Latest Beirut Stories
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew to south Lebanon on Tuesday to see the devastated region where up to 13,000 extra U.N. peacekeepers are mandated to bolster a two-week-old truce between Israel and Hizbollah. On the second day of a Middle East tour, Annan landed by helicopter in the southern town of Naqoura, base of the current 2,000-strong U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). He was expected to fly over border areas...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will see the destruction in southern Lebanon at first hand on Tuesday when he visits the area during a Middle East tour designed to cement a truce between Israel and Hizbollah. On the first stop of his tour, Annan issued a warning in Beirut on Monday that all sides must fully implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 or face a possible new war. "Without the full implementation of resolution 1701 I fear the risk...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will see the destruction in southern Lebanon at first hand on Tuesday when he visits the area during a Middle East tour designed to cement a truce between Israel and Hizbollah. On the first stop of his tour, Annan issued a warning in Beirut on Monday that all sides must fully implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 or face a possible new war. "Without the full implementation of resolution 1701 I fear the risk...
By Jonathan Wright BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told Lebanese ministers on Monday he wanted the two Israeli soldiers whose capture by Hizbollah sparked a 34-day war with Israel to be handed to the Red Cross, a government source said. The source, who attended Annan's meeting with the Lebanese cabinet, said Annan had also said he would ask Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later this week to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon and to control the Syrian side of...
By Jonathan Wright BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, trying to turn a shaky truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas into a lasting ceasefire, arrived in Beirut on Monday to discuss an expanded peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon. He will face Lebanese demands for the removal of an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon. He may also discuss policing the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop arms smuggling, as well as a possible prisoner swap between Israel and...
BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Beirut on Monday, the first stop of a whirlwind Middle East tour to shore up a truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Airport officials said Annan's plane landed at Beirut's international airport shortly after midday. Annan will discuss in the Lebanese capital the deployment of a 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, the lifting an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon and a possible prisoner...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will discuss the deployment and role of a planned 15,000-strong peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon when he visits Beirut on Monday for the first time since the Israel-Hizbollah war. Other issues are likely to include lifting an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon, policing the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop arms smuggling and a possible prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will discuss the deployment and role of a planned 15,000-strong peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon when he visits Beirut on Monday for the first time since the Israel-Hizbollah war. Other issues are likely to include the lifting of an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon, policing of the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop arms smuggling and a possible prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbollah...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Hizbollah said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that "contacts" had been made which might lead to talks on an exchange of prisoners held by the Lebanese guerrilla group and Israel. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told the privately owned Beirut television station New TV that Italy was trying to involve itself in the process, though he did not say how. "It seems that Italy is trying to get into the subject," the Hizbollah leader said. "The...
By Gideon Long BEIRUT (Reuters) - Italy is seeking a role in negotiations over the release of Israeli and Hizbollah prisoners, including two Israeli soldiers whose seizure sparked the recent war between the two sides, Hizbollah said. In a television interview to be broadcast later on Sunday, Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said "contacts" had been made which might eventually lead to negotiations. "It seems that Italy is trying to get into the subject," Nasrallah told privately...
