Palestinians protest against UNRWA cuts in Lebanon

Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon - Friday prayers had just ended inside Ain al-Hilweh, and about 200 residents congregated near one of the entrances to this Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon.

Chants protesting at recent changes introduced by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, to its hospital system rang out from the assembled crowd. In the middle of the protest stood Saleh al-Youssef, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) political faction in southern Lebanon.

"These changes must be reversed. Life in the camps such as Ain al-Hilweh is already a grave humanitarian issue. Healthcare, like education, is a fundamental right," Youssef said, as the crowd nodded in agreement. 

In January, UNRWA started requiring Palestinian refugees to pay between five and 20 percent of their hospital bills. Previously, the refugees had secondary healthcare fully covered by the organisation.

Secondary healthcare refers to treatments requiring a short period in hospital, such as childbirth, intensive care and medical imaging.

The cost of healthcare in Lebanon ranks among the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region, and many Palestinians - whose access to formal job markets in Lebanon is limited by state-imposed restrictions - fear they will no longer be able to afford treatment.

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READ MORE: Refugees search for lasting peace in Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh

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Established in 1949 as a temporary refugee agency to assist the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by Israel's 1948 establishment, UNRWA recorded a budget deficit of more than $100m last year - the largest in its history.

The deficit pushed the organisation to slash its educational budget and suspend $100 monthly domestic aid subsidies which had previously been offered to each family. Those changes have caused resentment among the approximately 450,000 Palestinians in Lebanon. Residents of Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, have been hit particularly hard.

Built to accommodate 10,000 Palestinians forced into exile in 1948, mostly from the Galilee region of present-day Israel, Ain al-Hilweh is an impoverished, 1sq km compound of narrow avenues and electrical wires, surrounded by concrete breeze blocks and Lebanese Army checkpoints.

Since 2011, the camp's population has grown from around 70,000 to more than 90,000 owing to the arrival of mainly Syrian-Palestinians displaced by the war in Syria. The influx has boosted competition for jobs, pushing down wages and raising unemployment, and created an endemic housing crisis.

Protests against the health cuts held outside UNRWA facilities in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps have become common, and some have even blamed the cuts for the deaths of a small number of Palestinians earlier this year.

People have labelled these adjustments an 'intifada against UNRWA', because the health programme is one of our core services. Zizette Darkazally, UNRWA's public information officer for Lebanon

Zizette Darkazally, UNRWA's public information officer for Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that the organisation was not responsible for those deaths. She pointed out that UNRWA's annual hospital budget in Lebanon for 2016 remained the same ($10m) as in 2015, and subsidies for tertiary healthcare actually increased.

"People have labelled these adjustments an 'intifada against UNRWA', because the health programme is one of our core services," Darkazally said.

"Because tertiary is very expensive and people often struggle to afford it, we raised the ceiling on this cover to 60 percent from 50 percent, and the ceiling of the intervention from $4,200 to $5,000. In order to cover the difference, we reduced secondary coverage," she said. "There were no budget cuts; we just readjusted the services to cover those with very expensive-to-treat, life-threatening conditions."

Despite such assurances, Youssef and others at the demonstration in Ain al-Hilweh said they were committed to keep demonstrating until the cuts were revoked. 

"We will continue protesting in Ain al-Hilweh, but we are also discussing initiatives to hold a sit-in at the headquarters of the European Union, among other things," he said.

Palestinian factions in Ain al-Hilweh, including the PLF, Fatah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihadist Movement, have all expressed support for the current demonstrations. That unity is uncommon in a camp that is home to many armed Palestinian groups, and where outbreaks of violence between rivals are frequent.

The 1969 Cairo Accord prohibits the Lebanese Army from entering Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Last summer, a spree of political assassinations and gun battles pitted Fatah and its supporters against fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jund al-Sham. The clashes left many dead, and buildings throughout the camp remain pockmarked with bullets.

"The situation now is calm. There is coordination between all the factions to maintain the peace," said Sheikh Jamal Khattab, the head of the Islamic Jihadist Movement, who has played the role of arbitrator during previous clashes.

But many in the camp remain concerned about potential future cuts by UNRWA.

"The health issue is an important issue. But I am also worried that at the start of the new year, [UNRWA] schools will not open," Abd Abu Saleh, who heads a committee that manages affairs inside the Ain al-Hilweh camp, told Al Jazeera.

"If more UNRWA services are cut, I think it is inevitable that more people will seek alternative solutions, and leave."

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READ MORE: Palestinians desperate to flee Lebanon refugee camp

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In the second half of 2015, following the UNRWA cuts to domestic assistance and the outbreak of violence in Ain al-Hilweh, many primarily younger residents of the camp joined hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees leaving Lebanon for Europe.

From a small, second-floor office in a school and social centre run by the NGO Nabaa in Ain al-Hilweh, camp resident Nidal told Al Jazeera: "There is no work; there is no stability. With these cuts, how are we meant to live?"

The 47-year-old widow, who spoke under a pseudonym, said she paid around $100 a month for medication to treat hypertension and rheumatism. She fears that if her condition deteriorates, the cuts will render her unable to afford hospital care.

"Even people not directly affected by the cuts now have no security. They are scared that if they become sick, they will be turned away at the hospital doors," said Nida. 

Last year, one of Nidal's daughters left Ain al-Hilweh with her husband for Germany.

"It has become common to hear of people leaving," explained Ibtisam Mosri, 39, whose cousin also travelled from Ain al-Hilweh to Europe last year.

With unemployment high in the camp and UNRWA assistance across sectors being scaled down - and with the threat of a return to violence never far away - both Nidal and Mosri said they understood why leaving Ain al-Hilweh had become an increasingly attractive option for some.

"I support the demonstrations," Nidal said. "This is about the rights of the Palestinian community. But members of my own family have left. What could I say to stop them? People here are suffering."

Source: Al Jazeera

Two Israeli soldiers killed in Hezbollah missile attack

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed by a Hezbollah missile fired at at an Israeli military vehicle in the Shebaa farms area on the border with Syria and Lebanon.

The Israeli military confirmed that seven soldiers were also injured in Wednesday's strike.

In response to the attack, Israeli forces fired shells across the border into southern Lebanon, killing a UN peacekeeper from Spain. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed the death. 

Responding to the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised those behind it would be held responsible.

"Those behind the attack today will pay the full price," Netanyahu said as he launched consultations with security chiefs on a possible further response to the incident, according to a Reuters news agency report.

There were also reports of Israeli war planes flying over the border with Lebanon.

A Hezbollah statement claiming responsibility for the attack said: "11:25am this morning, al-Quneitra Martyr's group targeted an Israeli convoy with specialised heavy duty rockets in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa farms area.

The convoy included Israeli artillery, an officer and several soldiers many of whom were injured," the statement read. 

"Await retaliation"

The attack by Hezbollah was likely in retaliation for an Israeli air strike in Quneitra on January 18th that killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general. Both Hezbollah and the Iranian army had vowed revenge, and earlier on Wednesday Iran said that Israel should "await retaliation" for the strike.  

A Lebanese army spokesman said the missile was not fired from Lebanese territory, and that the artillery response by Israel was randomly falling on areas along the border, but that no shells had landed on villages with civilians yet.

Shebaa Farms is a small strip of disputed land at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Schools closed in and around Shebaa, and residents stayed indoors as the shelling continued throughout Wednesday morning.

Residents in neighbouring towns carried on as normal, telling Al Jazeera they did not feel things would escalate into full-blown war.

"Whatever happens happens, but we're not moving and we're not scared," one resident of Marjayoun, a town a few kilometres from the border with Israeli, said.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, condemned the attack, saying Hezbollah had been "stockpiling" weapons in southern Lebanon in violation of a UN resolution.

"Israel will not accept any attacks on its territory and it will exercise its right to self-defence and take all necessary measures to protect its population."

Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh, reporting from Jerusalem, said that while a response was expected from Israel against Hezbollah, an escalation of hostilities was unlikely.

Lebanese politician Samir Geagea, a member of the March 14 opposed to Hezbollah, said that the organisation "doesn't have the right to involve the Lebanese army and government in a battle with Israel."

Walid Jumblatt, another politician considered to be centrist, said the attack would lead to "turbulent" times for Lebanon.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to speak on the Quneitra strike.

In 2006, Israel fought a bloody war against Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Nasrallah to deliver speech Wednesday despite health rumours

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of militant group Hezbollah, will deliver a speech on Wednesday to discuss the latest political developments in Beirut and the Middle East, the Shiite movement's Al-Manar TV channel reported.


"Such news is totally incorrect, and Nasrallah did not leave the country," the sources said.Hezbollah sources, according to Al-Manar, have denied recent media reports about Nasrallah's deteriorating health and a trip to Iran.
Nasrallah's speech will coincide with the ongoing 23-month civil war in Syria, in which Hezbollah is accused of playing an important role.
Last Thursday, a commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army warned that his forces will target Hezbollah unless the militant group stops shelling territory held by the insurgents.
General Selim Idriss, the FSA chief of staff, told AFP on Wednesday that Hezbollah had long been taking part in hostilities in Syria, but had gone too far by shelling villages near Qusayr in the Homs province from the Bekaa valley in Lebanon.
"Hezbollah is abusing Lebanese sovereignty to shell Syrian territory and Free Syrian Army positions," said Idriss.
"In the past week... Hezbollah has been shelling into villages around Qusayr from Lebanese territory, and that we cannot accept."
The FSA had also asked the Lebanese president and premier to intervene, said Idriss, but the office of Prime Minister Najib Mikati denied any contact with the Syrian rebels.
Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected accusations that it has sent fighters into Syria.
In October 2012, however, Nasrallah admitted that members of his movement had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as "individuals and not under the group's direction."
A growing refugee crisis
Lebanon, where Syria still wields significant influence, is deeply divided over the Syrian revolt and fears that the sectarian civil war that has claimed nearly 70,000 lives, according to a United Nations estimate, could spill over into its smaller neighbour.
Lebanon hosts almost 300,000 Syrian refugees, a number which is growing at a rate of 3,000 a day.
Lebanese opposition leader Saad Al-Hariri predicted on Thursday the downfall of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, whom he accuses of planning the assassination of his father in a bomb attack in 2005.
"The regime of Bashar Al-Assad will inevitably go down. And its collapse will be loud not only in Syria but across the Arab world," Hariri said, speaking by a video link from Riyadh to mark the eighth anniversary of his father's assassination.
Spill-over effect
Last October, a deadly car bombing led to the death of almost eight people and wounded another 78 in Lebanon's Christian district of Ashrafieh, eastern Beirut. It was the most high-profile car bombing since Rafik Al-Hariri's assassination in 2005.
General Wissam Al-Hassan, a senior commander in the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, was among the dead. The incident caused a degree of deterioration in Lebanese-Syrian relations due to Al-Hassan's history of opposition to the Hezbollah-allied ruling regime in Damascus.
Al-Hassan suspected the Syrian regime of murdering Al-Hariri. The grey-moustachioed general, 47, a Sunni Muslim, had sent his wife and children to Paris because he "knew he was a target," a Lebanese opposition leader hostile to Al-Assad’s regime told AFP.
Both Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, the influential Druze leader, have accused the Syrian president of being behind last year's bombing.

SYRIAN INTERNET LARGELY RESTORED AFTER BLACKOUT

BEIRUT (AP) -- Internet and telephone service were restored across much of Syria on Saturday following a two-day, nationwide communications blackout that came during some of the worst fighting to hit the capital since July.

Experts say the shutdown was likely caused by President Bashar Assad's regime, raising fears that the government is taking increasingly bold measures to cut off the country from the outside world as it tries to crush a relentless rebellion.

Renesys, a U.S.-based network monitoring firm that studies Internet disruptions, said in a statement Saturday that service went back up around 4:32 p.m. local time in Syria, describing it as a "largely complete restoration of the Syrian Internet."

Mobile telephone networks also appeared to be mostly back up Saturday. A Britain-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was receiving dispatches from many parts of the country. Many land lines had remained in working order.

The SANA state news agency said technical teams brought both Internet and telephone services back online Saturday in Damascus and its suburbs - the flashpoints of recent fighting between government soldiers and rebels.

The communications blackout began Thursday, raising fears of a burst of fighting outside the public eye. The government and rebels have blamed each other for cutting the lines.

Syrian rebels are fighting a 20-month-old revolt against the Assad regime. Activists say some 40,000 people have been killed in the crisis, which began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.

On Saturday, Syrian troops backed by helicopter gunships clashed with rebels as government forces pushed a major offensive on villages and towns near the capital's international airport, activists said.

SANA reported a car bomb exploded in the Damascus neighborhood of Ish Alwarwar. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The fighting over the past few weeks in Damascus is the most serious the capital has seen since July, when rebels captured several neighborhoods before a swift government counteroffensive swept out the opposition fighters.

Activists said forces loyal to Assad were battling rebels in towns just south of the capital, including Aqraba, Beit Saham and Yalda near the airport. The Observatory said many were feared killed in government shelling of Beit Saham.

Syrian state TV said troops were battling fighters from the al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat al-Nusra group in areas around the airport and that many of the rebels were killed, including two Iraqi citizens.

Syria's Information Ministry said the airport was operating as usual and that the road leading to the facility is "totally secure." The road was closed Thursday because of heavy fighting, but authorities reopened it Friday after troops secured the area, activists said.

The Observatory also reported clashes in the southern Damascus neighborhoods of Tadamon and Hajar Aswad, which have been hit by heavy fighting for weeks as the rebels try to push back into the city.

Government troops were also heavily shelling the Damascus suburb of Douma, local activist Mohammed Saeed said via Skype.

Saeed and other activists bypassed the communications blackout by using satellite telephones to connect to the Internet.

In the past, the regime has cut telephone lines and cellular networks in areas where military operations are under way, but the latest blackout was the first to cover the whole country since Syrian uprising began in March 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, tensions were running high Saturday in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of Assad's regime, which is dominated by the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Lebanese troops deployed to potential flashpoints in the city - home to significant Sunni and Alawite populations and the site of deadly violence in recent months between the two communities - to prevent possible clashes.

The army dispatched troops to Tripoli as a precautionary measure after an announcement Friday that 20 Lebanese Sunnis had been killed inside Syria while fighting alongside rebels, who are predominantly Sunnis as well. The city was clam Saturday.

It was not clear when the funerals would be held because the bodies of the dead are still in Syria, Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to getting sucked into the conflict in Syria. The countries share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries that are easily enflamed. Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife, has been on edge since the uprising in Syria began, and deadly clashes between pro- and anti-Assad Lebanese groups have erupted on several occasions.

In Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Syrian regime has degenerated into an "armed militia" that resorts to brutality in an attempt to stay in power. Davutoglu spoke Saturday at an Istanbul meeting attended by Arab foreign ministers who expressed opposition to the Syrian government.

Davutoglu and other delegates at the one-day conference say the Syrian regime is a threat not only to its people but also to peace and security in the region.

Turkey was an ally of Syria before the crisis began but turned into one of its harshest critics because of Assad's crackdown.

FRANCE WILL STAND AGAINST INSTABILITY IN LEBANON

BEIRUT (AP) -- France's president pledged Sunday that his country will stand against instability in Lebanon, two weeks after the assassination of a senior Lebanese intelligence official sparked clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups.

Later in Saudi Arabia, Francois Hollande held further talks on Syria with King Abdullah, whose country has been a leading supporter of the forces trying to overthrow Syria's President Bashar Assad.

In Beirut, Hollande promised that Paris and the European Union will help Lebanon deal with an influx of more than 100,000 refugees who have fled the civil war in neighboring Syria.

"We are committed to give you guarantees regarding security, stability and unity of Lebanon," Hollande told reporters after meeting President Michel Suleiman.

The Oct. 19 car bomb that killed Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, a powerful anti-Syrian intelligence official, stirred up deadly sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where Sunnis and Shiites are deeply divided over the civil war in Syria, which has killed at least 36,000 people since it began in March 2011.

Lebanon's two largest political coalitions have lined up on opposite sides of the conflict. The powerful Shiite group Hezbollah and its partners who dominate the Lebanese government have stood by Assad, while Lebanon's Sunni-led opposition backs the rebels seeking to topple the Damascus regime.

Assad and many in his inner circle are Alawites - an offshoot of Shiite Islam and a minority in Syria - while the rebels come mostly from the country's Sunni majority.

Syria dominated Lebanon for 29 years after it first sent troops into its smaller neighbor in 1976, during Lebanon's 15-year civil war.

Damascus' three-decade hold on Lebanon began to slip in 2005, after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Still, for years after Syrian troops pulled out, there were frequent assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon, and the perpetrators have yet to be tracked down.

Despite the Syrian military's withdrawal from Lebanon, Assad has managed to maintain his influence in the country through allies, such as Hezbollah.

Hollande made a three-hour stop in Beirut en route to Saudi Arabia for talks that focused on the Syria conflict and Iran's disputed nuclear program. Saudi officials said Hollande arrived in the Red Sea port of Jiddah, accompanied by a high-level delegation that included French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and a senior trade official.

France's ambassador to Saudi Arabia said in comments published in the Al-Riyadh newspaper Sunday that Paris and Riyadh share views on both issues. The newspaper quoted Bertrand Besancenot as saying France backs tighter sanctions on Iran and calls on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.

Saudi Arabia is Iran's main regional rival and is a key backer of Syria's rebels.

While in Beirut, Hollande said France will give "full assistance" in the investigation of al-Hassan's assassination, saying "the Lebanese and the world want this. There will be no escape from justice."

Al-Hassan was killed a day after he returned home from Paris, where his family has been living for years.

"Even though Lebanon is very close, it should not be the victim of this crisis," Hollande said referring to Syria's civil war. "We renew France's full support to the stability, unity, independence and safety of the territory of Lebanon."

France, the onetime colonial ruler of both Syria and Lebanon, has been one of the most outspoken Western critics of the Assad regime. France announced in September that it had begun sending direct aid and money to five rebel-held Syrian cities as part of its intensified efforts to weaken Assad. It was the first such move by a Western power amid mounting calls for the international community to do more to prevent bloodshed.

French officials have acknowledged providing communications and other non-lethal equipment to Syrian rebel forces, but say they won't provide weapons without international agreement. Paris played a leading role in the international campaign against Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year.

France still wields wide influence in Lebanon and has about 900 peacekeepers deployed near the border with Israel.

SYRIAN VIOLENCE SPILLS INTO JORDAN, LEBANON

BEIRUT (AP) -- A Jordanian soldier was killed in clashes with armed militants trying to cross the border into Syria on Monday and sectarian clashes overnight in Lebanon left two dead as Syria's civil war spilled into neighboring countries.

Jordanian Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah said the soldier was the first killed in violence related to Syria's civil war. He died in clashes with militants trying to illegally enter Syria to join rebels fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. Maaytah did not say whether the militants were Jordanians or foreign fighters trying to jump into the fray in the neighboring country.

A number of foreign Islamists have been fighting in Syria alongside the rebels. Jordan's banned Salafi movement - which promotes an ultraconservative brand of Islam - has sent several fighters to Syria in past months and Jordanian border patrols have caught some of them recently.

In Lebanon, troops launched a major security operation to open all roads and force gunmen off the streets, trying to contain an outburst of violence set off by the assassination of a top intelligence official who was a powerful opponent of Syria. Sectarian clashes overnight killed at least two people.

Sporadic cracks of gunfire could be heard in the Lebanese capital as troops began the operation a day after the funeral for the slain official, Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan.

Opponents of Syria have blamed the regime in Damascus for the al-Hassan's killing in a Beirut car bomb on Friday. With Lebanon already tense and deeply divided over the civil war next door, the assassination has threatened to drag the country back into the kind of sectarian strife that plagued it for decades - much of it linked to Syria.

In the Lebanese capital, soldiers backed by armored personal carriers with heavy machine guns took up position on major thoroughfares and dismantled roadblocks. At times, troops exchanged gunfire with Sunni gunmen.

Al-Hassan was a Sunni who challenged Syria and its powerful Lebanese ally, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The uprising in Syria is dominated by the Sunni majority fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, who like many in his regime is a member of the Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Lebanon and Syria share similar sectarian divides that have fed tensions in both countries.

Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back Assad.

The assassination has imperiled Lebanon's fragile political balance. Many politicians blamed Damascus for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after al-Hassan's funeral on Sunday, venting their rage at leaders they consider puppets of a murderous Syrian regime. But were pushed back by troops who opened fire in the air and lobbed volleys of tear gas.

Meanwhile, cease-fire efforts by U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi appeared to be faltering.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said Damascus supports the truce proposal, but would not commit to halting fire during a four-day Muslim holiday until Western countries and their Gulf allies stop supporting rebels and halt their weapons supplies to the anti-regime fighters.

Brahimi met with Assad in Damascus on Sunday as part of his push for a cease-fire between rebels and government forces for the Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins Oct. 26. He told reporters following a closed-door meeting that he also had held talks earlier with opposition groups inside and outside the country and received "promises" but not a "commitment" from them to honor the cease-fire.

SANA said Assad assured Brahimi that he supported his effort, but that any political solution to the conflict must be "based on the principle of halting terrorism, a commitment from the countries involved in supporting, arming and harboring terrorists in Syria to stop doing such acts."

More than 33,000 people have been killed since the uprising started in March last year.

Syrian authorities blame the revolt on a foreign conspiracy and accuse Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the U.S, other Western countries and Turkey, of funding, training and arming the rebels, whom they describe as "terrorists."

LEBANON LAUNCHES MAJOR SECURITY OPERATION

BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanese troops launched a major security operation on Monday to open all roads and force gunmen off the streets, trying to contain an outburst of violence set off by the assassination of a top intelligence official who was a powerful opponent of Syria. Sectarian clashes overnight killed at least two people.

Opponents of Syria have blamed the regime in Damascus for the killing of Lebanese Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in a Beirut car bomb on Friday. With Lebanon already tense and deeply divided over the civil war next door, the assassination has threatened to drag the country back into the kind of sectarian strife that plagued it for decades - much of it linked to Syria.

Sporadic cracks of gunfire rang out in Beirut as soldiers backed by armored personal carriers with heavy machine guns took up position on major thoroughfares and dismantled roadblocks. At times, troops exchanged gunfire with Sunni gunmen.

Al-Hassan was a Sunni who challenged Syria and its powerful Lebanese ally, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. The uprising in Syria is dominated by the Sunni majority fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, who like many who dominate his regime, is a member of the Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Lebanon and Syria share similar sectarian divides that have fed tensions in both countries, increasingly.

Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back Assad.

Al-Hassan's assassination has imperiled Lebanon's fragile political balance. Many politicians blamed Syria for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after al-Hassan's funeral on Sunday, venting their rage at leaders they consider puppets of a murderous Syrian regime. But were pushed back by troops who opened fire in the air and fired tear gas.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, told As-Safir newspaper that when he took up his post last year, he intended to protect all Lebanese, particularly Sunnis.

"I was convinced that through this mission, I am protecting my country, my people and especially fellow members of my sect."

The prime minister of Lebanon is usually a Sunni according to a sectarian division of top posts in the state. Over the past year, pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies have come to dominate the government.

On Sunday night, a group of anti-Syrian protesters started an open-ended sit-in outside Mikati's house in his hometown of Tripoli. The protesters said they will only end the sit-in when Mikati resigns.

Ambassadors of Britain, the U.S., Russia, China and France and the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon met President Michel Suleiman to express support for him.

"The permanent members at the United Nations call upon all the parties in Lebanon to preserve stability," Derek Plumbly, the U.N. representative, told reporters in Arabic while surrounded by the five ambassadors. "We strongly condemn any attempt to shake Lebanon's stability."

Overnight, Sunni and Shiite gunmen clashed in two Beirut neighborhoods and officials also reported heavy clashes late Sunday and early Monday in the northern city of Tripoli and towns between the capital Beirut and the southern city of Sidon.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said a man was killed in shooting in the Wadi Zayneh area north of Sidon and another person died in the Tripoli clashes. The officials said the clashes wounded at least six people in Beirut and 10 in Tripoli.

An Associated Press photographer saw dozens of gunmen roaming the streets on Monday in Beirut's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh, where much of the fighting has taken place. Local Sunni leaders were calling the gunmen by telephone urging them to pull out of the streets.

In some roads around Tariq Jadideh, masked Sunni gunmen set up checkpoints, stopping cars and asking people about their destination and where they were coming from.

A woman who lives in the neighborhood said the fighting began shortly after midnight and lasted until sunrise.

"We couldn't sleep because of the shooting. There were also some booms," she said, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. She asked that her name not be used for fear of reprisals.

In Tripoli, residents said scores of soldiers deployed around the city in an attempt to bring back calm. The military also set up checkpoints, searched cars and asked people for identity cards.

ENVOY ARRIVES IN SYRIA AMID CALLS FOR TRUCE

BEIRUT (AP) -- Turkey and Germany on Friday threw their weight behind calls for a Syrian cease-fire during a Muslim holiday next week as the international envoy for the conflict arrived in Damascus to push for the plan.

The effort has taken on urgency after activists in recent days reported some of the heaviest air bombardments by President Bashar Assad's military against rebel-held areas.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, was expected to meet Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on Saturday. Brahimi has called for a truce by both sides in the civil war during the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday that begins next Friday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said both sides should end hostilities "at least" through Eid al-Adha.

"It is especially important for the Syrian regime, which has launched bombs on its people with planes and helicopters, to halt these attacks immediately and without preconditions," Davutoglu said.

He said the opposition must abide by the cease-fire as well.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also called for a cease-fire, saying it would be "an important humanitarian glimmer of hope for people in Syria."

Others who have joined the calls for peace include Assad's allies in Iran. But both sides of the conflict have flouted previous cease-fires.

Despite the push for a cease-fire, activists reported more regime airstrikes Friday in the northern Idlib province. There were no immediate details on casualties.

Dozens were reported killed Wednesday and Thursday in airstrikes on opposition targets across Syria's north.

On Thursday, Syrian warplanes hammered a strategic city captured by rebels, leaving behind scenes of carnage captured on amateur videos that showed a man holding up two child-sized legs not connected to a body and another carrying a dismembered arm.

The city of Maaret al-Numan, located strategically on a major north-south highway connecting Aleppo and Damascus, was captured by rebels last week and there has been heavy fighting around it ever since. Rebel brigades from the surrounding area have poured in to defend the town. Online videos have shown them firing mortars at regime troops, and they claimed to have shot down a government helicopter on Wednesday.

Since it was captured a week ago, the Idlib province city and surrounding areas have been the focus of one of the heaviest air bombardments since Assad's military first unleashed its air force against rebels over the summer.

Activists say more than 33,000 people have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising started in March 2011.

BEIRUT CAR BOMB KILLS TOP OFFICIAL, 7 OTHERS

BEIRUT (AP) -- A car bomb ripped through Beirut on Friday, killing a top security official and seven others, shearing the balconies off apartment buildings and sending bloodied residents staggering into the streets in the most serious blast the Lebanese capital has seen in four years.

Dozens of people were wounded in the attack, which the state-run news agency said targeted the convoy of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, the head of the intelligence division of Lebanon's domestic security forces.

Many Lebanese quickly raised the possibility the violence was connected to the civil war in neighboring Syria, which has sent destabilizing ripples through Lebanon for the past 19 months. Al-Hassan led an investigation over the summer that implicated a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician and one of the highest aides to Syrian President Bashar Assad in plots to carry out bombings in Lebanon.

Friday's blast was also a reminder of Lebanon's grim history, when the 1975-1990 civil war made the country notorious for kidnappings, car bombs and political assassinations. Even since the war's end, Lebanon has been a proxy battleground for regional conflict, and the Mediterranean seaside capital has been prey to sudden, surprising and often unexplained violence shattering periods of calm.

"Whenever there is a problem in Syria they want to bring it to us," said Karin Sabaha Gemayel, a secratary at a law firm a block from the bombing site, where the street was transformed into a swath of rubble, twisted metal and charred vehicles.

"But you always hope it will not happen to us. Not again," she said.

The blast ripped through a narrow street at mid-afternoon in Beirut's mainly Christian Achrafieh neighborhood, an area packed with cafes and shops. Doors and windows were shattered for blocks, and several blackened cars appeared to have been catapulted through the air.

Bloodied residents fled their homes while others tried to help the seriously wounded. One little girl, apparently unconscious and bleeding from her head, was carried to an ambulance in the arms of rescue workers, her white sneakers stained with blood.

"I was standing nearby in Sassine Square and I heard a big explosion and I ran straight to it," resident Elie Khalil said. He said he saw at least 15 bloodied people in a nearby parking lot before medics arrived and took them to a hospital.

Al-Hassan's body was so disfigured in the blast that his bodyguards only realized it was him when they recognized his sneakers, a paramedic at the scene told The Associated Press. The paramedic, who saw the body, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

A Lebanese security official said al-Hassan had just returned earlier Friday morning from Paris, where he was visiting family. He was either on his way from or to work in a non-armored car with his driver, who also was among the dead, the official said. He also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to the media.

Eight people were killed, including al-Hassan, and 78 wounded, the state-run National News Agency said..

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zouebi denounced the bombing, calling it a "terrorist and cowardly" attack.

Syria's top ally in Lebanon, the Shiite Hezbollah movement, also condemned the attack, expressing its "state of great shock over this terrible terrorist crime."

It called on the authorities to catch the perpetrators and on all political forces in Lebanon to work against "every conspirator against the security, the life, the safety and security of the nation."

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the blast "in strongest terms." She said the U.S. had no information about the perpetrators.

Al-Hassan had headed an investigation into bombing plots that led to the Aug. 9 arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha, one of Syria's most loyal allies in Lebanon, who has long acted as an unofficial media adviser to Assad. According to a senior Lebanese police official, Samaha confessed to having personally transported explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon with the purpose of killing Lebanese personalities at the behest of Syria.

A military court has since indicted Samaha and Syrian Brig. Gen. Ali Mamlouk of plotting to carry out terrorist attacks. Mamlouk, who was appointed recently by Assad to head Syria's National Security Bureau, was indicted in absentia.

Tensions have been soaring in Lebanon over the conflict next door, and clashes have erupted between Assad supporters and backers of the rebellion against his regime.

Syria and Lebanon share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, often causing events on one side of the border to echo on the other. Many of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Shiites have tended to back Assad.

Lebanon was hit by a wave of bombings and other attacks that began in 2005 with a massive suicide blast that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri and more than 20 other people in downtown Beirut. In the following years, a string of anti-Syrian figures were assassinated, several in car bombings. Many Lebanese blamed Damascus for the killings, though Syria denied responsibility.

The last serious bombing was in 2008, when a car bomb killed a senior Lebanese anti-terror police official who was investigating dozens of other bombings. Four others were killed and 38 wounded in the blast in the Christian Hazmieh neighborhood.

Since then, Lebanese saw a relative calm in violence. After the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, there have been sporadic gunbattles between pro- and anti-Assad factions, particularly in northern Lebanon.

"I'm very worried about the country after this explosion," Beirut resident Charbel Khadra said Friday. "I'm worried the explosions will return - and this is just the first one."

ISLAMIC MILITANTS HELP SEIZE MISSILE BASE IN SYRIA

BEIRUT (AP) -- Fighters from a shadowy militant group with suspected links to al-Qaida joined Syrian rebels in seizing a government missile defense base in northern Syria on Friday, according to activists and amateur video.

It was unclear if the rebels were able to hold the base after the attack, and analysts questioned whether they would be able to make use of any of the missiles they may have spirited away.

Nevertheless, the assault underscored fears of advanced weaponry falling into the hands of extremists playing an increasingly large role in Syria's civil war.

Videos purportedly shot inside the air defense base and posted online stated that the extremist group, Jabhat al-Nusra, participated in the overnight battle near the village of al-Taaneh, five kilometers (three miles) east of the country's largest city, Aleppo. The videos show dozens of fighters inside the base near a radar tower, along with rows of large missiles, some on the backs of trucks.

A report by a correspondent with the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera who visited the base Friday said Jabhat al-Nusra took the lead in the attack, killing three guards and taking others prisoner before seizing the base. The report showed a number of missiles and charred buildings, as well as fighters wearing black masks.

Two Aleppo-based activists and Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said Jabhat al-Nusra fought in the battle with other rebel groups. They disputed the notion that the extremist group had the lead role in the attack, however.

It was impossible to independently verify the videos and conflicting reports because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.

Despite Western opposition to President Bashar Assad's regime, the U.S. and other countries have cited the presence of extremists among the rebels as a reason not to supply the Syrian insurgents with weapons. They have repeatedly cited concerns of heavy weaponry falling into wrong hands.

Rebel leaders argue that arms shortages mean they'll take aid from whoever offers it, regardless of their ideology.

The capture of the base also plays into fears about extremists acquiring Syria's chemical and biological weapons - particularly if the Assad regime collapses and loses control of them.

Neighboring Jordan's King Abdullah II fears such weapons could go to al-Qaida or other militants, primarily the Iranian-allied Lebanese Hezbollah. The U.S. has sent about 150 troops to Jordan, largely Army special operations forces, to bolster the kingdom's military capabilities in the event Syria's civil war escalates.

Syria is believed to have one of the world's largest chemical weapons programs, and the regime has said it might use the weapons against external threats, though not against Syrians.

Western powers - and many Syrians - worry that Islamist extremists are playing an increasing role in Syria's civil war, which started in March 2011 as a mostly peaceful uprising against Assad.

Little is known about Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Support Front, which began claiming attacks in Syria earlier this year in postings on jihadi forums often used by al-Qaida. While neither group has officially acknowledged a link to the other, analysts say al-Nusra's tactics, rhetoric and use of al-Qaida forums point to an affiliation.

Activists on the ground say the group is known for fighting on the front lines in harsh battles and goes out of its way not to show up in activist videos.

"Most brigades want to be filmed in operations so they can get support, but al-Nusra doesn't allow any filming," Aleppo activist Mohammed Abu Omar said via Skype.

The base captured Friday is part of the large air defense infrastructure Syria has built across the country over the years, mostly for use in a possible war with archenemy Israel.

Last week, the rebels reported seizing another air defense base outside the capital, Damascus, as well as a base in the southern province of Daraa. Online videos show them torching vehicles and seizing dozens of boxes of ammunition in the Daraa base.

The storming of these bases by the poorly armed rebels is an embarrassment to the Assad regime, but analysts say the missiles are unlikely to benefit the insurgents.

Pieter Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute identified the missiles in Friday's video as S-75 surface-to-air missiles, which he said are old and hard to move and fire.

"They are outdated and difficult to operate, just not made for use by guerrilla forces not trained in using these things," he said.

The regime, which has received much more advanced surface-to-air missiles from Russia in recent years, probably did not make defending the site a priority, he said.

It also remains unclear if the rebels held the base after storming it. Rebel forces are largely helpless against the regime's attack jets and helicopters, which bomb rebel and civilians areas daily.

One Aleppo activist said the rebels had taken all the munitions they could from the base, and he hoped they could find a way to use the missiles against Assad's air force.

"We have asked all countries to help us with anti-aircraft weapons and no one has, so hopefully these will help," said the activist, Mohammed Saeed.

In any case, it was not clear how much the rebels would be able to make use of the missiles.

"Anyone trying to use these will need to be extremely well trained both in fueling up the missiles and then tracking the target and using the fire control radar," said Jim O'Halloran, an expert in air defense systems at IHS Jane's.

Meanwhile, the fallout deepened from a Syrian passenger jet forced to land in neighboring Turkey, as Russia said the plane traveling from Moscow to Damascus was carrying radar parts that were being transported legally.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted the plane was carrying a legitimate cargo of "electric equipment for radars," but he added that it was of "dual purpose," meaning it could have civilian and military applications.

"It's not forbidden by any international conventions," Lavrov said, adding that the Russian company that sent it to Syria will demand that Turkey return the cargo. He didn't name the Russian company or the cargo's recipient in Syria.

Russia has been Assad's main supporter and ally, shielding him from international sanctions over his crackdown on the uprising.

Turkey's prime minister has said the plane was carrying ammunition and military equipment for the Syrian Defense Ministry. Turkish fighter jets intercepted the Syrian Airbus A320 on Wednesday amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Syria, fueled by recent cross-border shelling from Syria that killed five Turkish civilians.

Tensions continued Friday as Turkey's military scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a Syrian attack helicopter was seen over a Syrian border town where rebels and regime troops have been clashing for days, Turkey's Dogan news agency reported.

It said the jets were sent to the border to prevent a possible incursion into Turkey by the helicopter, which soon disappeared from view.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry and military did not immediately confirm the report.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it recorded on Thursday its highest one-day death toll for government soldiers - 92 - since the start of the conflict.

It said most of the deaths took place in Idlib province, where some 20 soldiers were killed in a rebel attack on a government checkpoint.

Activists say more than 32,000 people have been killed as the conflict has evolved from a peaceful uprising to a brutal battle between rebels and government troops. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled the fighting to neighboring countries.

ISRAELI JETS FLY MOCK RAIDS OVER SOUTH LEBANON

BEIRUT (AP) -- Israeli warplanes swooped low over Lebanese villages Sunday in a menacing show of force apparently aimed at the Hezbollah guerrilla group after a mysterious raid by an unmanned aircraft that was shot out of Israeli skies over the weekend.

Israel was still investigating Saturday's incident, but Hezbollah quickly emerged as the leading suspect because it has an arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.

The Israeli military said the drone approached Israel's southern Mediterranean coast and flew deep into Israeli airspace before warplanes shot it down about 20 minutes later. Israeli news reports said the drone was not carrying explosives and appeared to be on a reconnaissance mission.

Military officials would not say where the drone originated or who produced it, but they ruled out the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, a group not known to possess drones. That left Hezbollah as the most likely culprit and suggested the drone may have flown with the blessing of Iran. Tensions are high between Israel and Iran over Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

"It is an Iranian drone that was launched by Hezbollah," Israeli lawmaker Miri Regev, a former chief spokeswoman for the Israeli military, wrote on her Twitter feed. "Hezbollah and Iran continue to try to collect information in every possible way in order to harm Israel."

She did not offer any further evidence and was not immediately available for comment.

Hezbollah officials would not comment on speculation that the group had launched the drone.

The Israeli dailies Yediot Ahronot and Maariv published maps based on military "estimates" that claimed to show the route taken by the drone.

The maps said the aircraft took off south of the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, headed south and then turned east over the Gaza Strip and into Israel. Yediot also claimed the drone was made in Iran.

The Israeli military said it began tracking the aircraft over the Mediterranean but waited until it was over an empty, desert area to bring it down in order to avoid casualties on the ground.

Sunday's Israeli air raids, buzzing over pro-Hezbollah villages in southern Lebanon, appeared to be aimed at reminding the guerrilla group of Israel's air superiority.

At times of heightened tensions, the Israeli air force often carries out mock raids over Lebanese territory. Israel has U.S.-made F-15 and F-16 warplanes, but it was not clear exactly what type of planes were flown Sunday.

Lebanon's national news agency said the planes flew low over the market town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages.

With a formidable arsenal that rivals that of the Lebanese army, Hezbollah is already under pressure in Lebanon from rivals who accuse it of putting Lebanon at risk of getting sucked into regional turmoil. Confirmation that Hezbollah was behind the drone would put the group under further strain internally.

Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite group committed to Israel's destruction, has long served as an Iranian proxy along Israel's northern border. The two sides fought a brutal, monthlong war in mid-2006. Hundreds of people were killed, and Hezbollah fired several thousand rockets and missiles into Israel before the conflict ended in a stalemate.

Hezbollah has attempted to send unmanned aerial vehicles into Israel on several occasions dating back to 2004. Its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has claimed that the group's pilotless aircraft were capable of carrying explosives and striking deep into Israel. The last known attempt by Hezbollah to use a drone took place during the 2006 war, when Israel shot down an Iranian-made pilotless aircraft that entered Israeli airspace.

Since the fighting ended, the sides have been locked in a covert battle against one another.

"The war between Hezbollah and Israel was not extinguished at any moment, be it in the media or at the intelligence level," said Ibrahim Bayram, an expert on Shiite affairs who often writes about Hezbollah for Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper.

"Israel is always trying to breach Hezbollah's security and in return Hezbollah is also working day and night to breach Israel's security," he added.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of assassinating a top Hezbollah operative in 2008 in Syria. The group and Lebanese officials say they have broken up several Israeli spy rings inside Lebanon over the past few years.

Israel, meanwhile, believes Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, is behind a string of attempted attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India, Thailand and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, plus a deadly bombing earlier this year that killed five Israeli tourists in a Bulgarian resort. Last week, Israel announced the arrest of an Arab citizen it accused of spying for Hezbollah, the latest in a string of such cases.

Many speculated that the aircraft was trying to gather intelligence on Israel's secretive nuclear reactor in the southern desert town of Dimona. Foreign experts believe the facility houses an arsenal of nuclear weapons, a claim that Israel neither confirms nor denies.

"It's quite a long distance, indicating a high level of sophistication," said Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli general who is now an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank.

The drone flight also came against the broader backdrop of rising tensions between Israel and Iran.

Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, which it believes would threaten its existence, given the repeated calls by Iranian leaders for the destruction of Israel. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly held out the possibility of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities if they conclude that international sanctions and diplomacy have failed to curb the Iranian program.

Iran, in turn, has threatened to retaliate if it is attacked, raising the possibility of Hezbollah unleashing more rockets and missiles into Israel. Hezbollah has not said how it will react to an Israeli attack on its benefactor.

Iran recently claimed it now has drones capable of carrying missiles as far as 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, putting much of the Middle East, including Israel, within distance. The aircraft appeared to be similar to the American RQ-170 Sentinel, one of which went down in Iranian territory last year. Iran said it was building a copy of the RQ-170 in April.

Iran frequently makes announcements about its strides in military technology, but it is virtually impossible to independently determine the capabilities of its weapons.

Yiftah Shapir, another analyst at the INSS, said Saturday's incident may have been meant as a warning to Israel.

"The drone could be a message that they have the capability to pull this off, and do so perhaps with weapons," he said.

He said Israel likely allowed the drone to fly so far into its airspace, instead of shooting it over the sea, in order to analyze its capabilities before taking it down.