BEIRUT, June 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper declined to distribute the Thursday edition of the International Herald Tribune (IHT) because of an advertisement in the U.S.-owned daily that could have resulted in legal action by the Lebanese government.

This is the second time since April that the Daily Star has taken such action against its circulation partner.

The first was Tuesday, April 30, 2002, in reaction to an ad placed in the IHT by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League under the headline "Israel we are with you ... now more than ever."

Israel occupied the south of Lebanon for decades before the Islamic resistance movement Hizbollah finally forced it to withdraw in 2000. However, the Israeli occupation army still occupies the Shebaa farms area.

On April 5, that same ad had appeared in the IHT, which was printed and distributed, bringing legal action against the owner of the English-language Daily Star, Jamil Mroueh.

Mroueh was indicted April 11 for allowing the April 5 publication of a "notice which supports Israel in its war against the Palestinians, weakens national sentiment and raises dissension of a racist nature."

In its latest front-page announcement, the Daily Star said it had "decided that due to possible legal action by the Lebanese government, it will not distribute the International Herald Tribune on Thursday because of advertising content in the IHT, as published around the world."

The announcement did not describe the advertisement in question.

The Daily Star has been printing the IHT in Beirut since September and distributing the two papers together in Lebanon, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.