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WikiLeaks: Elias Murr Believes Hizbullah Cannot Launch Rockets from Downtown Beirut

A leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar Saturday revealed that Defense Minister Elias Murr believed that the Lebanese army would be able to swiftly deploy its troops in southern Lebanon.

The WikiLeaks cable, dated August 8, 2006, said that Murr informed then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman that 15,000 soldiers would be able to deploy in the South within 12 hours if they are ordered to do so.

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WikiLeaks: March 14 Christians Supported Extending July War to Allow Israel to 'Finish the Job'

Christian officials in the March 14 camp feared during the July 2006 war that the conflict would empower Hizbullah more than ever before, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Saturday.

The WikiLeaks cable, dated August 5, 2006, reported on a meeting between then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, then assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State David Welsh, Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, his slain son former minister Pierre, National Liberal party leader Dory Chamoun, National bloc leader Carlos Edde, March 14 general secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid, MPs Georges Adwan, Nayla Mouwad, Nassib Lahoud, and minister Butros Harb.

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Al-Rahi Believes Visiting Syria is Not Taboo: Christianity in Lebanon Protects Arabs

Newly elected Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated that visiting Syria is not “taboo”, adding that he would relay Christian insecurities to officials in Lebanon and the Arab country.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday: “It is the duty of every patriarch to visit the parishes every five years and I will do that immediately.”

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Damascus Questions Delay in Government Formation: Syrian Leadership Not Interfering in the Process

Damascus’s visitors reported that high-ranking Syrian officials are questioning the delay in the formation of the Lebanese government “seeing as there are no reasons that should cause a delay,” reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Saturday.

“The officials stressed that the Syrian leadership is not concerned with the details of the government and it does not intervene in the formation, but it urges all its allies to present mutual concessions to facilitate the formation,” they told the daily.

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Aoun in Dubai as Government Formation still Stuck over Interior Ministry Portfolio

The political consultations over the government formation have entered a “truce” after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s departure for Dubai on Friday, said a source monitoring the government formation process.

The consultations will resume as soon as Aoun returns from his trip, revealing that the meeting between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, Hizbullah official al-Hajj Hussein al-Khalil, Speaker Nabih Berri’s advisor MP Ali Hasan Khalil, and caretaker minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday led to an agreement over methods to end the deadlock over the government formation.

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Singh: UNIFIL Ready to Demarcate Maritime Blue Line

UNIFIL spokesman Neeraj Singh confirmed that the international force is ready to help in the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel.

“The two countries have to approve our intervention,” he told As Safir in remarks published on Saturday.

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American Official Denies Report that U.S. Prepared to Open Dialogue with Hizbullah

A prominent U.S. State Department official denied to An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday recent reports that the American administration is considering opening dialogue Washington has labeled as terrorist, including Hizbullah.

He said that on the political level, there can be no dialogue with Hizbullah because it is a terrorist organization creating instability in the Middle East.

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Qabalan Meets al-Rahi: Bkirki a Sanctuary for All Lebanese, We Must Open New Page of Cooperation

During a visit to Bkirki on Friday to congratulate the new Maronite patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on his election, Deputy Head of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan stressed that "Bkirki is a sanctuary for all the Lebanese."

"We must open a new page of cooperation and harmony as the country can only rise through its Muslim and Christian wings," Qabalan added after meeting both al-Rahi and outgoing patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir.

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Bellemare Explains to Fransen Why Disclosing Documents to Sayyed May Harm Probe

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has submitted to STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen a confidential report explaining why disclosing documents to Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed "could amongst other things prejudice ongoing or future investigations or could put people's lives at risk," STL's press office said Friday.

"The Special Tribunal for Lebanon can confirm that the Prosecutor submitted a confidential and ex parte application to the Pre-Trial Judge on March 10, 2011," the press office said in a communiqué.

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Qassem: We Didn’t Hear Anything at March 13 Rally Worth Responding to

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem noted on Friday that there was nothing worth responding to at the March 14 rally last Sunday, saying that the party “has not and will not do so.”

He said: “We are not concerned with what they said and what happened at the event.”

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