May 13:

  • Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday postponed a vote scheduled to take place on Tuesday to elect a new Lebanese president. A statement released by Berri's office said the election session was delayed to June 10. Earlier on Monday, Berri's media adviser, Ali Hamdan, said that a vote to elect a new president was unlikely.
  • Lebanon's army said on Monday it would use force if necessary to impose law and order in the country and prevent any armed presence of any of the warring factions. "Army units will halt violations ... in accordance with the law, even if that leads to the use of force," a military statement said.
  • Around 200 people fleeing the violence in Lebanon, including the Saudi ambassador in Beirut, have arrived in the nearby island nation of Cyprus, officials said on Monday. Since Saturday, 18 private yachts or speedboats have docked at Larnaca's marina on the island's south coast, while more people are expected if the conflict worsens.
  • Tripoli MP Mosbah Ahdab said on Monday that the March 14 Forces would not succumb to pressures exerted by the opposition. "We didn't expect that a day would come when we would be mourning tens of martyrs fallen by the weapons of Hizbullah. Neither did we expect that we would be fired upon when we are mourning our martyrs," he told.
  • Former Minister Wiam Wahhab said on Monday there was no Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon, adding that head of the Democratic Gathering, MP Walid Jumblatt, had driven the Chouf Mountains into a dangerous situation. "Jumblatt must pay for this, and a simple apology is not enough. He has to leave, and we are ready to help him," Wahhab told.
  • Select European foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a teleconference meeting on Sunday to discuss the series of armed clashes between pro-government and opposition factions in Lebanon. The clashes began Tuesday in confessionally mixed neighborhoods of Beirut before spreading to other areas of Lebanon.

    May 12:

  • Arab foreign ministers holding crisis talks in Cairo on Sunday were divided over a draft resolution that would implicitly condemn Hizbullah for deadly clashes in Lebanon, delegates said. The draft resolution put before the ministers underlined the Arab League's "rejection of the use of armed violence to achieve political goals outside.
  • The Lebanese Army deployed heavily in the Aley district southeast of Beirut late Sunday following fierce clashes between gunmen loyal to Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt and fighters from Amal and Hizbullah, leaving eight people dead. The army was eventually successful in ending most of the clashes.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday called the situation in Lebanon "serious" after deadly clashes between pro-government and opposition forces, some of which are backed by Israel's arch-foe, Iran. "Hizbullah's taking of control [in western Beirut] is a serious development," Barak said during the weekly cabinet meeting, public radio reported.
  • The White House on Saturday welcomed steps to defuse the deadly unrest in Lebanon but argued that any long-term resolution required a change in the role Hizbullah plays there."I think that first of all we want to see an end to the violence against the Lebanese people, I think we're beginning to see some of that," said.
  • The US Embassy issued a statement Saturday saying it remained open for business. However, it noted a change in consular services. "As of Monday, May 12, 2008, nonimmigrant visa processing has been temporarily suspended except under special circumstances," the statement said.
  • Resigned Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh denounced on Sunday the "unfortunate situation" in Lebanon, which he said was due to the deepening divide between the different Lebanese parties which had pushed the country away from potential peaceful coexistence. Salloukh warned that expanding the crisis or making unilateral decisions.
  • MP Bahia Hariri, sister of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, on Sunday emphasized the need to remember the assassinated premier's plan for Lebanon. "The project of the Rafik Hariri offices was the school of co-existence and civil peace, acceptance of others and love," she said.
  • Syrian official daily Al-Baath said on Sunday that Hizbullah had foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during the deadly gun battles which have recently rocked the country. "The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the [Hizbullah] resistance, and attempted.
  • Embassies and foreign ministries of countries with significant expatriate populations in Lebanon continue to draw up or execute plans to evacuate citizens who have remained in the country since the onset of clashes Tuesday in Beirut. An official with the UAE Embassy told Gulf News on Saturday that everything possible was being done to evacuate Emiratis still in the country.
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said on Sunday that recent clashes in Lebanon between opposition and pro-government forces served foreign agendas. "We urge all Lebanese groups to sit at at the dialogue table and negotiate peacefully," said Sfeir, who is currently in a visit to South Africa.
  • Once again, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have proved one of Lebanon's most valuable political assets in the past few days. All Lebanese should therefore be concerned at criticisms of the military's role, for these only undermine the one national institution that still enjoys broad public support.

    May 10 :

  • Lebanon's governing coalition, the March 14 Forces, accused Hizbullah of staging a military coup against the state and said that Hizbullah's arms have become illegitimate after they were used against their fellow Lebanese citizens. "Hizbullah's claim that its arms were only targeted at Israel have proved false and invalid in the past two days.
  • Militants allied with the opposition on Friday forced the shutdown of all media operations belonging to the family of majority leader and billionaire tycoon Saad Hariri. The closure - which came as opposition fighters routed Sunni loyalists of the government - concerned one satellite news channel, two regular television stations, a newspaper and a radio station.
  • Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Friday the current problem in Lebanon is not sectarian but rather political, warning Christian and Muslim religious figures against "falling into the trap of sectarian speeches that instigate strife."
  • The French Embassy in Lebanon on Friday declared that its government's Foreign Ministry had "not yet proposed" or seriously considered the evacuation of French citizens living in Lebanon. The embassy also warned French citizens to "limit their movements," adding that the government in France is "closely monitoring the situation in the country.
  • "Everyone is running away," Beirut resident Imad said on Friday as Hizbullah gunmen roamed the streets of the Lebanese capital, in the grip of deadly gunbattles between feuding Sunni and Shiite factions. Opposition Shiite militants have seized control of swathes of west Beirut, including Sunni strongholds and pro-government media outlets.

    May 09 :

  • Hizbullah's paramilitary infrastructure represents a "threat to regional peace," UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed Larsen warned on Thursday. Roed Larsen told the Security Council that Hizbullah "maintains a massive paramilitary infrastructure separate from the state." He added that this had "an adverse effect" on the Lebanese government's.
  • At least seven people were killed and 15 others wounded as fierce gun battles erupted in Beirut for the second day in a row on Thursday after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah charged that a Lebanese government crackdown on his group's activities was tantamount to a "declaration of war."
  • Hizbullah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said during a press conference Thursday that Lebanon has entered a new phase of its political crisis and warned that a government crackdown on his party was tantamount to a "declaration of war." Nasrallah stressed that Hizbullah was ready to return to dialogue.
  • Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun warned in a televised speech on Thursday that dismantling Hizbullah's communication network would expose the resistance to Israel.Aoun voiced support for comments earlier made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that the political divide had a "political rather than a sectarian dimension to it."
  • The White House on Thursday demanded that Lebanon's Hizbullah "stop their disruptive activities" as fierce gun battles raged in Beirut. "Hizbullah needs to make a choice: Be a terrorist organization or be a political party, but quit trying to be both. They need to stop their disruptive activities now," said US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
  • Former Interior Minister and head of the Marada Movement Suleiman Franjieh says Hizbullah tried to avoid the events of Wednesday and Thursday for some time, "and they are the ones who were afraid of movements on the street." "There are daily provocations directed at Hizbullah, which aim at dragging the party into internal conflicts," Franjieh told OTV.

    May 08 :

  • At least 10 people, including two soldiers, were injured on Wednesday after a General Labor Confederation (GLC) strike which was meant to protest the government's economic policies turned violent, leading to the blocking of roads and armed clashes in several parts of Beirut.
  • The usually bustling streets of Beirut were almost deserted but tense on Wednesday as tire-burning protesters blocked roads for a general strike in which economic and political woes collided. Soldiers, many dressed in riot gear, were deployed in force throughout the Lebanese capital where protesters burned tires.
  • Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Houssam Zaki said on Tuesday that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit and former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss met in Cairo to discuss recent developments on the Lebanese political scene.
  • Kuwaiti Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah confirmed his country's support for Lebanon on Tuesday after meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Kuwait. Siniora thanked the Kuwaiti leader for his efforts in the "Friends of Lebanon" meeting last month, which was hosted by the Gulf country.
  • French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner reiterated on Wednesday that Mohammad Zuhair Siddiq, a key witness in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is "not under our surveillance and is no longer under the jurisdiction of the authorities in France." Kouchner said.
  • Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, declared in an audiotape released on April 21 that Lebanon would be a pivotal battleground in the war against "the crusaders and the Jews," including UN peacekeepers stationed in the South. "There have been three attacks on UN troops in the South since the [expanded] deployment in 2006," says Andrea Tenenti.
  • The UN probe committee investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has detained a man in Beirut's Wata al-Mosseitbeh neighborhood on suspicion of involvement in the killing of former Lebanese Communist Party cheif George Hawi, a report published by As-Safir newspaper said Tuesday.
  • Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun said Wednesday that Syria had dominated Lebanon as a United States proxy. "But when the Syrians withdrew from Lebanon [in 2005] the US direct hegemony was put into effect and it is a much bigger burden on us," Aoun told Qatari daily Al-Rai.

    May 07 :

  • Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun called on his supporters to take part in demonstrations on Wednesday in a bid to increase pressure on the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to resign. The General Labor Confederation (GLC) is staging a general strike on Wednesday to protest government policies.
  • The "Butros Draft Electoral Law" was adopted during a Monday news conference by pro-government March 14 MP Ghassan Tueni and opposition Reform and Change MP Ghassan Mokheiber as a formal electoral law proposition for the 2009 parliamentary elections, which are tentatively scheduled for the months May and June of next year.
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said on Monday that Qatar could play a positive role in bridging the gap between feuding Lebanese political groups. Sfeir met on Monday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and the two discussed means by which the almost 16-month-old political deadlock can be solved.
  • Former Minister Wiam Wahhab slammed Saudi Arabia on Monday, accusing it of issuing "orders of operation," to its allies in Lebanon. "The orders given by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal are influencing the ground after they influenced politics especially following the sudden attacks launched by MPs Walid Jumblatt and Saad Hariri.
  • US Charge d'Affaires Michele J. Sison visited northern Lebanon on Monday and met with the Common Border Forces. The United States had provided $7 million for secure communications for the Common Border Forces and is part of a coordinated donor effort supporting Lebanon.
  • US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said on Monday that Syria represented a threat to Lebanon. "We are trying, with our European and Arab partners, to put pressure on Syria to stop its interference in Lebanon," Welch told Saudi-owned Al-Sharqa-Awsat daily.
  • Members of Hizbullah have been training Iraqi militia members at a camp near Tehran, The New York Times reported Monday. "The training, the Americans say, is carried out at several camps near Tehran that are overseen by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Command, and the instruction is carried out by militants from Hizbullah.
  • The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, on Monday denounced the accusations politicians were throwing at each other, referring to the latest polemic concerning surveillance cameras erected by Hizbullah to monitor Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

    May 06 :

  • Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun called on his supporters to take part in demonstrations on Wednesday in a bid to increase pressure on the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to resign. The General Labor Confederation (GLC) is staging a general strike on Wednesday to protest government policies.
  • The "Butros Draft Electoral Law" was adopted during a Monday news conference by pro-government March 14 MP Ghassan Tueni and opposition Reform and Change MP Ghassan Mokheiber as a formal electoral law proposition for the 2009 parliamentary elections, which are tentatively scheduled for the months May and June of next year.
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said on Monday that Qatar could play a positive role in bridging the gap between feuding Lebanese political groups. Sfeir met on Monday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and the two discussed means by which the almost 16-month-old political deadlock can be solved.
  • Former Minister Wiam Wahhab slammed Saudi Arabia on Monday, accusing it of issuing "orders of operation," to its allies in Lebanon. "The orders given by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal are influencing the ground after they influenced politics especially following the sudden attacks launched by MPs Walid Jumblatt and Saad Hariri.
  • US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said on Monday that Syria represented a threat to Lebanon. "We are trying, with our European and Arab partners, to put pressure on Syria to stop its interference in Lebanon," Welch told Saudi-owned Al-Sharqa-Awsat daily.
  • The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, on Monday denounced the accusations politicians were throwing at each other, referring to the latest polemic concerning surveillance cameras erected by Hizbullah to monitor Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.

    May 05 :

  • Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri urged Syria on Sunday to facilitate the election of the head of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as Lebanon's new president. "Does Syria want to be held responsible for the presidential vacuum in Lebanon?" he asked at a news conference following talks with.
  • Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt called over the weekend for a ban on flights from Iran to Beirut's airport, accusing Hizbullah of flying in arms from the Islamic Republic. At a news conference on Saturday, the outspoken MP also called for the expulsion of Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani.
  • Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Sunday that while political solutions to Lebanon's 16-month-old political deadlock seemed unreal, politicians should find ways to get the country out of the economic and social crises. Speaking to a delegation from Consumers Lebanon, Fadlallah said.
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir left Beirut on Sunday, beginning a trip that will take him to Qatar, South Africa, the US, and Spain. Speaking at Rafik Hariri International Airport, Sfeir implied that his itinerary was shaped by formal invitations received by the patriarchate from heads of state and private institutions.
  • German ambassador to Lebanon Hansjorg Haber said on Sunday after visiting Palestinian refugee camps in the South that his country fully supported the Lebanese efforts and the government's initiative in improving the refugees' living conditions. Haber said that the harsh living conditions that Palestinian had to endure shocked him.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Saturday that Hizbullah has "thousands of missiles" that can reach as far as the Jewish state's illegal nuclear site at the southern town of Dimona. "We have taken several lessons from the latest war and we are ready now more than ever to face the enemy on different fronts," Barak told Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot.

    May 03 :

  • Hizbullah on Friday stated that it feels proud at being included on the United States' "terrorism" list. "The US administration has no right to give statements on nationalism and terrorism when it is making the peoples of the world, including the American people, pay the price for its wars and bloody policies," said a statement by the group.
  • Hizbullah labeled the recent accustions of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt against the group as "fiction," in a statement sent to The Daily Star on Friday. Hizbullah described Jumblatt's charges of setting up cameras near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport aimed at conducting surveillance.
  • Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berrion Friday that a meeting between himself, Berri and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri was possible.Moussa, who arrived in Beirut on Thursday to participate in the Arab Economic Forum, did not specify when such meeting will take place.
  • Hundreds of people protested against inflation on Thursday at a May Day rally organized by the Lebanese Communist Party, demanding an increase in the monthly wage. Earlier this year Lebanon's General Labor Confederation of Workers (GLC) called for the minimum wage to be tripled from LL300,000 to LL960,000
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said on Friday his imminent visit to the United States would include meetings with US President George W. Bush "if he will be in Washington" and with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "The American officials know about the situation in Lebanon. If they can contribute to promoting the security that we want in our country.
  • A conference titled "Freedom of Expression in Lebanon: Realities and Challenges, Truth for Those of the Word and Pen" was held by the Maharat Foundation in tandem with Amnesty International in order to mark World Press Freedom Day, which is recognized on May 3 by UNESCO and participating countries around the world.

    May 02 :

  • Prime Minister Fouad Siniora received on Wednesday a phone call from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during which the two discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region. Siniora stressed during the call the need to fully implement UN Security Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war with Israel, especially in relation.
  • Head of the Phalange Party and former President Amin Gemayel called for a fair electoral law that secured the proper representation of Christians in Parliament. On the occasion of Labor Day, Gemayel said that one of the main causes of the social and economic crises was the "plot ... which blocked all state institutions, and in particular economic movement."
  • Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir lashed out on Thursday at some MPs refusal to perform their duty of electing of a new head of state, adding that this plunged Lebanon "deeper into political crisis." "This is due either to foreign or internal influences," Sfeir said after meeting with a delegation from the Journalists Union in Bkirki.
  • After chances of a breakthrough seemed more likely following Progressive Socialist leader Walid Jumblatt's positive response to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's call for holding roundtable talks between the country's rival leaders, Berri's dialogue initiative has surprisingly remained on hold due to differences between the speaker.
  • The Human Rights Parliamentary Committee held a meeting at the Parliament on Wednesday headed by MP Michel Moussa to discuss the state of Lebanese prisons. Moussa, a member of the Liberation and Development bloc, confirmed press reports that MPs representing the parliamentary majority boycotted the meeting.
  • German Ambassador to Lebanon Hansjorg Haber expressed on Wednesday his country's satisfaction over the implementation of the UN Resolution 1701 and the situation in South Lebanon. "A big responsibility falls upon the Lebanese and Israeli parties to implement this resolution entirely," Haber said.
  • The ongoing political crisis gripping Lebanon has chipped away at what has been viewed by most since the 2005 parliamentary elections as an unlikely alignment of two political heavyweights. The recent falling out between Michel Aoun, head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Michel Murr.