Spotlight
The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was "extremely concerned" over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to their war-wracked homeland.
The UNHCR office in Cyprus said deportations and transfers between states "without legal and procedural safeguards for persons who may be in need of international protection" are against international and European law.

Fadi Bejjani, a Kahale resident killed in the latest clash with Hezbollah members, was laid to rest Friday in his hometown.

The Israeli army has hosted a U.S. Democratic Congressional Delegation organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
The delegation of 24 House Democrats was led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Steny Hoyer.

Days of fighting in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon displaced several hundred families, destroyed up to 400 houses and left half the camp still off-limits and considered "a hot area," a senior U.N. official said.
Dorothee Klaus, Director of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, said she was able to visit part of the Ain el-Helweh camp for the first time earlier this week and met with traumatized children and women, some whose hair turned white during the hostilities.

Caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim announced Thursday that he was unharmed after the rear door glass of his car was hit with gunshots in the Jisr el-Bacha area.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said Thursday that the Shiite unity is not enough and that the resistance needs national unity.
"Kahale represents for all of us a great symbol of struggle," Bassil said.

Kataeb party leader Sami Gemayel said Thursday that the situation is dangerous and unacceptable, after deadly clashes between Hezbollah members and residents of the Christian town of Kahaleh left two dead.
"We are no longer ready to coexist with these arms and this armed militia in Lebanon," Gemayel decried.

Grand Jaafarite Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan on Thursday described Hezbollah member Ahmed Qassas, who was killed in the Kahale clash, as “the martyr of the entire country and one of the country’s protectors.”

The U.S. Treasury announced coordinated sanctions with Canada and Britain on Thursday against Riad Salameh, Lebanon's longtime central bank chief, who recently left office without a successor.
Salameh, wanted for alleged financial crimes in several European countries, stepped down at the end of his term in late July after three decades in the post.

An assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at Sweden's embassy in Beirut, causing no casualties, Stockholm's foreign minister and a diplomatic source said Thursday, amid anger over recent Koran desecrations.
"We confirm that there was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the facade of our embassy last evening, which did not explode," a diplomatic source at the embassy said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media.
