US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cautioned countries in the Middle East against using Lebanon as "a venue for proxy conflicts".

Saudi Arabia has ordered its citizens to leave Lebanon amid rising tensions between their two governments.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced he is resigning in a surprise move following a trip to Saudi Arabia.

International donors have pledged $6bn to help conflict-torn Syria this year, a senior European Union official has confirmed.

Former Lebanese minister Mohamad Chatah, who opposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, was killed in a massive bomb blast yesterday which one of his political allies blamed on the Shi’ite Hezbollah militia.

A bombing in central Beirut has killed five people, including a senior aide to former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri.

Violence erupted in downtown Beirut yesterday as protesters tried to storm the offices of prime minister Najib Mikati after the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death they blame on Syria.

Soldiers have carried two flag-draped coffins through a central Beirut square packed with thousands of Lebanese mourners who turned out for the funeral of a top intelligence official and his bodyguard.

The special court investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has published a 47-page indictment against four members of the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah for alleged involvement in the deadly truck bombing.

PRESIDENT Bashar al-Assad extended a tank onslaught in Syria’s Sunni Muslim tribal heartland, residents said, in an escalating crackdown on protesters that prompted an extraordinary rebuke from the Saudi king warning the Syrian leader to adopt reforms or risk defeat.

A key Hezbollah ally has warned that an international indictment of members of the Islamic militant group in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could lead to new civil strife in Lebanon.

A UN-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has issued four arrest warrants.

While the pro-democracy uprisings in the Arab world suggest there is little support for al-Qaida’s ideology but the threat has not entirely gone away, writes Brian Murphy

Syrian security forces fired on funeral processions that drew tens of thousands, one day after the bloodiest crackdown so far in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

A human rights group said the death toll from two days of violence in Syria has reached 120.

HUNDREDS of protesters burned tires and blocked roads across Lebanon yesterday after a Hezbollah-backed politician was named prime minister, shifting the balance of power in the country toward Syria and Iran.

Iranian-supporting Hezbollah’s choice for Lebanon’s next prime minister won parliamentary support today, capping the group’s steady rise in power and sparking street riots by opponents.

A billionaire businessman with close ties to Syria emerged today as the candidate favoured by Hezbollah to head Lebanon’s next government.

Hezbollah supporters gathered in the streets of Beirut early today after a UN tribunal filed indictments over the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, prompting several schools to close as nervous parents withdrew their children from class.

The leader of Hezbollah defended the decision to bring down Lebanon’s Western-backed government, saying the Shiite militant group did so without resorting to violence and will not be intimidated by world reaction.

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister is seeking international support after Hezbollah brought down his government.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed by thousands of Lebanese supporters today in a visit that underscores the deep divisions between the Hezbollah militant group and Lebanon’s pro-western factions.

Western-backed billionaire Saad Hariri pledged to work for a national unity government in Lebanon that includes his Hezbollah rivals shortly after being appointed his country’s next prime minister today.

LEBANON’S Hezbollah yesterday rejected charges in a German magazine that it was behind the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri and said the “fabrications” were made to try to influence next month’s general election.

AN international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was officially opened yesterday at a ceremony in a village outside The Hague.

An international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri opened at a ceremony in a village outside The Hague today.

Gunmen opened fire on a funeral procession today in a Sunni neighbourhood of Beirut killing two and wounding six, a day after Shiite gunmen swept through the Lebanese capital’s Muslim sector, police said.

Running gunbattles raged in parts of Beirut after the leader of Hezbollah accused Lebanon's Western-backed government of declaring war on his Shiite militant group. At least four people were killed and eight wounded in the capital.

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 leaders today pledged to press ahead with a divisive election for president, to be held in Parliament in the coming days, despite the car bombing assassination of an anti-Syrian MP.

THE United Nations Security Council yesterday said it would not let the murder of a Lebanese anti-Syrian politician derail plans for a tribunal into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

A powerful bomb killed a pro-government parliament member and four others today in a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Beirut, security officials said.

Police manned roadblocks and rounded up supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today as he prepared to end seven years in exile and return to Pakistan to lead a campaign to topple the country’s US-allied military ruler.

Pakistan’s government today urged exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not to return home, saying he should honour a promise he made to stay away after being ousted from power.

A UN inquiry has identified people who may have been involved in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and is investigating new information about the buyers of a van used in the bombing, the chief investigator said.

LEBANESE anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido was killed yesterday when a bomb ripped through his car in western Beirut, security sources said.

An explosion, apparently from a bomb-rigged car, rocked Beirut’s seafront today, killing an anti-Syrian MP and nine others, security officials said.

The United Nations Security Council has approved a resolution to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects over the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

France’s new foreign minister today condemned a deadly bomb attack near a busy Beirut shopping centre, and reaffirmed the importance to France of Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability.

Lebanese army tanks have pounded a shadowy group suspected of ties to al-Qaida, targeting its hideouts inside a Palestinian refugee camp after hours of clashes killed at least 22 soldiers and 17 militants.

Fresh off a whirlwind yachting break, French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy returned to work with a meeting due today with Tony Blair.

Bomb blasts killed three people on commuter buses and politicians blamed Syria, stirring fears of clashes between Hezbollah and government supporters at a massive rally today to mark the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister.

Bomb blasts hit a pair of commuter buses in a co-ordinated attack that killed three people near Beirut today, on the eve of a massive rally marking the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister.