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The Lebanese side is yet to receive a French paper proposing a solution for the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, knowing that it was supposed to receive it two days prior to French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné’s weekend visit to Lebanon, Speaker Nabih Berri said overnight.
“When I asked Séjourné why the French paper had not been sent, he said that we would receive it within hours and we agreed that we would study it once it arrives,” Berri told al-Jadeed TV.
Full StoryGunmen in north Lebanon paraded with light- and medium-caliber arms and fired heavily in the air during the funeral of two Jamaa Islamiya militants killed in an Israeli drone strike, drawing condemnations from some Lebanese political forces.
The two militants, Mohammad Saeed Khalaf and Bilal Mohammad Khalaf, were targeted by the Israeli strike in the West Bekaa town of Maydoun on Friday.
Full StoryHamas' armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades fired Monday a barrage of rockets from south Lebanon toward a command center in northern Israel.
Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily strikes with Israeli forces in the border region — and sometimes beyond — for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war on Gaza. Hamas has also claimed cross-border attacks.
Full StoryFrench Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné visited Lebanon as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a de-escalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Séjourné met on Sunday with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon's parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker prime minister.
Full StoryHezbollah said it fired overnight dozens of Katyusha rockets at Israel's Meron settlement and nearby areas in response to attacks on Lebanese towns and civilian homes, especially in Qawzah, Markaba and Srebbine.
On Saturday, Hezbollah said it targeted northern Israel with drones and guided missiles after cross-border Israeli strikes killed three people, including two of its members.
Full StoryU.S. mediator Amos Hochstein arrived in Israel on Friday and might visit Beirut to discuss the possibility of “containing the situations on the border with Lebanon, which has recently witnessed a major escalation,” informed sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Saturday.
According to media reports, Hochstein submitted a new proposal for ending the Israel-Hezbollah escalation during a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Full StoryAn Israeli drone strike on a car in eastern Lebanon killed two people, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said.
The Israeli military said it targeted an official with Lebanon’s al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, that is allied with Hezbollah. It has been active in predominantly Sunni Muslim villages along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
Full StoryThe Progressive Socialist Party will present to the Lebanese political forces a paper on Syrian refugees including practical ideas to help ease the crisis, starting next week, the National News Agency said.
Former PSP leader Walid Jumblat who met Thursday in Clemenceau a delegation from Hezbollah, briefed the group on the paper his party had prepared, the NNA said.
Full StoryThe ambassadors of the five-nation group for Lebanon are trying to resolve two lingering points: who should call for dialogue over the presidency and who should preside over it, an informed source said.
“The new proposal that the quintet’s ambassadors will promote in their expected meetings with the parliamentary and non-parliamentary forces entails that it would be in charge of calling for dialogue while Speaker Nabih Berri would preside over it later, which means that each camp would be offering a concession,” the source told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal.
Full StoryAhead of French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné’s arrival in Lebanon this weekend, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has followed up with French Ambassador Hervé Magro on the latest French proposals for addressing the explosive situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border, a media report said.
“These proposals include the implementation of Resolution 1701 within a complete package that involves endorsing a third presidential choice,” diplomatic sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Friday.
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