Beirut  - A Lebanese parliamentary leader on Thursday accused Israel of trying to end "resistance" in the Gaza Strip and urged Arab states to cut diplomatic ties to Israel.

Speaking before a meeting of the Arab Parliamentarian Council, Shiite House Speaker Nabih Berri called for assistance to help Palestinians facing an Israeli onslaught.

Beirut  - Lebanon observed a national day of mourning Wednesday to protest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, as a high- state of alert at the Lebanese-Israeli border was registered.

Most government institutions were closed, but private businesses remained opened.

Flags flew at half mast on most government buildings in Beirut in a show of solidarity with the Gaza victims.

Beirut  - Outrage against Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip led to violent demonstrations and political denunciations in Lebanon on Sunday.

Lebanese anti-riot police used force to disperse a demonstration in front of the Egyptian embassy in Beirut, firing tear gas and using water after protesters got close to a barbed wire barricade and started throwing stones at police officers.

The protesters, who numbered in the hundreds, were mostly from the Sunni groupings in Lebanon and Hamas.

Before the confrontation, men riding motorbikes and carrying black flags, wearing the traditional Palestinian headdress had chanted "God help our people in Gaza," were among the protesters.

Beirut  - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has called for Lebanon and its sovereignty to be respected and not turned in into a platform for launching rockets into neighbouring Israel, radio reports said on Sunday.

Suleiman made his remarks in a surprise visit to southern Lebanon on Saturday, a day after the army dismantled eight Katyusha rockets set to be fired into northern Israel.

He stressed that this can no longer be tolerated following the deployment of the Lebanese armed forces and United Nations International Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that are working on implementing UN Resolution 1701 which ended 33-days of war between Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement and Israel in August 2006.

Beirut  - Lebanese officials reported Saturday they are set to open up an embassy in Syria, a day after the Syrian flag was hoisted over that country's new embassy in Beirut.

The new embassies represent the first official diplomatic ties between the two countries since 1943. Lebanon and Syria agreed to the new diplomatic opening in a joint statement October 15.

Beirut  - The United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday stepped up its patrols along the Lebanon-Israel border after Lebanese troops dismantled eight rockets that were apparently ready to be launched at northern Israel.

"Our UN troops are on alert and our patrols are enhancing their movements at the borders after the Lebanese army dismantled the rockets," UN spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziyan said.