rich not very difficult to destabilize lebanon is it. well the situation has been very tense since the assassination of prime minister former prime minister a few how dearly in two thousand and five there's been a really there have been some clashes between the two different groups in lebanon that. you know supported by foreign powers. but i don't think there to destabilize the situation lebanon is in the hands of mr asaad or in the hands of fourteenth of march or in the hands of the the salafism the north or even in the hands of hezbollah if this is a matter that is in the hands of the international community and i think the fact that lebanon has not drifted to a total as state of chaos and the past three or four days is because the international community and more nominally i would say the a year representatives of the five permanent members in the security council have made a clear statement that they support the current government and they support because they want to the situation to remain stable in lebanon and so therefore there b

it always is bad for lebanon when stuff like this is happening. well yes yes it's bad for lebanon and any any any involvement of the lebanese in the syrian conflict is bad for lebanon are it on the side of the regime or on the side of the rabble i just want to say that you know the there has always been a call that russia can play a bigger role and and that russia has. interests in syria and therefore it should play a bigger role and but i think it's a bit misleading because the there are two sides of the story so well the russians the iranians the chinese and their g.m. are saying that the americans and the europeans and the and the western community can do can do more by stopping the smuggling of weapons by pushing the saudis the qataris the turks and the and their allies to stop smuggling weapons into syria and i disagree that the americans are not taking the full opportunity there taken a full opportunity and the evidence is that the as the other guest said from beirut that the the rebel groups are getting stronger yes they're getting stronger

does this bombing show the conflict has spread into lebanon? >> it has spread to the heart of beirut. it has been spreading for a couple of months, the border areas mostly. we see this with the sunni-shi'a tensions excel rating. this is the big move into the capital. >> one politician has said that the syrian president is behind the bombing. is that a credible claim? >> yes, the head of the information bureau, the intelligence in lebanon, that was investigating the role of -- who was backed by damascus in carrying out a number of bombings. this is a clear message to back off inside of those factors. >> lebanon and syria, the politics go hand in hand. many of the same sex in each country overlap and families overlap. it is very hard to be a fool on war in the regime in damascus for that to not eventually to come over into some kind of turmoil in lebanon. >> i remember seeing of the enormous crater caused by the assassination of the prime minister. what does this portend? >> it means we're going back to a time now where the regime in damascus is

>> well, he was one of the most senior intelligence officials in lebanon.associated with a couple of particular things which really targeted syria and syria allies in lebanon. one was the investigation into the murder of former prime minister rafik hariri in 2005 and most recently he was seen as being involved in the arrest of one of the syrian president assad's top allies in lebanon which was seen as a very bold move for the intelligence services in lebanon. >> brown: no one has taken responsibility for the bombing yet, i gather. who what is the thinking there? what is being talked about? who is being looked at? >> well, politicians in lebanon who are associated with the sort of anti-assad movement have been very quick to blame assad. for many lebanese the bomb today was a huge blast, was reminiscent of a string of attacks which took place against anti-syrian politicians in the year 2005 to 2008. so there's a lot of people targeting the syrians for this, although syria has condemned the attack. and described it as an ago of terrorism. but there are protest

tensions have also been fueled by a flood of syrian refugees into lebanon.on today, state department spokeswoman victoriau nuland stopped short of blaming syria for today's attack, but she said lebanon is at risk of being destabilized again. >> we have been, for a number of weeks and, in fact, months now, that we've been concerned about increasing tensions inside of lebanon, particularly sectarian tensions and tensions as a result of spillover from syria. but i don't want to pre-judge before the lebanese authorities have had a chance to declare themselves who was responsible here. >> brown: there was no such reluctance back in lebanon, where sunnis burned tires in protest in cities across the country as news of the bombing spread. a short time ago, i spoke with abigail fiding smith of thedi "financil times" from beirut. abigail, welcome. tell us a bit more about thel presumed target here, a top intelligence official. how h he stirred up enemies? >> well, he was one of the most senior intelligence h officials in lebanon. and he was associated with a couple of

a wave of violent protests in lebanon after the powerful blast that killed at least eight including a top security official. the opposition calls for an indefinite strike while the army reportedly falls on demonstrators here in live pictures from the center of the capital beirut live reaction on the developments there shortly here in. the under siege stronghold of gadhafi supporters in libya faces an assault by militias the country still gripped by chaos a year off to the west and for the. tens of thousands marched through london to show of anger against austerity sweeping europe. from a new center here in central moscow international news. lebanon is engulfed in protests triggered by the death of a top security official in friday's bombing in the capital some rallies have turned violent with two people reportedly injured after the army opened fire in one of the roads blocked with burning tires the opposition has called for an indefinite strike and for the government to be dissolved well live to our correspondent there in the region of the blast seems to not only a part of beirut but

really open to question and if we think about past presidents thirty years ago the israelis entered lebanon to suppress the p.l.o. they had yet been where they were and they were greeted by people in the south liberators from the p.l.o. from the palestinians who were disliked by the shirts but a few months later the sharks decided they didn't like the israeli liberators and that runs to the present day so there's always a danger that you can intervene to act as a liberator only to discover that the people who you liberated turned out not to be grateful again i did talk about that and the nato element a little bit later further if you think that the turks really want to go this far or do you think they're going to have their western allies backing them up ok empty rhetoric again even though we do have shells going over the border the turkish public opinion according to recent opinion polls is increasingly against their government's syria policy at the same time also i think the turkish government does not want to enter into the syrian quagmire at least or get militarily involved unless it's

when there was a civil war in lebanon we had hezbollah it created a proxy in iraq when there was an instability and mehdi and i think if there would be some sort of instability decentralized garman in syria iran definitely would make a proxy with the alloy to inside this area and i think that's their war scenario that we can see but again back to your question today about what would happen if it goes i think first we have we know that these regime has lost its legitimacy and its credibility so there is no other everybody in the serious keep that in mind gentlemen not everybody in syria feels that way go ahead. all i can argue the majority of the people they want a more democratic system of governance i mean either they're afraid of saying their only we're going to there's a civil war it's pretty hard to figure out what public opinion is mark you said you want to jump in and mention something about israel go right ahead. well i think mostly to point that israel has been rather quiet on this is quite revealing because after all the regime hasn't been a big problem for the israelis not

well i think the syrian case i would i would argue that here is very similar to lebanon but with syria is very complicated and the reason is that there are three concentric forces of conflict at the same time that are working for first we have the domestic opposition groups there are fighting there is. none of them can defeat the other one and then we have the regional cold war between iran as you mentioned saudi arabia and the arab gulf states. and also some religious you can say called war between shias and so on islam and then we have on the international level also the. between russia china and other side the united states france and. germany and other european countries so i think because of these three levels you see that it's resolving the crisis in syria is very very complicated get much if i could say with you but i mean how many people in syria want to resolve and i'm looking at the rebels ok they've walked away from the goshi ations. well i think we can say that majority of syrian people want the they're looking for a peaceful transition and. we way beyond that now don't you

you see catherine of lebanon. the latest clashes and a former. libyan leader moammar gadhafi has left twenty six people dead and two hundred more i might find some of the video we're about to show you are disturbing the libyan army envoy a smallish i have been attacking the perceived town of bani walid for more than two weeks now accusing gadhafi supporters of kidnapping those inside the town say they are suffering severe shortages of food water and medicine political activist ali see who had left libya around a year ago says the state is heading towards further disarray a year after the nato back to. its model division not only. for. the militia of. course. also. inside the city we used. to. live you can see. the means. of the nations. is not really covering. this at this example. we succeeded so we succeeded in syria. but. u.s. intelligence says last month's attack on the american consulate in libya was most likely not premeditated or linked to al qaida some washington politicians previously suggested the assault in the city of benghazi left fo

syria, very much inextricably linked with lebanon. very close ties with lebanon.ou have those here who are opposed to the regime, and you have those here who are very much with the regime of syrian president bashar al assad, and many people had thought that bashar al assad in one way or the other would show up somehow in the internal politics yet again here in lebanon and cause more chaos in a country that is still recovering from a civil war that only ended in 1990. >> of course, with the veneer of stability that exists in lebanon, mohammed, they feared that al assad would try to destabilize the situation in lebanon to divert weights what's going on within his own borders, so this obviously is a very worrying thing. and when you look at the neighborhood that was attacked, predominantly christian neighborhood, usually peaceful, very social sort of area. as posed to the trouble that's already spilled outside the borders, which have been in the north, in tripoli, the port city where you had sunni and alawat issues. >> we should point out, you know, violence in leban

top stories and today's breaking news from around the world first to what's happening right now in lebanon mass protests in the capital have to send it into raw it with the army firing tear gas to control hundreds of angry demonstrators they tried to storm the government headquarters in beirut after the funerals of those killed in friday's car bombing. is in the region and you know we've been watching the events unfold in beirut after a tense couple of days how did it all turn so violent well be talking about the events up to date on the under people were marching towards the government building be approach following the funeral of one of those who was killed on friday but are there. and as you have mentioned several people in the crowd as a result of. the government building they were the ones who we had. the free syrian army or rather our syrian opposition and also all kind of flags and then of course you could see that all hell broke loose there as tear gas fired there where there were gunshots being fired or. people on the ground were reporting that actually it didn't look like. some o

process in lebanon have a. early monday falling we can clashes between police and demonstrators and the country's northern city of tripoli armed clashes have left one person dead and eight wounded the rest began on sunday one security forces used tear gas to contain crowds of protesters trying to storm government headquarters the country's opposition blamed syria for the comp last that killed lebanon's top general they say their government which is close to the regime in damascus could have. been a political analyst. investigation is needed before any blame is laid. apparently no one is waiting for the investigation everyone is really in a rush to accuse and this is very unfortunate there's a tension in lebanon between two groups you see one group in lebanon on support of the opposition or the armed rebel groups in syria another group does not support the opposition group and in the middle is the prime minister who is trying to say that lebanon is neutral towards the crisis in syria. with the assassination of g

in lebanon on the fire and that exactly what happened with that explosion now a little bit about the protests that are going on in lebanon right now and that there is actually no sign of them subsiding in fact it looks like they're just starting to think that. we have a force that we have protests. all over the country essentially last night and they continue with this afternoon there was a huge gathering. but that's of course not the only place where people are protesting they're protesting in that other towns as well they're blocking roads they're burning. tire's there plus there are calls of some of the activists not to do that in fact march towards the woods and show their support for the cause they are in the lebanese capital as you have said there have there have been several incidents where. army has reportedly fired again i have to make no if they were firing at the person searched for say at least as according to the reports they were trying to encourage you to reach you on block the roads and accidently wounded two people in the process there is however talk of and change o

protesters in lebanon, including one former prime minister, are speaking out against lebanon's current prime minister. they want him out of office. lebanon is home to about 4 million people. it's located in the middle east, on the mediterranean sea, next door to syria. sop observers are concerned that the violence that is going on in syria could spread to lebanon or it has already. last friday a carbomb went off in the lebanese capital of beirut. three people were killed including the country's intelligence chief. some lebanese officials blamed syria for it. yesterday, after the intelligence leader's funeral, protesters fought with security forces in beirut. police used tear gas to break up the protests. several people were reportedly injured. >>> is this legit? someone is officially recognized as a saint when he or she is canonized. this is true. in the roman catholic church, canonization is the act of recognizing someone has a saint. >> the roman catholic church recognized seven people as new saints over the weekend. the canonization ceremony had history, as well. a native-american w

. >> lebanon stairs into the abyss. fears that last friday's bombing will be the start of a new time of sectarian violence. clashes on monday morning. lebanese remember a civil war and fear history will repeat itself. hello and welcome to gmt. i'm george alagiah with a world of news and opinion. from supporterst of vote bo xilai disposes -- exposes a rift that in the communist party. and daniel craig is back as james bond. it's midday in london, 2:00 in the afternoon in beirut, where the lebanese army says it is determined to restore order across the country. it follows clashes in parts of the capital and the northern part of tripoli in the wake of last week's assassination of the country post-intelligencer. the great fear is that the in syria is about to engulf 11 on. 11 on remembers a 15-year civil war. now this report from beirut. >> the heaviest clashes overnight or in the northern city of tripoli. at least three people including two children reported killed. disturbances between anti- government protesters and secu

you see caffein of r t lebanon. deceptive another syria bound plane affair lying through its airspace earlier this week to search its kongo an american jet taking a to aleppo was grounded and checked for weapons as the second case of its kind last week a syrian passenger flight from moscow was also forced to land. in a writer editor in chief for a german news magazine says take his behavior as a part of a proxy war in syria it's a complete. syria about not just syria's also pro-creation well co-horts the peace in the middle east region and it's. the soup of life in general or what turkey does right now this is this complete program again it's not new who the billions from western countries from states to the syrian rebels we are not discussing about the whore material we are not discussing about the weapons. and of course the communication technology which is the lever to the to the rebels in syria by other governments we are discussing now about two planes. and this should be the international affair this is what t

officials are appealing to everyone in lebanon on every political side to work together. >> all of lebanon'sitical leaders need to work together, need to address the concerns over the attack, that there is an investigation underway and we will look to the results of the investigation. we would urge calm, also. >>jonathan: the united states is sending an f.b.i. investigation team to look to the car bombing that killed a senior lebanese intelligence official. >>shepard: this is concern jonathan, that lebanon would be the scene for a proxy war with so many drums around the middle east. >>jonathan: if lebanon exploded everyone will have a dog in that fight. a lot of this has to do with the religious makeup in lebanon. 27 percent are sunni muslim, 27 percent are shia muslim and 21 percent are maronite christians. hezbollah is included in there, so if you get chaos in lebanon, the best organized group, the best play to take advantage of that, is hezbollah, who, of course, are not just allies of president assad in syria but are proxies of the iranian government and hezbollah is strong in the south

a wave of violent protests in lebanon after the powerful car blast that killed at least eight including a top security official the opposition calls for an indefinite strike while the army reportedly follows on demonstrators. the under siege stronghold of gadhafi supporters in libya faces an assault by militias look at why the country still gripped by chaos in the year after the western backed revolt. tens of thousands marched through london in the late show of anger against the sterility that's sweeping europe. the money center here in central moscow international news and comment live on r.t. lebanon is engulfed in protests triggered by the death of a top security official in friday's car bombing in the capital some rallies have turned violent with two people reportedly injured after the army opened far in one of the roads blocked with burning tires the opposition has called for an indefinite strike can for the government to be dissolved correspondent is in the region following the developments. but we have protests all over the country essentially last night and they continued this a

middle east expert live from beirut in lebanon thank you very much indeed well lebanon as we've just been hearing is not the only country in the region affected by the syrian conflict turkey's military once again fired into syria in response to two shells landing on turkish territory this is the latest border incident between the two countries with tension between ankara and damascus remaining at a dangerous level turkey has been carrying out strikes against syria since a stray shell from across the border killed five civilians in a turkish town earlier this month damascus claims its fighting rebels using a safe haven on the border accusing turkey of openly supporting them and supplying arms more on how relations between the two are teetering on the brink of war. that's later today. but he worried in libya a stronghold of late colonel gadhafi is in flames again a year after the dictator's death and the nato led military operation libya's army in the local militia are trying to clear out supporters of the old regime and laid siege to the town for the last two weeks and former m i five

also this hour away bill and the rest sweeps lebanon following clashes between police and anti-government protesters over the killing of a top security official. on foreign policy is in focus as barak obama and wait for me gear up for their final pre-election debate with some observers saying there is no difference in that view of america's role in the world also the special in-depth coverage of the presidential race is coming up. on the round the wall this is all she was me thanks for joining us then going standoff has intensified in libya where the government telling to militias continue to surround the khadafi stronghold of bani walid. in the outskirts of the city have left at least twenty people dead and more than three hundred injured and he's a rino going to show he's joining us live from tel aviv in just the what a warning you might find some of the falling scenes disturbing how they arena so will some of the latest developments in this ongoing crisis. the seems like the situation doesn't seem to get any better in fact it does seem to get worse with every passing minute unfortunate

and a day of rage in lebanon with gunshots reported amid the violent protests in the capital beirut demanding the prime minister step down after a deadly car bombing friday. six am in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story libya's army and loyalist militias are readying for a final assault on the city of bani walid where supporters of the old regime have been under siege for more than two weeks the youngest son of colonel khadafi commies has been killed in a battle that came a year after the longtime libyan leader i've been toppled just to warn you some of the images in our report are disturbing more than a dozen people including children killed and many more injured attacks during this blockade residents say they are short on medicine water and food turmoil in bani walid seen as one side of continuing disarray that's reigned in the country since the western backed revolt as artie's guy named reports. a year after the killing of number cannot feed not only has the new government of leave immediately illegal to criticize the february revolution of last year but

security forces in lebanon using barbed wire and roadblocks to contain armed gunmen calling for the government to quit following a wave weekend protests over the killing of a top security official. plus foreign policies in focus sounds barack obama and mitt romney gear up for their final election debate with some observers saying there's no difference in their view of america's role in the world are two special in-depth coverage of the presidential race is coming up. hello and thank you for joining our team this monday i'm karen with the latest world news the ongoing standoff has intensified in libya where government linked militias continue to surround the former gadhafi stronghold bani walid phares clashes in the outskirts of the city have left at least twenty people dead and more than three hundred injured parties arena joins us live from tel aviv now irina what are the latest developments happening in the ongoing crisis in bani walid. well you know we have to understand that the sea just going on for the eighteen days straight it began when the government forces that is the age the city co

you see caffein of r t lebanon. and yet more advanced weapons have made their way to syrian rebels causing concern that some could end up in the hands of islamist extremists video footage that has suffered online appears to show fighters in the city of aleppo using portable anti aircraft guns moscow has once again warned against sending illegal arms to syria saying it may come at a high price. but. it's not a good idea to put out a fire with. we have the example of other countries in north africa and the middle east i will see this again stop supporting the arab spring it will not end well after the arab spring there will be a very hard arab summer and you could win or lose are turning our attention out of libya at least eleven people have been killed scores wounded after militias linked to the defense ministry shelled bani walid a former stronghold of course of the late colonel gadhafi and the country remains close to chaos following the western backed rebellion last year that toppled the nation's longtime dictator

pushing down agenda which of course is not entirely wrong many of the fault lines are found in lebanon even between different religious groups between different interest groups and they're of course not just intelligence services of the local arab countries and so on but there are international intelligence of plane came here too they have their interests and it's a very very murky world of i think this is one of the problems. tragedies for the love of them why i think there's been much less of a turn for those who we might expect it's a lot of lebanese are just very weary and where are you being dragged into other people's fighting just briefly what about the people of lebanon of beirut in particular. enjoyed four years of relative stability should now be alarmed the very fearful that everything could be undone now in the lebanon really a descent into chaos and of course as i say this is a kind of herald of the beginning of an election campaign that might have been a normal action campaign where people go to different parties now it could well be . that there's a kind of civil war whe

and a wave of violent protests in lebanon after a powerful car blast killed at least eight including a top security official the opposition calling for an indefinite strike while the army reportedly fire on demonstrators. three and in moscow i matter as a good to have you with us here on r t our top story the libyan army and loyalist militias are preparing for the final assault on the city of bani walid where supporters of the old regime have been under siege for more than two weeks the deadly battle comes a year after the capture and death of longtime leader moammar gadhafi and the nato military campaign there just to warn you some of the images in the upcoming report are graphic more than a dozen people including children may have been killed and many more injured in attacks during the blockade residents say though short on medicine food and water turmoil in the city is seen as just one sign of continuing disarray that's reigned in the would be a since the western backed evolved as artie's ganesh young reports. a year after the killing of warmer canal feet not only has the new gove

the situation in lebanon remains far from easy in fact it has been exasperated by the explosion during the rush hour of course there was a horrific scene which followed and the almost immediately of course during the night the people started people started pouring out on the streets resurrecting the tensions between the sunni and the shia muslims which have been kind of a back burner for a little while in the country but now it seems like there is a go ahead to the tensions in the country there are calls from the march fourteenth movement to start to stage a day of rage on sunday and they are now openly expressing the fact that they believe all of this is the doing of the syrian government of president also that he is the one to benefit from the situation there of course reminding of among the people who were killed on the day itself a police official who was known for his severe and syrian stance now people are saying they said that they want the government to step down the entire government there is a sit in being organized in front of the parliament people are saying they're going t

from the new center here in central moscow international news and comment live on our team lebanon is in gulf in protests triggered by the death of a top security official in friday's car bombing in the capital some rallies have turned violent with two people reportedly injured after the army opened fire in one of the roads blocked with burning tires the opposition has called for an indefinite strike and for the government to be dissolved a correspondent is in the region following the developments. but we have protests all over the country essentially last night and they continued this afternoon there was a huge gathering at the capital beirut but that's of course not the only place where people are protesting their browser thing and other towns as well they're blocking roads they're burning tires back to the reason for this unrest of a mall the people were killed on. top police official who was known for his severe and syrian stance thousands of workers are now out on the streets saying that it was syria that was behind the blast in beirut something which the city hasn't seen in four

syrian refugees on lebanon's border were also discussed. lebanon has asked the eu to help with shelter to displace -- asked the eu for help to sell to those displaced by the violence. we spoke with the commissioner for international cooperation and humanitarian aid and asked her first to describe the situation. >> the number of refugees, unfortunately, continues to grow. registered refugees of a 335,000 people, and of course, there's a huge number of on registered refugees because of the instability in lebanon over the last days. we see a bit of even a reversal of this flow to lebanon. but no doubt -- no doubt -- the increase of refugees will continue because inside syria, there is no such thing as safe haven. fighting makes delivery of aid difficult, although i must stress, we have gained some ground in being able to get especially food and now in front of the winter, blankets to affected populations inside syria. >> is it safe to assume that those arriving in refugee camps come from different ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds?

lisi caffein of lebanon. and more advanced weapons are being smuggled to syrian rebels causing concern that some could end up in the hands of islamist extremists and assad forces claim they have gotten hold of portable anti aircraft missiles or let's talk about this not independent journalist who's keeping a very close eye on the syrian conflict good to see you today it's thought that some parts of syria are now awash with illegal high tech weapons supplied for rebels from abroad i mean given that it's still unclear who exactly constitutes the syrian opposition how dangerous could this be. i'm not show that so wash with high tech weapons it's a wash with weapons the question is how many of these out what percentage of these weapons are high tech because that as you say is going to have a big bearing on what happens in the future but yes of course it's very dangerous. robert just for a moment here i do want to just get some details here regarding moscow officials say moscow has actually warned against shipping

lucy catherine of lebanon. took intercepted another syria bound plane flying through its airspace earlier this week to search its cargo and i mean in plane taking aides to aleppo was grounded before being shocked at the second case of its kind last week a sewer and passenger jet was also forced to land for allegedly carrying russian made new nation's most go denies there were weapons on board and maintains it was equipment for radar stations and money and try to editor in chief of a german news magazines as part of turkey's proxy war in syria. it's a complete probation syria about not just a more serious also probation well co-horts the peace in the middle east region and so. generally what turkey does right now this is this compete again it's not new with the billions going from western countries from gulf states to the syrian rebels we are not discussing about the whore material we're not discussing about the weapons that i'm going mission and of course the communication technology which is delivered to the t