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.

LEBANON HARIRI TRIAL

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS/ SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON HANDOUT  

RESTRICTIONS: AP CLIENTS ONLY

LENGTH: 4:05

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Beirut, Lebanon - 19 September 2018

++16:9++

1. Poster for late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri on a banner reading (Arabic) "Time of Justice"

2. Close of banner

3. Traffic near site where Hariri was killed

4. Mid of torch sculpture

5. Banner reading (Arabic) "Assassination site of Prime Minster Rafic Hariri and his comrades"

6. Political analyst Ali Hamadeh in his office

7. Close of screen showing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon website

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Hamadeh, political analyst:

"We hope that the role and the existence of this tribunal (Special Tribunal for Lebanon) will be an incentive or a deterrent to repeated political assassinations. But the experience in this region, and not only in Lebanon, tells us that the killing and bloodshed is still going on from Iraq to Lebanon to Syria and to Yemen. Despite the slow pace of the international justice, it may reach at the end its positive results, but the problem is the region is located on the peak of the volcano (figurative, refers to the volatile nature of the region)."

9. Various of Hariri statue

10. Tilt down of Al-Amine Mosque

11. Policeman in front of poster of Hariri

12. Owner of Justicia Centre, Paul Morkos, walking

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Paul Morkos, owner of Justicia Centre:

"It is expected that a preliminary verdict will be issued at the beginning of the year in January. This verdict could be an improved version of the indictment that was issued a few years ago with some additions that contain circumstantial evidence. It is not apparent today that there is clear, direct and solid proof coupled with this evidence to stop this verdict being the subject of criticism of the indictment which will allow for indiscriminate accusations between the political parties."

SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON HANDOUT  

Beirut, Lebanon - 18 September 2018

++4:3++

14. Various of tribunal

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Barja, Mount Lebanon - 19 September 2018

++16:9++

15. Retired police general, Ali Al-Hajj, walking in his house

16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Al-Hajj, retired police general:

"The international tribunal is strongly dependent on the United Nations, and this is its strength, but I can say that the trust of the majority of the people in the international tribunal and its decisions and what is happening in its hallway is missed at local, regional and international levels because at the beginning it relied on the false witnesses, misled investigations and forgery."

17. Close of Al-Hajj's eyes

18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) General Ali Al-Hajj, retired police general:

"I can see that the path of the international tribunal from the beginning until today is to ignite the strife in Lebanon, to increase the differences between the Lebanese and to exert pressure on them. The aim of all that is to target those who are facing Israel, which is the resistance (Hezbollah)."

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

19. Various of late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri's convoy on fire

LEADIN:

The United Nations backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is preparing its verdict on the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

Four members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are being tried in absentia for their suspected involvement in his murder.

STORYLINE:

The streets of Beirut are hung with black banners. Rafic Hariri's face adorns them - "Time of justice" they read.

Fourteen years after Hariri was assassinated, the United Nations backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is preparing its verdict.

Four members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are being tried for their suspected involvement in the murder.

Hezbollah has refused to turn over the four defendants and says it does not recognise the tribunal's authority. So the men are being tried in absentia.

A decision is expected to be reached in 2019.

Syria and its Lebanese allies were accused of the killing Prime Minister Hariri in a massive suicide truck bombing in Beirut in 2005, which also killed 21 others and injured 226 more.

A series of further bombings and assassinations followed. Syria vehemently denies involvement.

Hariri's assassination ignited mass protests and international pressure that forced Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon after 29 years of control.

Ali Hamadeh, a political analyst at Al-Nahar Newspaper in Lebanon, hopes that the tribunal will put an end to political assassinations in the region.

"But the experience in this region, and not only in Lebanon, tells us that the killing and bloodshed is still going on from Iraq to Lebanon to Syria and to Yemen," he says.

"It may reach at the end its positive results, but the problem is the region is located on the peak of the volcano (figurative, refers to the volatile nature of the region)."

Paul Morkos, the owner of the Justicia legal research centre, expects a preliminary verdict will be issued by January 2019.

"This verdict could be an improved version of the indictment that was issued a few years ago with some additions that contain circumstantial evidence," he says.

Morkos warns of indiscriminate accusations between the Lebanese political parties if there isn't "clear, direct and solid proof" to support the verdict.

In 2009, The International Tribunal ordered the release of four former Lebanese security generals held over the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri.

Among the four generals, who have never been charged, is Ali Al-Hajj, a former Lebanese internal security director general.

Al-Hajj, also a former security officer for Prime Minister Hariri, says the majority of people don't trust the tribunal.

"At the beginning it relied on the false witnesses, misled investigations and forgery."

Al-Hajj has become politically close to Hezbollah in recent years, trying to get into parliament with their support.

He believes the tribunal is deliberately targeting the militant group.

"I can see that the path of the international tribunal from the beginning until today is to ignite the strife in Lebanon, to increase the differences between the Lebanese and to exert pressure on them," he says.

"The aim of all that is to target those who are facing Israel, which is the resistance (Hezbollah)," he says.

===========================================================

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SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION

Beirut, Lebanon - 17 August 201

++16:9++

1. Street where former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a blast in 2005

2. Sign reading (Arabic) "Place of the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri and his comrades"

3. Statue commemorating the assassination

4. Various of Hariri''s grave

5. Close up of Hariri''s photograph

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammad Kabbani, Member of Parliament:

"We are on the start of a new stage which is the tribunal is going to start its work. Up till now we were only having accusations. The trial will start soon. We are backing the tribunal as we did always and we think that it will reach the fact and it will also reach justice."

7. Kabani walking away

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohammad Faisal, Bierut resident:

"We are supporting the indictment decision and if they are strong enough (refers to Lebanese government) they must arrest the four men."

HANDOUT (SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON WEBSITE)

9. STILL of Assad Sabra, suspect

10. STILL of Hassan Oneissi, suspect

11. STILL of Mustafa Badreddine

12. STILL of Salim Ayyash

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

13. Various of immediate aftermath at the blast scene

SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON

++16:9++

14. Various of pages of Indictment document issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

STORYLINE

Prosecutors analyzed a vast network of telephone records to link four Hezbollah members to the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but there was no clear smoking gun in the case, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

The special court investigating Hariri''s murder unsealed the 47-page indictment against four members of the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah for alleged involvement in the truck bombing that killed Hariri.

"We are on the start of a new stage which is the tribunal is going to start its work," said Lebanese Member of Parliament Mohammad Kabbani, from the "4th of March Bloc

"Up until now we were only having accusations. The trial will start soon. We are backing the tribunal as we did always and we think that it will reach the fact and it will also reach justice."

The publication comes after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said last week that Lebanese authorities had been unable to arrest the four suspects or serve them with their indictments, a move that some of the Beirut residents would like to see.

The suspects include Mustafa Badreddine, a Hezbollah commander and the suspected bomb maker who blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 Americans.

The other suspects are: Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra and Hassan Oneissi, who changed his name to Hassan Issa.

They are accused of involvement in the 14 February 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others - a number that includes a suicide bomber.

Hezbollah has denied involvement and said it will never turn over the suspects.

Prosecutors acknowledge in the indictment''s preamble that they have no smoking gun linking the suspects to the attack, despite years of painstaking investigations.

The file relies to a large extent on circumstantial evidence "which works logically by inference and deduction," the indictment said.

With Lebanon apparently unable to arrest the suspects, the court - unusually for an international tribunal - could try the suspects in their absence.

The indictment that was released, which has many words and numbers blotted out in black ink, relies substantially on telephone records linking the suspects to the crime.

It alleges that a "red network" of cell phones was used by members of the assassination team.

The phone records showed a flurry of calls shortly before Hariri''s assassination, then they stopped being used two minutes before the explosion and were never used again.

The indictment said the records showed "a coordinated use of these phones to carry out the assassination."

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has long sought to cast doubt on the security of the Lebanon''s telephone network, however, and he will likely use the tribunal''s evidence to further cast doubt on the court''s claims.

Nasrallah has called the tribunal an Israeli plot against Lebanon.

Lebanese officials have confirmed that Israel has penetrated and has great control over Lebanon''s telecommunications networks.

In 2010, authorities detained two senior employees of one of the country''s two cellular telecommunication companies on suspicion that they were spying for Israel.

They remain in detention several months after their arrest.

SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION

Beirut, Lebanon - 17 August 201

++16:9++

1. Street where former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a blast in 2005

2. Sign reading (Arabic) "Place of the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri and his comrades"

3. Statue commemorating the assassination

4. Various of Hariri''s grave

5. Close up of Hariri''s photograph

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mohammad Kabbani, Member of Parliament:

"We are on the start of a new stage which is the tribunal is going to start its work. Up till now we were only having accusations. The trial will start soon. We are backing the tribunal as we did always and we think that it will reach the fact and it will also reach justice."

7. Kabani walking away

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohammad Faisal, Bierut resident:

"We are supporting the indictment decision and if they are strong enough (refers to Lebanese government) they must arrest the four men."

HANDOUT (SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON WEBSITE)

9. STILL of Assad Sabra, suspect

10. STILL of Hassan Oneissi, suspect

11. STILL of Mustafa Badreddine

12. STILL of Salim Ayyash

AL MANAR

++PLEASE NOTE AL MANAR IS CONTROLLED BY HEZBOLLAH++

Beirut - 17 August 2011

++4:3++

13. Wide of audience

14. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader:

"The text in our hands now is based on conclusions and analysis and not on clear evidence. It''s based on circumstantial evidence and is not credible. What we are hearing from the public makes us more convinced that it''s based on politicisation and injustice and accusations. And those honourable resistance fighters should not be called charged, but unjustly treated."

15. Wide of audience

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

16. Various of immediate aftermath at the blast scene

SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON

++16:9++

17. Various of pages of Indictment document issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

STORYLINE:

A long-awaited international indictment unsealed on Wednesday offers no direct evidence linking four Hezbollah suspects to the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, despite years of painstaking investigations.

The indictment, which relies heavily on circumstantial evidence such as telephone records to link the men to the crime, played into efforts by the powerful Iranian-backed Hezbollah to discredit a case that has consumed and divided Lebanon for more than six years.

"The text in our hands now is based on conclusions and analysis and not on clear evidence," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech in Beirut on Wednesday.

"Those honourable resistance fighters should not be called charged, but unjustly treated," he added.

Much of the information contained in the indictment had been leaked to the media over the past two years, which Nasrallah said was a sign that the probe was tainted beyond repair.

Lebanon''s most powerful political and military force, Hezbollah has vowed never to turn over the suspects, although a trial may be held in absentia.

The suicide truck bomb that killed Hariri on 14 February 2005 was one of the most dramatic political assassinations in the Middle East.

A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanon''s most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

In the six years since his death, the investigation has sharpened some of Lebanon''s most intractable issues: the role of Hezbollah, which commands an arsenal far greater than the national army, and the country''s dark history of sectarian divisions and violence.

Hariri was one of Lebanon''s most powerful Sunni leaders; Hezbollah is a Shiite group.

Prosecutors analysed a vast network of telephone records to link the "assassination team" to the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22

others, according to the 47-page indictment.

Investigators tracked the movements of the suspects using their phones'' locations as recorded by cell phone towers.

The indictment says the records showed "a coordinated use of these phones to carry out the assassination."

According to the records, there was a flurry of calls shortly before Hariri''s murder, but they stopped two minutes before the explosion.

The phones were never used again.

The indictment also says the assassins tracked Hariri''s movements over several weeks to establish the routes and movements of his convoy and the location of his vehicle in it.

On the day of the murder, they detonated some 2,500 kilograms (5,510 pounds) of explosives packed into a Mitsubishi van parked near a hotel along Beirut''s Mediterranean waterfront.

Prosecutors acknowledge in the indictment''s preamble that they have no direct evidence linking the suspects to the attack.

The file relies to a large extent on circumstantial evidence "which works logically by inference and deduction," the indictment said.

SHOTLIST:

LEBANESE STATE TV

++4:3++

1. Wide exterior of Lebanese parliament

2. Close of Lebanese flag

3. Wide interior of Lebanese parliament in session

4. Mid of Lebanese members of parliament (MPs)

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marwan Hamadeh, Lebanese Member of Parliament:

++Various cutaways of parliament during soundbite++

"No, Mr. Prime Minister Mikati, your friend Hariri wasn't just martyred. He was assassinated with two tons of explosives, along with him, your colleagues, your friends and your citizens. For them, you have a holy responsibility that will follow you, will chase you, forever and ever. The worst series of the worst crimes in the history of Lebanon is being treated with irreverence, without investigation, without question and without punishment, and now after 30 years it is on the precipice of being solved, and its executors, God willing, and those who ordered it, will be known."

6. Close of Prime Minister Najib Mikati

7. Mid of MPs

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

8. Set-up of UN defence official, Francois Roux

9. SOUNDBITE (French) Francois Roux, UN defence chief in Rafik Hariri case:

"My message to these individuals is the following: an arrest warrant has been issued against you today. The only person in the world who can get you out of this arrest warrant is a lawyer. So, make contact as soon as possible with a lawyer."

10. Cutaway of hands

11. SOUNDBITE (French) Francois Roux, UN defence chief in Rafik Hariri case:

"If the accused, or some of them, do not contact lawyers, then they will be tried in absentia. In that case, I myself have to assign lawyers on this list to defend the accused. But clearly those lawyers won't have contact with the accused, they won't know their points of view, and their job will certainly be more difficult."

12. Cutaway of hands

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's parliament began three days of contentious debate on Tuesday, over the government's response to UN-backed indictments of four Hezbollah members in the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

In parliament on Tuesday, MP Marwan Hamadeh told Lebanon's new Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, that he had "a holy responsibility that will follow you, will chase you, forever and ever" to bring Hariri's killers to justice.

Hamadeh himself was injured in a car bomb explosion on October 1, 2004 that killed his driver and injured his bodyguard.

The blast is considered to have been the beginning of a series of assassinations of Lebanese politicians and journalists, one of which claimed the life of Rafik Hariri.

Tuesday's session in Beirut pitted Lebanon's rival factions against each other. Hezbollah and its allies are on one side, and a Western-backed coalition led by Hariri's son, Saad, is on the other.

On Monday, Saad Hariri accused Mikati of bowing to pressure from Hezbollah, which is refusing to turn over four members indicted by the UN-backed tribunal for the truck bombing that killed the Lebanese statesman in 2005.

Mikati fired back, suggesting Saad Hariri - himself a former prime minister - was trying to exploit his father's death for political gain and tear apart the country.

The implication of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in one of Lebanon's most stunning crimes threatens to bring a new and violent crisis in this Arab nation on Israel's northern border.

The Shiite militant group denies any role in the killing and vows never to turn over any of its members.

Also on Tuesday, the defence chief at the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri has urged the four Hezbollah members indicted in the slaying to come forward.

Francois Roux says the men will be tried in absentia if they stay in hiding.

"My message to these individuals is the following: an arrest warrant has been issued against you today. The only person in the world who can get you out of this arrest warrant is a lawyer. Make contact as soon as possible with a lawyer," Roux said.

Roux said that his office would help them prepare their defence.

The tribunal last week indicted the men in the 2005 assassination of Hariri, a prominent Sunni statesman.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah denies his Shiite group had any role in it and has vowed never to hand the men over.

Dozens of supporters of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, uncovered a giant billboard in Beirut on Thursday, just metres (yards) away from the site where Hairiri was killed in a huge bomb blast on February 14, 2005.

The sign, which reads "Time for Justice", was unveiled to coincide with the start of the trial into his assassination at the Hague.

A timer is mounted on top of the billboard to record how many days the tribunal will take.

"We hope that they will achieve the truth in this trial but there are no suspects (present), they are being tried in absentia," said Beirut Resident Mahmoud Najem.

The four main Hezbollah suspects behind the bombing are not at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in The Netherlands, because they are yet to be arrested.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in Hariri's assassination and has condemned the trial as a conspiracy by the US and Israel.

Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship, was one of Lebanon's most influential Sunni leaders, with wide connections in the Arab world and international community.

Hezbollah, a Shiite group, is backed by Shiite Iran.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of people removing piece of cloth covering a billboard of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri

2. Mid of billboard with a sign that reads (Arabic) "Time for Justice"

3. Close of clock showing number '1', counting the number of days the trial will take

4. Tilt-down from a billboard to people gathered around sign

5. Wide of people in a cafe watching TV

6. Close of TV showing blast scene

7. Mid pan of people watching TV in cafe

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Najem, Beirut Resident:

"We hope that they will achieve the truth in this trial but there are no suspects (present), they are being tried in absentia."

9. Wide of Beirut skyline

10. Mid of cars driving down a street

11. Tilt-down of newspaper stand

12. Close of newspaper reading (Arabic) "The Tribunal" and showing a photo of Hariri

13. Mid of man looking at newspaper stand

SHOTLIST

1. Arrival of convoy with Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

2. Sultanov walking with officials

3. Pan from cameramen and photographers to Sultanov and Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister

4. Mid of Sultanov

5. Mid of Salloukh

6. Wide of meeting

7. Cutaway cameramen

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister:

"We discussed the international tribunal and other internal affairs. We agreed on the continuation of national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

9. Cameramen

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister:

"Russia will take all necessary action to help and support in finding a solution to the problem."

11. Convoy leaving

12. Presidential palace

13. Sultanov at meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

14. Mid of Lahoud

15. Mid of Sultanov

16. Exterior, Prime Minister's office building

17. Lebanese flag

18. Various of meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora

19. Exterior of Ein El-Tineh Palace

20. Various of meeting with parliament speaker, Nabih Berri

STORYLINE:

Envoys from Russia and the UN were involved in Beirut on Tuesday in what may be a last-ditch attempt to win approval from Lebanon's opposing camps for an international tribunal into the assassination of Lebanon's prime minister, Rafik Hariri, a subject that's divided Lebanese opinion and which threatens the country's stability.

The parliament has put off approving a draft agreement with the United Nations, paralyzed by a political crisis between the government, which wants a multi-national tribunal to prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which wants more discussion first.

The Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the parliamentary majority have asked the United Nations to impose the Hariri tribunal and bypass the Lebanese legislature but opposition leaders have warned that such intervention could spell more trouble for the country.

Clashes over the issue have already caused nine deaths.

Opposition campaigners have been camping outside Saniora's office since December, 2006, paralyzing large parts of the capital's commercial district to demand his resignation but Saniora has refused to step down.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Sultanov arrived for talks in Beirut with various Lebanese officials and the former Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh.

Sultanov said that Russia was eager to help find a compromise, not impose a solution, stressing that the Lebanese need to find consensus through dialogue.

"We discussed the international tribunal," he said. "We agreed upon the continuation of the national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

Fawzi Salloukh, who resigned as Lebanon's foreign minister, said that Russia would do what is necessary to help and support in finding a solution to the problem.

Russia, with a veto on UN Security Council resolutions, has enjoyed good relations with Lebanon and Syria, which has been widely accused of involvement in the assassination.

Sultanov also met with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He is then expected to travel to Syria, which remains an important player despite the withdrawal of its army from Lebanon in the wake of Hariri's assassination.

Along with Sultanov, the top UN legal chief Nicolas Michel was flying in later Tuesday to Beirut to help overcome the impasse.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is scheduled to visit Syria next week, after a trip to Lebanon in March.

The anti-Syrian majority in Parliament blames Damascus for killing Hariri, an accusation Syria vehemently denies, and say the Syrians were using their Lebanese allies to undermine the formation of the tribunal.

SHOTLIST

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Exterior shot of Prime Minister's office in Beirut

2. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle in position around Prime Minister's office

3. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers

4. Wide shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle

5. Wide shot of Prime Minister's office

6. Wide shot of Lebanese cabinet meeting

7. Mid shot of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sitting at head of meeting

8. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel placed in his position around meeting table

9. Various of cabinet ministers around table

10. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

11. Cameras

12. Mid shot of Lebanese Minister of Information, Ghazi Aridi, at press conference

13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese Minister of Information:

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation.''

14. Cameras

STORYLINE

The Lebanese government on Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, despite warnings of mass protests by its opponent Hezbollah.

Last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, appeared to fail as the cabinet moved forward with its meeting for a UN created court.

The tribunal is a key bone of contention in the power struggle between allies and opponents of Syria in Lebanon.

Anti-Syrian forces - mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim - dominate the government, but are facing a campaign by the mainly Shiite pro-Syrian camp to bring the government down.

The political crisis became potentially explosive this week with the assassination of an anti-Syrian politician, raising worries of more violence that could tear apart the country's fragile sectarian seams.

The anti-Syrian bloc brought out some 800,000 people for a mass rally at the funeral of the politician, Pierre Gemayel, on Thursday.

Hezbollah has shown it can bring out similar numbers for its protests - and if it goes ahead with its threatened demonstrations, many fear it could start a spiral of street action.

Earlier on Saturday, two key anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and a Syria supporter, in an apparent attempt to find a compromise.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora offered to put off the contentious Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the government earlier this month returned.

Hezbollah demands that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, or else it says it will launch mass protests to topple Saniora.

But the reconciliation bid appeared to have failed, and the Cabinet meeting approved a UN draft for the tribunal.

In the eyes of Hezbollah, the approval of the tribunal amounts to a rejection of its demands for a greater representation in the Cabinet.

The Shiite militant group and Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, have denounced the current government as unconstitutional, because the constitution underlines that the government must represent all of Lebanon's main communities.

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation,'' Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the vote.

Aridi's statement went on to say that Prime Minister Saniora insisted the approval of the tribunal was not meant as a provocation against Hezbollah and its allies.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, and they hope it will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb blast that killed 22 others, which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating. Syria has denied any role in the killing.

The court, which will sit outside Lebanon and have a majority of non-Lebanese judges, is to try four Lebanese generals - top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud including his Presidential Guard commander, who have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in

Hariri's murder.

The UN investigation into Hariri's death has also implicated Brigadier General Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. But Shawkat is not in custody.

Hariri's death was the first in a string of attacks that killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures - with Gemayel the most recent, in a bold daytime shooting on Tuesday.

Many Lebanese blame Syria in all the killings, which Damascus denies.

Since Gemayel's assassination, some ministers in Saniora's Cabinet have moved into the heavily guarded prime minister's building in downtown Beirut, fearing more slayings.

SHOTLIST:

1. Exterior of Lebanese prime minister's office

2. Various of Lebanese army surrounding Prime Minister's office

3. Wide of Lebanese cabinet meeting headed by Saniora

4. Mid shot of Saniora at head of cabinet meeting

5. Mid shot photo of Pierre Gemayel, assassinated industry minister

6. Various of cabinet meeting

7. Close of photo of Pierre Gemayel

8. Cabinet meeting members standing for one minute of silence to pay their respects to Gemayel

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's US-backed government on Saturday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of a former prime minister despite objections by Hezbollah and the country's pro-Syrian president.

The move is likely to further deepen the country's political crisis and spark the mass street demonstrations already threatened by Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies to topple the government of prime minister Fuad Saniora.

On Friday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri had issued a statement demanding a veto wielding share of the cabinet.

Earlier this month six pro-Hezbollah government ministers resigned while, this week, the Christian industry minister Pierre Gemayel was assassinated.

Fuad Saniora, the Lebanese prime minister, said Saturday he was willing to postpone the cabinet meeting to approve the tribunal "for a few days" if the six ministers would return to the government.

The meeting went ahead as scheduled.

An ongoing UN investigation into the February 2005 truck bombing that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others has said the killing's complexity suggests the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in the assassination.

Damascus has denied having any role in the killing but, having dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades, was forced to withdraw its troops.

The power struggle since, between rival factions, intensified earlier this year as a result of a 34-day war waged by Hezbollah against Israel.

In October, Nasrallah began threatening mass protests unless Hezbollah's demand for a national unity government was met.

Now, in the wake of Gemayel's assassination earlier this week, some cabinet ministers are taking shelter in government headquarters in downtown Beirut.

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

LBC - No Access Lebanon

1. Wide pan of rally in Martyr's square

2. Large flag on ground and crowds around

3. Various of crowds at rally

LBC - No Access Lebanon

4. Wide of people arriving for rally

5. Crowds along down a street to Martyrs' square

6. Various pull out shots from crowd waving flags and pictures of Hariri and his son, Saad Hariri

LBC - No Access Lebanon

7. Wide shot of boats

8. Pan of crowd

9. Various shots of people on top of street lights

10. Close-up of cross

11. Wide shot of rally

12. Pan of crowd

13. Pull out from picture of Hariri on side of building, to wide shot of rally

AP Television

14. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora arriving at Hariri's grave

15. Pan from Saniora to wreaths

16. Hariri's grave with wreaths and pictures

17. Saniora paying respects

18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese minister of sports and youth:

"The international tribunal, it's our only possibility to protect the civil population and the political class in Lebanon. We are still in the 14 last hours, 14 last years we did sacrificed a lot of our politicians and now we are sacrificing our civilian population also. So (that is) why we need so much this international tribunal."

Ein Alaq

19. Remains of blown up bus in cordoned off area

20 Close-up of bus

21. Various shots of second destroyed bus and cars behind cordon

22. Police behind cordon

STORYLINE

A sea of Lebanese flags held aloft by tens of thousands of mostly pro-government supporters filled Beirut's main square square on Wednesday to mark the emotive second anniversary of former prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The government deployed hundreds of troops to deter trouble, a day after two bombs killed three people on a highway northeast of Beirut .

Troops in full combat gear and armoured cars deployed in and around Martyrs' Square, where the country's two main rival groups were present: government supporters commemorating the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and opposition supporters continuing their daily sit-in to demand the government's resignation.

The soldiers set up a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups. Police conducted body searches as people arrived at the square.

An early arrival was Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a longtime confidant of Hariri, who, with his wife and several legislators, prayed at Hariri's grave, which lies at one side of Martyrs' Square.

The Lebanese minister of sports and youth, Ahmad Fatfat, also present, emphasised the need for an international tribunal to try suspects for the

assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Hariri's sister, Bahiya, a lawmaker, also came to the grave and prayed.

By late morning, the square was teeming with people waving the red-and-white national flag and political party flags.

Many people held pictures of Hariri or balloons in the blue colour of the Hariri faction in parliament, now led by his son, Saad.

Some demonstrators climbed the square's statue, which commemorates Lebanese martyrs of the Ottoman era.

On the other side of the razor wire, opposition supporters were noticeably low key in the tent village they have been sleeping in for months.

Supporters of Hezbollah and other parties, they walked around to warm up under the sun.

Tuesday's explosions on commuter buses on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut stoked fears of turmoil as the country prepared to mark the 2005 assassination of Hariri, the nation's most prominent politician and the leader credited with rebuilding the country from the destruction of the 1975-90 civil war.

Lebanon has suffered a series of bombings during the past two years, mostly targeting anti-Syrian figures, but Tuesday's attacks were the first that seemed intended to cause maximum casualties among civilians of no political affiliation.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a huge explosion that occurred as his motorcade was passing through central Beirut.

He was buried a few blocks away from the site. Outrage over the assassination forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, ending a 29-year presence.

SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION

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" (number of days since the assassination)

4. Arrival of Member of Parliament, 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

AP TELEVISION

8. Wide shot of thousands gathered in crowded square

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

10. Mid shot of upside down poster of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud

11. 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."

Zen TV - Lebanon

12. Hariri's son Saad Hariri praying at his graveside next to square

AP TELEVISION

13. Crowd observing one minute's silence at 1055GMT, the time of Hariri's assassination

AP TELEVISION

14. Walid Jumblatt, Druse leader and anti-Syrian politician, addressing crowd

AP TELEVISION

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are here to respond once more to the assassinations' acts, the crimes of the blast and the (people in) dark rooms who are planning to stir turmoil amongst the Lebanese people. With your gathering here, the 14th of March (correct - refers to rallies a month after assassination) is rising again, and Rafik and all martyrs of liberty will be alive in Lebanon's memory."

AP TELEVISION

16. Mid shot of soldiers

17. Various of crowd

18. Various of soldiers at rally

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese, some carrying anti-Syrian banners and many shouting criticism of Damascus, massed in a square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.

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

Next to the square Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside before anti-Syrian politicians addressed the crowd.

The politicians, including Hariri's son, Saad, and cabinet ministers, called for the ouster of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, saying he represented the symbol of Syrian power in Lebanon.

Lebanon's information minister, Ghazi Aridi, said the truth about Hariri's assassination will come out.

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

Some speakers verbally attacked Syrian 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 Lebanese capital.

The government, which is dominated by the Saad Hariri bloc, gave schools the day off to maximise participation.

Businesses also closed.

Thousands of people began gathering by mid-morning, carrying Lebanese flags and pictures of Hariri, and the numbers had swelled to more than 700-thousand by early afternoon, according to police estimates.

The demonstration, on the central Martyrs' Square next to Hariri's grave, climaxed shortly after midday local (1000gmt).

The crowds fell silent at 12:55 p.m. (1055GMT) - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown street as Hariri's motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, who had returned to Beirut on Sunday - after months of self-exile in Saudi Arabia and France for fear of assassination, had urged the Lebanese to demonstrate on Tuesday.

"You are here to respond once more to the assassinations' acts, the crimes of the blast and the (people in) dark rooms who are planning to stir turmoil amongst the Lebanese people," he told the crowd.

The groups who organised Tuesday's rally were looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

It fell short of that outpouring, but was still a comprehensive turnout.

Syria's troops left in April under international pressure, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials.

Anti-Syrians 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 denied involvement in all these attacks, including the death of Hariri.

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 shot of street scene

2. Close-up of poster of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Legislator:

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth. We will look forward to (the investigation) continuing to reach the justice which alone will be the source of full comfort to the Lebanese people, the Lebanese state and its stability."

4. Cutaway

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Legislator:

"The results reached by the UN international commission will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining - because the blood of the Lebanese people and the blood of Rafik Hariri and the others won't be starting any bargaining nor any political trade. We will not accept that, as it becomes a means of political or non-political punishment."

6. Exterior of the Grand Serail; Lebanese flag

7. Arrival of Justice Minister Charles Rizk and Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad

8. Arrival of Education Minister Khaled Kabbani

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"The UN investigation report, led by judge Detlev Mehlis, was highly appreciated by the Lebanese. The report expressed itself by the strong facts that it included and by the extreme professionalism, as was expected by the Lebanese people, without any compliance, biased or political influences.''

10. Cutaway journalists

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"The aim of discovering the details of this huge crime is to stop the series of the political assassinations in Lebanon and in all the Arab countries.''

12. Cutaway cameraman

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"Despite of all that has happened, nothing will change the brotherly relations between the Lebanese and the Syrians. The strong relations between Lebanon and Syria should not be affected under any circumstances. This bond is stronger than the condemned deterioration and mistakes that happened in the past."

14. Ghazi Aridi leaving the presser

STORYLINE

The son and political heir of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Saturday praised a UN probe that implicated top Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the murder of his father.

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth," said legislator Saad Hariri in a televised speech from his residence in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.

Many Lebanese politicians are temporarily living abroad because they fear violence at home.

Hariri's statement came two days after the chief UN investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, released the findings of the UN probe into his father's killing.

Mehlis said in his report there was a clear link between Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the massive bombing that killed Hariri and

20 others in central Beirut on February 14.

Syria angrily rejected as false, unprofessional and politicised the UN report that accused it of approving Hariri's assassination.

Saad Hariri, who heads the largest anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon's parliament, also said that the findings of the probe "will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining".

His statement was the first official comment on the UN report by the Hariri family.

Hariri spoke shortly before Lebanon's cabinet discussed the report, which it said was based on "strong facts and high level of professionalism".

The cabinet also called on Syria to cooperate honestly with the investigation, but Information Minister Ghazi Aridi insisted the probe would not

affect his country's ties with Damascus, adding the cabinet would discuss calls for an international tribunal after the UN investigation ended.

The elder Hariri's assassination prompted mass anti-Syrian protests and intensified international pressure on Syria to withdraw its army, ending 29

years of control of its neighbour.

Many Lebanese blamed the killing on Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs.

Syria and its Lebanese allies denied any involvement.

Four Lebanese generals who ran the security services at the time Hariri was killed have been jailed for alleged involvement in the murder.

SHOTLIST

LBC

1. Wide pan of Martyrs' square

2. Close of flags, pull out to wide of crowd

3. Pull out from people on monument of wide of rally

AP TELEVISION

4. Lebanese army helicopter flying above the crowds

5. Tilt down from Al-Amin mosque to Lebanese security forces

6. Lebanese army Armoured Personnel Carriers

7. Bahiya Hariri (Rafik Hariri's sister) near the grave

8. Pan from Walid Jumblatt to graves

9. Crowds around the grave

10. Medium of Hariri's grave

11. Saad Hariri with Hariri's family reading versus of Quran near the grave

12. Medium of Saad Hariri

13. People carrying flags

FUTURE TV

14.Mid of politicians including Samir Geagea, Bahiya Hariri and Saad Hariri during one minute silence UPSOUND OF BELLS RINGING

15. Pan across politicians

LBC

15. Al-Amin mosque

16. Pull our from picture of Hariri on building to crowd

AP TELEVISION

17. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Samir Geagea, Leader of Lebanese forces party

"We are saying to the Syrian regime that the eye of Lebanon will resist your drill and it did resist and will resist till the rising of the real Lebanon and the state of Lebanon."

18. Wide of waving flags

19. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Walid Jumblatt, member of Parliament

" We came here to say that we will not surrender to the terrorist, the killing bombs, to the Syrian or non-Syrian parties. We advise Sayyed (Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General) to give his missiles to the Lebanese army."

20. Pan of crowds

POOL

21.SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, "We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

AP TELEVISION

22. Prime Ministers' office building with pro-Hezbollah protesters tent in the foreground

23. Tents behind barbed wires

24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Hussein al-Haj Hassan, Hezbollah member of parliament "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

LBC

25. Various of crowds leaving

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of Lebanese packed into a Beirut city square and and held aloft the nation's flag Wednesday to mark the emotive, politically-charged second anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Fears for public safety at such a mass gathering were high, the day after two bombs in Beirut left three people dead, and prompted the government to deploy hundreds of troops in case of further violence.

The country's continuing and long-running power struggle was played out in Martyrs' Square, where a mass of government supporters gathered next to Hariri's grave.

A much smaller number of mainly pro-Hezbollah opposition supporters remained camped in tents close by to demand the government's resignation.

Backed by armoured cars, soldiers erected a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups. The opposition made clear it wanted the anniversary to pass without violence.

Politicians, including members of the former leader's family, gathered at Rafik Hariri's graveside for prayer.

At exactly 1055 GMT - the time of the fatal explosion - the crowd fell silent except for a muezzin's Islamic call to prayer and the tolling of a church bell.

Then the country's leading politicians addressed the crowd.

Walid Jumblatt, a pro-government member of Parliament, made a pointed attack on Hezbollah, " We came here to say that we will not surrender to the terrorist, the killing bombs, to the Syrian or non-Syrian parties. We advise Sayed (Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General) to give his missiles to the Lebanese army."

Said Hariri, the son of the former leader said "We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

The UN investigation into his father's assassination has become a thorny point of contention in Lebanon's power struggle.

Hezbollah's power struggle with the government of Fuad Saniora is seen in the region as the militant Shiite group's muscle-flexing attempt to build on its success in the ground war with Israel in south Lebanon during the summer war.

Some observers say Hezbollah is trying to secure a position of strength in the cabinet with the power of veto which could be utilised against the international tribunal.

However, Hussein al-Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah member of parliament told AP Television News "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

The probe is slowly proceeding, but Lebanon's approval of UN-backed court to try the suspects has been held up by the deep internal divisions between the pro-American government and the opposition, led by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Supporters of Saad Hariri and of the government, now made up of his allies accuse Syria of being behind his father's slaying.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months after Hariri's death after intensive regional and international pressure, but denies any involvement his death.

SHOTLIST

LBC

1. Wide pan of Martyrs' square

2. Close of flags, pull out to wide of crowd

3. Pull out from people on monument of wide of rally

AP TELEVISION

4. Lebanese army helicopter flying above the crowds

5. Tilt down from Al-Amin mosque to Lebanese security forces

6. Lebanese army Armoured Personnel Carriers

7. Bahiya Hariri (Rafik Hariri's sister) near the grave

8. Pan from Walid Jumblatt, a pro-government member of Parliament, to graves

9. Crowds around the grave

10. Medium of Hariri's grave

11. Saad Hariri with Hariri's family reading versus of Quran near the grave

12. Medium of Saad Hariri

13. People carrying flags

FUTURE TV

14. Mid of politicians including Samir Geagea, Bahiya Hariri and Saad Hariri through bullet-proof glass during one minute silence UPSOUND OF BELLS RINGING

LBC

15. Al-Amin mosque

16. Pull out of crowd

17. Pull our from picture of Hariri on building to crowd

POOL

18. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader and son of Rafik Hariri:

"We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

AP TELEVISION

19. Prime Minister's office building with pro-Hezbollah protesters tent in the foreground

20. Tents behind barbed wires

21. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hussein al-Haj Hassan, Hezbollah member of parliament

"There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

LBC

22. Various of crowds leaving Martyrs' Square

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of Lebanese packed into a Beirut city square and held aloft the nation's flag Wednesday to mark the emotive, politically-charged second anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician and was killed by a massive truck bomb on 14 February, 2005.

Fears for public safety at such a mass gathering were high, the day after two bombs in Beirut left three people dead, and prompted the government to deploy hundreds of troops in case of further violence.

The country's continuing and long-running power struggle was played out in Martyrs' Square, where a mass of government supporters gathered next to Hariri's grave.

A much smaller number of mainly pro-Hezbollah opposition supporters remained camped in tents close by to demand the government's resignation.

Backed by armoured cars, soldiers erected a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups.

The opposition made clear it wanted the anniversary to pass without violence.

Politicians, including members of the former leader's family, gathered at Rafik Hariri's graveside for prayer.

At exactly 1055 GMT - the time of the fatal explosion - the crowd fell silent except for a muezzin's Islamic call to prayer and the tolling of a church bell.

Then the country's leading politicians addressed the crowd.

"We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years," said Said Hariri, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader and son of the former leader.

The UN investigation into his father's assassination has become a thorny point of contention in Lebanon's power struggle.

Hezbollah's power struggle with the government of Fuad Saniora is seen in the region as the militant Shiite group's muscle-flexing attempt to build on its success in the ground war with Israel in south Lebanon during the summer war.

Some observers say Hezbollah is trying to secure a position of strength in the cabinet with the power of veto which could be utilised against the international tribunal.

However, Hussein al-Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah member of parliament told AP Television News: "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal... there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

The probe is slowly proceeding, but Lebanon's approval of UN-backed court to try the suspects has been held up by the deep internal divisions between the pro-American government and the opposition, led by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Supporters of Saad Hariri and of the government, now made up of his allies accuse Syria of being behind his father's slaying.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months after Hariri's death after intensive regional and international pressure, but denies any involvement his death.

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:

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide shot of thousands gathered in crowded square

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

3. Mid shot of upside down poster of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud

Zen TV - Lebanon

4. Hariri's son Saad Hariri praying at his graveside next to square

AP TELEVISION

5. Crowd observing one minute's silence at 1055GMT, the time of Hariri's assassination

AP TELEVISION

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri:

"They (the Syrians) left for us in Baabda (Lebanese presidential palace) a deposit of the tutelage regime." (referring to President Lahoud)

ZEN TV POOL

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Walid Jumblatt, Druse leader:

"There can be no stability and no freedom while the symbol of subservience to the Syrian regime remains in Baabda (Lebanon's presidential palace). We say to him (Lebanese President Emile Lahoud) : the terrorist Bashar installed you and the valiant Lebanese people will remove you."

AP TELEVISION

8. Pan of crowd

AP TELEVISION

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

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

AP TELEVISION

10. Mid shot of soldiers

11. Various of crowd

12. Various of soldiers at rally

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to Rafik Hariri on the first anniversary of their former premier's assassination on Tuesday.

Waving flags and shouting anti-Syrian slogans they put on a show of strength aimed at reviving the "people power" spirit that helped break Damascus' domination of its politics and pressed Syria to withdraw its troops.

Groups opposed to any Syrian influence in their country - buoyed by a turnout that police put at about 800,000 and organisers said was more than a (m) million - stepped up demands for the resignation of Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud.

But it remained unclear if they will be able to consolidate control of the government.

So far, the bloc led by those affiliated to the slain former premier's son, Saad - politicians who are a majority in government and Parliament - have been unable to force out President Emile Lahoud or catch those responsible for Hariri's killing or a series of bombings that have killed 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrian figures.

But the demonstration certainly boosted the sagging morale of these groups, buffeted by the killings and bombings.

The crowds fell into silence at 12:55 p.m. (1055GMT) - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown street as Hariri's motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

Saad Hariri returned to Beirut on Sunday - after months of self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia and France for fear of assassination - to rally the divided former opposition for the demonstration.

He prayed at his father's grave before addressing the crowds. "They (the Syrians) left for us in Baabda, a deposit of the tutelage regime," he told them, referring to the Baabda presidential palace, inhabited by President Lahoud.

"There can be no stability and no freedom while the symbol of subservience to the Syrian regime remains in Baabda," Walid Jumblatt, a major anti-Syrian Druse politician said, echoing Hariri, before adding, "the terrorist Bashar installed you and the valiant Lebanese people will remove you, " a searing denunciation of the the Syrian president, Bashar Assad.

Neither Lahoud nor Syria had any immediate reaction. Syria has denied any role in Hariri's killing or the subsequent bombings but has stalled on cooperation in the UN probe into the former prime minister's death.

Three of the four top Lebanese generals close to Lahoud have been arrested in connection to the slaying.

But Lahoud has remained. The anti-Syrian groups in Parliament are short of the two-thirds needed to force him out.

"The truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community," information minister

Ghazi Aridi said of the investigation.

Before its 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:

++PLEASE BE ADVISED, OTV IS A PRO-MICHEL AOUN (CHRISTIAN LEADER, ALLIED TO HEZBOLLAH) STATION++

OTV - NO ACCESS LEBANON

Beirut - 19 September 2007

1. Pan from car on fire to smoke and fire coming off another vehicle

2. Wide of another vehicle on fire, people in street

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

3. Tracking shot of vehicle on fire, smoke

4. Various of firemen trying to extinguish flames

5. Damaged building

6. Tilt-up of rubble to people setting up security cordon

7. Pan from wreckage of one car to wreckage of another car

8. Body of man lying on street

9. Body lying in front of car wreckage

10. Body lying on street under cover, tilt-up to soldiers shouting orders

11. Paramedic running to help, pan to vehicle being hosed

12. Tilt-down from damaged building to car still on fire being hosed.

13. Fireman hosing fire

14. Close-up of blood on tarmac

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Date and location unknown

15. Various of blast victim Antoine Ghanem, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

16. Set-up of Telecommunications minister, Marwan Hamadeh

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Telecommunications minister:

"Once more the Syrian regime is using its terrorist skills to assassinate one after the other the MPs belonging to the Lebanese independence movement majority. We lost an MP three months ago, we lost a minister seven months ago. We have been since the assassination of prime minister Hariri being targeted one after the other, in order to deplete the majority of its numbers and to impose a comeback of Syria over Lebanon. We will not surrender to Bashar Assad's terrorist threats to Lebanon."

18. Close-up of photo showing Hamadeh with former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

19. 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."

20. Cutaway

21. 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."

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

22. Wide view from above blast site

23. View from above of emergency services and soldiers at the site

24. Wide view from above of the blast site

STORYLINE:

A powerful bomb killed a pro-government Parliament member and six others on Wednesday in a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital, security officials said.

The blast targeted Antoine Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Ghanem was the eighth anti-Syrian figure and fourth lawmaker from the majority assassinated since 2005, reducing the ruling coalition's margin in

Parliament.

The Voice of Lebanon radio station, which is owned by the Phalange party, also confirmed Ghanem's death. The identities of the others killed were not immediately known.

The attack occurred six days before Parliament was scheduled to meet to elect a new president in a deeply divisive vote.

Security officials said 67 people were wounded in Wednesday's blast, half of which have left the hospital.

The explosion occurred at rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil district, severely damaging nearby buildings, setting several cars on fire and leaving the street littered with blood and debris.

Explosive experts were seen sifting through the engine of Ghanem's car, which was blown at least 50 metres (165 feet) away by the force of the explosion.

Bystanders, looking shocked, watched as ambulances and civil defence workers searched for more victims.

Former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel, who heads the Phalange Party, said Lebanon's democracy was at stake.

The former president's son, Cabinet minister and lawmaker Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated in November.

Syria condemned the attack, which it said was meant to sabotage efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement.

The assassination of anti-Syrian figures began with former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bombing that year.

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

Hariri's death sparked massive protests that helped bring an end to Syria's nearly 30-year domination of Lebanon. Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005, and a government led by anti-Syrian politicians was elected.

Since then, the government of US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has been locked in a power struggle with the opposition, led by Syria's ally Hezbollah.

Government supporters have accused Syria of seeking to end Saniora's slim majority in parliament by killing off lawmakers in his coalition.

"Once more the Syrian regime is using its terrorist skills to assassinate one after the other, the MPs belonging to the Lebanese independence movement majority," Lebanese telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh told AP Television.

"We have been since the assassination of Prime minister Hariri being targeted one after the other, in order to deplete the majority of its numbers and to impose a come back of Syria over Lebanon. We will not surrender to (Syrian President) Bashar Assad's terrorist threats to Lebanon," he added.

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

In apparent reference to the power struggle for Lebanon by rivalling factions, he continued:

"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."

After the assassination of Lebanese Parliament member Walid Eido in June, many majority legislators had to leave the country to spend the summer abroad for security reasons.

Others who stayed in Lebanon took extra security.

Ghanem was travelling on Wednesday in a car with regular license plates, his blue plate hidden in the trunk, apparently as a security measure.

Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told The Associated Press that Ghanem returned two days ago from abroad where he had been taking refuge for the past two months.

According to local papers, a landmark hotel near the Parliament building in downtown Beirut has been rented for majority members to protect them during the 60-day presidential election process, which begins on Tuesday.

Wednesday's bombing heightens tensions before the presidential vote that already threatens to throw the country into deeper turmoil.

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

Pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud 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.

Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they don't approve of, and they can do so by boycotting the vote, preventing the necessary two-thirds quota.

If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, 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.

With Ghanem's death, Saniora supporters hold 68 of parliament's 128 seats, compared to the opposition's 59.

SHOTLIST:

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Recent

1. Pan from traffic to United Nations (UN) building

UNTV

May 15, 2007

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General:

"I'm of the view that while we, after having exhausted all diplomatic efforts by the United Nations including myself and having received an official request from government of Lebanon, asking the Security Council to take necessary actions, I think it is necessary for the Security Council to take necessary actions."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Recent

3. Reporters outside Security Council

UNTV

May 15, 2007

4. SOUNDBITE: (English): Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General:

"Even at this time, I would hope and urge Lebanese government and people to agree themselves on national consensus to establish the special tribunal in accordance with the decision of the Security Council. It is absolutely necessary to send our strong message that there should be no impunity for perpetrators who committed crimes and particularly for political assassinations."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Recent

5. Mid shot photographers outside Security Council

UNTV

May 15, 2007

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Zalmay Khalilzad, US Ambassador to the UN:

"We understand that there are some risks, some say, with regard to taking action, but we believe that the risks of not taking action are greater and therefore for reasons of justice, for reasons of long-term stability of Lebanon, and the fact that the Lebanese have requested our help, we need to move and move expeditiously."

AP TELEVISION

FILE: Date unknown

7. Wide tilt up of UN building

STORYLINE:

The United States said on Tuesday it plans to introduce a resolution possibly later this week to have the United Nations establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Security Council will be taking action following a formal request from Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon asking that the tribunal be established.

US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said they could not let the the Lebanese down.

"We understand that there are some risks, some say, with regard to taking action, but we believe that the risks of not taking action are greater and therefore for reasons of justice, for reasons of long-term stability of Lebanon, and the fact that the Lebanese have requested our help, we need to move and move expeditiously," Khalilzad said.

Ban, who discussed Saniora's request over lunch with council members, told reporters afterward that the Security Council should create the tribunal - but at the same time he urged the Lebanese parties to try again to reach agreement on the tribunal which would be the best solution.

Ban said that "after having exhausted all diplomatic efforts" now was the time "to take necessary actions."

In the letter, Saniora cited Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's refusal to convene a session of parliament to formally ratify the statutes of the tribunal and the bilateral agreement with the United Nations.

He stressed the support of the majority of parliamentarians for the tribunal.

"In light of the above, the Lebanese government believes that the time has come for the Security Council to help make the special tribunal for Lebanon a reality," Saniora said in the letter.

The Secretary General said although it would have been preferable for the Lebanese government to handle the investigation internally, it is still necessary to "send our strong message that there should be no impunity for perpetrators who committed crimes."

The issue of an international tribunal that would try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of Hariri and 22 others has sharply polarised Lebanon.

It is at the core of a deep political crisis between the government and opposition groups, a conflict that has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles, killing 11 people in recent months.

A Security Council decision to create a tribunal is bound to further deepen the power struggle between the Western-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition.