Lebanon
Latest stories
Aoun Accuses BDL of Procrastination in Handing Data to Audit Firm

President Michel Aoun on Monday reminded that he has warned against the “deliberate procrastination by the central bank in terms of handing over the complete data that is requested by forensic audit firm Alvarez & Marsal.”

“The Presidency hopes that… the central bank’s governorship does not have anything to conceal in the central bank’s accounts,” the Presidency said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
Report: U.S. Congress to Study Plan Dividing Lebanon into 'Two Security Zones'

Steps and Ideas to implement the U.N. resolution 1559 have started in Washington, according to Middle East expert and former Donald Trump foreign policy advisor Walid Phares.

Al-Liwaa newspaper quoted Phares as saying that the U.S. Congress will study a "security plan prepared by Lebanese groups" for "dividing Lebanon into two security zones."

W140 Full Story
Cabinet Studies EDL Loan, Customs Dollar in New Session

Cabinet convened Monday at the Grand Serail to continue the discussion of the draft state budget.

The session will focus today on social welfare to families in need as Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar is expected to submit a proposal today.

W140 Full Story
'Casualties' in Israeli Strike on Hizbullah Posts in Syria

Israeli strikes early Monday hit a military outpost and weapons depot operated by Hizbullah near the Syrian capital Damascus, a war monitor reported Monday.

"Sites operated by the Lebanese Hizbullah group... in the east Qalamoun region, northeast of Damascus, were hit by Israeli strikes at dawn," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

W140 Full Story
Iraqi Airstrikes Kill 9 IS Militants, including 4 Lebanese

Iraqi airstrikes killed nine suspected Islamic State fighters, including four Lebanese, in retaliation for an IS attack on Iraqi army barracks earlier this month, officials said Sunday.

IS gunmen in Iraq broke into a barracks in the mountainous al-Azim district outside the town of Baqouba on Jan. 21, killed a guard and shot dead 11 soldiers as they slept. It was one of the boldest attacks by the militants in recent weeks and came amid an uptick in violence that stoked fears the group has been re-energized.

W140 Full Story
Gulf States Review Lebanon's Response to Proposal to Ease Row

Kuwait said Sunday that a Lebanese response to a list of suggested measures to ease a diplomatic rift with Gulf Arab countries is currently under review.

W140 Full Story
Alain Aoun: FPM-Hizbullah Electoral Alliance Possible despite All Differences

Strong Lebanon bloc MP Alain Aoun has said that “it is possible that the Free Patriotic Movement will ally with Hizbullah in the parliamentary elections despite all the differences between them.”

W140 Full Story
Al-Rahi Urges Officials Not to Cover Up for 'Arms Multiplicity'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday stressed that Lebanese officials “do not have the right to reject the hands that are extended to help them,” in an apparent reference to the paper of Arab and international demands that has been presented to Lebanon by Kuwait.

W140 Full Story
Arab FMs to Discuss Lebanese Response as Bou Habib Sees Positive Signs

All eyes will turn Sunday to what might be issued by the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait regarding Lebanon’s response to the Gulf paper of demands.

W140 Full Story
Lebanon's FM Goes to Kuwait with Answers to Gulf Suggestions

Lebanon's foreign minister headed to Kuwait Saturday to deliver answers to a list of policy suggestions made to the country by Arab Gulf nations in an attempt to end an impasse between both sides.

Ahead of his departure, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib made it clear that Lebanon will not disarm Hizbullah group, one of 10 confidence-building measures requested from Beirut.

W140 Full Story