Beirut - Israeli soldiers stormed Thursday a Lebanese ship carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Lebanese radio reports and organizers said.

According to the reports, the Israeli soldiers boarded the "Brotherhood Ship" and beat up its crew. The reports also said Israeli warships had opened fire on the ship after it entered Palestinian territorial waters.

Organizer Maan Bashour told Deustche Presse-Agentur dpa, that contact was lost with the ship after the Israeli soldiers stormed the vessel off the Gaza coast.

Beirut  - An Israeli gunboat late Wednesday intercepted a Lebanese ship carrying medical aid and other supplies bound for Gaza, the organizer of the Lebanese delivery said.

"The Brotherhood Ship was fired on by an Israeli military boat 20 miles (32 kilometres) off the coast of Gaza and they were asked to divert course," Maan Bashour told Deustche Presse-Agentur dpa.

It remains in the water near the coast of Gaza, he said.

Bashour said the aide ship was loaded with 50 tons of medical supplies, food, clothing and toys and left the port city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon early on Tuesday.

Beirut - The

Beirut  - An Iranian aid ship carrying medical supplies for Gaza has arrived in Beirut after its organizers said Friday it was denied entry by Egypt.

Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi, spokesman for the Gaza Reconstruction Committee of Iran, said: "The ship was forced to change course after Egypt denied it entry."

"We waited 24 hours and then decided to head for Lebanon," the spokesman was quoted by Lebanese radios as saying. The Iran Shahed arrived in Beirut, late Thursday.

Beirut  - The head of the Christian-dominated Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, hit back Friday at Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for accusations against his party regarding the fate of four Iranians who went missing in Lebanon in 1982.

"Who can explain the pressing interest of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the four Iranian diplomats, who were kidnapped during the (1975- 1990 Lebanese) civil war? Is this issue more important than Lebanese detainees in the Syrian prisons?" Geagea asked in a press conference at his residence, north of Beirut.

Beirut - The fourth round of the national dialogue between rival Lebanese leaders ended Monday with no major decisions and a postponement of the next round to March 2, 2009.

President Michel Suleiman who chaired the session, began the meeting with a briefing of local, regional and international developments, especially the Israeli military onslaught in the Gaza Strip and its impact on Lebanon.

The president also underlined the need for a political truce as Lebanon's parliamentary elections approached. Lebanon is due to hold its parliamentary elections in May.