Connor headed a fact-finding team to Lebanon last month to interview UNIFIL civilian and military personnel.

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C.. The ivories found by Mallowan and his team were originally made in what is now Syria and Lebanon and brought to Assyria as looted treasures.

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It is a time of high tension in Lebanon, scene of several bombings this year, as a UN investigation team prepares to publish its findings into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

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The team was to have moved on from Abassiyeh to the village of Ghajar, on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights area, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

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