Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived back to Beirut from London on Wednesday evening and immediately contacted Higher Relief Council Chief, Brigadier Ibrahim Bashir, asking him to follow up on the humanitarian situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“Rumors about the halt of aid to the refugees is untrue and falls under political propaganda” Miqati said in a statement.
Full StoryRevered Lebanese spiritual leader Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya in 1978, was "liquidated" at the time, a former aide to Moammar Gadhafi said Wednesday.
The fate of the Iranian-born Shiite cleric has been unknown since he vanished during a trip to Libya aimed at negotiating an end to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Full StoryFormer Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday that Premier Najib Miqati will not resign, stressing that the fall of the Syrian regime will solve some of the problems in Lebanon.
Hariri said on Twitter fielding questions from his supporters that he never wanted to go into politics, “but in a split second in 2005 everything changed.”
Full StoryNaharnet Exclusive Report – Paris
The United Nations commission charged with investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, headed by Prosecutor Judge Daniel Bellemare, is continuing its investigations and witness testimony hearings of the close circle of individuals who used to surround the slain premier.
Full StoryA pamphlet stating that a bomb will be detonated at the Verdun 732 Center in Beirut was found near the center on Wednesday, reported the National News Agency.
Security forces immediately arrived at the scene and conducted a search of the building without finding any explosives.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Wednesday the kidnapping of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon, wondering if Lebanon is facing a new phase of the “infamous” security hegemony that controlled the country in the past.
He said in a statement: “All Syrian activists have the right to express their opinions freely without being subject to any harassment or pressure from any side.”
Full StoryThe March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the ongoing security instability in Lebanon as demonstrated in the latest kidnapping of Syrian citizens in Lebanon, the most recent of which was the abduction of a Syrian national at the Rafik Hariri International Airport.
It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “We hold the Lebanese state and concerned security authorities responsible for this issue, warning that these forces are directly linked to the Syrian regime and are providing them with security favors.”
Full StoryThe Syrian opposition has urged authorities in Lebanon to act over reports that more than a dozen of their members have been kidnapped.
"The executive board of the Syrian National Council has expressed its concern in a letter sent to Prime Minister Najib Miqati in light of reports by rights groups that 13 Syrian nationals have been kidnapped," the opposition group said in a statement late on Tuesday in Beirut.
Full StorySpecial Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is exerting strong efforts to guarantee the cooperation of Lebanese authorities with his investigations into ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination.
According to information received by Naharnet, Bellemare is currently adopting the policy of “carrot and stick” to avoid an “overt confrontation” with Lebanese authorities.
Full StoryLeidschendam, Naharnet Exclusive: Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is preparing for a new surprise that he hinted in a document he submitted to the court last week ahead of a hearing on Friday on whether proceedings in absentia against four Hizbullah members were appropriate.
The four members - Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra - are wanted for the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
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