Hezbollah to name Premiership candidate in Lebonan


JNN 16 Jan 2011 : A Hezbollah MP says the group will name a capable personality to the head of Lebanon’s future government after the collapse of the cabinet. Continue reading

Iran, Best model of Interaction among Religions


JNN 25 Dec 2010 : Prelate of the Diocese of Lebanon Archbishop Aram Keshishian referred to the Islamic Iran on Friday as the best model of interaction among different religions in the world.

According to IRNA, he made the remarks during a meeting with a group of managers and editors-in-chief of Iran’s major newspapers and news agencies who arrived in Beirut on Thursday on a week-long visit.

Archbishop Keshishian said that followers of all divine religions, including Armenians, were living freely in Iran.

Praising the way that Iran’s leadership and its government were treating Armenians in that country; the Archbishop said that Iranian Armenians even had two representatives in the country’s Parliament (Majlis).

Condemning any type of sacrilege against values of divine religions, Archbishop Keshishian called on leaders of different religions to make more interactions to prevent any violation against religious values in the future.

He also referred to the recent visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Lebanon noting that Tehran-Beirut ties were on the rise.

‘Israel aided US-backed Hariri tribunal’


JNN 26 Nov 2010 Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Tel Aviv has contributed to a US-sponsored tribunal probing the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri, a report says.

Lieberman has recently acknowledged Israel’s “cooperation” with Hariri’s tribunal, also known as the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and said that Tel Aviv has been transparent and open to the investigation, Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday.

Hariri was killed alongside more than 20 other people in a massive car bombing in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on February 14, 2005.

The US-sponsored STL was subsequently set up by the UN and the Lebanese government in May 2007 to investigate the murder. The court is expected to announce its findings by the end of 2010.

Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign minister accused Lebanon’s resistance movement of Hezbollah of trying to undermine the tribunal.

The accusation has been made despite Secretary General of Hezbollah Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah’s repeated rejection of the allegations and warnings against Isreali plots.

In an August speech, the resistance leader presented evidence proving that Israel masterminded the assassination. In his televised address Nasrallah presented footage captured by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as well as recorded confessions by Israeli fifth columnists, substantiating that Tel Aviv had been behind the killing.

Nasrallah also pointed out that the investigators had been infiltrating deep into Lebanon and channeling date outwards even before the tribunal took its current form.

'Israel aided US-backed Hariri tribunal'


JNN 26 Nov 2010 Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says Tel Aviv has contributed to a US-sponsored tribunal probing the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri, a report says.

Lieberman has recently acknowledged Israel’s “cooperation” with Hariri’s tribunal, also known as the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and said that Tel Aviv has been transparent and open to the investigation, Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday.

Hariri was killed alongside more than 20 other people in a massive car bombing in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on February 14, 2005.

The US-sponsored STL was subsequently set up by the UN and the Lebanese government in May 2007 to investigate the murder. The court is expected to announce its findings by the end of 2010.

Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign minister accused Lebanon’s resistance movement of Hezbollah of trying to undermine the tribunal.

The accusation has been made despite Secretary General of Hezbollah Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah’s repeated rejection of the allegations and warnings against Isreali plots.

In an August speech, the resistance leader presented evidence proving that Israel masterminded the assassination. In his televised address Nasrallah presented footage captured by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as well as recorded confessions by Israeli fifth columnists, substantiating that Tel Aviv had been behind the killing.

Nasrallah also pointed out that the investigators had been infiltrating deep into Lebanon and channeling date outwards even before the tribunal took its current form.