Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday strongly condemned what he called the "savage" crackdown by British police on rampaging youths, the state television's website reported.
"This savage treatment of people is absolutely unacceptable, and British statesmen must hear the voice of the people and grant them freedoms," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Full StorySpecial Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Martin Youssef said Lebanon is compelled by U.N. Security Council resolution 1757 to arrest the four suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and transfer them to The Hague.
Youssef told An Nahar daily published Wednesday that Tribunal President Judge Antonio Cassese will take his decision in the next few days on whether Lebanon has done enough in its search for the four suspects against whom the STL had issued arrest warrants.
Full StoryPrime Minister Najib Miqati stated on Monday that Lebanon supports all efforts to reach an end to the violence in Syria.
He said during a cabinet session that was held earlier in the day: “Lebanon’s steady position is based on refraining from meddling in Syria’s internal affairs.”
Full StoryForeign Minister Adnan Mansour said that Lebanon’s stance at the U.N. Security Council comes out of his conviction that the country shouldn’t adopt any resolution that condemns Syria, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.
“I believe that we shouldn’t adopt any resolution that condemns Syria, to ensure the security and stability of the two countries,” he stressed.
Full StoryThe Obama administration sent its ambassador back to Damascus on Thursday as it incrementally turned up the heat on Syrian President Bashar Assad with tougher rhetoric and new sanctions.
The White House said Assad's deadly crackdown on protesters had put Syria and the Middle East on a "very dangerous path," as Washington extended a raft of recent sanctions to include a businessman close to Assad and his family.
Full StorySyria's embattled president on Thursday decreed a law allowing opposition political parties, state media said after the United Nations condemned his regime's deadly crackdown on democracy protests.
"President Bashar Assad on Thursday issued Legislative Decree No. 100 for 2011 on Parties Law and Legislative Decree No. 101 for 2011 on General Election Law," the official SANA news agency said in a brief report.
Full StoryTurkish authorities have seized an Iranian arms shipment heading to Syria and was meant for Hizbullah, a German newspaper reported Thursday.
The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Turkish security forces stopped a convoy of trucks carrying a large quantity of weapons and ammunition in the south-central city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Syrian border.
Full StoryLebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday over Israeli troops’ incursion into the Wazzani area in southern Lebanon on Monday.
The Foreign Ministry deemed the incident “a clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, and international law.”
Full StoryLebanon is facing a critical situation at the U.N. Security Council concerning the developments in Syria since it represents Arab countries especially if it had to object on the presidential statement of the Council.
A high-ranking source in the March 14-led opposition told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday that “Lebanon’s behavior at the Security Council proves that the cabinet is still under the Syrian hegemony.”
Full StoryThe U.N. Security Council struggled Tuesday through negotiations on how to respond to the Syria crisis that Russia's envoy warned was veering toward civil war.
Divisions remained among the 15 nations on the wording of any condemnation of President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests and whether it should be a formal resolution or a less weighty statement.
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