The cabinet will hold on Tuesday a meeting tackling a number of critical issues, some topics are linked to the escalating developments in the south and the demarcation of the maritime borders of the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Al-Liwaa newspaper reported that the Economic and Agriculture Ministers will discuss the prices issue and the difficulty of finding markets for the agricultural products.
Full StoryThe cabinet is expected to approve on Tuesday a draft-law on the delineation of Lebanon’s maritime borders which would be referred to parliament for the final green light the next day.
The parliamentary Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee approved the 18-article draft law proposed by the committee’s chairman MP Mohammed Qabbani.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman discussed with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea at Baabda palace on Monday his invitation to resume the national dialogue.
Suleiman agreed with Geagea to keep contact at this critical stage, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Full StoryIsraeli troops deployed 10 tanks and bulldozers before midnight Monday and began erecting earth mounds at the technical fence in the Wazzani area where they clashed with Lebanese troops the same day.
Media reports said Tuesday that the move led to a state of alert among Lebanese and UNIFIL troops on Army Day.
Full StoryIsraeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he believed that the exchange of fire between Israeli and Lebanese troops on Monday was more likely to be the result of a mix-up than a deliberate attempt by the Lebanese military to raise tensions.
"We don't understand the reason for this," he told Israeli public radio.
Full StoryPhalange Party’s political bureau on Monday discussed the “developments in the region, especially in Syria where things have started to take a tragic course that has left scores of people dead.”
“Although the party has pledged itself not to interfere in the affairs of others, that does not mean that it is acceptable to remain silent over the Syrian state’s human rights abuses and unwarranted violence against unarmed civilians,” the politburo said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.
Full StoryHizbullah condemned on Monday the Wazzani clash that broke out earlier in the day, saying it is a reminder to the Lebanese people of the Jewish state’s “hostile nature.”
It said in a statement: “Any attack against any element of the army, people, and Resistance equation is an assault against the whole of Lebanon.”
Full StoryForeign Minister Adnan Mansour condemned on Monday the clash that broke out this morning between the Lebanese and Israeli armies at Wazzani in the South, saying that it is part of Israel’s ongoing violations of Lebanon have been taking place since 2006.
He added: “We will make the necessary contacts to the concerned sides and inform our mission to the United Nations to address the matter at the international organization.”
Full StoryThe progressive Socialist Party media department announced on Monday that PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat will not issue his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa magazine “because now is not the time to make speeches and lectures.”
“Now is not the time to drown in the boring Lebanese details, but it is the time to show solidarity, even if only on a moral level, with oppressed people,” it added.
Full StoryMaronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Monday that the people are uneasy with the spread of arms outside the military institution.
He said before a Maronite delegation from Cyprus: “We congratulate the army on the occasion of Army Day … and we hope the constitutional political authority in Lebanon would become responsible for all the arms in Lebanon.”
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