The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over “the numerous and dangerous Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and of resolution 1701.” "The Israeli daily aerial, naval, and territorial violations against Lebanon, of Lebanese sovereignty and resolution 1701 have exceeded 516 since the beginning of this […]

  BEIRUT: Education Minister Elias Bou Saab called on Lebanese educational institutions Thursday to respect freedom of expression and religious practice, a month after SABIS School announced new regulations banning crosses while allowing hijab. “We call on… public and private schools…to adhere to the content of Articles 9 and 10 of the Lebanese Constitution,” Bou […]

    Située au Liban-Nord, la localité de Bécharré culmine entre 1 400 et 1 650 mètres d’altitude. La ville compte près de 30 000 habitants et jouit d’un climat montagnard sec et doux. Le nom de Bécharré remonte au temps des Phéniciens et signifie « la maison de Achtar ». Achtar était la déesse […]

The Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip has begun.

For the past couple of weeks, the Israel Defense Forces have had tens of thousands of reserves mobilized for a possible expansion of Operation Protective Edge, aimed at the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.

"This stage of the operation will have full cooperation between infantry, the armored corps, naval and aerial forces," IDF spokesperson Eytan Buchman told Business Insider by email. Other Israeli military officials have confirmed the expansion of operations as well.

Ten days of aerial bombardment has killed over 200 Palestinians without convincing Hamas to cease its rocket fire on Israeli targets. At this point, rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Haifa have become routine, and it appears that the patience of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who has seemed resistant to a ground invasion, and fired a deputy defense minister for criticizing his allegedly passive policies in the Strip — has finally run out.

The operation comes less than 18 hours after terrorists attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory using underground tunnels. Israel was warning Gazans about a potential ground invasion as early as July 12th.

Armed pro-Russian separatists stand at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014.A Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines passenger plane from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in eastern Ukraine about 10:00 EDT.

"Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam," the Malaysia Airlines tweeted. "The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace."

There were reportedly 295 people on board (280 passengers and 15 crew) when it crashed in Torez, about 25 miles from the Russian border in the region of Donetsk. There were 23 Americans on the flight. There were no survivors.

"Locals say everything exploded in the air, fell in pieces, both bodies and plane itself," Journalist Noah Sneider tweeted from the area. "[People] thought they were being bombed."

An adviser to the Ukraine Interior Minister says pro-Russia separatists shot down the passenger plane with a Russian-made BUK ground-to-air missile system. The rebels have shot down multiple aircraft in the past month but deny involvement in the Malaysia Airlines incident.

Crucially, the separatists in the area reportedly commandeered a set of the BUK system as of last month.

Local residents in Donetsk told Business Insider that they saw a Buk missile system in the area. And Radio 24 (Pадио 24), a Ukrainian radio station, posted this tweet which shows a Buk missile system in Snezhnoye, Ukraine

The translation of the Ukrainian text reads: "Buk" terrorists were in Snezhnoye today.

Furthermore, The Interpreter reports the Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala and an AP journalist have seen separatists with the BUK system.

The region of Donetsk is a stronghold of pro-Russian rebels who are fighting the Ukrainian army. The separatists deny responsibility (via The Interpreter), but they did claim to shoot down a "Ukrainian transport plane" in the same area earlier today.

And Igor Strelkov, the Russian leader of the separatist "Lugansk People Republic" who is linked to Russian intelligence, claimed that rebels had shot down the "transport plane" in Torez — the same town that the Malaysia Airlines plane went down.

"In the region of Torez AN-26 plane has been shot," he wrote on Russia’s version of Facebook. "We have warned them – not to fly ‘in our sky.’"

On July 8, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine closed the airspace to civilian aircraft after a military transport plane, which was flying at an altitude of over 20,000 feet, was shot down by rebels.

The Interpreter reports that the Ukrainian military has been claiming that separatists have advanced missiles for a week after the transport plane went down.

President Barack Obama is “aware” of reports of the plane crash, a White House official told Business Insider, and he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer tells Business Insider that the crisis in Ukraine will now escalate considerably.

Also earlier today, Ukraine claimed that a Russian jet shot down a Ukraine SU-25 fighter plane. For months, Ukrainian and U.S. officials have warned against civilian aircrafts flying over Ukrainian territory, especially near eastern Ukraine and the annexed peninsula of Crimea.

A Reuters correspondent on the scene sees burning wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane and bodies strewn on the ground.

  Grade 12 students held a sit-in on Wednesday at the Education Ministry in Beirut’s UNESCO area to demand the correction of their official exams as the standoff between the Syndicate Coordination Committee and politicians threatens to sabotage their academic year. “We refuse to allow anyone to correct our exams but our teachers,” the students […]

(CNN) — Pope Francis called for a cease-fire in the Middle East before Sunday’s Angelus prayer and said his meeting in June with the presidents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority was not a waste of time. "I exhort to all the interested parties and to all of those who have political responsibility at the […]

  One week after the start of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge,” also known as Hamas’ “10th of Ramadan War,” Washington is looking on helplessly. President Barack Obama offered to mediate a ceasefire last week, but the move fell on deaf ears—on both sides. Secretary of State John Kerry then made plans to visit to Cairo […]

 BEIRUT: The Gathering of Lebanese Doctors launched a campaign in solidarity with Gaza Wednesday, organizing demonstrations in front of ESCWA headquarters in Beirut and announcing a call for medical volunteers to assist in the treatment of residents of the war-torn strip. “We gathered the Syndicate of Doctors and other concerned parties so we can collect […]

  Beirut, Lebanon – Most people passing by the busy Adlieh intersection in east Beirut are probably unaware that several floors underground, hundreds of people languish in a makeshift detention centre. "It’s like a tomb," Abbas, a former detainee of the underground facility, told Al Jazeera. Although it is intended as a temporary holding centre […]