Beirut  - Lebanon has officially approved establishing diplomatic ties with Syria and the opening of a Lebanese embassy in Damascus, official sources said Friday.

"The decision was taken in a late cabinet meeting Thursday and hopefully the opening of an embassy in Syria will be soon after all the necessary diplomatic issues are settled," the source said.

Information Minister Tarek Mitri said following a cabinet meeting late Thursday that Lebanon's foreign minister has been entrusted with following up on the mechanism to set up the embassy. He did not set a timeframe.

Beirut  - Lebanon's Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said on Thursday that Israel's threats aim at hurting Lebanon's image.

"Who said that the cabinet has given the okay to Hezbollah to carry out any action against Israel?" Salloukh asked.

He said the situation south of the Litani River is stable where the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is exerting "major efforts and there have been no complaints against Hezbollah."

Lebanon adheres to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Salloukh noted.

Beirut- Lebanese Energy Minister Alain Tabourian boycotted an official visit to Iraq in protest against the way he was treated when he was accompanying Prime Minister Fouad Seniora on his trip to Egypt last week, sources said Wednesday.

Sources close to Seniora said Tabourian had been invited to Baghdad, but that he declined, saying he had other commitments elsewhere.

Tabourian, who is a member of the Hezbollah opposition party, refused to comment on his reasons not to accompany Seniora on his current trip to Iraq.

Beirut - Sunni Muslim militant groups on Tuesday suspended their unity accord with the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, just 24 hours after it was announced at a press conference in Beirut.

On Monday, Hezbollah signed a memorandum of understanding with Lebanon's Salafist movements, which group Sunni Muslim fundamentalist factions. The deal's stated goal was "to preserve national unity and prevent sedition."

The Salafi groups on Tuesday announced the indefinite freezing of the understanding with Hezbollah.

Beirut  - The chief of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Thursday warned Israel against any attempt to assassinate members of his group.

"The resistance is aware of Israeli plans to assassinate and kill leaders in Hezbollah, but this would not hold us back," Nasrallah said, during a televised speech to mark two years of what he described as a "divine victory" against Israel in the July 2006 war.

Beirut  - The Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, which is close to Hezbollah, launched Thursday a vehement attack on U. N. peacekeepers patrolling south Lebanon, accusing them of spying for Israel.

Under the headline "UNIFIL: A list of violations in favour of Israel," al-Akhbar editor Ibrahim al-Amin levelled several allegations at UNIFIL commander, General Claudio Graziano.

Graziano was being "cordial" to Israel, seeking to "protect" flights by Israeli warplanes in Lebanese airspace and making sure that no gunmen or weapons operated in the demilitarized zone south of the Litani River in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701.