In an exclusive interview, Fouad Siniora says his government has evidence of Damascus' hand in Lebanon's recent spate of violence
Syria could spark trouble in Lebanon in response to a U.N. Security Council vote to set up a tribunal to try the killers of Rafik al-Hariri, the former prime minister's son said on Thursday.
A Lebanese soldier and at least eight Fatah al-Islam extremists have been killed in a surge of fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the army said on Thursday.
Lebanon's parliament speaker said on Thursday the U.N. Security Council had ignored the country's constitution in voting to set up a tribunal for suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
The decision to establish a tribunal over the killing of Rafik Hariri is met with mixed opinion in Lebanon, the BBC's Kim Ghattas reports.
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri but major powers Russia and China abstained. In Lebanon, Hariri supporters cheered and danced in the street to celebrate the decision.
The Security Council voted on Wednesday to set up the court after failed efforts to get its statutes constitutionally approved in Lebanon, where a political crisis has paralysed normal government for months. Syria said after the vote that it could lead to more instability in Lebanon.
Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday accused the United States and Israel of being responsible for the tension in Lebanon, which was aimed at preventing political unity among the Lebanese people.
Russia cautioned the United States on Wednesday against further destabilizing Lebanon with U.S. arms shipments and to closely follow international agreements in delivering such aid.
Lebanon's pro-Syrian president said a UN tribunal on the killing of a former prime minister could divide Lebanese, echoing broad fears of sectarian strife in a country still haunted by a civil war.