Hezbollah

A pro-Western bloc inflicted a surprise defeat on Hezbollah and its allies at the ballot box in Lebanon, the rival camps said on Monday, but the winner now faces a battle to keep the nation together. The anti-Syrian coalition headed by Saad Hariri, son of slain ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, expects to widen its majority in the 128-seat parliament to 71 seats, against 57 for Hezbollah and its Shiite and Christian allies. "This is a big day in the history of democratic Lebanon," a triumphant Hariri told cheering supporters at a rally after Sunday's vote as fireworks exploded into the sky over Beirut and the ... Read Full Story

Lebanese voters flocked to the polls in a high-stakes election that could see an alliance led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah defeat the country's current ruling Western-backed coalition. Hundreds of voters, many of them sporting their party colours, lined up outside the polling stations even before the vote opened in a country which has endured years of wars, sectarian unrest and political instability. Police and soldiers were out in force nationwide to prevent any outbreak of violence between the rival political camps during the closely-fought parliamentary election. "We are voting so that the Lebanese can decide their own fate," said Fadia Saade, 37, ... Read Full Story

Hezbollah on Sunday rejected a German magazine report that a UN probe found it was behind the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri as a ploy to influence Lebanon's election just two weeks away. "This is a pure fabrication aimed at influencing the election campaign and to deflect attention from the news about the dismantling of spy networks working for Israel," a statement from the Shiite Muslim militant group said. Germany's Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that the UN commission probing the Hariri murder had new evidence that Hezbollah special forces "planned and executed" the Beirut car bombing on February 14, 2005. The attack ... Read Full Story

Arab governments are starting to see the fingerprints of Lebanon's Hezbollah all over the Middle East, adding to their growing alarm over Iran's power and a widening Sunni-Shiite rift. The worry comes at a time when Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political party backed by Iran, already is expected to make strong political gains inside Lebanon in June 7 elections. The double whammy by Hezbollah — of growing political influence at home, coupled with more outreach abroad — has put the squeeze on traditional but waning Arab powers like Egypt, alraedy rattled by President Barack Obama's outreach to their foe Iran. "Hezbollah ..... Read Full Story

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday accused Israel of being behind a report implicating his party in the killing of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and called the claim "very, very dangerous." "The report in Der Spiegel is very, very, very dangerous," Nasrallah said in comments transmitted via video link to thousands of supporters massed in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs. "I consider the report in Der Spiegel an Israeli accusation that Hezbollah killed the martyr Rafiq Hariri and we will deal with this claim as such," he said. "Israel has issued its verdict in the Hariri case," he said in a speech marking the ... Read Full Story

Two Lebanese men suspected of spying for Israel fled across the heavily fortified border to the Jewish state on Monday, officials said, in the second such cross-border escape since Lebanon stepped up a campaign against those thought to be working for its archenemy. Security officials also said authorities arrested two other Lebanese men over the weekend on suspicion of collaborating with Israel. The latest government campaign has resulted in over a dozen arrests. Lebanon considers itself at war with Israel and spying for or collaborating with the neighboring country can be punishable by death. The arrests, mainly in southern Lebanon, appear to have targeted ... Read Full Story

A report that Hezbollah was behind the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri is a dangerous claim which could spark civil strife as Lebanon prepares to hold crunch elections, analysts believe. "If the Special Tribunal for Lebanon comes out and confirms the report, we could be facing an all-out civil war," Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, told AFP of the UN-backed probe into the murder. "On the other hand, it could be just a report in a newspaper." Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday that the UN commission probing the Hariri murder had new evidence that Hezbollah ... Read Full Story