Cornerstone laid for Saudi-financed Lebanon highway project

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon says Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' directives stress Lebanese unity

More Israel spy networks dismantled in Lebanon

U.S. vice-president explores regional atmosphere in Lebanon

Lavrov's talks in Lebanon, Syria deal with proposed peace conference

The Lebanese Cabinet approved on Tuesday the appointment of the remaining five members of the Constitutional Council but postponed discussion over the 2009 state budget.

"The ratification of the state budget was left pending and the next Cabinet to be formed following the June 7 polls will be tasked to deal with this issue," a well-informed ministerial source told The Daily Star.

The Cabinet session, headed by President Michel Sleiman, was held at Baabda Palace.

The new members of the Constitutional Council appointed by the ministers include Maronite Issam Sleiman, Orthodox Salah Mukheiber, Shiite Asaad Diab, Sunni Toufik Subra and Druze Suheil Abdel-Samad.

Sleiman is the personal adviser of President Michel Sleiman during the current dialogue sessions, while Diab was a former minister of social affairs and a former president of the Lebanese University. Diab is also known to be close to Speaker Nabih Berri. The biographies of Mukhaiber, Subra, and Abdel-Samad were yet to be distributed as The Daily Star went to press.

The Constitutional Council is the only governmental body with the authority to arbitrate post-election challenges, and though five of its seats were filled in December, political jockeying held up the remaining appointments until Tuesday's Cabinet session.

Parliament elected five jurists to the Constitutional Council last December - Antoine Kheir, Antoine Msarra, Zaghloul Atiyeh, Tarek Ziadeh and Ahmad Taqieddine.

During previous Cabinet sessions, the opposition was insisting on resolving the pending constitutional and administrative appointments within a single package that would also include the controversial issues of the 2009 national budget. But the opposition later agreed on postponing discussions over the state budget.

Opposition ministers had held a meeting before the Cabinet session kicked off on Tuesday at the office of deputy Prime Minister Issam Abu Jamra.

The appointment of five members of the Constitutional Council is urgent, for the simple reason that this body will be responsible for deciding on disputed elections in circumstances in which the regularity of the election process is contested. Since many of the elections are likely to be close -- as President Michel Sleiman pointed out last week --, the importance of such a body is plain.

Vigorous efforts had been made earlier to complete the process of Constitutional Council appointments, but they had been blocked by maneuvers of the Free Patriotic Movement -- one of the opposition parties --, whose leader, MP Michel Aoun, declared last week his determination to demand for himself “at least four members” of the council.

President Sleiman was determined that this question should be settled at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, to the point where he intended to put the matter to a vote if no consensus was reached.

A day earlier, the president had conferred with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora about this question and the names of possible appointees to the vacant posts.

Replying to a journalist’s question, the premier said it was “preferable and recommended that the Constitutional Council should be formed before the elections”. Noting that prerequisites for council membership were a thorough knowledge of the law and complete neutrality, he added that “we’re concerned to avoid any blockage, which would prejudice the whole electoral process”.

At the president’s weekly meeting with House Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday, the same subject was discussed.

The speaker said he was in favor of a “package deal” in which all the posts in question, as well as the draft budget, would be decided all at once.

This proposal, it appeared, was the position of all the March 8 ministers. The president however, believed that they should be considered separately, and when no consensus was reached, put the matter of appointments to a vote, prompting Industry Minister Ghazi Zeayter to walk out in protest. Since none of the candidates proposed for the posts received the votes of two-thirds of the ministers, and the whole issue was dropped.

The cabinet’s failure to approve the appointments sparked criticism, with rival politicians blaming each other for the deadlock.

Deputy House Speaker Farid Makari, a supporter of the Western-supported majority, said in a statement that the failure to make the appointments “proves that the opposition will always use its obstructive methods”. He added that the cabinet session was “fruitless, which proves the ineffectiveness of the ‘blocking third’” granted to the opposition by the Doha Agreement of May 2008.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah for his part criticized what he called “selectivity” in appointments to official posts, and added, “The opposition hampered a scheme that was being prepared through the appointments. The scheme would have served one side’s interests at the expense of those of the other”. The opposition, he averred, was “struggling to ensure partnership [in governance] by means of the blocking third”. In an interview, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar of the majority charged that the opposition’s insistence on the adoption of a “full package” was an excuse used by the opposition “to postpone the appointments until after the elections on June 7.

Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told the Voice of Lebanon radio station Wednesday that he did not object to the Constitutional Council appointments, but said he preferred some candidates over others.

Najjar added that the appointments were considered "a gift" offered to the Lebanese before the upcoming June 7 parliamentary elections, despite the fact that some ministers had reservations regarding some names. Cabinet approved Tuesday the appointment of the remaining five members of the Constitutional Council. The newly appointed members of the Constitutional Council include Maronite Issam Sleiman, Orthodox Salah Mukheiber, Shiite Asaad Diab, Sunni Toufik Subra and Druze Suheil Abdel-Samad.

The March 14 Forces pledged on Tuesday to face "plans to topple the state and the Taif Accord," vowing to "build the state of Lebanon and establish a unified authority and army." The March 14 Forces held a gathering at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut, in the presence of the coalition's leaders and electoral candidates from across the country. In a statement issued afterward, the alliance said: "Together we will confront those who wish to topple the state and the Taif Accord."

The statement also rejected what the alliance called "plans to establish the three-way sharing of power instead of the equal sharing of power between Christians and Muslims."

They added that such plans threatened the country's stability.

The statement also called for the establishment of an independent judiciary and voiced the March 14 Forces' support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which will try those accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

At the end of the meeting, participants signed a declaration to renew the coalition's oath and commitments.

Separately on Wednesday, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that on June 8, a day after the parliamentary elections, the country would witness the "end of the current era."

Addressing a delegation from the Metn towns of Bteghrin and Khenshara, Aoun said that after the elections, Metn residents would be saved from problems "they witnessed over a period of 18 years."

Meanwhile, a candidate for the Shiite seat in Zahle, Mohsen Dalloul, a former MP and defense minister, withdrew from the electoral race on Wednesday. Dalloul announced his decision during a news conference in which he said he thinks the Shiite community in Lebanon is threatened.

In other developments, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that the March 14 Forces were likely to maintain the parliamentary majority following the elections.

During an interview with Al-Anbaa newspaper on Tuesday, Geagea said he was optimistic regarding the elections, adding that the country could not be ruled by one party regardless of the elections results.

Geagea added that the Free Patriotic Movement's popular support largely decreased, adding that he was expecting "surprising results in districts previously dominated by the FPM."

Asked about a possible meeting between him and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the LF leader said "the political rift between us is too big and too deep," adding that he met Nasrallah a few times during the dialogue session.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raad said on Tuesday that based on available information "the opposition is likely to win the upcoming parliamentary elections, despite US intervention."

During a ceremony on Monday in Kfar Tibneet, Raad denied accusations that the opposition was trying to annul the Taif Accord and to replace it with the Doha Agreement.

"The Taif Accord is what the Lebanese agreed upon to establish the state," he said.

Separately, Democratic Gathering bloc MP Marwan Hamadeh said that he did not believe that a meeting would be held between Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Nasrallah before the elections. "In any case, the next national dialogue session will convene on June 1. We hope that Sayyed Hassan will attend the dialogue, or else he will be represented by MP Mohammad Raad as usual," he said.

Telecommunications Minister Gibran Bassil, meanwhile, stressed the importance of Hezbollah's weapons to face Israel threats. During an electoral visit to Batroun, Bassil said that Hezbollah's weapons were not a threat to Lebanon, adding that "the real danger which the country was able to surmount" was posed by "active and dangerous fundamentalist movements and explosions across Lebanon."

"What Hezbollah is calling for today is a unified Lebanon. Hezbollah's weapons are necessary to confront Israel and the conspiracy of settling" Palestinian refugees in the country, he said.

Lebanon faced "grave dangers over the past years including fundamentalist networks that mushroomed in Nahr al-Bared," he said, referring to the northern Palestinian refugee camp that saw deadly clashes between militants in the army in 2007.

On the elections, Bassil said the FPM was not against the Lebanese Forces and Phalange Party winning a majority in Parliament. "But the FPM is opposed to a Hariri family parliamentary majority," he added.

He expressed hope that the FPM would have "the largest parliamentary bloc through which we can combat corruption."

Bassil said political opponents who "describe themselves as independents and centrists are unable to realize the change that we aspire for." The 2005 elections presented an "opportunity to restore unity among the Lebanese based on partnership and balance. But we were stabbed by those we extended our hand to," he added.

Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman received at the Republican Palace the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Beirut Ali bin Saeed Awwadh Asiri, who offered his credential to Sleiman. Attending the meeting was Lebanese Foreign Minister and Expatriates' Affairs Fawzy Salloukh, who received a copy of Asiri's credentials.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora received Ambassador Asiri.

During the meeting, they exchanged cordial talks and discussed bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in all fields and ways of enhancing them, in addition to the developments in the region in general and Lebanon in particular.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received at Ain Al-Tineh the Saudi ambassador.

During the meeting, cordial talks, bilateral relations and ways to enhance them between the two countries were exchanged and reviewed.

The Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al Siniora laid the foundation stone of Lebanon's Arab highway road project (Mderg -Ta `nayil) funded by the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Saudi Development Fund and OPEC Fund at a cost of $ 152 million.

The foundation stone laying ceremony was attended by the Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transportation Ghazi Aridi; Vice President and Managing Director of the Saudi Development Fund Youssef Al-Bassam; the Chargé D’affaires of the Saudi Embassy in Lebanon Adel bin Abdulrahman Bakhsh; President of Lebanese Development and Reconstruction Nabil Al-Jisr; and a number of Lebanese officials.

Addressing the gathering, Al Jisr delivered commended the Saudi support for rebuilding of Lebanon.

He also expressed thanks to the Saudi Development Fund, stressing that the Fund always extends its help to Lebanon.

Lebanon's Premier Fouad Siniora stressed on Thursday the importance of establishing firm relations with Syria. During a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the Medayrej-Taanayel highway, Siniora said: "We are laying the cornerstone for the Beirut-Damascus road which we always wanted to be free from obstacles."

Meanwhile, Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri urged the Lebanese on Thursday to cast their votes in the upcoming parliamentary polls, saying that "every vote will affect the elections results and Lebanon's future."

Addressing his visitors in Qoreitem, Hariri said: "The massive participation in the parliamentary elections is very important, and every vote has its value and influence."

Hariri, the leader of the governing March 14 alliance, also criticized the opposition's vetoing third in the Cabinet, saying: "This experiment has failed and hampered government's work in many issues."

The March 14 Forces are expected to hold a general meeting next Thursday that will gather all the coalition's candidates.

The meeting would be held after the finalization of the March 14 Forces' lists across the country, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, Former President Amin Gemayel said that the slogan "the third republic" used in the Free Patriotic Movement's media campaign "instigates a coup d'etat," and did not respect national principles.

Gemayel met on Thursday with the March 14 alliance candidates in the district of Aley.

He added that FPM leader MP Michel Aoun's third republic "aims to hamper the president's role and to prevent him from performing the simplest responsibilities."

In other developments, Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed his commitment to the "Tripoli Solidarity List," which represents the alliance between Mikati, Hariri and Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi.

During a political gathering in Tripoli, Mikati said that he did not support any candidate not on that list.

The former premier also said that ongoing cooperation was held between the members of the list.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that negotiations for the Armenian seat in Beirut's first district were ongoing. He added that this issue was tackled during his recent meetings with Hariri.

Geagea rejected reports that the Armenian Ramgavar and Henschag parties had 3,000 votes in Achrafieh. "They have only 1,200 ... while the Lebanese Forces has five times that number; so don't we have the right to one seat?" He asked.

However he expressed hope that the Lebanese forces would reach an understanding with the Armenian parties on this seat in Beirut's first district.

Geagea added that "supporters in Kesrouan are the most numerous."

"However, they are not enough to form a list which includes only the candidates of the Lebanese Forces. We have to build alliances with independent candidates," he said.

Asked about Cabinet's failure to settle the appointments issue during a session on Wednesday, Geagea said: "This is the outcome of adopting the obstructing third vote. What happened yesterday was not good but it showed what the obstructing third vote really leads to."

Geagea added that polling stations in Beirut's southern suburbs should be moved away from that area "so that Christian voters in this district can cast their ballots freely."

Meanwhile, Al-Liwaa newspaper on Thursday quoted well-informed sources as saying that the disagreement over the Armenian Catholic seat in Beirut's first district would be resolved soon.

The sources added that a formula would be adopted over the weekend to agree on a single candidate. The March 14 coalition's candidate is Serge Tor Sarkissian, but Geagea has proposed Richard Kouyoumjian for the Armenian seat.

As for the Shiite seat in Zahle, it has been settled in favor of Oukab Sakr on the majority list after Mohsen Dalloul announced that negotiations with Hariri had failed.

In an interview with Al-Manar TV, Dalloul said that "dialogue with Hariri was over" and he that decided to form a third electoral list in Zahle.

"I understood from Hariri that things are moving toward a confrontation," he added.

Meanwhile, the journalist for Der Spiegel who uncovered evidence suggesting Hezbollah was linked to the assassination of Rafik Hariri stands by his reporting.

Erich Follath wrote for Der Spiegel that information obtained from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the U.N.-backed body tasked with examining the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, shows Hezbollah was involved in the plot.

Follath reports that cell phone records link Hezbollah operatives to the planning of the February 2005 operation, which killed several others in a massive suicide bombing in downtown Beirut.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah issued a public statement on the Der Spiegel report, saying it was "fabricated" in an attempt to "create sedition and conflict between the Sunnis and the Shiites, mainly Hezbollah."

But in an interview with London's Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Follath stood by his account, saying it was well vetted.

"I verified every word before publishing the report," he said.

Hezbollah claims the Der Spiegel report is meant to undermine the Shiite group's political influence as its opposition March 8 coalition is expected to barely take the majority over the pro-Western March 14 coalition.

Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said before ending his visit in Lebanon Monday that Moscow would deal with any Lebanese winning side the Lebanese people choose in the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 7, local channel New TV reported.

It is up to the Lebanese to decided whom they want to choose during the parliamentary elections, Lavrov said after meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, stressing that those who care for an independent Lebanon should accept the results of the elections.

Lavrov said he was convinced that the Lebanese leaders will do everything possible to ensure free, transparent and democratic elections.

After meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Lavrov said that the "elections are for the Lebanese people, let them choose what they want."

Lavrov met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and majority leader MP Saad Hariri and visited the graveyard of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in downtown Beirut during his one-day visit Monday.

He extended an invitation to Lebanon to participate in the planned international conference on the Middle East issue to be held in Russia.

Russia announced in January its intention to hold a Middle East conference in the first half of this year.

Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri said on Wednesday that his coalition's conflict with the opposition was based on a political disagreement over key issues, and stressed the importance of maintaining calm in Lebanon.

Addressing supporters in western Bekaa, Hariri said that coexistence was the basis of building a state. "Our disagreement with the March 8 Forces is a political disagreement over the way to deal with political, security and economic issues, as well as the decision of war and peace," Hariri said.

"Consequently, these issues should be limited to the framework of political disagreements within the Constitution and state institutions," he added.

"We are neither against Iran, nor against Syria; we are only against Israel because it is our enemy," Hariri said, adding that the March 14 Forces wanted Lebanon to have good relations with all countries.

Commenting on the March 14 Forces' meeting in Beirut on Tuesday, Hariri said the gathering had confirmed the alliance's unity and disproved reports of divisions among the coalition.

Also on Wednesday, Independents and March 14 Forces announced their joint list in Kesrouan-Ftouh. It includes former MPs Mansour Bon, Farid Khazen, Fares Boueiz and Carlos Edde, as well Sejaan Qazzi.

In a speech on the occasion, Bon presented the ticket's platform, which calls for abiding by the Taif Accord and supporting the Lebanese Army. Bon voiced the alliance's support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the independence of the Lebanese judiciary.

He added that decisions of war and peace should be monopolized by the state. Bon also said that relations with Syria would be "put on the right track only after resolving pending issues, including the demarcation of the border and resolving the issue of detainees."

In other developments, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan stressed the unity of the March 14 Forces. After meeting with Premier Fouad Siniora on Wednesday, Adwan said that the coalition was "not an electoral alliance but rather a national one."

Also on Wednesday, MP Michel Pharaon announced during a news conference in Beirut the "development and social platform" of the March 14 Forces' list in the Beirut 1 district. The list includes, in addition to Pharaon, Minister of State Jean Ogassapian, MP Serge Tor Sarkissian, Nayla Tueni and Nadim Gemayel.

"We are in the stage of building the state and institutions," Pharaon said, pledging to defend "Achrafieh and the whole country."

Pharaon added that the list running against his ticket "ignores the needs of the area."

Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun urged his supporters to vote for the opposition's complete lists across Lebanon. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Aoun's press office said that Aoun "urges his constituents to vote in density for all the members of the opposition's lists across all the Lebanese districts, in order to win the elections with a majority."

In separate developments, Agriculture Minister Elias Skaff announced the opposition's list in Zahle in a ceremony held on Wednesday. The list includes MPs Salim Aoun, Hassan Yaacoub, George Kassarji and Kamil Maalouf, in addition to Rida Meiss, Fouad Turk and Skaff. In a speech on the occasion, Skaff called for "respecting each other" and stressed the list's support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Elie Marouni issued a statement on Wednesday calling for the arrest of the men he accused of his brother's death, saying: "The first issue in the electoral agenda of Minister Elias Skaff should be the handing over of the killers of Nasri Marouni and Salim Assi."

"We ask Minister Skaff, when he announces his electoral list, to also announce that he will hand over the criminals who hid at his residence before they were smuggled into Syria," he said.

Salim Assi and Nasri Marouni were shot on April 12, 2008 by assailants identified as Joseph Zouki and his brother.

In other developments, Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said that the world was awaiting the results of the elections in South Lebanon to see whether residents of the area were still committed to the resistance. In a political meeting held by Hezbollah on Wednesday in the south, Raad called on the Lebanese to hold their representatives accountable on election day.

He added that resistance was the only means to achieve victory over Israel, "because political and diplomatic channels lead nowhere and only aim to humiliate the Palestinians."

A report that Hezbollah was behind the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri is a dangerous claim which could spark civil strife as Lebanon prepares to hold crunch elections, analysts believe.

"If the Special Tribunal for Lebanon comes out and confirms the report, we could be facing an all-out civil war," Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, told AFP of the UN-backed probe into the murder.

"On the other hand, it could be just a report in a newspaper."

Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday that the UN commission probing the Hariri murder had new evidence that Hezbollah special forces "planned and executed" the Beirut car bombing on February 14, 2005.

The attack killed the billionaire former premier and 22 other people.

"We don't know where they are getting the story from," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor at The Hague-based tribunal said.

"The office of the prosecutor doesn't comment on any issues related to operational aspects of the investigation."

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was expected to address the allegations late on Monday in a speech marking the ninth anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 from southern Lebanon after 22 years.

Der Spiegel's claims come ahead of a June 7 election pitting Lebanon's US- and Saudi-backed parliamentary majority against an alliance headed by the Shiite Hezbollah, supported by Syria and Iran.

Hezbollah called the report "pure fabrication" and a bid to influence the election and deflect attention from a crackdown on alleged Israeli spy networks.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem called the report "lies which undermine the international investigation."

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, an expert on Hezbollah, said although the majority in Lebanon has so far refrained from capitalizing on the allegations, the tables could turn at any moment.

"I would say the very dangerous implications it could have had have fizzled out, particularly as no officials of the majority camp have used it," she said. "But if (the majority) uses the report against Hezbollah, then of course we're going to see instability in Lebanon, and that's putting it mildly."

Last May, sectarian violence sparked by a spectacular power grab by Hezbollah in mainly Sunni parts of Beirut led to more than 110 deaths and took Lebanon close to another civil war.

Analysts questioned the timing of the Der Spiegel report, saying it was no coincidence it came before the elections and amid the espionage crackdown.

"The nature of the report is provocative, its timing is far from naive and, coupled with the Israeli reaction, it is a clear attempt to incite unrest," said Fadia Kiwan, head of political science at Beirut's Saint Joseph University. "One word could set the streets on fire."

Israel on Sunday reacted to the report by urging the arrest of Nasrallah.

Der Spiegel said Hezbollah is implicated in Hariri's murder through the discovery of two linked mobile phone networks belonging to the militant group's "operational arm."

It said a secret unit of Lebanese security forces, led by intelligence expert Captain Wissam Eid, filtered out the numbers before Eid was himself murdered in January 2008.

A Hezbollah commando unit is also thought to be behind Eid's killing, Der Spiegel said.

Saad-Ghorayeb called the reference to Eid and his unit a bid to sow discord between Hezbollah and state security services which have been cooperating on the spy rings.

Since January Lebanon has charged at least 18 suspects, including a retired general, with spying for Israel.

"There are so many powers that would want to implicate Hezbollah in this and tarnish its reputation before the election," Saad-Ghorayeb said. "But most people don't buy the report.

"The evidence is way too flimsy."

Dozens of people have been detained in southern Lebanon in recent weeks on suspicion of spying for neighboring Israel.

So far, 21 people have been charged with spying on behalf of Tel Aviv and several dozen more have been detained, including an army colonel and a retired general.

Officials say the probe into the spy networks, which comes as the country prepares for elections on June 7, is far from over with more arrests expected.

Anyone convicted of high treason faces up to life in prison or even capital punishment in Lebanon, which is still technically at war with Israel.

In villages and towns across the south of the country, the spy scandal has hit hard and prompted a collective paranoia with everyone looking over their shoulder, suspicious of their neighbor.

Still fresh in the minds of many here is Israel's occupation of the region between 1978 and 2000, when many locals collaborated with the enemy under the umbrella of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a militia which was allied with the Israelis.

Many members of the SLA, which was based in Marjayoun, fled to Israel in 2000 when the Jewish state withdrew its troops from Lebanon.

Robert Kfoury, a resident of Marjayoun who is in the construction business, was considered by his neighbors a regular family man.

That's until his arrest in April on spying charges.

Standing on the balcony of his two-storey modest home surrounded by citrus and fruit trees, his wife refuses to discuss his case.

"Robert has nothing to do with all this," she shouts. "All of these accusations are false."

His neighbors, however, say news of his arrest had cleared up many unanswered questions.

"In 2006, during the war between Hezbollah and Israel, the entire neighborhood was destroyed except for Robert's house," said Noha Hammoud. "What a coincidence!"

Several other neighbors interviewed said they were baffled by his actions.

"I can understand someone collaborating with the enemy when we were under occupation," said one man who did not wish to be identified. "But doing this now, that's unacceptable."

Further south, in the village of Qolayaa, residents are still stunned by allegations that one of their own, Elie El-Hayek, was an Israeli spy.

Officials say El-Hayek, a 51-year-old maths teacher, fled to Israel with his wife and three children last week fearing his cover had been blown.

The front door of his house, which sits on the edge of the village, is padlocked.

"He rented the house two and a half years ago," said one neighbor. "He would say 'hi' and I would chat sometimes with his wife Therese but they never invited me into their home.

Richard, who runs a convenience store in the village, said he still had a hard time believing the accusations. In the village of Ghandouriyeh, the only conversation these days is about Nasser Nader, the local boy turned "enemy number one".

According to press reports, Nader supplied Israel with information on Hezbollah officials and positions.

"If any of it is true, I will disown him forever," said his half-brother Mohamed Nader, the village mayor. "He has smeared the family's reputation."

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that future U.S. aid to Lebanon depends on the outcome of upcoming elections, a warning aimed at Iranian-backed Hezbollah as it tries to oust the pro-Western faction that dominates government.

Confident its alliance will win, Hezbollah criticized Biden's visit as a U.S. attempt to influence the June 7 vote and held a mass rally to show its popular support.

Biden is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years and the attention shows American concern that the vote could shift power firmly into the hands of Hezbollah. U.S. officials have said before they will review aid to Lebanon depending on the composition of the next government, apparently meaning military aid.

"The election of leaders committed to the rule of law and economic reform opens the door to lasting growth and prosperity as it will here in Lebanon," Biden said. The U.S. "will evaluate the shape of our assistance programs based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates."

The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist group and Biden's one-day visit was clearly timed to bolster the Western-leaning faction led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora ahead of the vote. He expressed strong support for the government.

"I assure you we stand with you to guarantee a sovereign, secure Lebanon, with strong institutions," he said after the meeting with President Michel Suleiman.

With the election about two weeks away, Lebanon is in the throes of an increasingly abrasive campaign that has split voters into two main camps. One made up mainly of Sunnis favors close ties to America, France and moderate Sunni Arab countries while the other is dominated by Shiites and backed by U.S. foes Iran and Syria.

Biden said the U.S. did not want to interfere in the elections and tried to steer clear of the political divisions by meeting the neutral president, Siniora and Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

But he signaled a tilt toward America's allies when he met behind closed doors with leaders of Siniora's faction at a private residence. A similar meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the monthlong Hezbollah war with Israel in 2006 was broadcast on TV and drew months of sharp condemnation from Hezbollah.

Biden said the Lebanese stand to benefit from Arab-Israeli peace and called for the isolation of opponents of the process.

"Lebanon has suffered terribly from war and we have a real opportunity now ... for peace," he said after talks with the president. "So I urge those who think about standing with the spoilers of peace not to miss this opportunity to walk away from the spoilers."

Biden's visit caps a transformation in American policy toward Lebanon. It began four years ago after more than two decades of steering clear of the country long viewed as a quagmire. Pro-Iranian militants targeted Americans with bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s during the civil war and more than 250 Americans were killed. That led to a 12-year U.S. ban on citizens traveling to the country that was lifted in 1997.

But by stepping into Lebanon's political fray, the United States risks deepening the rift between rival factions. If it does not win, an embittered Hezbollah could take a harder line against its opponents.

While the vice president was still in Beirut, Hezbollah flexed its muscle by holding a mass rally in the southern city of Nabatiyeh to mark the 2000 departure of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters listened to leader Hassan Nasrallah's video address on a giant TV screen. He spoke from his hiding place in south Beirut.

Hezbollah said the visits by Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a month ago raised "strong suspicion and amounted to a clear and detailed interference in Lebanon's affairs."

The militant group, which is highly critical of U.S. Mideast policy and has a strong anti-Israel agenda, is looking to strengthen its political hold beyond the veto power it currently has in the government.

The Shiite group has only 14 seats in the 128-seat parliament, but got the veto power after a show of force a year ago when its gunmen overran Sunni neighborhoods in Beirut. Hezbollah and its allies have a total of 58 seats, while the Western-backed majority holds 70.

The coalition dominated by the heavily armed Hezbollah stands a good chance of winning, which could increase the influence of its sponsors Iran and Syria in the region. Israel and U.S. Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are concerned about the growing influence of Iran in the Middle East, especially through the militant groups Tehran backs such as Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza.

The U.S. has provided Lebanon with more than a billion dollars in assistance since 2006, including $410 million to the military and the police. At the airport before leaving, Biden said the United States was "committed to meeting your army's needs."

He reviewed a display of the military hardware the U.S. has provided to Lebanon including a tank, a helicopter and an armored carrier.

Lebanon is still trying to chart its own direction four years after Syria pulled its army out of the country and ended nearly three decades of domination. The withdrawal came in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in a bombing that his supporters blamed on Syria. Damascus denied the accusations, but mass protests in Lebanon and U.S.-led international pressure forced Syria out of Lebanon.

U.S. support for Lebanon shot up after the Hariri assassination under the former Bush administration, which had isolated Syria.

But the Obama administration has shifted policy, reaching out for a dialogue with Syria and Iran. Those moves have alarmed America's allies in Lebanon, prompting recent reassurances from U.S. officials that they will not sell out Lebanon in any dialogue with Syria.

The last U.S. vice president to visit Lebanon was George H.W. Bush under President Ronald Reagan. He came in October 1983, days after a massive suicide truck bombing destroyed the U.S. Marine base at Beirut airport and killed more than 240.