Lebanon

It was on the 12th day of the 17 October 2019 thawra, if I recall correctly, that the Lebanese Army decided dissent had been done with making its point. Except it wasn’t — or rather, we weren’t. It was heavily raining and the media had somehow joined the army’s metaphorical…

An Arab Israeli citizen was arrested by Lebanese security services on Monday morning after crossing the border from the occupation state, it has been reported. According to Lebanon’s 24 news website, the man in his 30s climbed over the border fence near the Lebanese village of Zaheriya. It added that the man is being questioned by Lebanese Military Intelligence officers. The Israeli occupation army said that it is negotiating for the release of the man through intermediaries, reported the Times of Israel.

Lebanon 1990, fifteen years of civil war ended in a double occupation of the country, Syria & Israel, and a new government was established in 1989 with Elias Hraoui presiding over it by the Taif Agreement while the omnipresent Syrian Secret Services (Al Mukhabarat) control the Lebanese system with its various institutions, most importantly, the judicial system. — Background Once Syria ousted General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace and took control of the remaining Free Lebanese Areas, its men in Lebanon slipped into strategic posts throughout state institutions. The delicate ministries of interior, defense, labor, and foreign affairs were handed to Syria’s allies, cherry-picked by the head of…

I walked to the farthest end of the terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. They always give us the last gate, I say to myself. Because we’re rowdy. Will I bump into someone I know? Most people don’t expect to see a familiar face on a plane. …

Here are the key facts of this story, as agreed upon by Reuters (a), National News, Associated Press, Naharnet, and Reuters (b). On Tuesday, the US Treasury announced sanctions against Hassan Moukalled, his two sons, and his business — CTEX Exchange — over alleged financial ties to the Iran-backed political…

The Lebanese lira has fallen to a record low against the US dollar, it has been reported. The currency has lost more than 95 percent of its value since the beginning of the country’s economic crisis in 2019. On Wednesday, it hit a low of LL57,000 against the US dollar on the black market. Lebanon’s Central Bank’s sayrafa rate, in which it provides dollars to depositors in an attempt to limit depreciation of the lira, stood at LL38,000 against the dollar as of Tuesday. The gap between that rate and the black market now amounts to around LL19,000.

Here are the key facts of this story, as agreed upon by Reuters, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Independent, and Times of Israel. After over a year of deadlock due to political resistance, Lebanese Judge Tarek Bitar unexpectedly resumed his investigation into the 2020 Beirut Port blast on Monday, charging top…

Here are the key facts of this story, as agreed upon by Middle East Eye, DW, France24, Al Jazeera, and Reliefweb. France has repatriated 47 women and children from prison camps in northeast Syria where families with suspected ties to the Islamic State group (IS) are held. Fifteen women and…