Lebanon

20 Aug 2020; MEMO: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced on Wednesday that UN refugee agency UNHCR will provide shelter for 100,000 Lebanese citizens.

His remarks came during a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace in Beirut.

“The UN refugee agency UNHCR usually focuses on supporting Syrian refugees, but we will also help Lebanese hospitals and will cooperate with the Lebanese Red Cross to provide shelters for 100,000 people,” Grandi informed Aoun.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s leading Sunni cleric on Wednesday joined calls for early parliamentary elections and an international investigation into the explosion at the Beirut port, which he said deepened the country’s existential crisis.

At least 179 people were killed and 300,000 left effectively homeless when massive amounts of highly explosive material stored unsafely for years detonated early this month, destroying swathes of the city and prompting the government’s resignation amid mass protests.

19 Aug 2020; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun has said that it is “impossible” that Hezbollah’s arms were the cause of the explosion that devasted Beirut earlier this month, Reuters reported yesterday.

Aoun made the remarks to the Italian daily Corriere, adding that all possibilities would be investigated.

The president denied that Hezbollah is storing weapons at Beirut port, echoing comments by the group’s leader earlier this month.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saad Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, said Tuesday that his family has accepted the verdict of a UN tribunal on the assassination of his father, reports Anadolu Agency.

Hariri also demanded justice and asked for a fair trial of the offenders in a statement on his social media account.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Tuesday that a verdict by a UN tribunal into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri met the desire of Lebanese people to reveal names behind the crime, reports Anadolu Agency.

Aoun said in a statement by the presidency that Hariri’s assassination threatened the stability and peace in Lebanon and a national figure, who had the support of the people and had a national project, was targeted in the attack.

BEIRUT, August 17./TASS/: Lebanese investigators have issued an arrest warrant for the chief of Lebanese Customs, Badri Daher, over the Beirut port blast, Al Arabiya news channel reported on Monday.

It said the arrest warrant was issued after the official had given evidence. The customs chief was questioned for four hours, it stressed.

BEIRUT, Aug 17 (NNN-NNA) – Head of Lebanese Order of Physicians, Charaf Abou Charaf, said yesterday that, 2,000 physicians were impacted by the explosions, that rocked Beirut on Aug 4.

“Physicians were either injured or have their clinics destroyed, which necessitates quick measures, to support them, in addition to helping nurses to prevent them from immigrating, as many of them have started leaving the country,” Abou Charaf said.

He also noted that public hospitals are in need for financial support, which would also help physicians and encourage them to stay in Lebanon.

BEIRUT, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese economy minister announced on Monday that 2,500 people have applied to insurance companies for compensation totalling 425 million U.S. dollars for the damage caused by the Beirut explosions.

Raoul Nehme said the number of applications is expected to reach 10,000, the National News Agency reported.

Nehme's remarks came during his meeting with President Michel Aoun and a delegation representing insurance companies.

BEIRUT (AP) — More than 15 years after the truck bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, a U.N.-backed tribunal in the Netherlands is announcing verdicts this week in the trial of four members of the militant group Hezbollah allegedly involved in the killing, which deeply divided the tiny country.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s top Christian cleric called on Sunday for early parliamentary elections and a government formed to rescue the country rather than the ruling “political class” after the vast explosion in Beirut’s port threw the nation into turmoil.

The now-caretaker cabinet resigned amid protests over the Aug. 4 blast that killed more than 172 people, injured 6,000, left 300,000 homeless and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean city, compounding a deep financial crisis.