Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Sunday described as “unconstitutional” the agreement signed in 2007 between Lebanon and the U.N. on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noting that the STL was “imposed” by the U.N. Security Council.
In an interview with Hizbullah’s mouthpiece Al-Manar television, Aoun said: “There is no treaty, the agreement reached was a U.N. Security Council resolution that had unilaterally imposed the tribunal” on Lebanon.
Full StoryFormer Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked his followers to pray for the success of the Syrian people in toppling their regime and said he will return to Lebanon when the time is ripe
“I think one has to persist peacefully, we did it in Lebanon and I am sure the Syrian people will prevail in the end,” he said on Twitter fielding questions from his supporters. “Just pray for them.”
Full StoryThe 2012 draft state budget includes an amount of LL850 billion to cover the expenses of salaries for state employees, An Nahar daily reported on Sunday.
It said that the current dialogue between the different parties is over the adoption of a 40 percent raise for those earning the minimum wage of LL500,000 in both the public and private sector.
Full StoryMaronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has suggested to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to announce Lebanon as a neutral country, Bkirki sources told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily on Sunday.
The sources said that al-Rahi made the proposal during his visit to New York last month. He allegedly asked for U.N. assistance to achieve this objective which serves the stability of Lebanon and the region.
Full StorySyria’s former Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam has said that Lebanon would be liberated from Iran if Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime falls.
In remarks to An Nahar daily on the sidelines of a meeting in support of the Syrian revolution held in Paris, Khaddam said: “The Lebanese should be aware that Syria’s fate is linked to the fate of Lebanon.”
Full StoryGrand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that Lebanon should improve its relations with the international community and rejected any deal that would divide the region.
“We should hold onto each other amid attempts to redraw the map of the world particularly in our Arab region,” Qabbani said in his Eid al-Adha sermon.
Full StoryThe spokesman of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights has hinted that several Syrian nationals have been wrongly accused by Lebanese authorities of involvement in arms trade.
Spokesman Nabil al-Halabi told An Nahar daily published Sunday that Syrian citizen Ammar Omar al-Adib, who was arrested by Hizbullah while he was visiting a friend in Beirut’s southern suburbs, was beaten while in police custody.
Full StoryInterior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Saturday that the Syrian army infiltrations into Lebanese territories are due to the unclear demarcation of the border between the two countries.
“If we look closely at the map it shows that the border lines intersect,” Charbel said in a TV interview with the Lebanese Forces channel.
Full StoryInternal Security forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle drugs into Roumieh prison on Saturday.
A Lebanese citizen F.A., 27-year-old, tried to smuggle drugs into Roumieh prison bloc B, a statement issued by the ISF said.
Full StoryPhalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said on Saturday that the March 14-led opposition supporters’ victory in the Students elections at Notre Dame University - Louaize (NDU) is a model of democracy and an achievement for Lebanon.
“This is additional evidence that the Lebanese youth know exactly what future they want for their kids,” Gemayel said during a meeting with a delegation from the Phalange party students at the NDU.
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