Spotlight
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Lebanon UNIFIL vehicle torched as Hezbollah supporters block airport road anew A vehicle emblazoned with the logo of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon was torched late Friday as supporters of Hezbollah again blocked the r... 1
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Lebanon Hariri hints at return to politics, urges Shiite Duo not to be 'obstruction force' In a speech to a crowd of supporters at his father's tomb on Friday, ex-PM Saad Hariri stopped short of announcing a return to politics, but did ...
Israel may seek to delay pulling all of its troops out of southern Lebanon, which would violate the terms of a ceasefire it reached with Hezbollah.
An Israeli government spokesperson said Thursday that Israel wants the ceasefire agreement to endure, however he hinted that the Lebanese army wasn't deploying fast enough to secure areas.

Residents returned Thursday to the town of Naqoura near the Lebanon-Israel border, which hosts the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area.
Long lines of cars, some waving Hezbollah flags, inched along the coastal road. The Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers had reopened roads, cleared mines and removed unexploded ordnance from residential neighborhoods.

Hezbollah said Thursday that it will be the responsibility of the Lebanese state to act and press the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement should Israel delay its military pullout from south Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam have identical viewpoints regarding the formation of “an extraordinary government” that is not based on a “distribution of quotas” among the political parties, informed political sources said.

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said on Thursday he believes crisis-hit Lebanon’s newly elected president and his prime-minister designate are capable of spearheading long-sought reforms.
"We are greatly confident in the ability of... the president and the prime minister to initiate reforms necessary to bolster Lebanon’s security, stability and unity," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said after meeting President Joseph Aoun in Baabda, during the first high-level Saudi visit in more than a decade.

A senior Shiite Duo official has said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have been “the bloc that has facilitated the PM-designate’s mission the most.”

Former MP Yassine Jaber, who is close to Speaker Nabih Berri, is no longer proposed for the finance portfolio in the new government for “health reasons,” media reports said.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that insisting on the finance portfolio for the Shiite community is not aimed at “tripartite or quadripartite power-sharing.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday the two countries are in talks about extending the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a deadline in the ceasefire approaches.
Michael Herzog said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that he believed Israel would "reach an understanding" with the Trump administration to extend the necessary time for the Lebanese Army to truly deploy and fulfill its role under the agreement. "The incoming administration understands our needs and our position on security, and I believe we will reach an agreement on this issue."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday told visiting U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert that Israel is “committed” to the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.
