Lebanon
Latest stories
Cassese Sets Deadline for Bellemare to File Response to Sayyed’s Appeal

Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has set a deadline of June 10 for STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a response, if any, to the appeal filed on May 23 by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon’s former General Security chief, against STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s ruling on the disclosure of more than 270 investigation documents to Sayyed, STL’s press office said Wednesday.

“The Prosecutor shall file a response, if any, to the Appeal by 10 June 2011 and the Appellant a reply thereto, if any, by 22 June 2011,” says Cassese in his scheduling order.

W140 Full Story
Suleiman: Internal Developments Require us to Form Government and Hold National Dialogue

President Michel Suleiman stated on Wednesday that the internal developments in Lebanon require the formation of a government and the staging of comprehensive national dialogue.

He said before his visitors that this would help fortify the internal scene against local and regional developments.

W140 Full Story
March 14: ‘Hizbullah Team’ Lacks Courage to Admit its Failure

The March 14 general-secretariat said Wednesday that the delay in the formation of the cabinet confirms that the March 8 forces lack the courage to admit their failure.

“The non-formation of the cabinet four months after the nomination (of PM-designate Najib Miqati) is a sign of the Hizbullah team’s failure (to stage) a coup on democracy and constitutional institutions,” said a statement issued after the weekly meeting of the general-secretariat.

W140 Full Story
Jumblat on Liberation Day: Resistance is the Best Way to Deter Occupation

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat addressed the Lebanese on the occasion of Liberation Day, greeting all the “martyrs” and those who fought for freedom.

“Greetings to the thousands of martyrs” who adopted the cause of “the resistance politically, militarily and intellectually,” al-Liwaa newspaper quoted the PSP leader as saying.

Full Story
Army Ends Deployment along Northern Border Despite Security Fears

Military sources have appeased fears about a possible attempt by Syrian forces to cross the Nahr al-Kabir in northern Lebanon after an end to the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Syria.

The sources denied to An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the Syrian army would cross the border and reach Lebanon. The denial came amid rumors and fears among residents in the area about the possibility of infiltration by Syrian troops.

W140 Full Story
Al-Mustaqbal: Responsibility of Crisis Lies on those who Toppled Hariri’s Cabinet

Al-Mustaqbal bloc sources have blamed the parties who were behind the toppling of Caretaker PM Saad Hariri’s cabinet for the current government formation impasse.

“The actual responsibility of the crisis lies on those who toppled Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government and claimed that his presence in Lebanon was hindering the formation of the new cabinet,” sources told An Nahar daily about the March 8 forces.

Full Story
Speaker Seeks to Launch New Initiative to Solve Cabinet Deadlock

Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly planning to launch a new initiative to bring the viewpoints of Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun closer.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Berri is working away from the media spotlight to solve the dispute between the two officials.

W140 Full Story
Berri Refuses to Give In: ‘Parliament Should Compensate for Cabinet Vacuum’

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the current situation will not crush efforts to form the new government saying no one will “surrender” to the obstacles facing the cabinet formation.

“The efforts are still ongoing and the necessity requires us to reach the desired results,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

Full Story
Miqati Intentionally ‘Turns off Engines’ of Cabinet Consultations

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has said that he intentionally “turned off the engines” of his consultations to form the new government after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun sought to bring back to the table issues that the involved parties had already reached agreement on.

According to As Safir daily, Miqati told his visitors that he was still waiting for Aoun to propose the names of his bloc’s candidates to join the new government.

W140 Full Story
Netanyahu: Tyranny Imposed Hizbullah’s Medieval Rule on Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the "courageous Arab protestors" battling tyranny which has inflicted “the medieval rule of Hizbullah” on Lebanon.

"The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon's democratic Cedar Revolution,” Netanyahu said in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

W140 Full Story