Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sought to calm the Lebanese today - the country's first day without a president - assuring them that the military, which has vowed to stay out of politics, is on the streets to prevent violence while deadlocked factions work to resolve the crisis.

Lebanese troops exchanged fire with militants on the run today, as the military swept a Palestinian refugee camp and surrounding areas in northern Lebanon to try to capture the last holdouts after a climactic battle.

Lebanese soldiers fanned out along the Mediterranean coastline in northern Lebanon today, hunting for fugitives a day after the army crushed the remnants of a militant group and ended a three-month siege at a Palestinian refugee camp.

Lebanese army helicopters stepped up raids today on al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp in the country’s north, after five soldiers were killed, a senior military official said.

Lebanese authorities have arrested four Palestinians outside a southern refugee camp who allegedly confessed to planning bombings inside the country, a senior security official said today.

The Lebanese military today said it had largely defeated al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants, over-running their positions inside a Palestinian refugee camp, but gunfire and artillery blasts continued as troops pursued remaining fighters.

Heavy fighting shattered a brief lull as the Lebanese army continued bombarding suspected hideouts of militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

Sporadic gunfire and artillery shelling rang out from a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon today as the army fought to uproot Fatah Islam militants holed up in the settlement.

Sporadic fighting between Lebanese troops and al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants continued today in a northern Palestinian refugee camp as police, stepping up raids nationwide on suspected militant hideouts, made 13 more arrests.

Lebanese troops pounded Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon today, on the fifth straight day of the military's sustained assault to crush the Fatah Islam fighters.

Clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants spread today to Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south, underlining the complexities the country faces in trying to defeat al Qaida-inspired fighters who are battling a continuing army onslaught in a northern camp.

Hundreds of Palestinian civilians carrying their belongings in plastic bags trickled out of a besieged refugee camp in the Lebanon today after a truce in the fighting mostly held overnight.

People flooded out of a besieged refugee camp in Lebanon last night after three days of fighting between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants.

Lebanese troops tightened a siege of a Palestinian refugee camp today where a group suspected of ties to al-Qaida was hiding.

A small bomb at the American University of Beirut was defused by police today.

A bomb killed an anti-Syrian politician today in Beirut – the second such assassination in three weeks.

Lebanon’s first parliamentary polls without heavy-handed Syrian influence began today.

A day after a bombing injured five people in Beirut, President Emile Lahoud pledged to do his utmost to end the spate of violence that has gripped Lebanon since last month’s assassination of former premier Rafik Hairiri.

A loud explosion turned several buildings in a Beirut industrial area into raging infernos today and a military officer said at least three people were wounded. Arab TV stations cited security officials saying a bomb caused the blast.

An explosion devastated a business centre in Lebanon’s Christian heartland early today, a stronghold of the anti-Syrian opposition, killing two people and wounding two more.

Syria remained silent about the downfall of its puppet government in Lebanon today after Prime Minister Omar Karami was brought down by people power dubbed The Cedar Revolution.

Syria will “soon” take steps to withdraw its army from Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement, the Arab League chief said today.

Thousands of chanting, flag-waving mourners gathered today in an emotion-charged prelude to the funeral procession for slain ex-premier Rafik Hariri, the man credited with rebuilding post-civil war Lebanon and seen as quietly opposing Syrian influence in his country’s affairs.

LEBANON mourned assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri yesterday as opposition leaders bluntly implicated Syria in an attack that Lebanese authorities said might have been a suicide bombing.

As a stunned Lebanon grieved, dozens of angry mourners attacked Syrian workers in the home town of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in a huge bomb blast, while others marched in streets draped with black banners.

RAFIK HARIRI, a billionaire who helped rebuild his country after decades of war but resigned as Lebanese prime minister last fall after a sharp dispute with Syria, was killed yesterday in a massive bomb explosion that tore through his motorcade.

Father-of-six Rafik Hariri, who died in a Beirut bomb blast today, was a business tycoon who became one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians and served as its prime minister for most of its post-civil war years. He was 60.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in the massive bomb explosion that ravaged his motorcade on Beirut’s famed seafront corniche today, a Cabinet minister said.

A bomb targeting the motorcade of Lebanon’s most prominent politician killed at least nine people on Beirut’s famed seafront boulevard today.

A suspected car bomb blast rocked Beirut’s waterfront today, setting several cars on fire and killing at least six people.

A car bomb in Beirut wounded former Lebanese Cabinet minister Marwan Hamadeh and killed his driver early today, security officials said.