Syrian forces evacuate checkpoint
11 November 2000

Al-Nahar (Beirut) reported today that a Syrian contingent recently evacuated its positions in the Hadath al-Jubbeh area. The paper added that there is only one checkpoint left in the district of Bsharri, located at the entrance to the town.

Berri acknowledges illegal wiretapping
15 November 2000

The speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, said today that he, President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, along with "ministers, deputies, journalists and diplomats" are subjected to illegal wiretapping. Speaking before a parliamentary commission, Berri said that a 1998 law, which limits wiretapping to criminal investigations for specific durations and subjects the practice to judicial oversight, must be applied. Earlier this month, Hariri complained in parliament that his telephone conversations were being monitored.

3 Islamists sentenced to life in prison
16 November 2000

The head of the militant Islamist group Esbat al-Ansar, Ahmad Abdel-Karim Saadi (a.k.a. Abu Mohjen), and two of his alleged accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor by the Criminal Court for the 1991 killing of two officials from Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the village of Mieh Mieh. All three men were convicted in absentia (the only suspect who had been in custody, Ibrahim Abdullah Salloum, was freed due to lack of evidence). Saadi is believed to be hiding in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

Detroit man arrested for shipping weapons to Hezbollah
17 November 2000

An FBI terrorism task force arrested a Lebanese resident of Detroit allegedly involved in shipping weapons and ammunition to Hezbollah guerrillas. Ali Boumelhem, 35, was apprehended just before departing on a scheduled trip to Lebanon. Authorities say that Boumelhem, a leader in the militant Amal militia and a "sympathizer" of Hezbollah, traveled frequently to gun shows to buy arms and then hid them in cargo crates bound for Lebanon. FBI agents intercepted one cargo container bound for Lebanon which contained a pair of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a radio and a police scanner. In addition, an FBI informant told investigators that he had seen Boumelhem in Beirut unloading shipments of automatic weapons, explosives, grenades and rocket launchers. He faces charges in a U.S. District Court of shipping firearms to a nonlicensed person.

Lebanon, Syria sign economic integration agreements
18 November 2000

Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri signed an agreement stipulating a variety of economic integration measures, including the rehabilitation of a Syrian-Lebanese rail line, the construction of a natural gas pipeline between the two countries, integration of their electrical grids, and the lowering of bilateral trade restrictions.

Lahad prohibited from entering France
19 November 2000

Israeli television reported today that the French government has denied former South Lebanon Army (SLA) commander Antoine Lahad permission to live in France alongside his wife and two daughters. Lahad, who commanded SLA forces aligned with Israel prior to its withdrawal from south Lebanon in May, currently lives in a Tel Aviv hotel.

2nd ex-SLA militiaman dies in prison amid torture allegations
30 November 2000

A second ex-member of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) has died in prison, Lebanon's military prosecutor-general announced today. Nasri Lahoud said in a press statement that Barakat Said al-Amil, 45, had died yesterday and that an investigation into the cause of his death was underway. Amil had been sent to prison on November 17 and was interrogated by a military prosecutor the following week. Lahoud said that he had been given medication for high blood pressure, but was not hospitalized. A group calling itself The Organization of South Lebanon issued a statement saying that torture and lack of medical treatment were responsible for Amil's death. In June, a 72-year old diabetic ex-militiaman died in detention after prison authorities confiscated his medicine because it had been manufactured in Israel.

Hezbollah network uncovered in Israel
30 November 2000

The Jerusalem Post reported today that Israeli police have uncovered a network of Israeli Arabs recruited by Hezbollah to conduct espionage and carry out "terror attacks" against Israelis. Seven residents of Abu Snan, an Arab village in the Western Galilee, were arrested several weeks ago by Israeli police and the General Security Service (GSS), the paper said. Details of the investigation had been kept secret until under yesterday, when the Magistrate's Court in Acre lifted a publicity ban on the case. The seven suspects, all of whom are related and four of whom are brothers, are charged with passing information about IDF troop movements and the positions of IDF army bases to Hezbollah. They are also accused of planning to kidnap Israeli soldiers, plant explosive devices near army bases, and murder Arab villagers suspected of collaborating with Israel.