Lebanon

04 Feb 2022; MEMO: Two experts have praised the qualitative security operation conducted by the Information Branch of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces which resulted in dismantling of 17 Israeli spy networks operating in various Lebanese territories and in Syria.

Palestinian writer and political analyst Ahmed Al-Hajj said the Israeli security and intelligence services are interested in Lebanon due to the openness and diversity of its society.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of boys are missing from a Syrian Kurdish prison that held members of the Islamic State group and their families, after the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces fought IS militants for 10 days to retake the facility, an international human rights group said Friday.

BEIRUT, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) announced on Wednesday that it has secured 3.7 million euros (4.19 million U.S. dollars) from the European Union to finance renewable energy projects in Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

During his meeting with Lebanese Industry Minister George Bouchikian, UNIDO Representative in Lebanon Emmanuel Kalenzi said the new donation will boost the use of renewable energy in industrial projects in Lebanon, according to NNA.

BEIRUT, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's security forces busted at least 17 suspected Israeli spy networks in one of the largest nationwide crackdowns in recent years, state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday.

Those networks operated both "locally and regionally," Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi was quoted by NNA as saying.

The minister did not go into detail about the operation or the number of people arrested during the operation conducted by the Internal Security Forces.

01 Feb 2022; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun yesterday called on his Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, to file a complaint against the "Israeli violations" to the United Nations Security Council.

Syria's official SANA news agency yesterday reported that Israeli fighter jets had fired "several missiles" through Lebanese airspace at Damascus, adding that the Syrian air defences were able to "bring down most of the projectiles."

BEIRUT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on Sunday it saw no reason to delay May's parliamentary elections, days after politics was turned on its head by Saad al-Hariri's withdrawal from public life.

Hariri, Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician and three times a former prime minister, declared on Monday he would boycott the vote, adding to the uncertainties facing a country grappling with a devastating financial crisis.

BEIRUT (AP) — With a spectacular jail break in Syria and a deadly attack on an army barracks in Iraq, the Islamic State group was back in the headlines the past week, a reminder of a war that formally ended three years ago but continues to be fought mostly away from view.

The attacks were some of the boldest since the extremist group lost its last sliver of territory in 2019 with the help of a U.S.-led international coalition, following a years-long war that left much of Iraq and Syria in ruins.

BEIRUT, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday he saw no reason for a delay to parliamentary elections in May after three-times former prime minister Saad al-Hariri announced he was boycotting the vote and stepping away from politics.

Hariri has been Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician since inheriting the mantle of his father, Rafik al-Hariri, after his assassination in 2005.

28 Jan 2022; MEMO: Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, said on Thursday that Iran had gained influence in Lebanon because Arab states had abandoned the country, stepping up criticism of the Iran-backed Hezbollah and suggesting Tehran wants to erase the Lebanese state, Reuters reports.

One of Lebanon's main politicians, Jumblatt was speaking days after leading Sunni Muslim politician, Saad Al-Hariri, withdrew from political life, citing Iranian influence as one of the reasons he saw no hope of positive change.

BEIRUT, Jan 28 (NNN-NNA) – The Japanese government contributed 1.8 million U.S. dollars, to scale up the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) humanitarian assistance and life-saving interventions, for 35,000 vulnerable children, youth and families in Lebanon, the UN agency said, yesterday.

The donation would enable the agency to distribute blankets, jackets, thermal sets, outwears and socks, to vulnerable youth and families, living in homes with limited or no access to heating, it said in a statement.