Spotlight
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has decided not to reveal the developments of the talks with the Free Patriotic Movement over a presidential candidate.
"Every party has the right to keep its cards hidden," Geagea told MTV, urging Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to call for an election session this week. "We are totally ready for it," he said.
Full StoryPolitical circles are betting on the outcome of the meeting that will be held Tuesday between Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and Hezbollah liaison and coordination official Wafiq Safa, media reports said.
Sources close to the FPM told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday that the meeting will be held at Hezbollah’s request.
Full Story
The “countdown” for Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for a presidential election session has started, informed sources quoted a prominent political leader as saying.
Full StoryLebanon's foreign minister has spoken with his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates following the death of a Lebanese citizen while in custody in the oil-rich Gulf nation, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry said that Lebanon's ambassador to the UAE, Fouad Dandan, spoke by telephone with the wife and brother of the late Ghazi Ezzedine, 55. The envoy later received a signed letter from the family saying the man died as a result of heart problems.
Full Story
Following "pressure" from Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari, the Lebanese parties appear to have agreed to go to parliament within two weeks to elect a president, media reports said on Saturday.
Full StoryA Lebanese man who was detained in the United Arab Emirates on unknown charges has died in custody, rights observers and family members said, raising questions about his possible mistreatment by authorities.
A committee of family members of Lebanese citizens detained in the UAE, including the man who died earlier this month, alleged in a statement that Ghazi Ezzedine, 55, had died under torture.
Full StoryHezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syria's most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to his group.
Nasrallah's televised speech came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordan's air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed Monday was among the most wanted by Jordanian authorities for drug smuggling across the border with the backing of a small militia.
Full StoryIn Lebanon, rallies were held Friday in solidarity with Gaza in multiple refugee camps hosting Palestinians.
Israel and Gaza militants traded heavy fire Friday that has been met with international calls for de-escalation.
Full StoryHezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday stressed that his party is not “imposing” a presidential candidate on anyone in Lebanon.
“Let each camp nominate any candidate it wants and let’s go to parliament to elect a president,” Nasrallah urged, in an annual televised speech commemorating slain Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine.
Full StorySaudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has told the majority-Sunni National Moderation parliamentary bloc that “Saudi Arabia has no veto on anyone nor a veto on Suleiman Franjieh,” a media report said.
Asked whether his meeting with Franjieh has “dispelled his country’s concerns,” Bukhari told the bloc, according to al-Liwaa newspaper, that he has “no concerns over Franjieh, but rather some observations that have been clarified.”
Full Story