A cabinet session scheduled for today, Tuesday was postponed due to lack of quorum, after retired servicemen blocked the entrances of the Grand Serail -- the government’s headquarters.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the caretaker ministers of interior, industry, telecommunications and sport were present at the Grand Serail when the session was postponed.
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An Israeli drone on Tuesday fired several missiles at a five-story building in the Ksar al-Zaatar neighborhood in the southern city of Nabatieh, wounding nine people according to the Health Ministry.
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The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, will travel to Egypt and Lebanon from 8 to 12 September, the EU Delegation to Lebanon said.
Full StoryIsrael's defense minister said Tuesday that the window is closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary cease-fire deal with Hamas that he believes could also bring calm to Israel's volatile northern border with Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters, Yoav Gallant said that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal.
Full StoryThe U.S. administration has started to prepare an “alternative plan” for a diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon in light of the “dead end” that the Israel-Hamas negotiations have reached, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV reported.
Israeli officials meanwhile told U.S. counterparts that “Israel cannot wait any longer to begin a military campaign against Lebanon,” Kan TV said.
Full StoryA full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could have “catastrophic and unforeseen consequences,” a senior U.S. official has said at the Middle East America Dialogue (MEAD) summit in Washington.
“There is an idea of ‘Let’s go to war and then we will destroy all the missiles Hezbollah has and everything will be fine.’ It’s not that simple. There is no magic solution. The other side cannot be annihilated. At the end of the war, Israel may pay a heavy price and not achieve its goals,” the official was quoted by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid as saying, while recommending a diplomatic rather than military solution to calm the border tensions.
Full StoryIsraeli army chief Herzi Halevi has conducted an assessment of the situation on Lebanon’s border with members of the General Staff Forum, addressing the incident of the Hezbollah drone that hit a tall building in Nahariyya on Monday morning, the Israeli army said.
"Hezbollah's targeting of a residential building this morning is a serious incident, and the same applies to the targeting of residents of the northern region," Halevi said.
Full StoryU.S. Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla has met in Israel with Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi for a situational assessment, the Israeli army said.
The general's visit focused on “current threats, with an emphasis on threats from Lebanon and Iran in the northern arena,” the army said.
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Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa has said that the attention of the five-nation group for Lebanon is now focused on resolving the country’s lengthy presidential crisis.
Full StoryThe latest flurry of Israeli threats regarding an imminent military operation in Lebanon are only aimed at “intimidation,” diplomatic sources said.
“They are also aimed at blocking the latest Iranian-American rapprochement, whose first signs have appeared in the agreement reached in Iraq, which would not have happened without an Iranian green light,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday.
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