Lebanon

Bkerke Meeting: Draft Formula Regarding Hezbollah's Weapons Still Hanging
Bkerke Meeting: Draft Formula Regarding Hezbollah's Weapons Still Hanging

Christian forces – notably the Lebanese Forces (LF), the Kataeb and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) – who gathered at the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke on Friday, have tentatively agreed on a draft formula regarding Hezbollah's weapons. This formula would be part of the national charter that Bkerke is expected to declare in the ...

Crime Rates Surging Amidst State Weakness
Crime Rates Surging Amidst State Weakness

The surge in crime in Lebanon is no longer an ordinary issue. It has become a major source of concern for Lebanese citizens, especially for those who have always considered the law-governed State of their upbringing as a safe haven. Samar Yamout from co-sister media, Houna Loubnan, wrote: Hardly a week passes in Lebanon without witnessing crimes ...

The Intelligent Recap: This Week's AI News Report
The Intelligent Recap: This Week's AI News Report

Good evening and welcome to The Intelligent Recap. It’s Friday, May 10th, and the 217th day of the war in Gaza. In tonight’s episode: The staggering cost Lebanon is paying for the war, and the controversy surrounding the EU grant to Lebanon. Also, May 4th marked the 145th month since the Beirut Port explosion. In international news: The ...

De Waele: Repatriation of Syrians Is an Ambition, Not a Plan
De Waele: Repatriation of Syrians Is an Ambition, Not a Plan

The European Union (EU) seems to be on the defensive, especially since the uproar caused by the announcement last Thursday of a one-billion-euro aid package to help Lebanon put up with the burden of Syrian migrants. In a second attempt (the first being yesterday, May 9, on the occasion of Europe Day) to justify the granting of this sum over a ...

Supreme Shiite Council Files Complaint Against Fakih
Supreme Shiite Council Files Complaint Against Fakih

The Supreme Islamic Shiite Council filed a criminal complaint on Friday against comedian Shaden Fakih because of a video clip that was widely shared on social media on Wednesday, in which she jested about Islamic and Christian prayer rituals. Th charges, which were pressed by attorney Prof. Ali Fayez Rahal, came in accordance with provisions of ...

Bayssari Reveals New Plan for Syrian Migrants and Detainees
Bayssari Reveals New Plan for Syrian Migrants and Detainees

General Security Director-General, Major General Elias Bayssari, announced that he is preparing a comprehensive study on the Syrian migrants’ file, “which will be detailed and presented at the conference devoted to address this issue, in Brussels next month.” In an interview with Al-Joumhouriya, Bayssari revealed that he “is in the ...

South Lebanon: Two Civilians Killed Amid Flareup of Violence
South Lebanon: Two Civilians Killed Amid Flareup of Violence

Tensions intensified on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Friday. Two civilians were killed in an Israeli drone strike near a phone transmission station in Tayr Harfa.   The victims were Ghaleb Hussein al-Hajj, head of the Civil Defense paramedical staff of the Islamic Mission Scouts, and Youssef Fadi Jalloul, a technician with Powertech, the ...

Syrian Refugees: Geagea Announces Lebanese Sit-in in Brussels, May 27
Syrian Refugees: Geagea Announces Lebanese Sit-in in Brussels, May 27

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has announced plans for a protest sit-in in Brussels on May 27, simultaneously with the international conference on Syria. During a televised interview on Thursday evening, Geagea criticized “the weakness of Lebanese authorities, particularly successive governments,” in managing the issue of the Syrian ...

Syrian Refugees: De Waele Evokes Repatriation Policy
Syrian Refugees: De Waele Evokes Repatriation Policy

Sandra De Waele, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Lebanon, said on Thursday that the €1 billion package announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is intended "to support Lebanon" until 2027. Speaking on Europe Day, De Waele elaborated on the purported aims of this financial support, which she said should "support ...

Josephine Abi Ghosn Wins the Award for Best Tourism Documentary in the Arab World
Josephine Abi Ghosn Wins the Award for Best Tourism Documentary in the Arab World

Josephine Abi Ghosn, the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism's ambassador for religious tourism, received the Arab Union for Tourism Media Award for the best tourism documentary film in the Arab world. The award ceremony for her winning documentary, Visit the Pathways of Jbeil on Holy Thursday, coincided with the Arabian Travel Market 2024 in Dubai, ...

LF MPs to UNHCR: Lebanon Is a Transit Country
LF MPs to UNHCR: Lebanon Is a Transit Country

On Thursday, MPs of the Strong Republic Bloc (Lebanese Forces) presented a memorandum to the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beirut, emphasizing that "Lebanon is not a country of asylum, but a transit country," citing the massive Syrian presence in Lebanon. During a meeting with the UNHCR ...

A Dar Al-Fatwa Complaint Against Comedian Shaden Fakih for Offending Islam
A Dar Al-Fatwa Complaint Against Comedian Shaden Fakih for Offending Islam

In a country that prides itself on being high on democracy, freedom of expression has never been so suppressed. Thursday, comedian Shaden Fakih, from awk.word comedy club, was the target of religious authorities. Acting on instructions from the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdellatif Derian, Dar al-Fatwa filed a complaint against the comedian for ...