For the first time in its history, Israel’s army is getting ready to send voluntary military enlistment notices to Christian Arab citizens when they turn eighteen. The unlikely impetus behind the move is none other than the Arab Spring, the popular rebellion revolutionizing the Arab world and in the process recalibrating the relationship between Christian […]

  Lebanese banks intend to expand their services in Iraq and open more branches across the country, the president of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, Francois Bassil, said Friday. Speaking to the participants at a Lebanese-Iraqi banking conference that began Friday at the Movenpick in Beirut, Bassil said the Lebanese banks operating in Iraq were […]

  Mediation led by the United States to resolve a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) has reached a deadlock after a top U.S. official described it as “excellent” earlier this month.   U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos Hochstein, who is mediating the talks […]

  (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered what the government said were unprecedented condolences on Wednesday to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers. In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as "inhumane", […]

    BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese parliamentarians failed to elect a new president in a first round of voting on Wednesday, with leading candidate Samir Geagea falling well short of the required two-thirds majority. Geagea’s shortfall had been widely expected and is likely to open up the race to other candidates in a process which […]

  بالأمس إحتفل مسيحيو لبنان بأحد القيامة في بلداتهم وقراهم. حتى في عاصمة الشمال طرابلس، الخارجة من جولة قتال دامية، أقيمت الزياحات والإحتفالات بالعيد، من دون أن يخرج الى العلن صوت تحريضي واحد ضد المسيحيين.   غير أن هذه البهجة بالعيد لم يشعر فيها مسيحيو بريح الذين لم يعودوا حتى اليوم الى بلدتهم التي هجروا […]

by: Andreane Williams

Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, was once the centre-point of the country’s civil war. But it has since shed its deadly past to become one of the Middle East’s most hip and fashionable party destinations.

Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, was once the centre-point of the country’s civil war. But it has since shed its deadly past to become one of the Middle East’s most hip and fashionable party destinations. And that’s often quite a surprise for foreign visitors. It’s 10.30pm on Saturday in Beirut and the streets are packed with bar-hoppers. For two decades, Lebanon was a dangerous war zone in the middle of a bitter civil war. But despite its dark past, Beirut has gained a reputation for being one of the best party cities in the Middle East. Every year, nightclubs in Beirut attract tens of thousands of partygoers from around the world

O1ne is one of Beirut’s biggest nightclubs. Its owner – businessman Cheikh Chafic El Khazen – owns several other famous nightclubs in the capital.

He has invested millions of dollars in this enormous new venue, which can host up to 1,500 people. He said: "Initially, the investment was way less and through the process of the development, I was dragged into something that I was dreaming of for quite a while, and I ended up investing millions of dollars. "If it’s a bit more to the extreme in Lebanon, it’s definitely because we definitely don’t know what’s gonna to happen the next day."

At St. Elie Armenian Catholic Church in downtown Beirut, Zarmig Hovsepian lit three candles and slowly mouthed silent prayers before Easter Mass. After reciting "Our Father," she added a prayer of her own: "For peace, for Lebanon and the region," she said, underscoring the deep sense of apprehension beneath the surface of otherwise festive Easter celebrations.

Next door in Syria, violence recently displaced thousands from the historic Armenian town of Kessab, which rests in northwestern Syria, along the Turkish border. Groups of Syrian rebels, including some with ties to al-Qaida, swept into the Latakia province last month, seizing a number of towns in the strategically important mountains.

The violence and mass displacement in Syria opened old wounds for Armenians across the region, stirring up memories of the massacre and deportation of ethnic Armenians at the hands of the Turks during World War I. Syria, once a refuge from that violence, is home to nearly 100,00 Armenians, but now the community feels under threat again.

That’s making Armenians in Lebanon nervous.

"The future is not clear for the whole Christian community in the Middle East, not just the Armenians," says Shahan Kandaharian, the executive editor of an Armenian daily newspaper. He blames the rise of Islamic fundamentalism across the Middle East.

  Defense lawyers for Assad Sabra, a member of Hezbollah allegedly involved in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, have complained that Lebanon is withholding crucial information that could exonerate their client, a step that could lead to Lebanon’s referral to the U.N. Security Council.   “The failure of the Lebanese government to genuinely […]

  Thousands of Christians have gathered in Jerusalem to light torches and candles from a holy flame that ‘miraculously’ emerged from the tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the eve of Orthodox Easter.   The Holy Fire ignites, apparently of its own accord, from the tomb of Jesus Christ at […]