Syria has long, tumultuous history in Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria has a long and tumultuous history of meddling into Lebanese affairs. For much of the past 30 years, the seven-times-smaller Lebanon has lived under Syrian military and political domination. Damascus has often stirred tensions within Lebanon's explosive sectarian mix of Christians and Muslims to advance its regional interests, including during the country's 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. Syria's powerful allies in Lebanon include the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Important milestones affecting the Syria-Lebanon relationship:

SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR: Since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in February 2011, Lebanon has been steadily drawn into the unrest — a troubling sign for the country with political parties rooted in various Christian and Muslim sects, many of which are armed. While Syria's revolt has intensified between predominantly Sunni rebels and Assad's regime — dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite group — Lebanon has seen a steady flow of refugees from Syria, with frequent street clashes along its northern border. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who heads a government dominated by Hezbollahand other pro-Syrian groups, has led a policy of "disassociation" from its influential neighbor. Damascus has accused Sunni groups in Lebanon of supporting rebels by trying to establish a supply line to anti-regime fighters across Lebanon's northern border.

Tensions between Beirut and Damascus deepened in August, after an arrest of former Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha, one of Syria's most loyal allies in Lebanon. A senior Lebanese police official, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Samaha confessed to having personally transported explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon to kill Lebanese. A military court indicted Samaha; Syrian Brig. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, a close aide of Assad, was indicted in absentia on charges of furnishing the explosives.

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POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS: Political assassinations in Lebanon have occurred with impunity for decades, and Syria has been blamed for many of the killings. In 2005, Syria was widely accused of involvement in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a wealthy businessman and an influential Sunni politician. Hariri was hailed in Lebanon for rebuilding Beirut after the 15-year civil war. Following his death in a car bomb explosion, Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops and Syria's grip in Lebanon began to slip. The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has indicted four Hezbollah members as suspects in the Hariri assassination. Hezbollah denies involvement in Hariri's killing and has refused to extradite the suspects.

Many Lebanese residents accused Assad's regime of being behind Friday's assassination of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, a Sunni, who headed the intelligence division of Lebanon's domestic security forces that has been probing the assassination plot against Hariri. Al-Hassan and his agents have been credited with identifying Samaha, the former information minister, as Syria's link to Lebanon. Damascus has condemned the bombing.

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HEZBOLLAH: The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been Syria's most powerful ally in Lebanon, particularly since Damascus ended its military presence in Lebanon seven years ago. The Shiite militant group has dominated Lebanese politics for more than a decade and is now in control of the government. In 2006, Hezbollah gained support from Sunnis and Christians during a 34-day war with Israel, although Lebanon's southern villages and towns and the predominantly Shiite suburbs of Beirut sustained heavy damage.

Opponents of Assad's regime say Syria's embattled president has maintained his influence in Lebanon through allies such as Hezbollah.

Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, Hezbollah has sought to distance itself from the turmoil in Syria, although there have been allegations that the group has sent fighters to help Assad's regime fight rebels. Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has not publicly sanctioned any operations in support of Assad, and warned the mayhem in the neighboring country was out of the group's control.

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TROOPS ON THE GROUND: Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990 with Syrian forces defeating opponents, controlling large parts of the country and installing allied governments in Beirut. Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country got engulfed in civil war between Christian and Muslim militias.

Syrians were drawn into the conflict, and clashed with the Israeli troops after the 1982 invasion aimed at driving out Palestinian guerrillas. In 2000, Bashar Assad became president of Syria, succeeding his late father, Hafez Assad. Israel withdrew from South Lebanon, increasing pressure on Syria to leave. Syrian troops pulled out five years later, after sweeping street protests following Hariri's assassination. Many in Lebanon and its Western-backers blamed Syria for the killing. Damascus has denied involvement.

This assesment appears to be definitive

Intelligence Shows No Planning for Benghazi Consulate Attack

The latest intelligence assessment of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghaziindicates there was little if any pre-planning for it and that it was in part an opportunistic response to the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack, which has become a political hot potato in the presidential campaign with questions over when the Obama administration called the attack an act of terrorism.

"Right now, there isn't any intelligence that the attackers pre-planned their assault days or weeks in advance," said a U.S. intelligence official. "The bulk of available information supports the early assessment that the attackers launched their assault opportunistically after they learned about the violence at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo." But the official added that "no one is ruling out that some of the attackers may have aspired to attack the U.S. in Benghazi."

Republican lawmakers have seized on U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice's comments on Sunday talk shows days on September 16 attributing the deadly Benghazi attack to spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim film made in the U.S. that had been posted on the Internet. As more information emerged they pointed to the use of mortars and RPG's in the attack as indicating it was not a spontaneous protest as the Obama administration had claimed, but an act of terrorism.

Rice's comments were based on talking points she had been provided by the intelligence community. The intelligence official said those talking points were written for members of Congress and senior U.S. officials so they "could say something preliminary about the attacks." The official said they reflected "the early indications of extremist involvement in a direct assault" and that "it wasn't until after the points were used in public that people reconciled contradictory information and assessed there probably wasn't a protest around the time of the attack."

On September 28 a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence's office issued a press release revising the initial assessment that the attack on "began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo." The spokesman said new information indicated it "was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists."

The DNI said it remained unclear if "if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate. However, we do assess that some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to al-Qaeda."

The current assessment is the latest shift in a narrative that has become politicized on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign. At a hearing before the House Oversight House and Government Reform Committee last week, State Department officials said there had been no protests outside the consulate compound at least an hour before the attack.

The official said the assessment evolved once again as "it was clear from the outset that a group of people gathered that evening." He added, "A key question early on was whether extremists took over a crowd or if the guys who showed up were all militants. It took time-until that next week-to sort through varied and sometimes conflicting accounts to understand the group's overall composition."

Far right protesters storm French mosque

PARIS (AP) — Dozens of far right extremists stormed atop an unfinished mosque in westernFrance on Saturday to show their hostility toward it and denounce immigration that has brought millions of Muslims into the country, a regional official said.

About 70 protesters traveled from around France for Saturday morning's demonstration in the city of Poitiers, which has symbolic meaning as the place where a French medieval ruler once drove away Arab invaders, regional prefect Yves Dassonville said by phone. After police arrived, the protesters dispersed without resistance — and three were detained to face accusations of "incitement of racial hatred" and damage to property, he said.

French TV broadcast images of dozens of rowdy, waving and chanting protesters on the mosque roof next to its minaret. They unfurled a banner that read "Generation Identitaire" and demanded a referendum on immigration and mosques. The banner also bore the number 732, which Dassonville said was a reference to the year when the army of medieval French leader Charles Martel stopped an Arab invasion in Poitiers.

Muslim leaders said the protesters had disrupted a prayer inside, and expressed incomprehension over the stunt.

"We are thunderstruck ... these are people who are stuck in the year 732, and who don't see that the world has changed," Poitiers imam El Haj Boubaker told France's BFM-TV. "People can live differently than in a mindset of war and conflict."

France is home to Western Europe's largest population of Muslims, estimated to be at least 5 million even though the government does not provide official figures. Many have family roots in former French colonies in northern Africa. French governments for years have struggled to integrate Muslims, who often pray in cellars, apartments and, at times, in the street because of a shortage of mosques in the country.

Dassonville said the completion of the Poitiers mosque has lagged for years because of ongoing troubles the Muslim community has had in drumming up needed financing. He said he was assembling an interfaith meeting of Jewish, Catholic and Muslim leaders in the city Saturday to show unity in the face of the far right demonstration.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls denounced a "hateful and inadmissible provocation" by the extremists.

France 24 TV: Cairo reporter 'savagely attacked'

In this Tuesday, March 8, 2011 file photo, Egyptian women react after protesting men forced them out of Cairo's central Tahrir Square while they were celebrating International Women's Day. A correspondent for France 24 TV was "savagely attacked" near Cairo's Tahrir Square Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 after being seized by a crowd, the network said Saturday. It was the latest case of violence against women at the epicenter of Egypt's restive protests. Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group has called on Egyptian authorities to investigate reports of sexual assault against women to counter the impression that no one will be punished. (AP Photo, file)

PARIS (AP) — A correspondent for France 24 TV was "savagely attacked" near Cairo's Tahrir Square after being seized by a crowd, the network said Saturday. It was the latest case of violence against women at the epicenter ofEgypt's restive protests.

The news channel said in a statement that Sonia Dridi was attacked around 10:30 p.m. Friday after a live broadcast on a protest at the square and was later rescued by a colleague and other witnesses. France 24 did not give further details about the attack, but it said its employees were safe and sound, though "extremely shocked," and that it will file suit against unspecified assailants.

The network, which receives state funds but has editorial independence, said it and the French Embassy were working to bring Dridi back to France.

"More frightened than hurt," wrote Dridi in French on her Twitter page Saturday. Referring in English to a colleague, she tweeted: "Thanks to (at)ashrafkhalil for protecting me in (hash)Tahrir last nite. Mob was pretty intense. thanks to him I escaped from the unleashed hands."

Ashraf Khalil, who works with France 24's English language service, said the crowd was closing in on him and Dridi while they were doing live reports on a side street off Tahrir. He said the attack and rescue took about half an hour, but it felt like a lot longer.

"The crowd surged in and then it went crazy. It was basically me keeping her in a bear hug, both arms around her and face-to-face," he told The Associated Press, estimating that at least 30 men were involved. "It was hard to tell who was helping and who was groping her."

Khalil said they retreated into a fast food restaurant with a metal door, to keep her out of the reach of the attackers. He said they hustled into a car, and some men banged on it as it sped away. Some of their belongings had been stolen, he said.

"It didn't feel organized or targeted. It felt disorganized," he said. "I felt angry. I love Tahrir. I have a lot of nostalgia for Tahrir. I am still angry. I know this is not the first time this happened; it happened to other people I know. Still, it was a shock."

Tahrir Square was the main hub of a popular uprising that toppled longtime Egyptian leaderHosni Mubarak last year. Since then, it has seen numerous other protests staged by a range of groups.

At the height of the uprising against Mubarak, Lara Logan, a correspondent for U.S. network CBS, was sexually assaulted and beaten in Tahrir Square. She said later that she believed she was going to die. After being rescued, Logan returned to the United States and was treated in a hospital for four days.

The square has seen a rise in attacks against women since protesters returned this summer for new rallies, including incidents of attackers stripping women — both fellow demonstrators and journalists — of their clothes.

No official numbers exist for attacks on women in the square because police do not go near the area and women rarely file official reports on such incidents, but activists and protesters have reported an increase in assaults against women. And although sexual harassment is not new to Egypt, suspicions abound that many of the recent attacks are organized by opponents of various protests in a bid to drive people away.

Amnesty International said in a report in June that such attacks appeared designed to intimidate women and prevent them from fully participating in public life. The London-based human rights group has called on Egyptian authorities to investigate reports of sexual assault against women to counter the impression that no one will be punished.

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Sarah El-Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo.

Floods in France prompt evacuations in shrine town

Associated Press/Bob Edme - View of the Grotto of Lourdes flooded, in Lourdes, southwestern France, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. French rescue services and police are evacuating hundreds of pilgrims from hotels threatened by floodwaters from a rain-swollen river in the Roman Catholic shrine town of Lourdes. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

PARIS (AP) — Pilgrims trek by the millions each year to the Roman Catholic shrine in Lourdes, many looking to drink its spring waters reputed for their healing powers. This time, visitors were fleeing a different kind of water — floodwaters — in the southwestern French town.

Rescue teams helped hundreds of pilgrims escape waterlogged hotels on Saturday after heavy rains led the Gave River to overrun its banks — and even wash up into the town's famed grotto, where many Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

The regional government issued a statement late Saturday saying 427 people had been evacuated from their hotels. The Red Cross and regional authorities provided food and shelter to the escapees, as authorities warned of forecasts for more rain in the region.

In one televised image, a rescuer waded waist-deep into a hotel lobby with a red boat in tow and teams helped elderly visitors inside for a trip to higher ground. Others showed a fast-flowing, white-water river rumbling through the town, and the grotto — or cave — was filled with about 1.5 meters of water, under a niche statute of the Virgin Mary.

Visits to the grotto were temporarily suspended. Officials say the town draws about 6 million visitors a year — mainly looking to see the grotto. The shrine has special meaning for the suffering, many of whom believe its spring water can heal and even work miracles.

Thierry Castillo, director of the nearby Lourdes sanctuary, said visitors had shown "understanding" and predicted that the grotto would remain closed at least through Monday.