Lebanon - Page 14

A titanic explosion shook the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday, shaking buildings and sending a huge cloud of smoke over the middle of the city.

BEIRUT — Facing a worsening economic crisis and with little chance of Western or oil-rich Arab countries providing assistance without substantial reforms, Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is looking east, hoping to secure investments from China that could bring relief.

BEIRUT — With Beirut’s airport partially reopening from a three-month virus shutdown, the government is hoping thousands of Lebanese expatriates will return for the summer — and bring dollars desperately needed to prop up the crashing economy.

TEL AVIV — The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group is attempting to recruit Israeli citizens as operatives, the Shin Bet security agency revealed Tuesday, following the arrest of two Arab Israeli women earlier this month who were recruited by a Lebanon-based operative to carry out terror activities.

The Lebanese pound sank to a record low on the black market on Thursday despite the authorities’ attempts to halt the plunge of the crisis-hit country’s currency, sparking a flare-up in anti-government protests.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Living in a slum built precariously on the banks of a sewage-tainted river in Lebanon, Faiqqa Homsi feels her family being pushed closer and closer to the edge.

Beirut — Protest-hit Lebanon has approved an economic rescue plan and requested aid from the International Monetary Fund as it battles its worst financial crisis in decades.

Jihadists affiliated with the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, which also operates as a political party in Lebanon, are complaining that “red tape” tied to the group’s campaign against the Chinese coronavirus is making it harder to access funding, the Saudi outlet al-Arabiya reported on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters set two banks on fire and clashed with security forces in Tripoli, Lebanon, on Tuesday, after soldiers shot a man dead during related protests the night before.

Lebanese protesters confronted army troops for a second day as a spiralling economic crisis re-energised the anti-government movement.

Lebanese security forces arrested a man on Thursday on suspicion of putting a Nigerian domestic worker up “for sale” online, Al Jazeera reported.

Beirut — Lebanon’s security forces said Friday they had made their largest cannabis seizure in history last month, unearthing 25 tonnes of the drug intended for Africa.

JERUSALEM — A small group of Franciscan monks and Roman Catholic faithful took to the streets of Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter in the Old City Sunday to distribute olive branches after the traditional Palm Sunday procession was cancelled due to restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah announced it would invest in doctors, medical equipment, and clinics to treat Chinese coronavirus patients in Lebanon, joining a growing list of terrorist organizations waging what Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dubbed a “jihad” against the pandemic.

BEIRUT — Lebanon went into lockdown and Iraqis prepared for a curfew Monday as part of regional efforts to contain the new coronavirus even as businesses remained open in Iran, which is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East and where another senior official has died from the virus.

Multiple Arabic and Israeli news organization reported on Wednesday that the Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah has isolated its senior leaders after coming into contact with Iranian government officials carrying Chinese coronavirus.

Outspoken Lebanese pop star Elissa, one of the most popular female singers in the Arab world, on Monday accused her government of refusing to cancel flights from Iran to keep the Wuhan coronavirus at bay because officials feared to antagonize Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization and political party supported by Tehran.

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, on Sunday called for a boycott of American goods to protest President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah has called for Lebanese citizens to strike at the heart of U.S. global success and boycott its goods and products as “part of the battle” to prove Islamic superiority.

Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Iran-backed Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, lamented on Iranian television on Thursday that he could not trade his life for that of Major General Qasem Soleimani, eliminated in a U.S. airstrike in January.

A top UN official warned that Europe will face a new migrant crisis if the situation in Lebanon, a country that has been ravaged an economic crisis and internal strife, is not resolved before it becomes a failed state.

TEL AVIV – Israel and the U.S. will work together to combat Iranian terror in the Middle East, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said following a trip to the U.S., with the task being divvied up so that Jerusalem will work to curb Iran’s entrenchment in Syria while Washington will combat the Islamic Republic’s presence in Iraq.

Beirut — Companies are closing and restaurants are half empty but in the gloom of Lebanon’s worst economic crisis in decades, luxury jewellers, supercar dealerships and art galleries are doing brisk business.

Protests in Lebanon turned violent again over the weekend, with over 400 injuries reported. There were several claims of security forces using live ammunition against protesters in addition to water cannons and tear gas.

Israel has begun installing “highly sohisticated’ underground sensors along the northern border with Lebanon to detect new subterranean tunnels, Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.

Lebanese security forces detained at least a hundred demonstrators on Thursday as Lebanon’s long-running but mostly peaceful anti-government protests turned violent for the second night in a row. Dozens of people were reportedly injured in clashes with the police.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, on Sunday called for attacks against American forces to avenge the death of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who he described as a friend to Shiite forces in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen as well as Lebanon.

The U.S. drone strike that killed the world’s most dangerous terrorist mastermind, Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani, also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a prominent Iraqi militant aligned with Iran.

Former Nissan Motor chief Carlos Ghosn evaded Japanese authorities by hiding inside a musical instrument box, reports revealed Tuesday.

Flooding at Beirut’s only Jewish cemetery has swept away entire graves after heavy rainfall hit the Lebanese capital.

Lebanon’s new prime minister-designate,Hassan Diab, said in an interview with Deutsche Welle aired Friday that he expected full European and US support for his government.

American taxpayers are once again being forced to subsidize border security measures in the Middle East as part of the latest government spending bill.

Lebanon’s president on Monday postponed talks on naming a new prime minister after security forces repeatedly used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons against hundreds of protesters over the weekend.

Lebanese security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters for a second straight day, ending what started as a peaceful rally in defiance of the toughest crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in two months.

Beirut (AFP) — Lebanese police clashed with anti-government protesters in Beirut late Saturday, firing tear gas to prevent them from breaching barricades near parliament, ahead of talks next week to appoint a new premier. Lebanon has been swept by unprecedented

A gang of seven “youths” has been arrested in the German city of Augsburg after an off-duty fireman was attacked and beaten to death outside of the city’s Christmas Market.