Spotlight
Representatives of the United States, France, UNIFIL and the Lebanese and Israeli armies met Monday in Naqoura to “coordinate their support for the cessation of hostilities that went into effect on November 27,” the U.S. and French embassies and UNIFIL said in a joint statement.
“As set out in the (ceasefire) announcement, UNIFIL hosted the meeting, with the United States serving as chair, assisted by France, and joined by the LAF and IDF (Lebanese and Israeli armies),” the statement said.
Full StoryAcross Lebanon, the Middle East, and beyond, the fall of Syria’s authoritarian government at the hands of Islamist-led rebels set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm.
Many Lebanese exulted at the overthrow of the Syrian leader while others worried about more instability rocking a region in turmoil.
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MP Hassan Fadlallah announced Monday that “what’s happening in Syria is a major, dangerous and new transformation,” in the first comments by a Hezbollah official on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the hands of Islamist-led rebels.
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U.S. President Joe Biden has reassured that the United States “will support Syria's neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel should any threat arise from Syria during this period of transition.”
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Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has congratulated all Lebanese on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, saying that “over the past 50 years, the regime of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad was the biggest obstacle to the building of a state in Lebanon.”
Full StoryThe Israeli army released Monday two brothers it had detained Sunday near the Shebaa Farms.
The brothers Samer and Sameer Sinan from the town of Ain Qinya were detained as they harvested olives in al-Majidiya near the Shebaa Farms.
Full StoryKataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel said that Hezbollah has surrendered and south Lebanon was destroyed in only 10 days of Israeli strikes.
Gemayel demanded Hezbollah be disarmed, stressing that the group has stopped being a Lebanese "resistance" movement since it entered Syria, in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Full StoryFree Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said he supports Hezbollah in defending Lebanon but not in exposing it, calling for a full implementation of the ceasefire with Israel and for keeping Lebanon away from regional conflicts.
"We have lost the deterrence equation but Israel today cannot stroll in Lebanon the way it did in 1982," Bassil said in a televised interview. "There is neither defeat nor victory, but the Shiites now know that they cannot bet on other arenas and cannot continue with wrong choices."
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Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Thursday that his Iranian-backed group, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, would be by Damascus’ side as Islamist-led rebels press a sweeping offensive.
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The Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc led by Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday lauded caretaker PM Najib Mikati’s call for holding a Cabinet session in the southern city of Tyre.
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