Beirut - Four Syrians and a Lebanese were killed when a truck loaded with smuggled fireworks from Syria exploded Thursday near the Lebanese-Syrian border in eastern Lebanon, police said.
The truck blast came as Lebanon was still coming to terms with a car bomb explosion late Wednesday that killed a pro-Syrian Druze sheikh and wounded six others in an area southeast of Beirut.
The alleged fireworks smuggling operation came a few days after a UN team assessing the monitoring of the border said progress in fortifying it had been minimal and remained "penetrable".
"Lebanon has not yet succeeded in enhancing the overall security of its borders in any significant manner," the report said.
Beirut - Sunni and Shiite rivals in northern Lebanon signed a reconciliation accord aimed at restoring state control to the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanese media reported Tuesday.
For two months, the northern port city of Tripoli has witnessed sectarian fighting between Sunni militants loyal to the Western- backed ruling majority and members of the Alawiites sect who are loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition.
At least 23 people were killed in Tripoli during clashes in May between residents of Jabal Mohsen, who mostly support the radical Shiite Hezbollah movement, and those in Bab al-Tebbaneh who back the anti-Syrian ruling bloc.
Beirut - Sunni and Shiite rivals in northern Lebanon are heading towards reconciliation, in a move to curb sectarian fighting, sources close to both sides said on Monday.
High-ranking leaders of both factions who met on Sunday are scheduled to sign later on Monday a memorandum entitled "The Tripoli Document", which offers, in addition to safeguarding civil peace, to hand over the city's security to the Lebanese army.
Beirut - The leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah said Thursday his group would not lay down its weapons even if the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon was liberated from Israeli occupation.
"Even if Shebaa is liberated the weapons of the resistance are staying. The resistance is a defence project for Lebanon," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said during a Ramadan dinner in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon.
Shebaa was captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day war with Israel. Israel says Shebaa is Syrian territory and its fate should be determined in future peace talks with Damascus.
Beirut - A military investigation into last week's attack on a Lebanese army helicopter by the Islamic group Hezbollah was likely to expand the hypothesis that there was more than one person involved, judicial sources said Tuesday.
The sources said that based on testimony by co-pilot Mahmoud Abboud and other witnesses, military investigators have demanded that Hezbollah turn over three other men allegedly involved in last Thursday's helicopter shooting that killed military officer Samer Hanna in Sujed, southern Lebanon.
Baysour, Lebano
Beirut - Sunni and Shiite rivals in northern Lebanon are heading towards reconciliation, in a move to curb sectarian fighting, sources close to both sides said on Monday.
Beirut - A military investigation into last week's attack on a Lebanese army helicopter by the Islamic group Hezbollah was likely to expand the hypothesis that there was more than one person involved, judicial sources said Tuesday.
