Israeli fire wounded three members of Hezbollah on Wednesday near the border with Israel, a security source in southern Lebanon said.
The incident comes amid tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border area, a stronghold of Hezbollah and the site of sporadic skirmishes.
Full StoryThe five-nation group on Lebanon, which comprises the U.S., France, KSA, Qatar and Egypt, will meet Monday in Doha, media reports said.
French envoy Jean Yves Le Drian, Ambassador of France to Qatar Jean-Baptiste Faivre, a representative of U.S. diplomat Barbara Leaf, Saudi royal envoy Nizar al-Aloula and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Boukhari will attend the meeting, ad-Diyar newspaper reported Wednesday.
Full StoryFormer defense minister Yacoub Sarraf announced Wednesday that he will testify before the French judiciary on August 3 in the Beirut port blast case, after Lebanese judges refused to hear his testimony in Lebanon.
“Expect a big surprise during the coming weeks!!!” Sarraf had tweeted on July 5.
Full StoryFree Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil dubbed Wednesday what has been said about land border demarcation with Israel as a flagrant constitutional violation.
Bassil said he was surprised when the Lebanese government told the United Nations that Lebanon is ready to demarcate its southern borders along the Blue Line.
Full StoryThe German judiciary has asked Lebanon to “obtain files and documents related to the accounts of the central bank governor and his brother and assistant from inside the central bank,” media reports said.
“Lebanon’s State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat received over the past hours a memo from the German side through the Lebanese Justice Ministry, requesting that it (German side) be allowed to raid the central bank and seize files and documents related to the accounts of Riad Salameh and his brother and assistant,” a senior judicial official told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Full StoryU.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein held talks Tuesday in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi, Israeli and Lebanese media reports said.
“The discussions tackled a number of topics, including the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and the efforts to reach a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” the reports said.
Full StoryCentral Bank governor Riad Salameh, his brother Raja, and his assistant Marianne Howayek showed up Wednesday for an interrogation session at the Justice Palace before Judge Charbel Abu Samra.
Salameh is part of the Lebanese political class widely blamed for a crushing economic crisis that began in late 2019 and which the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history.
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Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday warned that any attempt to appoint a new army chief of staff “in violation of the constitution and through bypassing the Defense Minister will be a real military coup” in the face of which the FPM will not stand idly by.
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The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday asked Lebanon’s permanent mission to the United Nations to file a complaint to the U.N. secretary general and U.N. Security Council over Israel’s “annexation of the northern, Lebanese part of the Ghajar village.”
Full StoryFollowing vigorous diplomatic efforts, informed sources have ruled out a military confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah over the latest border tensions, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.
In addition to UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro’s meetings with Lebanese officials, U.S. and French diplomats exerted efforts in this regard last week, the daily said.
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