Afrasianet-A wave of tit-for-tat sectarian kidnappings took place in a sensitive area of northeast Lebanon on Sunday, a security official said.

"Unidentified gunmen kidnapped Hussein Kamel Jaafar, aged 37, in the countryside near the town of Arsal," the source said on condition of anonymity.

"After that, dozens of armed members of his clan went to Arsal from Hermel and Baalbek (eastern Lebanon) and kidnapped several of the town's residents," the source said.

Arsal is a majority Sunni Muslim town whose inhabitants generally support the revolt in neighbouring Syria, while most of the population of Hermel and Baalbek are Shiites.

Residents of Arsal said about eight people from their town were kidnapped on Sunday, although the security source could not confirm the figure.

The incident comes seven months after dozens of foreigners, mostly Syrians, were abducted by another Shiite clan, Al-Muqdad.

Lebanon is sharply divided over the war in Syria, which the United Nations says has killed at least 70,000 people since March 2011, and it has seen frequent violence linked to the raging conflict.

The Sunni-led March 14 political movement backs the rebels while the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and its allies back the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite whose faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam.

-Agencies-

Afrasianet-The United Nations is moving about half of its 100 international staff in Syria out of the country as violence creeps closer to UN facilities, a spokesman said Monday.

The foreign staff in Damascus will be relocated because of "security conditions," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

Nearly all of the Damascus staff of UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will be moved to Cairo or Beirut, Nesirky told reporters.

But he stressed that efforts by Brahimi, who is based in Cairo, to end the two-year-old conflict would continue.

"Yesterday and today a number of mortar shells fell in close proximity to and on the grounds of the hotel in Damascus housing UN staff," Nesirky said.

The mortars damaged the building and some cars, including one UN vehicle, he added.

Suicide bombings and other attacks have also struck close to UN buildings as Damascus has emerged as a key battleground in the war between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels, diplomats said.

Nesirky said about 50 of the 100 UN international staff in Damascus would be affected by the "temporary relocation." A handful will also be moved to other Syrian cities such as Homs.

There are also about 800 Syrian UN workers in the capital. Many have been told to work from home because of the dangers.

The large UN-run humanitarian operation in Syria is aimed at providing food and other aid to more than two million Syrians caught in the two-year-old conflict, which the United Nations says has killed more than 70,000 people.

Most of the distribution work is now carried out by Syrian staff and through the Syrian Red Crescent.

"These measures are being undertaken solely for security reasons. The United Nations remains active and committed to helping the Syrian sides in their search for a political solution," Nesirky said.

-Agencies-

Afrasianet-The opposition will take over Syria's vacant seat at the Arab League, a high-ranking league official said on Monday, a day ahead of a leaders' summit in Doha.

"The opposition has been invited to the Arab summit and will occupy Syria's seat at the Arab League," the official said, requesting anonymity.

The opposition National Coalition hailed the decision as "a major step for the Syrian revolution on the road to liberation from tyranny and oppression," and announced it would send interim prime minister Ghassan Hitto to the summit.

There had been debate over whether or not the opposition would represent Syria at the summit especially after Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib resigned his post on Sunday.

An opposition source said that Khatib accused "certain countries, notably Qatar, of wanting to control the opposition" and of having imposed Hitto.

The opposition alliance has begun steps to form an executive body to administer rebel-held territory inside Syria, electing Hitto at a meeting in Turkey earlier this week.

The Arab League on March 6 called on the coalition "to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat" and attend the summit, although Iraq and Algeria have expressed reservations, while Lebanon has distanced itself from the decision.

The League announced on November 12, 2011 that it will suspend Syria after its regime failed to implement an Arab deal to end violence against protesters.

The move came after the regime of President Bashar al-Assad launched a bloody crackdown on dissent which has since morphed into a civil war in which more than 70,000 people have so far died, according to UN figures.

-Agencies-

Afrasianet-Central African Republic rebels have reportedly deposed President François Bozize after seizing the capital Bangui and the presidential palace there. The whereabouts of Bozize remains unknown as he is thought to have fled the county prior to losing power.
Some speculation suggests he crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo early Sunday, Reuters reported citing an anonymous source said to be a presidential advisor.
The rebels issued a statement that said French President Francois Hollande "has taken note of the departure of President Francois Bozize."
"Central African Republic has just opened a new page in its history," AP cites a communique signed by Justin Kombo Moustapha, secretary-general of the alliance of rebel groups Seleka.
The Seleka rebel coalition, whose members have long opposed Bozize, took the city late Saturday and fought their way to the strategically important city center in Bangui.

The group that began its offensive in December, seizing about one-third of the country, accuse the president of breaking a January peace agreement. Fighters sought to send home South African forces that were helping to boost the country's military and integrating 2,000 rebel fighters into Central African Republic's armed forces.
Seleka, Central Africa's rebel coalition, numbers beween 1,000 and 3,000 fighters, many of whom are ex-mutineers and former militiamen from earlier rebel movements. The coalition wants to organize a transition towards democratic elections in CAR. Seleka is thought to have come into existence only last September, when three of the country’s rebel groups – The Patriots’ Convention for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), and the Democratic Front of Central African People (FDPC) –united in opposition to the Bozizé regime.
The conflict between the two sides deteriorated more than a week ago, with the rebels again taking control of two towns and threatening to advance on the capital.
On the eve of the invasion witnesses in the capital said people tried to flee the city as the rebels were approaching. Schools and banks closed early following reports of the advance.

As hundreds of armed rebels took Bangui, they cut power to much of the city. Residents in one area of the capital where fighting erupted Saturday said the rebels were dressed in civilian clothes, according to Reuters.

In the northern suburbs, Seleka rebels managed to took control of the neighborhood around Bozize's private residence. However, there they were told Bozize was in the presidential palace in the town center.

As rebel columns pushed towards the presidential palace, they clashed with government forces deployed to repel the insurgents.

"For us, there is no other solution than the departure of François Bozize," AP quoted, Eric Massi, a rebel spokesman, who spoke by phone from Paris on Saturday.

Government troops, however, retained control of the city center, home to the presidential palace. France had bolstered its 250-strong troop contingent in the country by an extra 150 personnel, sending the added firepower to help defend the city’s major airport. If forced to evacuate the 1,200 French civilians in the country, the airport would likely prove an invaluable lifeline.

Government spokesman Crepin Mboli-Goumba said the government was still in control of the capital. "President Bozize is still in power," Reuters reports, quoting the state representative. "Bangui has still not fallen."

The recent violence is the latest in the series of rebels’ unrest and coups since the Central African Republic, a nation of 4.5 million people, became independent from France in 1960.