SHOTLIST

31 May 2007

1. Various of street traffic in Beirut

2. Various of people offering sweets and flowers to passers by - a traditional celebration custom in Lebanon

3. Newspaper stand

4. Newspapers

5. Newspaper headline reading: (English) "UN approves Hariri court"

6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) No Name Given, Beirut Resident, Vox pop:

"We hope the international tribunal will be fair and seeking justice without a political agenda. And to put a stop to political assassinations."

7. People reading newspapers

8. Exterior of prime minister's office building

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister:

"We hope that this tribunal will put a final point for all political assassination in Lebanon but it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime. We hope that they will do and if they will do it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria. And also for Lebanese, for opposition in Lebanon, we say it will never be a political tool. It is really for all the Lebanese a victory and it will be to help Lebanon to consolidate its democracy and freedom."

10. Various of construction on road where Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated

11. Lebanese army forces providing security at site which has been closed since assassination

30 May 2007

12. Fireworks

13. People dancing in the streets

14. Car loaded with people chanting and waving flags

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Saad Hariri, Son of the assassinated Prime minister Rafik Hariri:

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon."

16. Saad Hariri arriving at his father's grave

17. Mid shot of Saad Hariri praying at his father's grave

18. Wide of grave

STORYLINE

There was cautious optimism in Beirut on Thursday as supporters of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri welcomed the United Nations Security Council vote to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the slain leader's assassination.

"We hope the international tribunal will be fair and seeking justice without a political agenda. And to put a stop to political assassinations," said one Beirut resident.

Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister welcomed the decision saying that he hoped the that the tribunal will put an end to all political assassination in Lebanon.

"But it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime." he said, adding that if Syria chooses to cooperate with the tribunal "it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria."

The slain leader's supporters danced in the streets on Wednesday following the announcement of the Un decision and his son, Saad Hariri, said the resolution was a turning point in Lebanon that would protect the country from further assassinations.

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon," Hariri said.

The vote on the resolution was 10-0 with five abstentions - Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.

That was one more than the nine votes needed for passage.

The five countries that abstained objected to establishing the tribunal without approval of Lebanon's parliament and to putting the resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which deals with threats to international peace and allows militarily enforcement.

But none opposed the tribunal itself.

A UN investigation has implicated Syria in Hariri's assassination in 2005 when the Syrian army controlled Lebanon.

Syria has denied involvement.

The issue of an international tribunal has since fuelled a deep political conflict between Saniora's Western-backed government and the Syrian-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition.

The conflict has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles, killing 11 people in recent months.

Hariri's assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

The initial UN investigator said the complexity of Hariri's assassination suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role, but the probe is continuing.

Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 20 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of funeral

2. Wife of Walid Eido, assassinated legislator, waving from balcony

3. Women crying and waving

4. Ambulance covered by Lebanese flag and poster of Eido

5. Youths chanting slogans whilst travelling with ambulance

6. Wide of funeral

7. Mid of Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated former Lebanese prime minister, walking along in procession

8. Wide of funeral procession

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Walid Jumblatt, Druse politician:

"Syrian regime with their allies are trying to reduce our majority in the parliament. They have killed yesterday a prominent member of parliament. They can kill three more, if they kill three more members we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

10. Mid of Hezbollah MP bloc's flag

11. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hussein Hajj Hassan, Hezbollah MP:

"We condemn the terror act which led to the killing of legislator Walid Eido, his son, two of his bodyguards and several Lebanese citizens. And we think that these crimes are taking place and are synchronised by the political exposure in the country. We think that the politicians are invited to find a political solution to the crisis in order to deal with all the disputed issues, as well as dealing with the security exposure. Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and committing seditious acts against the Lebanese."

12. Tilt down of Al-Khachekji Mosque, mourners, security

13. Wide of funeral procession, coffin being carried

14. Various mid shots of coffins being carried to mosque

15. Top shot of three coffins inside the mosque (containing bodies of Walid Eido, his son, and one of the bodyguards killed)

16. Relatives kissing a coffin

17. Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc, in parliament arriving at the mosque

18. Worshippers praying at funeral

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament:

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

20. Body being lowered into grave

21. Eido's son crying

22. Another body being lowered into grave

23. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometres (miles) away for a prayer service and internment.

It drove down the main thoroughfare of Corniche Mazraa in the Muslim sector of the capital, where pictures of the assassinated politicians were posted on walls and overpasses and Eido's widow waved to the crowds from a balcony.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, Druse politician Walid Jumblatt and other prominent anti-Syrian leaders also marched in the procession.

Jumblatt, an anti-Syrian MP, said that if the Syrian regime killed three more MPs, "we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

One Hezbollah MP, whose party is pro-Syrian, also condemned the killings.

"Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and acting seditiously against the Lebanese," Hussein Hajj Hassan said.

At the Al-Khachekji mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of an already conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the UN Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

Businesses, schools and government offices were closed on Thursday after the government declared a day of national mourning.

The killings were likely to further enflame Lebanon's bitter power struggle between Saniora's Western-backed government and its Syrian-backed opponents, led by the Hezbollah militant group.

As the fighting in the north, pitting the Lebanese Army against Palestinian militants, with Palestinian refugees under siege, continues, many fear the violence there and in Beirut could push the polarised nation, with a fragile balance of ethnic and religious groups, into a new civil war.

SHOTLIST:

1. Tilt down of Al-Khachekji Mosque, mourners, security

2. Wide of funeral procession, coffin being carried

3. Various mid shots of coffins being carried to mosque

4. Top shot of three coffins inside the mosque (containing bodies of Walid Eido, his son, and one of the bodyguards killed)

5. Relatives kissing a coffin

6. Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc, in parliament arriving at the mosque

7. Various of worshippers praying at funeral

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament:

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

9. Body being lowered into grave

10. Eido's son crying

11. Another body being lowered into grave

12. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometers away for a prayer service and internment.

At the mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of this conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the U.N. Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

SHOTLIST

1. Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani descending steps of plane, welcomed by Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri

2. Hariri and Al Thani walking away

3. Various of Hariri meeting Al Thani

4. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Lebanese counterpart Ali Chami walking

5. Wide of Photo op with Chami, Al Thani, Hariri and Davutoglu

6. Hariri and Davutoglu shaking hands

7. Exterior of the presidential palace

8. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman walking with Davutoglu and Al Thani

9. Cutaway photographer

10. Wide of meeting between president and Qatar and Turkey ministers

11. Pan of meeting

12. Mid of Davutoglu

13. Mid of Al Thani

14. Mid of Suleiman

STORYLINE

Qatar's prime minister and Turkey's foreign minister arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday in a coordinated visit to discuss the deepening political crisis in the country.

Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatar's Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a member of the gulf emirate's royal family, met Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri and president Michel Suleiman.

Davutoglu's trip to Beirut came a day after he held consultations with Iran's new acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Ankara.

Lebanon's political crisis came to a head last week when the Shiite militant Hezbollah movement toppled the Western-backed government in a dispute over the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Saad Hariri - the son of the slain leader - refused Hezbollah's demands to renounce the court, prompting 11 Hezbollah ministers and their allies to resign last Wednesday.

The move brought down the unity government and further polarised the country's rival factions: Hezbollah with its patrons in Syria and Iran on one side and Hariri's Western-backed bloc on the other, with support by the US and Saudi Arabia.

Many fear the crisis could lead to street protests and the kind of violence that has bedevilled the tiny Arab country of four (M) million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

The UN tribunal late on Monday filed a long-awaited indictment in the Hariri killing.

The indictment was sealed and its contents will likely not become public for weeks.

But the court is widely expected to accuse members of Hezbollah of being involved in the murder, something the Shiite militant group has insisted it will not accept.

Hezbollah fiercely denies any role in the assassination and says the tribunal, jointly funded by UN member states and Lebanon, is a conspiracy by Israel and the United States.

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan on downtown Beirut with Al Amine mosque in the background

2. Crowd gathering at the Martyrs' square

3. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri poster with electronic sign reading "365"

4. Arrival of MP Bahia Hariri, sister of Rafik Hariri, at his grave

5. Bahia Hariri praying

6. Close-up of big poster for Rafik Hariri

7. Bahia Hariri leaving the anniversary ceremony marking Hariri's assassination

8. Thousands gathered in crowded square

9. Various of crowd waving Lebanese flags and anti-Syrian banners

10. Mid shot of banner: "Kick out Bashar's agent from Baabda" (referring Syrian President Bashar Assad and to Lebanese president Emile Lahoud)

11. Wide shot of Al Amine mosque

12. Mid shot of crowd

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

14. Mid shot of soldiers

15. Various of crowd

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese waving flags, some carrying anti-Syrian banners, massed in Martyr's square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Syria's troops left Lebanon in April under international pressure after nearly 30 years, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials. Damasmcus refutes any involvement.

Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside next to the square.

Outside some demonstrators carried signs calling for "The Truth" and shouted the name of Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, whilst others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the city.

The government gave schools the day off and businesses closed.

The demonstration was expected to climax shortly after midday - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown seaside street as his motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The main pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Hezbollah and Amal, were not taking part in the demonstration, which was expected to be largely dominated by Sunni Muslims from Hariri's sect and by Christian and Druse allies.

Amal is holding its own commemoration later Tuesday in southern Lebanon. Amal and Hezbollah, who are represented in the Cabinet, have been locked in a power struggle with the government's majority led by the Saad Hariri bloc.

The groups leading Tuesday's rallies in Beirut are looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

The groups have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has also denied involvement in these attacks.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide of area were bomb blast happened

2. Mid of men looking at the remains of a car

3. Cordon next to remains of a vehicle

4. People inspecting damage

5. Dented parked cars along the road

6. Mangled vehicles

7. Pan of damage

8.Damaged building

9. People looking at damage

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Elie Roukoz, Beirut Resident:

" As you see the whole buildings are damaged, we felt that the ground is shaking up and down."

11. Cars along street in Beirut

12. Various of man reading paper

13. Pan of papers on the news stand

14. Mid of front page reading (ENGLISH) " MP Antoine Ghamen assassinated"

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samer Mrad, Beirut Resident

" We want to see and to know the hands behind such acts and who has the interest. This is only affecting the poor and miserable people."

16. Lebanese security forces convoy along street

17. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese lawmaker heading the main anti-Syrian alliance in Parliament:

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon."

18. Cutaway

19. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese lawmaker heading the main anti-Syrian alliance in Parliament:

"The International Tribunal, which will try those cowardly criminal killers, will also try those who sabotage the presidential elections."

20. Various of locked up shops

STORYLINE

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

Wednesday's bomb killed Antoine Ghanem, an anti-Syria lawmaker, and six others in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut and threatened to derail efforts to bring the country's rival parties together to agree on a head of state ahead of time, before voting is set to begin next week.

Investigators were at the sight examining the remains of the blast.

At least 67 were wounded in the explosion, which severely damaged buildings and set cars ablaze during rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood.

Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party, had returned from refuge abroad only two days earlier. He was the eighth anti-Syria figure and fourth governing coalition lawmaker to be assassinated in less than three years.

On Thursday Lebanese newspapers were focused entirely on the assassination.

Samer Mrad a Beirut resident said he wants to know who is behind the attack.

" We want to see and to know that hands behind such acts and who has the interest. This is only affecting the poor and miserable people," he said.

Coalition members blamed Syria for the death, but Damascus denied involvement, as it has for the previous seven assassinations, including the 2005 bombing death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora asked the United Nations secretary-general in a letter to add the Ghanem assassination to an international probe into Hariri's slaying and other political crimes in Lebanon.

On Wednesday Hariri's son, who now heads the main anti-Syrian alliance in the Lebanese parliament, called the perpetrators of the attack "cowardly criminal killers".

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon," Saad Hariri said.

Many people fear the divisions over the presidency could lead to creation of two rival governments, a grim threat to repeat the last two years of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out.

President Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria, is due to step down from the presidency by November 23 and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post.

But Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they do not approve and they can do so by boycotting the ballots, preventing the needed two-thirds quorum of 85 votes.

If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and his cabinet would automatically take on executive powers.

If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country.

Schools, universities and many businesses in Christian areas of Beirut, plus in the Mount Lebanon region north of the capital, closed on Thursday in a day of mourning and to observe a strike called by the Phalange Party.

A funeral was to be held Friday.

SHOTLIST

12 January 2011

++16:9++

1. Wide of Beirut skyline

2. Mid of traffic

3. Wide of newsstand

4. Tilt down of newspapers

5. Newspaper headline, reading (Arabic) "It exploded"

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox pop, Mazen Hamwi, Beirut resident:

"The whole country is on the brink of the abyss, salaries are down and the government could collapse. What a country!"

11 January 2011

++4:3++

7. Wide of opposition meeting

8. Mid of Christian leader Michel Aoun

9. Various of ministers

10. Pan of meeting

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Fneish, Hezbollah Cabinet Minister:

"Today the country is subject to some developments, it is targeted by the indictment and the Tribunal which is politically biased. There was an Arab endeavour, we gave it a chance and we dealt with it positively. Because of the American intervention and because the other party (referring to Prime Minister Hariri and his group) was not able to overcome the American pressure, this endeavour was inactive. Today it is necessary for the Lebanese and through the constitutional institutions to confront these obstacles and to find a solution."

12. Wide of media

STORYLINE

The Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its allies plan to resign from the Lebanese Cabinet and topple the government on Wednesday, over tensions stemming from the international investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, officials said.

The ministers were planning to resign in the afternoon, unless Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the murdered leader, agrees to their demand to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting over the crisis, which relates to the Special Tribunal of Lebanon which is investigating Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The announcement was made by Lebanon's Health Minister Mohammed, speaking on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.

Hezbollah has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged Hariri to reject any findings by the court, which has not yet announced any indictments.

But the prime minister has refused to break cooperation with the tribunal.

Another official allied to Hezbollah confirmed the resignation plan, which calls for Hezbollah and its allies to step down along with one more minister who would tip the balance and force the government to fall.

Hariri, whose coalition has been sharing power with the Iranian-backed militant group, was to meet on Wednesday with President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss the crisis.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal of Lebanon which is investigating the elder Hariri's killing is widely expected to name members of the Hezbollah in upcoming indictments, which many fear could re-ignite hostilities between Lebanon's rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

To bring down the government, Hezbollah needs the backing of more than a third of the ministers.

Hezbollah and its allies have 10 ministers in the 30-member Cabinet, and an official close to Hezbollah said an 11th minister close to President Michel Suleiman would also submit his resignation.

The impending indictments already have paralyzed Lebanon's government.

Hariri's office had no immediate comment on the resignation plans, but referred to his earlier statement late Tuesday that said: "We will use all possible means to keep channels open to all the Lebanese to reach solutions that guarantee stability and calm and preserve national unity."

Violence has been a major concern as tensions rise in Lebanon, where Shiites, Sunnis and Christians each make up about a third of the country's four million people. In 2008, sectarian clashes killed 81 people and nearly plunged Lebanon into another civil war.

Hariri's assassination in a suicide bombing that killed 22 other people both stunned and polarised Lebanese.

He was a Sunni who was a hero to his own community and backed by many Christians who sympathised with his efforts in the last few months of his life to reduce Syrian influence in the country.

A string of assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and public figures followed, which UN investigators have said may have been connected to the Hariri killing.

The Netherlands-based tribunal has not said who it will indict, but Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said he has information that members of his group will be named.

Hezbollah denied any role in the assassination and denounced the court as a conspiracy against it.

On Tuesday, officials announced that a diplomatic push by Syria and Saudi Arabia had failed to reach a deal to ease political tensions in Lebanon.

There had been few details about the direction of the Syrian-Saudi initiative, but the talks were lauded as a potential Arab breakthrough, rather than a solution offered by Western powers.

Hezbollah Cabinet Minister Mohammed Fneish said on Tuesday the initiative was done in by "American intervention and because the other party was not able to overcome the American pressure."

The collapse prompted on Wednesday's push for an emergency Cabinet meeting, even though Hariri was out of the country and planning to meet Obama.

SHOTLIST:

AP Television

1. Wide of funeral

2. Wife of Walid Eido, assassinated prominent anti-Syrian legislator waving from balcony

3. Women crying and waving

4. Ambulance covered by Lebanese flag and Eido's poster

5. Youths chanting slogans whilst travelling with ambulance

6. Wide of funeral

7. Mid of Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri the slain former Lebanese prime minister walking along in procession

8. Wide of funeral procession

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Walid Jumblatt, Druse politician and anti-Syrian legislator:

"Syrian regime with their allies are trying to reduce our majority in the parliament. They have killed yesterday (Wednesday) a prominent member of parliament. They can kill three more, if they kill three more members we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down. We have got to resist and we are calling and will call for elections for the lost MP Walid Eido and for the other one, Pierre Gemayel (assassinated minister) Whatever the price is, we have to do it to not allow the Syrians to achieve their aims."

10. Top view of funeral procession

11. Mid of officials during funeral

12. Mid of Hezbollah MP bloc's flag

13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hussein Hajj Hassan, Hezbollah MP:

"We condemn the terror act which led to the killing of legislator Walid Eido, his son, two of his bodyguards and several Lebanese citizens. And we think that these crimes are taking place and are synchronised by the political exposure in the country. We think that the politicians are invited to find a political solution to the crisis in order to deal with all the disputed issues, as well as dealing with the security exposure. Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and acting seditiously against the Lebanese."

14. Hezbollah and Lebanese flag

AP Television

15. Mid of Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese information minister

16. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese information minister:

"Somebody is trying to say that neither the international tribunal nor anything else can secure the Lebanese or their leaders. We will keep resisting and we will face this series of terrorist acts."

POOL

17. Wide of crowd outside mosque

23. Spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani leading prayers with Saad Hariri next to him and other men praying

24. Jumblatt seated

25. Young men crying over coffin

26. Men leaving mosque

27. Coffins being carried out of mosque

POOL

28. Coffins being carried out of mosque

29. People leaving mosque

30. Coffins being carried into cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

The bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

The funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands, escorting Eido's body and that of his son and a bodyguard behind ambulances covered with Lebanese flags.

It drove down the main thoroughfare of Corniche Mazraa in the Muslim sector, where pictures of the slain politicians were posted on walls and overpasses and Eido's widow waved to the crowds from a balcony.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged to, Druse politician Walid Jumblatt and other prominent anti-Syrian leaders also marched in the procession.

Jumblatt, an anti-Syrian MP, said that if the Syrian regime kill three more MPs, "we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

"We have got to resist and we are calling and will call for elections for the lost MP Walid Eido and for the other one Pierre Gemayel (assassinated minister) whatever the price is, we have to do it to not allow the Syrians to achieve their aims," he said.

One Hezbollah MP, whose party is pro-Syrian, also condemned the killings.

"Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and acting seditiously against the Lebanese," Hussein Hajj Hassan said.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of an already conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the UN Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago.

The tribunal has been strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

"Somebody is trying to say that neither the international tribunal nor anything else can secure the Lebanese or their leaders. We will keep resisting and we will face this series of terrorist acts," Ghazi Aridi, the Lebanese information minister said.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the slayings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

Businesses, schools and government offices were closed on Thursday after the government declared a day of national mourning.

The killings were likely to further enflame Lebanon's bitter power struggle between Saniora's Western-backed government and its Syrian-backed opponents, led by the Hezbollah militant group.

As the fighting in the north, pitting the Lebanese Army against Palestinian militants, with Palestinian refugees under siege, continues, many fear the violence there and in Beirut could push the polarised nation, with a fragile balance of ethnic and religious groups, into a new civil war.

SHOTLIST:

POOL

1. Mid of funeral procession with Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri the slain former Lebanese prime minister raising his open palm to the crowds

2. Mid of banner with image of Walid Eido and his son

3. Mid of people waving Lebanese flags during procession

4. Wide of men walking along in funeral procession

5. Mid of Walid Jumblatt, Druse politician walking along in procession

6. Mid of funeral procession

AP Television

7. Mid of Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese information minister

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese information minister:

"Somebody is trying to say that neither the international tribunal nor anything else can secure the Lebanese or their leaders. We will keep resisting and we will face this series of terrorist acts."

POOL

9. Wide crowd outside mosque

10. Jumblatt and other politicians shaking hands with officials inside mosque

11. Wide of crowd outside mosque

12. Tilt-up from coffins to men praying inside mosque

13. Wide pan across crowd outside mosque

14. Jumblatt seated

15. Spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani leading prayers with Saad Hariri next to him and other men praying

16. Jumblatt seated

17. Young men crying over coffin

18. Men leaving mosque

19. Coffins being carried out of mosque

20. Zoom out from poster of Walid Eido and his son to wide of crowd outside mosque

STORYLINE:

Beirut on Thursday mourned the victims of a powerful car bombing that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine other people as the government, reeling from another blow targeting its supporters, sought international help.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Walid Eido's assassination near a popular waterfront promenade in Beirut.

The bomb ripped through his car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

On Thursday the bodies of Eido and his son were slowly being taken in ambulances from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to the Verdun neighbourhood where the slain politician lived.

The funeral procession went through the main thoroughfare of Corniche Mazraa in the Muslim sector, where pictures of the slain politicians were posted on walls and overpasses.

Thousands of mourners gathered on the streets, waving Lebanese flags, those of the Hariri Future movement and banners of various Sunni factions.

"Somebody is trying to say that neither the international tribunal nor anything else can secure the Lebanese or their leaders. We will keep resisting and we will face this series of terrorist acts," Ghazi Aridi, the Lebanese information minister said.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands escorting the coffins to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometres (miles) away for a prayer service and internment.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged to, Druse politician Walid Jumblatt and other prominent anti-Syrian leaders also marched in the procession.

At the mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani led the prayers, with Saad Hariri at his side.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of this conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the UN Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago, a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the slayings, a claim Damascus denies.

Lebanon's majority coalition blamed Syria for Wednesday's assassination.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

Businesses, schools and government offices were closed on Thursday after the government declared a day of national mourning.

The killings were likely to further enflame Lebanon's bitter power struggle between Saniora's Western-backed government and its Syrian-backed opponents, led by the Hezbollah militant group.

Many fear the violence could push the polarised nation, with a fragile balance of ethnic and religious groups, into a new civil war.

SHOTLIST:

++PLEASE BE ADVISED: GRAPHIC IMAGE OF CHARRED CORPSE IN EDIT++

Beirut - 13 June 2007

1. Firemen working on blackened car still on fire, pan of devastation

2. Tracking shot through debris to car still on fire

3. Firemen hosing down vehicle

4. Tracking shot through people and debris

5. Firemen hosing down smouldering wreckage

6. Burnt out car, zoom in to charred body in vehicle

7. Emergency vehicle driving down road with people running behind

8. Wide of rescue teams covering body under blanket near ferris wheel at waterfront

9. Close up another body under a blanket

10. Exterior of American University Hospital

11. Mid of relatives grieving, woman crying

12. Various of ambulances arriving, sirens wailing

13. Back of ambulance arriving at hospital, people chasing after ambulance

14. Various of injured being taken out of ambulance

15. Wide of Majority Leader Saad Hariri addressing a speech to the Lebanese people

16. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese Parliament Majority Leader:

"This is the first terrorist crime that has targeted Lebanon and the Lebanese people since the international tribunal formally started operating. The international community and the brothers of Walid Eido in the Arab and Islamic world are invited today to take their responsibilities and act against terrorism and against the cowardly criminal who is behind this crime."

17. Close up of two Lebanese flags

FILE: Date and location unknown

18. Various file of Lebanese MP Walid Eido, who was killed in blast

STORYLINE

An explosion, apparently from a bomb-rigged car, rocked Beirut's seafront on Wednesday, killing an anti-Syrian lawmaker and nine others, security officials said.

The 65-year-old lawmaker, Walid Eido, was the seventh opponent of Damascus to be killed in two years in the conflict-ridden country.

Eido's son, two bodyguards and six others were also killed in the explosion, security officials said. Eleven others were wounded, they said.

A car was in flames and black smoke was seen rising from a narrow street off the main waterfront in Manara, which is in the Muslim sector of the capital.

The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation TV station said the explosion came from a bomb-rigged car, a method that has been used to assassinate opponents of Syria over the past two years.

The body of a woman, covered in blood, was seen being pulled away from the scene, which is near an amusement park and a military club.

The explosion shattered windows of apartments in the area, knocked down walls and scattered debris on top of parked cars.

The explosion occurred less than two kilometres (less than a mile) from the site of a suicide truck bombing that killed former anti-Syrian Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others in February 2005.

The UN Security Council earlier this month ordered the creation of a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for Hariri's assassination, despite the opposition from Syrian-backed groups in Lebanon.

The issue of the tribunal has sharply polarised the country. It is at the core of a deep political crisis between the Western-backed government led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hezbollah.

Hariri's killing sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

Before Eido, the last anti-Syrian figure to be killed was 34-year-old Pierre Gemayel, the industry minister, who was killed by assassins' bullets in November.

A series of other explosions have hit Lebanon over the past three weeks, killing at least two people. Lebanese troops also are battling Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in the northern part of the country.

Hariri's Future bloc, dominated by moderate Sunnis, has come out strongly in support of the Lebanese army in their fight against Fatah Islam.

It also comes amid after tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Beirut in recent months that has killed 11 people.

Eido was one of the vocal opponents of Hezbollah-led protests and sit-ins in downtown Beirut outside the prime minister's office since December 1 in a campaign to force Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to step down. He has called the encampment in downtown Beirut by the opposition as "occupation."

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of opposition ministers meeting with General Michel Aoun (seated on left) Christian ally of Hezbollah

2. Various of meeting

3. Ministers sitting for news conference

4. Cutaway journalists

5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Jibran Bassil, Lebanese minister of Electrical and Water Energy

"After our last attempt to rectify the matter by calling for a cabinet meeting in order to treat the problems internally, and after insisting on the second part (referring to the Prime Minister's group) in continuing with the same approach in rejecting the solution by the council of ministers meeting, and in order to pave the way for a new government according to the constitution that will be able to take responsibility for the security and interests of the people, and also by securing the real justice, the ministers are submitting their resignations from this government hoping that the president will accelerate the formation of a new government."

6. Ministers leaving news conference

7. Wide of meeting of March 14 group

8. Various of meeting

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Minister Boutros Harb, Labour minister:

"This situation puts us into administrative crisis and also in a new political crisis which increases complications in the country and does not contribute towards solving any of the problems."

10. Mid of cameras

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's year-old unity government collapsed on Wednesday after Hezbollah ministers and their allies from the so-called March 14 alliance resigned over tensions stemming from a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The walkout ushers in the country's worst political crisis since 2008 in one of the most volatile corners of the Middle East.

The tribunal is widely expected to name members of Hezbollah in upcoming indictments, which many fear could re-ignite sectarian tensions that have plagued the tiny country for decades.

The resignations were announced at a news conference by Energy Minister Jibran Bassil, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement - the key Christian ally of Shiite Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri - the son of the slain politician - to reject any findings by the court even before it announced any indictments.

But the prime minister has refused to break cooperation with the tribunal.

Hariri formed the current national unity government in November 2009, but it has struggled to function amid deep divisions.

Hariri himself was set to meet on Wednesday with President Barack Obama in Washington to discuss the crisis in Lebanon.

His office meanwhile, had no immediate comment.

The walkout followed the failure of a diplomatic push by Syria and Saudi Arabia to ease political tensions in Lebanon.

There had been few details about the direction of the Syrian-Saudi initiative, but the talks were lauded as a potential Arab breakthrough, rather than a solution offered by Western powers.

Labour minister Butros Harb said later on Wednesday: "This situation puts us into administrative crisis and also in a new political crisis which increases complications in the country and does not contribute towards solving any of the problems."

The crisis over the tribunal has paralysed the government in recent months.

Violence has been a major concern as tensions rise in Lebanon, where Shiites, Sunnis and Christians each make up about a third of the country's four (m) million people.

In 2008, sectarian clashes killed 81 people and nearly plunged Lebanon into another civil war.

Rafik Hariri's assassination in a suicide bombing that killed 22 other people both stunned and polarised the Lebanese people.

He was a Sunni who was a hero to his own community and backed by many Christians who sympathised with his efforts in the last few months of his life to reduce Syrian influence in the country.

A string of assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and public figures followed, which UN investigators have said may have been connected to the Hariri killing.

The Netherlands-based tribunal has not said who it will indict, but Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said he has information that members of his group will be named.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of 14th of March group (pro-government) chanting the National anthem

2. Saad Hariri, Saad Hariri, leader of parliamentary majority (right) and former president Amin Gemayel (left)

3. Various of Lebanese political leaders chanting the National anthem

4. Medium of Nayla Mouawad ( Wife of former assassinated Lebanese president Renne Mouawad)

5. Various of meeting

6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the Lebanese parliamentary majority:

"We are calling upon the Lebanese government to respect the decision that was taken on December 12, 2005, in the presence of the Lebanese president, that calls for the formation of an international tribunal. We call on the government to approve the framework of the agreement with the United Nations and the basic law for the international tribunal."

7. Mid shot, Lebanese leaders

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, leader of the Lebanese parliamentary majority

"We ask the 14th of Mach supporters to stay in their positions and we announce to the Lebanese that we will keep on defending their freedom, future and their democratic organisations."

9. Leaders applauding

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's political crisis took a turn for the worse on Sunday when the president said the Cabinet was no longer legitimate after the resignation of five Shiite Muslim ministers, including two representing Hezbollah.

President Emile Lahoud's position is a blow to his political rival, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, but does not carry legal weight because the Lebanese president is not empowered to dissolve the government.

Lahoud sent a letter to Saniora's office, saying that the 24-member Cabinet was no longer constitutional after all five Shiite Muslim ministers submitted their resignations Saturday.

He based his position on Article Five of the constitution that states "all sects should be justly represented in the Cabinet."

Lahoud's opponents in the parliamentary majority called on the government to meet anyway to approve an international tribunal in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The parliamentary majority which is backed by the United States and is opposed to Syria has accused Hezbollah and Amal, the main pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian Shiite groups, of doing Damascus's and Tehran's bidding and seeking to undermine the formation of the international tribunal.

Saad Hariri, leader of the parliamentary majority, met on Sunday with the factions making up the majority coalition, and directly accused Syria and Iran of seeking to scuttle the formation of the international tribunal.

Hariri called upon the Lebanese government to "respect the decision that was taken on December 12, 2005, in the presence of the Lebanese president, that calls for the formation of an international tribunal".

The tribunal is to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of his father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri

The late Hariri's assassination was blamed by his supporters on Syria.

A UN investigation also implicated senior Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials.

The resignations of the five ministers, including two representing Hezbollah, left the Shiites, the country's largest single sect, out of the government.

It followed a stalemate in talks for a national unity government.

The resignations strips the government of major players.

While the 24-member government can still muster a two-thirds quorum to meet and take decisions, approval of the international tribunal without the presence of the Shiites could throw in doubt the legitimacy over such a decision in Lebanon's complex sectarian balance of political power.