Lebanese, European information on possible Israeli attack on Lebanon this month

Siniora: Israel hides anti-Lebanese actions

Syria has accused the United States of threatening Lebanon's stability at a time Premier Fouad Siniora advised against provoking the "injured tiger" Israel into launching war.

"It is important not to give Israel any pretext though this doesn't mean that we face an aggression and remain silent," Siniora said.

Tensions are growing in Lebanon over the possibility of renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the wake of the assassination of Hezbollah mastermind Imad Mughnieh in Damascus.

Bracing itself for the likelihood of Hezbollah retaliation, Israel deployed Patriot air defense missiles near Haifa.

Annahar Lebanese newspaper said that "Israel is near to launch another military attack against Lebanon, particularly against Hezbollah targets, though the Shiite party hasn't retaliated for Mughnieh assassination yet, as promised by Hassan Nasrallah."

Annahar added that some diplomatic information reached Beirut claiming that the Israeli military leadership brought forward the attack time to be amid this month, scheduled before on March 23. The assault will totally differ from what had happened in July2006.

The Lebanese paper added that the sources of information are three prominent European states that foresee the Jewish state will perpetually create a pretext to commit the assault, which will be characterized by air strikes.

Annahar quoted some responsible Lebanese leaders saying that "Lebanon will confront the Israeli however-destructive aggression."

The Lebanese leaders hinted that Israel is now and then threatening and menacing to give the international community justifying reasons for the attack.

The Lebanese leaders added that this information led The Army Commander General Michel Sleiman to put that into consideration; he ordered military forces to be cautious and prevent Israel from advancing towards the south or to use the national territories to attack a friendly state, referring to a prior statement made by him.