Beirut - Lebanon named an ambassador to Syria Saturday in another step toward normalizing relations between the two countries.

The move comes after the neighbouring countries reached an agreement in October to establish diplomatic ties for the first time since they gained independence from France in the 1940s.

Information Minister Tarek Mitri said after a cabinet meeting that the position will go to Michel Khoury, currently Lebanon's ambassador to Cyprus.

Moscow  - Russia will deliver 10 MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon as a gift, the head of the federal military and technical cooperation service said Wednesday.

Mikhail Dmitriyev called the donation a means of "military and technical assistance provided for in the (Russian) budget."

The jets are to be fully outfitted to "export standards" before being shipped, he said.

The export price tag on the Soviet-designed MiG-29, still seen as one of Russia's best war planes, is about 30 million dollars, industry experts said.

Beirut - US Deputy Assistant the Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Hale warned Wednesday against the continuous rearming of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah by Syria and Iran.

"The rearmament of Hezbollah through Syria and Iran may re-incite confrontation with Israel, which could destroy Lebanon once again," Hale told reporters in Beirut.

Hale, who arrived in Beirut Wednesday for talks with Lebanese officials, affirmed that United States' goal remained "to work for a free, sovereign, and independent Lebanon."

Beirut - United Nations forces operating in Lebanon have received warnings of a possible attack by al-Qaeda terrorists, Lebanese newspapers reported Wednesday.

The daily al-Akhbar, a pro-Syrian newspaper, said the United States had warned United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon on December 10 of an imminent terrorist attack.

The report quoted an unnamed European diplomatic source as saying the United States provided UNIFIL with information that al-Qaeda would probably launch a "suicide attack" against UNIFIL convoys, which led to a state of alert by the peacekeepers, the Lebanese Army and security agencies.

Beirut - The year 2008 saw Lebanon battling threats on two fronts: On one side the threat of civil war; on the other the rise of Sunni militancy destabilizing an already unsteady country.

Since the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri in early 2005 the Lebanese have been plunged into a new era of partisanship, marked by deep political divisions among the pro and anti-Syrian camps.

A long-running political stand-off, which first erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, left the country without a president for months, after pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down in November 2007.

Tyre, Lebanon - Southern Lebanon suffered great losses during the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006, but a "blessing" has landed in the area this Christmas season to save the economy with a boom in sales in the form of UN peacekeeping troops.

"The UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon) is a blessing: most of our business this holiday season depends on them," said Ali Zeidan, a souvenir store owner in the southern port city of Tyre.