SARKOZY AND KOUCHNER WASTE NO TIME REGARDING LEBANON AND SYRIA

IHT:

The new French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, flew to Beirut on Thursday, pledging that Paris would stand by the Lebanese government amid the worsening political crisis and the new bout of violence there.

It was Kouchner's first visit outside of Europe since being appointed last week and a strong signal to a former French colony still linked to Paris through close cultural and linguistic ties.

Vowing continuity in the two Kouchner also used his trip to demand swift action to set up an international tribunal countries' relations,to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a proposal that is still stuck both in the Lebanese Parliament and in the UN Security Council.

"The international community must never accept threats and terrorism and we are determined to vote in the UN Security Council a resolution to establish the international tribunal," Kouchner said in Beirut, according to a spokesman traveling with him.

BEIRUT DAILY STAR:

On Thursday, Kouchner met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Speaker Nabih Berri, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani.

Kouchner concluded his first day in Lebanon by visiting Hariri's grave in Downtown Beirut.

"The international community will never accept threats and terrorism, and we are determined to vote at the [UN] Security Council on a resolution to establish the international tribunal," he told reporters.

A draft put forward by the US, France and Britain to set up the proposed court to hear the Hariri case is currently before the 15-member council. No date has yet been set for a vote.

Kouchner said he had delivered to Siniora a letter from Sarkozy expressing support for Lebanon and for the "quick" establishment of the international tribunal.

PENINSULA - QATAR:

His visit comes at a time when the country's army and a tiny Islamist militia are facing off at a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country after three days of fighting that killed at least 69 people.

ASSAD AND HIS GENOCIDAL HENCHMEN ARE LONG OVERDUE FORSOME SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR CRIMES. NOW - WITH FRANCE ON OUR SIDE - THIS MAY SOON HAPPEN.