This is Beirut, 20/08 09:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
United Nations Somalia Jubaland Shabab
Recent clashes in Somalia's semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country's federal system and creating an opening for extremist militant group Al-Shabab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states -- Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, ...
Johnny Kortbawi, 19/08 14:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Hezbollah Israel United Nations Tom Barrack Morgan Ortagus
Lebanon still has much to accomplish. Despite the government’s declarations, practical steps remain limited, leaving doubts about whether the country is honoring its commitments in the eyes of the international community. This was the core message conveyed during Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus’ meetings with Lebanese officials. The points ...
This is Beirut, 19/08 12:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Israel Palestine United Nations
Mediators were awaiting an Israeli response Tuesday to a fresh Gaza ceasefire plan, a day after Hamas accepted the proposal and signalled its readiness for a new round of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war. The foes have held on-and-off indirect negotiations throughout the war resulting in two short truces and the releases of Israeli ...
This is Beirut, 18/08 13:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
United Nations UN Security Council United States US Secretary of State UNIFIL
The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has become a point of tension between the United States and its European allies, raising implications for regional security. UNIFIL’s mandate, which expires at the end of August, requires renewal by the U.N. Security Council. According to an ABC News article published on August 17, Secretary of State ...
This is Beirut, 16/08 21:30 - Reading : less than a minute
Syrian state media said a car bomb exploded in Damascus on Saturday evening without causing casualties. "An explosion was heard in the Mazzeh area," state news agency SANA said, referring to an upscale area of Damascus also home to embassies and United Nations offices. State television said the blast was caused by "an explosive device planted ...
This is Beirut, 16/08 21:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Washington UN Security Council Hezbollah United Nations United States
Al-Jadeed TV revealed on Saturday differences between the United States and France over the renewal of the mandate of the UNIFIL force operating in southern Lebanon. Washington wants a one-year renewal, which would be the last, while Paris wants a renewal without specifying a duration. Political sources told the channel that meetings held in ...
This is Beirut, 15/08 20:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
United Nations Hamas Israel Gaza humanitarian aid
The UN human rights office said Friday that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May, a jump of several hundred since its last published figure at the beginning of August. "Since 27 May, and as of 13 August, we have recorded that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid; 994 in the ...
This is Beirut, 14/08 22:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
West Bank Benjamin Netanyahu United Nations Israel Palestine
Israel's finance minister on Thursday backed plans to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognize a Palestinian state. In response, the United Nations chief warned that building Israeli homes in the area ...
This is Beirut, 14/08 18:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Turkey United Nations Syria Refugees
More than 410,00 Syrians who fled to Turkey during the rule of Bashar al-Assad have returned home since he was overthrown in December, the government announced Thursday. Turkey's interior ministry said 411,649 Syrians had so far returned, the rate picking up in recent weeks, with the immigration service recording 140,000 returns since ...
This is Beirut, 14/08 11:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Damascus United Nations Alawites War
A UN commission investigating sectarian bloodshed in Syria's Alawite heartland documented systematic violence at the hands of government forces and allied groups, warning Thursday that some of the acts could constitute war crimes. The violence in March unfolded along Syria's predominantly Alawite Mediterranean coast, where security personnel ...
This is Beirut, 14/08 10:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
At least 40 people have died in Sudan's Darfur region in the country's worst cholera outbreak in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday. The medical charity said the vast western region, which has been a major battleground over more than two years of fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, had ...
This is Beirut, 13/08 12:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Israel Palestine Hamas United Nations
The Israeli military said Wednesday it had approved the "framework" for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, days after the security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza City. Armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir "approved the main framework for the IDF's operational plan in the Gaza Strip," a statement released by the army ...