Life was returning to normal in the Lebanese capital and around the country today, a day after violent confrontation between government supporters and opponents killed three people and wounded dozens in the worst escalation of the Hezbollah-led opposition’s campaign to topple Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s Western-backed Cabinet.

Hezbollah-led protesters burned tyres and cars and clashed with government supporters, paralysing Beirut and areas across Lebanon in the worst violence yet in the pro-Iranian group’s campaign to topple US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Israel’s air blockade of Lebanon ended today, bringing relief to Lebanese people whose importing of goods has been blocked for almost 2 months.

UN chief Kofi Annan said he would appoint a mediator for indirect talks between Israel and Hezbollah on the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers, the first public word of negotiations between the bitter enemies since fighting in Lebanon ended.

Israel’s military struck Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp early today, killing at least one person and wounding three others, officials said.

Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs and other parts of Lebanon early today, local media reported.

Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the main army air base in eastern Lebanon near Syria’s border today, police said, an attack that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel’s war with Hezbollah guerrillas.

In an email published today in a leading Lebanese newspaper, radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri, barred from Britain last week and briefly detained by Lebanese police, defended his actions and asked the media to leave him alone.

A heavy sandstorm engulfed most of Egypt today, reducing visibility to less than 500 meters and forcing several flights, including a plane carrying Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, to land elsewhere, airport officials said.

Israeli warplanes have launched their first attack against Syrian positions in five years.

A number of masses are planned at home and abroad to commemorate the deaths of four Irish soldiers in a road accident in the Lebanon on St Valentine's Day last year.