Lebanon
Latest stories
Survivors of Israel's pager attack on Hezbollah last year struggle to recover

Her head heavy with a cold, Sarah Jaffal woke up late and shuffled into the kitchen. The silence of the apartment was pierced by the unfamiliar buzzing of a pager lying near a table.

Annoyed but curious, the 21-year-old picked up the device belonging to a family member. She saw a message: "Error," then "Press OK."

W140 Full Story
LF says Hezbollah should apologize for 35 years of 'disasters'

The Lebanese Forces lauded Wednesday in a statement the government's decision a day earlier to disarm Hezbollah, describing the move as "historical".

The decision was long overdue, the statement said, adding that it should have been taken 35 years ago.

W140 Full Story
Shiite Duo ministers to attend Thursday's cabinet session on US paper

Environment Minister Tamara al-Zein of the Amal Movement and Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine of Hezbollah will attend Thursday’s cabinet session that will tackle the latest U.S. paper on Hezbollah’s disarmament, the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal reported, quoting an unnamed source.

W140 Full Story
Hezbollah says will deal with govt. decision 'as if it doesn't exist'

Hezbollah announced Wednesday that it will deal with the cabinet’s decision on disarming it by the year’s end “as if it does not exist,” adding that it is “open to dialogue” and to “discussing a national security strategy.”

W140 Full Story
Casualties as Israeli drone strikes motorcycle in Touline

An Israeli drone strike on Wednesday targeted a motorcycle in the southern town of Touline, causing casualties, the state-run National News Agency said.

W140 Full Story
Hezbollah MP says party 'evaluating' govt. decision on arms

MP Ali Ammar of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc announced Wednesday that “Hezbollah’s leadership is evaluating what happened yesterday” as to the government’s unprecedented decision to monopolize arms before the year’s end.

W140 Full Story
Lebanese govt. renames Assad avenue after late music legend Ziad Rahbani

Cabinet has decided to rebaptize a thoroughfare named after former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in favor of late Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbani, a move many welcomed on Wednesday.

The decision marks the end of an era and a rupture with the authoritarian rule of former Syrian leaders Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar -- close allies of Lebanon's Hezbollah -- who from Damascus held Lebanon in a stranglehold for almost three decades.

W140 Full Story
Israel says it killed Hezbollah operative in east Lebanon

The Israeli army said Wednesday that it killed a Hezbollah operative in the Bekaa region of east Lebanon who it said was directing militant cells in Syria.

"Yesterday evening (Tuesday), the (Israeli air force)... struck the terrorist Hossam Qasem Ghorab, a Hezbollah terrorist who operated from Lebanese territory to direct terrorist cells in Syria," the army said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
Shiite ministers walk out as cabinet tasks army with drafting plan to restrict arms before Aug. 31

Lebanon's government on Tuesday tasked the army with developing a plan to restrict arms to the state by year end, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, an unprecedented move that paves the way for disarming Hezbollah.

The government "tasked the Lebanese Army with setting an implementation plan to restrict weapons" to the army and other government forces "before the end of this year," with the plan to be presented to the cabinet by the end of this month, Salam told a press conference after a nearly six-hour cabinet session headed by President Joseph Aoun.

W140 Full Story
Qassem refuses to commit to arms handover while Israel continues attacks

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Tuesday his group would not accept any timetable on handing over its weapons to the Lebanese state while Israeli strikes continue, as the government held a session on the issue.

"Any timetable presented for implementation under... Israeli aggression cannot be agreed to," Qassem said in a televised address, urging the state to develop "plans to face the pressure and threats" and not to "deprive the resistance (Hezbollah) of its capacities and strength."

W140 Full Story