Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — On Nov. 13, 1970, a young air force officer from the coastal hills of Syria launched a bloodless coup. It was the latest in a succession of military takeovers since independence from France in 1946, and there was no reason to think it would be the last.

Yet 50 years later, Hafez Assad’s family still rules Syria.

BEIRUT (AP) — She is a nurse at a Beirut hospital, and still Rita Harb can’t find her grandfather’s heart drugs.

She has searched pharmacies up and down Lebanon, called friends abroad. Not even her connections with doctors could secure the drugs. Unlike many amid Lebanon’s financial crash, she can afford them — they just aren’t there.

To get by, her 85-year-old grandfather is substituting his medicine with more pills of a smaller concentration to reach his dosage. That too could run out soon.

BEIRUT, Nov 7 (NNN-NNA) – Hezbollah condemned U.S. sanctions against former Lebanese Foreign Minister, Gebran Bassil, over corruption allegations and his close ties with Hezbollah.

“This is a pure political decision and a blatant interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon,” said Hezbollah, a major Shiite political party in Lebanon.

“America is using its domestic laws, including anti-terrorism and anti-corruption laws, to extend its hegemony and influence over the world.”

BEIRUT, Nov 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Lebanon’s lead investigator in the Aug 4 Beirut explosion that killed more than 200 people has been informed that French experts have so far reached no conclusion on the cause of the blast, a senior Lebanese judicial source said.

Judicial investigator Fadi Sawan was provided with the preliminary information during a call on Tuesday with a French judge investigating the blast, the source said.

The French judiciary has opened its own investigation into the explosion as French citizens were among those killed and injured.

BEIRUT, Nov 2 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanon’s Caretaker Interior Minister, Mohammad Fahmi, issued a statement on Sunday, ordering complete lockdown in 115 villages and towns in the country, along with a nationwide curfew, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases.

The curfew starts from 9.00 p.m. to 5.00 a.m. local time, every day.

The minister also prevented public and private gatherings on all Lebanese territories, while ordering all pubs and night clubs to remain closed until further notice.

28 Oct 2020; MEMO: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri vowed to form a government of specialists yesterday, local media reported.

The 20 or 24-person cabinet will not include well-known political figures aside from Hariri, the reports claimed, but will involve technocrats named by key political parties.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) - Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri secured enough support in parliamentary talks on Thursday to be named prime minister and try to form a government to tackle the worst crisis since the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

A tally by Reuters and local media of nominations declared by politicians after consultations with President Michel Aoun showed Hariri had won the backing of 47 parliamentarians, more than the number of MPs yet to formally declare their stance.

19 Oct 2020; MEMO: The leader of the Maronite church in Lebanon, Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, on Sunday urged the country’s political elite to stop delaying parliamentary deliberations on forming a new government.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s largest Christian political party said on Saturday it would not back the nomination of former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to lead a government to tackle a deep economic crisis, further complicating efforts to agree a new premier.

Hariri, who quit as prime minister last October in the face of nationwide protests, has said he is ready to lead a government to implement reforms proposed by France as a way to unlock badly needed international aid.

17 Oct 2020; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced on Friday that his country is relying on the US role to reach fair solutions during the negotiations to demarcate maritime borders with Israel.

This came during Aoun’s meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Schenker in the capital of Beirut, according to a statement issued by the Lebanese presidency.