by a blast on Beirut’s seafront, security sources said. One of Eido’s sons was among the dead. Nine people were wounded. Eido, in his 60s, was a member of the majority anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc of Saad al-Hariri, which controls the Beirut government.

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/ 12 June 2007

Lebanese commandos blow up Islamist chief’s house

Lebanese commandos have blown up the home of the Islamist militia chief in a besieged refugee camp where fighting flared again on Tuesday in the fourth week of a deadly stand-off. Clouds of white smoke billowed into the sky as the army shelled Fatah al-Islam positions in the Nahr al-Bared camp, the epicentre of the deadliest fighting in decades.

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/ 11 June 2007

Casualties mount in Lebanon stand-off

Lebanese troops bombarded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire on Monday, pressing ahead with an assault to crush al-Qaeda-inspired militants dug in there. But after 23 days of often ferocious fighting at the Nahr al-Bared camp, the army did not appear any closer to forcing the Fatah al-Islam group to surrender.

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/ 10 June 2007

Five Lebanese soldiers killed in camp battles

Five Lebanese soldiers were killed on Saturday in the latest bout of heavy fighting against al-Qaeda-inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp, a military source said. At least 125 people, including 53 soldiers and 42 militants, have been killed since the fighting began on May 20, making it Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975/1990 civil war.

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/ 8 June 2007

Fierce fighting rocks Palestinian camp in Lebanon

Lebanese troops pounded al-Qaeda-inspired militants dug in at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Friday after the gunmen refused demands they give themselves up. Artillery and tanks blasted several areas of the squalid Nahr al-Bared camp, where Fatah al-Islam fighters have shown stiff resistance in nearly three weeks of often ferocious battles.

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/ 6 June 2007

Sporadic fighting grips north Lebanon camp

Lebanese troops and al Qaeda-inspired militants fought sporadically at a refugee camp in north Lebanon on Wednesday and a Palestinian force took up positions to defuse tension at another camp in the south. Soldiers fired artillery at the Nahr al-Bared camp overnight as the army tightened its grip around militants.

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/ 3 June 2007

Fighting spreads as battles engulf Lebanon camp

Lebanese troops directed artillery and tank barrages at al-Qaeda-inspired militants dug in at a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, the third day of an assault to crush the gunmen. After 12 days of sporadic shelling, the army on Friday attacked Fatah al-Islam positions with the declared aim of wiping out the militants.

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/ 1 June 2007

New fighting erupts at besieged Lebanon camp

Fighting erupted again on Friday between troops besieging a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon and Islamist militants holed up inside, as the stand-off entered its 13th day. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the fire fight at Nahr al-Bared, located on the Mediterranean coast 90km north of the capital, Beirut.

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/ 28 May 2007

Palestinians seek end to Lebanon stand-off

Palestinian leaders on Monday sought to end a bloody stand-off between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants holed up in a refugee camp. The government is giving the main Palestinian factions time to try to deal with the Fatah al-Islam group, which has been battling the army around the Nahr al-Bared camp.

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/ 22 May 2007

Fragile truce takes hold in Lebanon

Lebanese troops trying to flush out Islamist militants shelled a Palestinian refugee camp for a third day on Tuesday before a fragile truce took hold, allowing aid trucks to reach civilians trapped there. Heavy fighting at Nahr al-Bared camp near the northern city of Tripoli resumed at dawn and subsided only in the afternoon.

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/ 22 May 2007

Gun battles rage in Lebanon for a third day

Gun battles raged between Lebanese troops and Islamist militiamen on Tuesday, with both sides vowing to pursue the fighting that has killed 58 people in the last three days. Black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as troops fired tank shells and artillery at positions of al-Qaeda inspired militants from Fatah al-Islam.

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/ 20 May 2007

Lebanon army battles militants

Lebanese troops battled al-Qaeda-linked militants in northern Lebanon on Sunday and at least 11 people were killed, seven of them soldiers, security sources said. They said the fighting broke out between the Lebanese army and members of the Fatah al-Islam militant group after security forces raided homes in Tripoli to arrest suspects accused of robbing a bank.

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/ 21 February 2007

Lebanon army fires at Israeli warplanes

Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli warplanes over southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a military spokesperson said, indicating that Lebanon’s army is taking a new assertiveness toward Israel. The Israeli planes had ”violated Lebanese sovereignty, posing a challenge to United Nations Resolution 1701,” the spokesperson said.

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/ 13 February 2007

Lebanon bus blasts kill 11, wound 20

Eleven people were killed and about 20 wounded in two bomb blasts that wrecked minibuses near the Christian mountain town of Bikfaya north of Beirut on Tuesday. The attacks on the public buses occurred a day before the second anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

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/ 8 February 2007

Tourism takes a beating in crisis-hit Lebanon

It was projected to be a golden year for Lebanon and one to beat all records; instead 2006, with its string of crises including a 34-day war, proved a disaster for the tourism sector. From the expected 1,6-million visitors, only 1,06-million travelled to the "Switzerland of the Middle East", down almost 7% on 2005 and a huge 17% on the previous year, according to Tourism Ministry figures.

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/ 26 January 2007

Beirut curfew lifted day after clashes

A curfew slapped on Beirut after street battles between the government and opposition supporters left four people dead was lifted on Friday, but the army warned it could be re-imposed if fighting flared again. An uneasy calm prevailed in the streets of the capital after the overnight curfew was lifted at 6am local time.

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/ 26 January 2007

Four dead in Beirut cast shadow over aid pledges

Four people were shot dead in clashes between pro- and anti-government activists in Lebanon on Thursday, overshadowing a ,6-billion aid deal by international donors to shore up the United States-backed government. The Lebanese army clamped a night curfew on Beirut, seeking to quell Sunni-Shi’ite tensions in a country still recovering from a 1975/1990 civil war.

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/ 25 January 2007

Beirut clashes leave students dead

At least two students were shot dead and 35 others wounded in Beirut street fighting on Thursday between students loyal to the government and opposition supporters, a security source said. Opposition-run television station NBN put the death tally from the fighting, which spilled over from the Arab University campus, at four, including two students.

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/ 24 January 2007

Protests paralyse Lebanon, three killed, 133 hurt

Protesters bent on toppling Lebanon’s Cabinet blocked roads with blazing tyres on Tuesday, sparking clashes with government loyalists in which police said three people were killed and 133 people hurt. The violence raised the stakes in a campaign by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its Shi’ite and Christian allies to oust Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s Western-supported government.

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/ 22 January 2007

Sea spits oil six months after Lebanon offensive

Six months after thousands of tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the Mediterranean when Israel bombed a Lebanese power plant, the waters are still spitting out black poison despite efforts to clean up the mess. "The rain and the low tide have created new pollution zones," Ahmed Kojok of the Sea of Lebanon association told the media.

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/ 16 January 2007

Speaker says Lebanon standoff a ticking time bomb

Lebanon is like a time bomb that could explode at any time if a political standoff between the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition is not resolved quickly, Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri said. Berri said that an opposition protest campaign to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora could get out of hand if there was no solution before the end of the month.

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/ 12 January 2007

Lebanon ex-president denies remarks on Israeli soldier

Former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel on Friday denied telling an Israeli newspaper that two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in July are still alive, saying he had no information about their condition. Gemayel’s office, who said he was participating in a conference in Madrid, issued a statement saying Gemayel ”denies completely” speaking to any Israeli media.

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/ 5 December 2006

Tears and anger at Beirut protest funeral

A sea of angry mourners converged on southern Beirut on Tuesday for the funeral of a young Shi’ite man killed during mass opposition rallies amid fears of an outbreak of sectarian violence. ”The blood of the Shi’ites is boiling,” shouted mourners as weeping women tossed rose petals on the coffin.

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/ 4 December 2006

Lebanese army increases forces in tense Beirut

Lebanon’s army deployed more soldiers in Beirut on Monday after the killing of a pro-Syrian Shi’ite Muslim demonstrator raised fears anti-government protests could turn into sectarian violence. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa warned the crisis could worsen and indicated he had discussed ideas for a solution with Lebanese officials during a 24-hour visit to Beirut.

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/ 1 December 2006

Lebanon’s power struggle takes to the streets

Beirut was on high alert on Friday as hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators, led by the pro-Syrian militant group Hezbollah, staged a massive show of force aimed at pressing the Western-backed government to resign. Lebanese troops and armoured vehicles were heavily deployed in the capital as hordes of protesters packed streets.