The White House said Monday it regretted the loss of life on the Lebanese-Israeli border and urged "maximum restraint" among all parties but said the U.S. ally has the right to thwart unauthorized crossings.
"We regret the loss of life and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those killed and wounded," spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard President Barack Obama's official Air Force One airplane.
Full StoryThe Phalange Party condemned on Monday the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon, saying that it is “starting to kill the country.”
It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “As Arab people are demanding to topple the regimes in their countries, the Lebanese should demand that the system in their country be saved seeing that solutions to the crisis will not be reached any time soon.”
Full StoryThe seven Estonian cyclists kidnapped in Lebanon in March are still alive, said a security source to the Central News Agency on Monday.
This information comes as a relief to security forces that have still not yet determined their where they are being held captive, it added.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat noted on Monday that the Nakba Day clashes that erupted at Maroun al-Ras and the Golan Heights on Sunday mark the beginning of a new Arab-Israeli conflict that will force the Jewish state to acknowledge the Palestinian people’s right to return to their homeland.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The developments in the Arab world confirm that the Palestinian people can no longer be denied their legitimate rights.”
Full StoryTawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab said Monday that he was mulling along with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun ways to withdraw their confidence from PM-designate Najib Miqati.
Following talks with Aoun at his residence in Rabiyeh, Wahhab said that the two politicians were searching for new and legal formulas to withdraw their confidence from Miqati.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman held talks on Monday with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on the security and political repercussions of Sunday’s Nakba Day clashes between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.
He called on the United States to urge the Jewish state to respect international laws and agreements, once again condemning its attack against unarmed civilians.
Full StoryFormer General Security chief Jamil Sayyed’s press office announced on Monday that a French court had set a hearing in his lawsuit against former chief U.N. investigator investigator Detlev Mehlis on May 18.
Sayyed had filed a defamation lawsuit against Mehlis after the latter had adopted testimonies of false witnesses in the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which led to his imprisonment in 2005 for nearly four years.
Full StoryAround 300 Syrians, including several wounded people, crossed the illegal Munjaz Noura crossing into Lebanon’s northern district of Akkar on Monday to escape the violence in Syria, Voice of Lebanon radio station reported.
Among the injured was a woman who was taken to Rahhal hospital in the area, VDL said.
Full StoryIsrael filed a complaint with the U.N. Security Council on Monday against Lebanon and Syria over the Nakba Day incidents that took place on Sunday.
Spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry told Agence France Presse: “We filed a complaint to the Security Council and U.N. Secretary General because Lebanon and Syria should be held responsible for violating our borders, international agreements, and U.N. resolutions.”
Full StoryThe Israeli army said Monday that Israel's frontiers were quiet, as thousands of bereaved Palestinians in camps across Lebanon laid to rest victims of a cross-border Israeli shooting and shops and schools in the camps closed for a day of mourning.
"Today is a day of general strikes in the camps in mourning for the victims who were killed by the enemy," Fatah commander in Lebanon Munir Maqdah, who is based in the notorious refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, told Agence France Presse.
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