Lebanese attack US embassy convoy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172791.html

A group of angry Lebanese youths have attacked a group from the US embassy in Beirut with stones and bottles, calling them criminals and Israelis.

A spokesman for the US mission confirmed the incident occurred on Saturday when the US embassy staff were visiting the southern port town of Sidon.

He said the embassy employees were on a tourism trip in Sidon, and the group returned back to the embassy without any injuries, giving no more details.

"A group of youths intercepted a US embassy delegation as they left a restaurant and insulted them before throwing stones and empty glass bottles at them," AFP quoted a Lebanese security official as saying.

Lebanese media reports said the American embassy's political charge d'affaires was also accompanying the team.

The youths said the US embassy employees are "criminals, Israelis" who "have soiled the land of resistance and martyrs."

Lebanese security forces accompanying the US group intervened, but stones continued to be thrown, breaking car windows. The army then arrived and booked three of the attackers, according to the security official.

Protesters later staged a sit-in protest in Sidon to demand the release of those arrested in connection with the attack.

Osama Saad, head of the Nasserite Popular Movement, described the detained men as "heroes," and called for their immediate release.

"They were trying to protest against the positions of the United States, with Israel, against Lebanon and US interference in Lebanon's internal affairs," Saad argued.

A group of men blocked roads into the city with burning tires, but were dispersed by army forces after an hour.

Anti-US sentiments have been on the rise in Lebanon, especially in the south of the country following the 2006 war Israel waged on Lebanon, and amid unrelenting violation of the country's airspace and land by the Israeli army almost on a daily basis.

Six Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon

An Israeli F-16 fighter jet (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171802.html

Six Israeli fighter jets have breached the Lebanese airspace in flagrant violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution, the Lebanese military says.

Two Israeli aircraft flew over the border village of Kfar Kila, located 96 kilometers (59 miles) south of the capital Beirut, at 9:27 a.m. (0627 GMT) on Saturday and conducted several unwarranted flights above areas in southern Lebanon, said a statement released by the Lebanese military.

The Israeli warplanes left the Lebanese airspace at 11:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) while flying over the southern border town of Alma al-Shaab.

Earlier in the day, four Israeli fighter jets had infringed upon the Lebanese airspace and hovered over the southern sector of the country.

The planes flew over the village of al-Naqoura, located 91 kilometers (57 miles) south of Beirut.

Israel violates Lebanon's airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.

The Lebanese government, the Hezbollah resistance movement and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly condemned the Israeli violations, saying they are against UN Resolution 1701 and the country's sovereignty.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on Tel Aviv to respect Beirut's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In 2009, Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations presenting over 7,000 documents pertaining to Israeli violation of Lebanese territory.

Israel considers war on Lebanon

Israel fought a 33-day war against Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161698.html


A Lebanese political analyst says the only thing that stops Israel from invading south Lebanon is that it knows what it would face from Hezbollah in the wake of such an attack.

In an interview with Press TV, Lebanese political analyst Radwan Rizk said Israel is seriously considering an invasion of south Lebanon over concerns about the formation of a Hezbollah-led government in the country.

“What stops Israel is that it knows what is waiting for it in case of doing this move in the near future,” Radwan noted.

Radwan said Lebanon needs to form a line of resistance against Israeli occupation and against those who are mulling to overpower the country and put it “under the umbrella of Israel and the United States.”

"Israel is looking for an allied government taking over in Lebanon and this is a dream for it because we will never let any government by any kind of force, politically or militarily, to take over a government in Lebanon," he went on to say.

“I think Lebanon will not get out of this political crisis and won't be able to form a new government until the change of power among the political parties,” he said.

Lebanon is grappled with its worst political crisis since 2008, over tensions provoked by the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, whose prosecutor's indictment on former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's 2005 assassination was submitted last week.

The political parties are now negotiating to pick a new prime minister as Saad Hariri's government has fallen apart over the tensions.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman is also set to launch parliamentary talks on Monday to decide on whom to appoint as the country's next prime minister.