Spotlight
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Lebanon Wave of Israeli airstrikes targets Iqlim al-Tuffah heights, area between Ansar and al-Zrariyeh A wave of Israeli airstrikes targeted the Iqlim al-Tuffah heights and the area between Ansar and al-Zrariyeh in south Lebanon on Thursday evening, ...
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Lebanon Barrack says Israel decides deadline given to Lebanon, not US U.S. envoy Tom Barrack has warned that Lebanon’s failure to take tangible steps toward disarming Hezbollah would lead to perpetuating the current... 3
Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Tuesday that the equation of the army, people, and resistance has granted Lebanon its stability.
He said during a Ashuora sermon: “The Resistance is no longer an element in Lebanon, but one of its major components.”

Premier Najib Miqati said he transferred Lebanon’s share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon funding on Wednesday morning.
While Miqati did not elaborate on the funding mechanism, a government official said the $32 million sent to the Netherlands-based STL were drawn from the prime minister's office's budget and as such did not need cabinet approval.

Lebanon will enforce Arab League sanctions imposed on neighboring Syria even though it did not back the punitive measures, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.
"We are committed to implementing the Arab League sanctions," Nahhas said, pointing out that the Syrian government in any case had no trade dealings with Lebanon.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Spokesperson Neeraj Singh stressed on Wednesday that the rocket attack from southern Lebanon into northern Israel was aimed at “undermining the security of the region.”
“The UNIFIL directly moved after the incident to ensure that the Israeli and Lebanese parties carry out maximum restraint to prevent an escalation,” Singh told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

President Michel Suleiman said on Wednesday that the collapse of the cabinet will have negative repercussions on Lebanon as Speaker Nabih Berri expected that the majority will reach a safe haven concerning the crisis.
Sources close to Suleiman told As Safir newspaper that the president agreed with officials he met on Tuesday that “no one has an interest in forcing the collapse of the current cabinet.”

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas did not confirm Wednesday whether Change and Reform bloc ministers would attend a cabinet session set to discuss the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
“There is a possibility that the bloc’s ministers would attend the cabinet sessions,” Nahhas told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3).
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat considered on Wednesday that the priority at this “critical stage” is to seek consensus between the cabinet members to safeguard the stability of Lebanon amid the turmoil in the region.
“The current cabinet is essential to ensure stability because any other alternative would merely lead to a (political) vacuum,” Jumblat said in remarks published in As Safir newspaper.

The United States on Tuesday called on all sides to exercise restraint after rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into Israel and Israeli forces retaliated.
"We call on all parties to exercise restraint," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh, amid fears of a possible collapse of Premier Najib Miqati’s government.
Jumblat told Al-Manar television that “the government’s survival is essential,” stressing that “no one has an interest in possible political vacuum in the country.”

Robert Watkins, the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim, on Tuesday described the overnight rocket attack on Israel and the retaliation that ensued against Lebanese territory as a “very unfortunate incident.”
Watkins’ remarks were voiced during a meeting with Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, during which they discussed “the implementation of (U.N.) Security Council Resolution 1701 and the latest report on that resolution, which the Security Council is set to discuss at a meeting in New York” later on Tuesday.
