Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday near Syria's capital Damascus killed three fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime and wounded four others, a war monitor said.
Syrian state news agency SANA earlier reported two soldiers had been wounded in the overnight strikes. It quoted a military source as saying the bombing targeted "certain positions in the vicinity of Damascus."
Full StoryThe Central Bank’s four vice governors – Wassim Mansouri, Bashir Yakzan, Salim Chahine and Alexander Mouradian – on Tuesday met in parliament with a number of MPs.
“We’re awaiting the list of demands that they want from the government,” MP George Adwan said after the meeting.
Full StoryLebanon’s pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday criticized a statement issued by the five-nation group on Lebanon as “escalatory” and “a declaration of a new tutelage” over Lebanon.
The statement “resembled a mourning of the French initiative and a near-termination of the mandate granted by the U.S. to Paris in the presidential file,” al-Akhbar said.
Full StoryDeputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab met Tuesday with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to discuss with him the possibility of holding a dialogue between parties or parliamentary blocs over the presidential file.
"Geagea is open to any consultation, communication or agreement with all parties without exception," Bou Saab said after the meeting. But the LF leader is not convinced of a "traditional" dialogue table, he added.
Full StoryThe five-nation meeting held in Doha by representatives of the U.S., France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt has devised “a roadmap for the coming period,” MTV reported on Tuesday.
“The conferees agreed to follow up on and enhance the outcome of the visits of French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Lebanon and the region’s countries, in coordination with the visits of the Qatari envoys,” the TV network added, noting that the five countries have also agreed to “exchange information.”
Full StoryThe five-nation group on Lebanon has threatened “measures” against the Lebanese parties who are “blocking progress” in the stalled presidential election file, in a statement issued after a meeting in Doha.
"Today, representatives from Egypt, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United States met to discuss the urgent need for Lebanon's leadership to expedite presidential elections and implement imperative economic reforms in order to fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens. Rescuing the economy and securing a more prosperous future for the Lebanese people rests on their actions," the five nations said in a joint statement.
Full StoryFree Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan asked Tuesday caretaker Finance Minister Youssef al-Khalil for a copy of the Alvarez & Marsal forensic audit report.
The Finance Ministry had last month denied accusations that it has “hidden” the report, claiming that the report is just a draft, that it belongs to the Lebanese government and not the Finance Ministry and that it is confidential.
Full StoryCentral Bank governor Riad Salameh showed up Tuesday for an interrogation session at the Justice Palace before Judge Charbel Abu Samra.
Last week, Abu Samra questioned Salameh and adjourned the interrogation until this week.
Full StoryA Lebanese judge has ordered the seizure of embattled central bank governor Riad Salameh's properties pending a local investigation into his wealth, a judicial official told AFP.
Salameh has been the subject of a series of judicial probes both in crisis-hit Lebanon and abroad into the fortune he has amassed during some three decades in the post.
Full StoryThe caretaker Cabinet will hold successive sessions to discuss the draft state budget, the National News Agency reported on Monday.
The first session will be held next Monday, NNA said.
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