Foreign Secretary David Miliband says that Britain should reopen dialogue with Hizbollah, according to an interview in a Lebanese newspaper.

But the Foreign Office said there was no change in any policy towards Hizbollah and that Mr Miliband's words had been "completely misrepresented".

Beirut newspaper the Daily Star reported that Mr Miliband said he believed "carefully considered contact with Hizbollah's politicians, including its MPs, will best advance our objective of the group rejecting violence to play a constructive role in Lebanese politics.

Lebanon’s new cabinet has agreed on a policy statement that recognises Hizbollah’s right to use arms against Israel, despite reservations from the Western-backed ruling majority.

The cabinet had already met eight times in an attempt to iron out the clause which refers to the party’s substantial arsenal, with some ministers arguing it undermines the authority of the state.

The clause in question states the right of “Lebanon, its government, its people, its army and its resistance” to liberate all Lebanese territory.

The body of British journalist Alec Collett who was executed by Palestinian militants has been found this week in Lebanon after a 24-year hunt.

The search for the 64-year-old’s remains, organised by the British embassy in Lebanon, began last week in the eastern region of Bekaa after the excavation team received a tip-off.

Both the British Foreign Office and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed the DNA results Monday.

A Beirut school has removed a textbook containing excerpts of The Diary of Anne Frankfrom its syllabus after Hizbollah claimed it promotes Zionism.

“The book focuses on the persecution of Jews during the war, but even more dangerous is the theatrical and dramatic method employed to narrate the diaries in an emotional way,” MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said on Hizbollah’s TV station, Al-Manar. “These respected, established schools are teaching the so-called tragedy this girl lived — how long will Lebanon remain an open arena for this Zionism?”

Beirut's oldest synagogue, Magen Abraham, was devastated during the Lebanese civil war, but work has finally begun to give it a new lease of life.

Magen Abraham, which was built in 1926 in the traditionally Jewish neighbourhood of Wadi Abou Jmil, fell on the Muslim side of Beirut during the war which lasted from 1975 to 1990.

Two other synagogues still remain in Lebanon, in mountain towns east of Beirut, but they have been closed since the war.

The first official meeting between a senior British diplomat and a representative of Hizbollah has taken place in Lebanon, drawing a sharp rebuke from Israel.

Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon, Frances Guy, met Lebanese MP Mohammed Raad in Beirut last Thursday.

British foreign policy allows cautious contact with people Britain considers to be in the political wing of the organisation and not involved in violence.

Security authorities have arrested the deputy-mayor of a Lebanese town, accusing him of spying for Israel.

According to the Al-Akhbar newspaper, 61-year-old Ziad al-Homsy was asked by the Mossad to gather information on three Israeli soldiers missing since the Lebanon War in 1982. Al-Homsy is an anti-Syrian activist and a former spokesman for slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal party.

Meanwhile, on Monday, two other men accused of espionage escaped across the border to Israel with their children, claiming asylum.