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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Shell from Syria wounds citizen in Akkar town
2025-05-30
[NAHARNET] A Shilka-type shell fired from Syria landed in the Akkar town of al-Dawseh, wounding a Lebanese man, Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
's National News Agency reported on Thursday, without elaborating on who might have fired it.

The defense ministers of Lebanon and Syria signed an agreement in Jeddah in late March "to address security and military threats" along the countries' common border. The accord came after frontier festivities earlier in March left 10 people dead. Those festivities pitted Syrian authorities against Hezbollah-allied Lebanese clans.

Border tensions flared earlier in March after Syria's new authorities accused Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers into Lebanon and killing them. The Iran-backed group, which had been an ally of toppled Syrian president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
, denied involvement.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met in Damascus in mid-April with Syria's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, accompanied by a Lebanese ministerial delegation comprising the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and interior.

It is the first trip to Damascus by a senior Lebanese official since a new government was formed in Beirut in February, two months after an Islamist-led alliance ousted longtime Syrian ruler Bashir al-Assad.

This visit is "key to correcting the course of ties between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect," a Lebanese official said.

Beirut and Damascus have been seeking to improve ties since the overthrow of Assad, whose family dynasty commanded a decades-long tutelage over Lebanon and is accused of assassinating numerous Lebanese officials who expressed opposition to its rule.

Salam's talks in Damascus tackled controlling and demarcating the porous, 330-kilometer shared border, as well as combating smuggling.

In December, Sharaa said his country would not negatively interfere in Lebanon and would respect its neighbor's illusory sovereignty.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Geagea says Hezbollah''s Qassem seems to be ''on another planet'' — Naharnet
2025-05-30
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem
... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies...
 seems "as if he's on another planet" to Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
 leader Samir Geagea
....Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005....
 who criticized Qassem's "unrealistic" statements, in an interview with LBCI on Wednesday night.

Geagea said foreign countries will not help Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
 or deal with the Lebanese state as long as Hezbollah is keeping its "illegal" arms. "There will be no reconstruction, no financial rescue — all of that is now suspended, frozen, and paralyzed, until Hezbollah disarms. No one will want to deal with the state in such a situation."

Geagea praised Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's stance on Hezbollah's arms but urged President Joseph Aoun to set a deadline for the disarmament of the group. "Salam's stances are very clear but Aoun's dialogue can not be indefinitely open. A timeframe is needed, decisive decisions are needed, although no one wants conflict," he said.

Aoun and Hezbollah have been exchanging messages and the president met with a delegation from Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc on Monday. Aoun has long stressed that disarming Hezbollah should happen through a calm dialogue warning against the use of force or dealing hastily with the matter.

Hezbollah's leader said the group will not discuss giving up its remaining weapons until Israel withdraws from the five border points it occupies in southern Lebanon and stops its Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s.

"We have completely adhered" to the ceasefire agreement, Qassem said, adding: "Don't ask us for anything else from now on. Let Israel withdraw, stop its aggression, release the prisoners and fulfill all obligations under the agreement. After that, we will discuss each new development."

Geagea responded that Hezbollah has no right to impose conditions and sarcastically added that the group failed to liberate Lebanese land through the use of force. "Can Hezbollah make Israel withdraw by force? Than why hasn't it done that?"

Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, beginning with the group's campaign of rocket fire at its arch-foe in support of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, and culminating in a major Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into Lebanon.

"We need to implement the ceasefire deal. A Peace treaty with Israel is not our priority now," Geagea said, amid talks about a possible normalization of ties with Israel.

Israel's ambassador to the U.S. had said earlier this month that Syria and Lebanon could join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel even before Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
. "I am very optimistic about the potential of an Abraham Accord with Syria and Lebanon," Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon seeks 'real peace’ with Israel: PM Nawaf Salam
2025-05-28
[GEO.TV] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 will consider bilateral ties with Israel if an agreement leads to ''real peace''.

''We are a peace-seeking nation, but we want a real peace. Israel is occupying territories that belong to our country,'' he was quoted as telling Sky News Arabia by Lebanese and Israeli media.

Of weapons in Paleostinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Salam said: ''What's dangerous about the camps' arms is that they may lead to an inter-Paleostinian strife.''
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Salam: We won''t remain silent over any arms outside state control
2025-05-27
[NAHARNET] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said ''the region has grown tired of Iranian-U.S. polarization,'' hoping Arabs will return to Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
''We will not remain silent over any arms outside the state's control,'' Salam added, in an interview with Sky News Arabia.

''The majority of the Lebanese people stands by us and my strength comes from regaining the people's confidence in the state and my project is the rebuilding of the state,'' the premier said.

Asked about the chants that accused him of being a ''Zionist'' during a recent football match, Salam said he was not ''provoked'' by the chants, noting that ''treason accusations in Lebanon have become political weapons.''

''I'm sad because a part of Lebanon is occupied and we are advocates of peace, but we want a just and sustainable peace,'' the PM added.

As for the Paleostinian arms in Lebanon's refugee camps, Salam said: ''What's dangerous about the camps' arms is that they may lead to an inter-Paleostinian strife, and Paleostine's strength today does not come from arms, but rather from international recognition and diplomacy.''
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
At Arab Summit, Salam calls for obliging Israel to stop its attacks
2025-05-19
But Allah has been content to allow Israel to continue. Inshallah, dudes.
[NAHARNET] At an Arab summit in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced "daily Israeli violations" of Lebanese illusory sovereignty and "the ongoing Israeli occupation of positions" in the South.

He said Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
 was working to "fully implement" a United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
 Security Council resolution that formed the basis of the ceasefire.

The resolution says Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.

Salam again urged international pressure "to oblige Israel to stop its attacks and immediately and fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory."
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ortagus to visit Beirut in a week, says occupation doesn't justify Hezbollah arms
2025-05-17
[NAHARNET] U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus will return to Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
 in around a week, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday.

In an evening interview with LBCI television, Ortagus confirmed the imposition of new U.S. sanctions targeting three Hezbollah ''financiers'', stressing Washington's commitment to cutting off illicit financing to Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies in the Middle East.

She added that the U.S. administration has revived the "maximum pressure" campaign originally launched during President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
's first term, particularly targeting Iran and affiliated groups like Hezbollah.

"These sanctions aim to identify and expose individuals and networks facilitating illicit financing for Hezbollah. This is part of our broader strategy to ensure that terror proxies throughout the region, especially those funded by Iran, are held accountable," Ortagus said.

She emphasized that this effort would continue with additional sanctions on the way.

When asked whether Israel's occupation of five strategic sites in south Lebanon offers Hezbollah justification to keep its weapons, Ortagus firmly rejected the notion.

"Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon into wars twice in the past two decades -- wars the Lebanese people did not choose. They destroy the south every time," she said. "There is no justification for Hezbollah to keep its arms," she added.

Ortagus also reiterated the United States' desire to work with Lebanese leaders, including President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, to create a new economic future for Lebanon.

"But that future is only possible when the Lebanese state, through the Lebanese Armed Forces, has the exclusive authority over weapons," she noted.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Salam says ''no turning back'' in plans to monopolize arms, Hezbollah will ‘’go far’’ on issue - no donor reconstruction until complete
2025-05-17
[NAHARNET] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said that Lebanon ''has managed to pave the way for a promising new start, despite all the difficulties that the project of rebuilding confidence and the course of reform are facing.''

''There will be no turning back in the project of consolidating the monopoly of arms in the hands of the Lebanese state alone, which should be in charge of the war and peace decisions and of defending its land and sons -- all its sons -- with the means allowed by international laws and norms,'' Salam added, in an interview with the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

''The entire Lebanese state is seeking full Israeli withdrawal from its land and to prevent all forms of violations. The government is also working on rallying efforts to launch the reconstruction process,'' Salam went on to say.

Hezbollah will ''go far'' in the issue of arms handover
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah will ''go far'' in the issue of the handover of its weapons to the Lebanese state and it will ''embarrass'' everyone, a source close to Hezbollah said.

''Consensus between Hezbollah and the Lebanese president has become bigger than the issue of arms handover and dialogue between Presidenty Joseph Aoun and Hezbollah is ongoing, without specifying any deadlines or dates,'' the source added, in remarks to Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel.

''The handover of weapons is possible, in return for gains for Hezbollah such as Israel's withdrawal and reconstruction,'' the source said, adding that ''Hezbollah's acceptance to hand over its weapons does not mean giving them up for nothing in return.''

''Hezbollah is convinced that the slogans it voiced in the past and which needed weapons are no longer existent and it is fully cooperating with Aoun and offering him solutions related to its heavy and strategic weapons,'' the source revealed.

''President Aoun knows Hezbollah's concerns as to the withdrawal of its arms and is working on resolving the difficulties, while Hezbollah knows well the magnitude of international pressure on the president for its disarmament,'' the source went on to say.

Report: No reconstruction funds before reforms and Hezbollah disarmament
[NAHARNET] Lebanese officials have sensed reluctance from major powers, particularly Arab countries, to provide reconstruction funds, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday.

''Arab and donor countries have informed Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
 that they will not to engage in the reconstruction project until the vision for Lebanon and the region becomes clear. According to their definition, reconstruction is linked to the state's ability to undertake necessary reforms, fully disarm Hezbollah and prevent it from rebuilding its military and financial capabilities,'' the daily said.

''These countries do not want to engage in such a project while the situation has not yet reached a peaceful path,'' the newspaper added.

All the Arab and European promises are ''awaiting serious action by the Lebanese state and signals from Washington,'' the daily said.
Related:
Nawaf Salam 05/13/2025 Salam vows to confront electoral bribery and security violators
Nawaf Salam 05/11/2025 Beirut Airport security overhaul thwarting Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli, US officials — report
Nawaf Salam 05/07/2025 Palestinian president confirms Beirut visit after disarmament call — Naharnet

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Salam vows to confront electoral bribery and security violators
2025-05-13
[NAHARNET] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the municipal and mayoral elections were conducted ''successfully'' in north Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
 on Sunday thanks to the ''responsible management'' of the Interior Ministry.

''Electoral bribery, regardless of its source, will be met with strict measures, and we will continue the investigations to reach the source of the bribe and take the appropriate judicial measures, seeing as no one enjoys a cover,'' Salam added in remarks on the X platform.

''As for the scene of weapons and stray bullets, which resulted in dangerous injuries, it is a scene that is rejected ethically and legally. This is a shameful and primitive phenomenon that must stop,'' Salam said.

''The relevant authorities, especially the army, arrested many shooters and there will be leniency in continuing the security and judicial course and imposing the severest penalties on security violators,'' the premier added.

''I urge citizens to put an end to this dangerous trend, seeing as weapons are not a way of expression nor a way to impose a situation that defies the principle of the state,'' Salam went on to say.
Related:
Nawaf Salam 05/11/2025 Beirut Airport security overhaul thwarting Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli, US officials — report
Nawaf Salam 05/07/2025 Palestinian president confirms Beirut visit after disarmament call — Naharnet
Nawaf Salam 05/03/2025 Leb. Higher Defense Council warns Hamas against acts that harm Lebanon's security

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Beirut Airport security overhaul thwarting Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli, US officials — report
2025-05-11
[IsraelTimes] Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
 has conducted a major overhaul of security at its sole international airport in Beirut to prevent Hezbollah smuggling, satisfying Israeli and US officials and giving them hope that the Lebanese state will take full control over the country’s ports of entry from the terror group, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"You can feel the difference," Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam tells the WSJ. "We’re doing better on smuggling for the first time in the contemporary history of Lebanon."

Senior Lebanese security and military officials tell the outlet that no planes are now exempt from security checks, while flights from Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
have been suspended since February. Airport staff linked to Hezbollah have been fired, smugglers detained, and new surveillance mechanisms using AI are being put into place, the report says.

In one of the recent achievements, Lebanese security thwarted an endeavor to smuggle over 50 pounds of gold to Hezbollah through Beirut’s international airport, a security bigshot tells the WSJ.

"There is reason for hope here," says a senior US official working for the ceasefire mechanism overseeing a deal that ended over a year of Hezbollah-instigated fighting in November.

"It has only been six or seven months, and we have stepped to a place that I am not sure I thought was achievable back in November."

The report says the Israeli and US officials feel there is work to be done, however. Israeli strikes continue to target Hezbollah operations in Lebanon, it says are in violation of the November ceasefire.

Ibrahim Mousawi, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon’s parliament, tells the WSJ that the terror group sustained heavy losses but claims there are ways for them to rearm: "Where there is a will, there is a way."

He also says that allegations of the terror group’s control over the airport were exaggerated: "We are part of the system, just like any other Lebanese constituency."
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Palestinian president confirms Beirut visit after disarmament call — Naharnet
2025-05-07
[NAHARNET] Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 will visit Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 on May 21 to discuss extending Beirut's authority to Paleostinian camps, a Lebanese government official said Tuesday, as Abbas's office confirmed the date.

The visit comes after President Joseph Aoun said late last month authorities were working to "withdraw (unauthorized) heavy and medium weapons from all Lebanese territory", and that he would raise disarmament of the camps with Abbas.

The government official, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, said Abbas and Lebanese leaders would discuss "extending state authority to all Lebanese territory, including the Paleostinian camps".

By long-standing convention, Lebanon's army stays out of the Paleostinian camps -- where Abbas's Fatah movement, holy warrior group Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
 and other gangs are present -- and leaves the factions to handle security.

Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Paleostinian group's Lebanese ally Hezbollah that erupted over the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 war.

A November ceasefire largely halted hostilities, but Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure but occasionally also Hamas members or other allies.

After unclaimed rocket fire towards Israel from Lebanon on March 22 and 28, Israel responded by bombing south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, strongholds of the Iran-backed Hezbollah which denied involvement in the launches.

Lebanon's top security body the Higher Defense Council has warned Hamas against using the country for attacks on Israel.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also said illegal weapons must be handed over and that Hamas and other factions must not "undermine security and national stability".

Since then, Lebanon's army has said that Hamas has handed over three people suspected of involvement in the March rocket launches.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb. Higher Defense Council warns Hamas against acts that harm Lebanon's security
2025-05-03
[AnNahar] Lebanese authorities warned Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
 Friday that it would face the "harshest measures" if it carried out any attacks from Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
The warning by the Higher Defense Council, Lebanon's top military body, came weeks after several Lebanese and Paleostinians were detained on suspicion of firing rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

"Hamas and other factions will not be allowed to endanger national stability," the council said. "The safety of Lebanon's territories is above all."

"The harshest measures will be taken to put a complete end to any act that infringes on Lebanon's illusory sovereignty," according to a statement that was read by Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Mustafa.

Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named for comment.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, the Paleostinian murderous Moslem group has carried out several attacks against Israel from Lebanon, where it has an armed presence. Israel has since carried out Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s that killed Hamas officials including one of its top military chiefs, Saleh Arouri, in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Lebanese authorities are seeking to establish their authority throughout the country, mainly in the south near the border with Israel after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended in late November with the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Authorities last month detained several people, including a number of Paleostinians, who were allegedly involved in firing rockets toward Israel in two separate attacks in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Hezbollah denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.

The council also said legal proceedings would begin early next week against those detained over the rocket fire.

The meeting of the Higher Defense Council was attended by bigwigs including President Joseph Aoun, PM Nawaf Salam, Army chief General Rodolphe Haykal and the heads of security services.

The council's statement quoted Salam as saying that all "illegal weapons" should be handed over to the state.

Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 is expected to visit Lebanon later this month.

Despite the ceasefire deal with Israel in November, Israel is continuing with near-daily airstrikes on Lebanon that have left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone fired three missiles Friday morning at a gas station in the southern village of Houla, wounding five people. On Thursday, Israel said it killed an official with Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force in a dronezap in south Lebanon.
The Times of Israel adds:
The ceasefire that ended that conflict in November 2024 called on Lebanon to disarm “all armed groups in Lebanon” and dismantle unauthorized military infrastructure.

Mohammad al-Mustafa, secretary-general of the Supreme Defense Council, told reporters on Friday that the body would recommend a series of decisions to Lebanon’s cabinet, including “warning Hamas against using Lebanese territory to carry out any actions that threaten Lebanese national security.”

Hamas has a longstanding presence within Lebanon, including in camps across the country that host hundreds of thousands of long-time Palestinian refugees and their descendants, where Lebanese security forces have long had only limited authority.

Like Hezbollah, Hamas fighters in Lebanon fired rockets across the southern border into Israel in solidarity with Palestinians after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza and saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people and kidnap 251.

Israeli airstrikes have killed several Hamas commanders in Lebanon, including the group’s deputy chief in early 2024.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon gets $250 million World Bank loan to ease electricity crisis — Naharnet
2025-04-26
[NAHARNET] The World Bank will grant Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
 a $250 million loan that will be used to help ease electricity cuts in the crisis-hit country, the country's finance ministry said.

Lebanon has faced major electricity problems for decades, but the situation became worse following an economic meltdown that began in late 2019. The 14-month Israel-Hebzollah war that ended in late November also badly damaged electricity and other infrastructure in parts of Lebanon.

The state-run National News Agency said the deal between Lebanon and the World Bank was signed in Washington by Finance Minister Yassin Jaber and Jean-Christophe Carret, the bank's regional director.

Lebanese officials including Jaber, Economy Minister Amer Bisat and Central Bank Governor Karim Souaid are in Washington for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"This loan forms a strong push to steps of reforms that Lebanon is carrying out to fix this sector," Jaber was cited by the news agency as saying. Most people in Lebanon rely on private generators to produce electricity that is high in cost and causes pollution.

The loan will be used to improve collection of electricity bills as well as improving solar farms that would save $40 million annually, according to the report.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have vowed to work on implementing reforms and fighting corruption and decades-old mismanagement by the ruling class to get Lebanon out of an economic crisis that the World Bank has described as among world's worst since the 1850s.
Link



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