Lebanon
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Wounded Irish peacekeeper will be evacuated from Lebanon

A wounded Irish U.N. peacekeeper was transferred on Wednesday from a hospital in Sidon to Beirut's international airport to be medically evacuated to Ireland.

Unidentified attackers opened fire on 22-year-old Pvt. Shane Kearney and three other Irish soldiers with UNIFIL, the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, last week as their convoy passed near the southern town of Al-Aqbiya.

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Aoun says people being robbed, urges president who can 'absorb shock'

Former president Michel Aoun on Tuesday presided over the weekly meeting of the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc for the first time since leaving office.

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Paris urges 'speedy election' of Lebanese president and new govt.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Tuesday urged the "speedy election" of a president in Lebanon and the formation of a new government to "carry out badly needed reforms."

Lebanon's cabinet is acting in a caretaker capacity, and the country has been without a head of state for more than a month.

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Israel brings down suspected Hezbollah drone

The Israeli army on Tuesday said it downed a small suspected Hezbollah drone as it crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel.

“Troops identified and downed a drone crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory a short while ago,” the Israeli army said on its English-language Twitter account, adding that the drone “most likely” belongs to Hezbollah.

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Mouawad denies 'fabrications' about 'communication with Hezbollah'

Opposition presidential candidate MP Michel Mouawad on Tuesday denied that he is “communicating with Hezbollah.”

“Some known and tendentious parties are trying to fabricate reports about communication that I’m carrying out with Hezbollah, claiming that I’m keen to keep my meetings confidential,” Mouawad tweeted.

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Bukhari meets al-Rahi, urges new president and cooperative govt.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Tuesday held talks in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, the state-run National News Agency said.

“Bukhari stressed the need to hold the presidential election as soon as possible and to form a government that would be in harmony with the president in order to revive the country,” Bkirki sources told LBCI television.

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3 'Hezbollah-linked' militants killed in Israeli airstrike in Syria

Syria's military said two soldiers were wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit near Damascus early on Tuesday, the first such attack in more than a month.

A military statement said there were also some "material losses" in the strikes and that Syrian air defenses intercepted and shot down a number of the missiles. It did not elaborate.

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Mikati says presidency solution being prepared abroad

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati revealed Monday that foreign countries are “preparing” a solution for the Lebanese presidential crisis.

“Yes, according to foreign information, there is something that is being prepared to resolve the crisis, but things need time,” Mikati said in response to a question, during a meeting with a delegation from the Press Editors Syndicate.

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Report: UNIFIL accuses Hezbollah of inciting residents against it

A Lebanese security report revealed that the UNIFIL vehicle targeted in the deadly al-Aqbiyeh incident was hit by “27 gunshots from several sides,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper quoted “credible sources” as saying.

“Security experts determined that the incident was not spontaneous and that the relevant parties in the area did not take a decision to contain the situation immediately after the incident,” the sources added.

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Reports: Paris to push for Aoun election, Tamim to discuss Lebanon in US

Some parties are betting that France will launch an initiative related to the Lebanese presidential file in “the beginning of next year,” informed political sources said.

“It will likely try to reach a domestic-foreign agreement over the nomination of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Monday.

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