Unknown individuals on Monday kidnapped the pastor of Baalbek’s Our Lady of Good Help Church, Father Walid Gharious, aka Father Elias Maroun Gharious, on the Baalbek road near the intersection leading to the town of al-Ansar, state-run National News Agency reported.  “Security forces are pursuing the kidnappers after unveiling threads related to the kidnap operation,” […]

  A huge part of a carpet factory that was engulfed in flames in the coastal town of Safra, north of Beirut, collapsed on Friday after its outer walls cracked from the force of flames. The collapse of “Byblos” factory’s western front came after firefighters cleared the area following the partial cracks in the walls. The collapse […]

    President Michel Suleiman telephoned on Thursday his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to condemn the twin Damascus explosions that took place earlier in the day. He told Assad: “Bombings that have cost the lives of several civilians are not the proper way to achieve democracy.” “The only way to reach democracy lies in national dialogue, where […]

    The United States is urging Lebanese banks to take "extra" caution in handling financial transactions with Syria, to prevent the Assad regime and its supporters from stashing money abroad, a senior Treasury official said Thursday. "We want to be as careful as possible that the regime, its cronies, its allies that may be trying […]

    Two powerful blasts rocked Damascus killing and wounding dozens of people during morning rush hour Thursday, state television said, as U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned of a looming civil war in Syria. "Two explosions caused by terrorists took place on the freeway in the south of Damascus," the television said, adding that the blasts […]

  Defense lawyers before the U.N.-backed court probing former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri’s murder sought Wednesday to have the tribunal’s creation declared illegal and unfit to judge their clients. Lawyers for Salim Ayyash — one of four men wanted for trial in connection with Hariri’s car bomb death in 2005 — asked "the trial chamber to […]

  The United States is determined to increase pressure on Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to make him stand down, the US envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday. "The situation in Syria remains dire, especially for the millions who continue to endure daily attacks and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance," ambassador Susan Rice told […]

    The Future bloc on Tuesday said that Hezbollah was still using its weapons to intimidate the Lebanese people. “Hezbollah is still using its weapons… to intimidate the Lebanese people and impose its political, social and economic domination,” the bloc said in a statement following its weekly meeting. The statement also said that “the crime […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on Tuesday his call on Lebanese expatriates to “swiftly register their spouses and children in the Lebanese embassies and consulates in order to obtain their home country’s nationality.” “The Lebanese embassies and consulates in Canada are cooperating to register the wife and children (of Lebanese nationals) in Lebanon,” al-Rahi said […]

  Unknown individuals on Monday kidnapped the pastor of Baalbek’s Our Lady of Good Help Church, Father Walid Gharious, aka Father Elias Maroun Gharious, on the Baalbek road near the intersection leading to the town of al-Ansar, state-run National News Agency reported. The priest was driving his Toyota Avanza when the abductors who were in two […]