Beirut - Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy for the implementation of UNSCR1559, held a press conference on Thursday urging the Lebanese to avoid confrontation with an armed and dangerous Hezbollah militia.

Staunch ally of Syria Suleiman Franjieh vowed escalation, saying demonstrations across Lebanon will continue as long as the government is determined to stick to its decisions it had adopted against Hezbollah.

Fierce clashes with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers raged in several densely populated Beirut districts immediately following Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to use weapons to defend his party's communications system.

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh responded to Hassan Nasrallah's rage filled press conference, accusing the Hezbollah chief of turning its weapons on the Lebanese people.

Beirut- Lebanon's long-simmering political crisis erupted into violent clashes between supporters of Hezbollah-led opposition and those of the government Wednesday, with explosions and gunfire ringing out across the capital after Hezbollah paralyzed

Beirut - The Chairman of the of the Public Works and transportation parliamentary Committee MP Mohammad Qabbani, said we do not have a labor strike in Lebanon , but we have riots and road blocking and this has already reached

By Nadim Ladki Beirut, Lebanon - Iranian-backed Hezbollah tightened its grip around Beirut airport on Thursday, the second day of a protest campaign against Lebanon's U.S.-backed government that has sparked gun battles in the city.

By Robert FiskBurning tyres on the airport road, flights suspended, demands from the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt that Hizbollah moves secret cameras from runway 1-7 and end the militia's equally secret underground communications equipment.

Few Lebanese areas heeded the call of the General Labor Confederation (GLC) for a general strike on Wednesday to compel the government to raise the minimum wage to LL960,000 a month. Apart from the Shiite dominated areas in Beirrut's southern