Hezbollah getting chemical arms: Israel lawmaker

Jerusalem: A former Israeli defense minister alleged on Monday that Syria's chemical weapons are "trickling" to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It was the first such claim by a senior politician in Israel, but he did not supply evidence to support his assertion.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired general who is now a lawmaker from the opposition Labor party, told The Associated Press: "The process of weapon transferal to Hezbollah has begun."

He told Israel Radio that he "has no doubt" that Syrian President Bashar Assad has already used chemical weapons and that that "these weapons are trickling to Hezbollah."

PM Fayyad set to quit: Palestinian official

RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has prepared a letter of resignation which he will submit to president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday, a senior Palestinian official said.

Abbas and Fayyad are known to have been at loggerheads over a raft of issues, including the resignation of the Palestinian Authority's finance minister, which Abbas refused to accept but which was agreed by Fayyad, a US-educated economist.