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European aid sent to Lebanon in an attempt to regulate migration by sea is funding practices that violate human rights, according to a global watchdog report published Wednesday.
As part of a policy to contain migration, authorities in Cyprus have physically pushed Syrian refugees back to Lebanon, and Lebanese security agencies have deported them, the Human Rights Watch report said.
Full StoryA young Palestinian journalist whose coverage of the widespread destruction and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip went viral now watches the war from afar in Lebanon.
Twenty-two-year-old Plestia Alaqad was just over a year out of university with a journalism degree when she found herself in the middle of a war zone. She donned a blue press helmet and vest to interview families in refugee camps and hospitals, posting the videos to Instagram.
Full StoryLebanon's controversial former central bank governor Riad Salameh was detained Tuesday after being questioned in several corruption cases, according to three judicial officials.
Salameh served a 30-year term as central bank governor beginning in 1993.
Full StoryThe ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon - the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar - will meet within two weeks to discuss the presidential impasse, diplomatic sources told local al-Liwaa newspaper.
The sources added, in remarks published Tuesday, that French special envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian will likely visit Lebanon at the end of the month or in early October and that mid-September will witness intense efforts to break the presidential deadlock.
Full StoryIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight reiterated that Israel is determined to return its northern residents to their homes, adding that this would be possible through a “diplomatic agreement” or “military” action.
Netanyahu also reminisced over Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in the year 2000 to defend his decision not to pull out from Gaza’s Philadelphi corridor.
Full StoryThe Free Patriotic Movement says it has “positively received the advanced stance expressed by Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea (on Sunday), especially as to the resistance (Hezbollah) and its martyrs and the issues of dialogue, coexistence and Lebanon’s unity.”
This stance matches “the FPM’s openness-characterized stances,” the FPM’s media department said in a statement.
Full StoryThree people were injured Tuesday in Israeli attacks on south Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.
Two people were injured in a strike on the border village of Markaba and a civilian was injured by Israeli gun fire in al-Khiam.
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Speaker Nabih Berri has said that his presidential initiative can “pave the way for presidential elections as soon as possible,” hoping the five-nation group’s expected efforts will lead to “positivities.”
Full StoryGerman airline Lufthansa will resume flights to Tel Aviv in Israel later this week. The company announced Tuesday that it would offer flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport starting on Thursday.
Flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, will remain suspended until Sept. 30 for all airlines in the Lufthansa Group, which also includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings.
Full StoryParliament Speaker Nabih Berri is not worried about his presidential dialogue initiative, sources close to Berri told Annahar.
"Berri is assured that 86 MPs will participate in his dialogue," the sources said in remarks published Monday, adding that he will not immediately call for it as he hopes that Lebanese Forces Party leader Samir Geagea will change his mind and accept to attend the presidential dialogue.
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