The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned a network of firms and individuals in Lebanon, the UAE and China for allegedly procuring sophisticated military equipment for Hizbullah, including materials for aerial drones. “As the Treasury Department announced today, the United States targeted a key Hizbullah procurement network by designating brothers Kamel Mohamad Amhaz and […]

  Elie Saab Wednesday seduced the crowd at his winter couture show with a romantic collection of old-time glamour set under the mood lighting of several enormous chandeliers.   Furs draped across gowns covered top to bottom in pearl embroidery. Transparent skirts revealed pairs of pale legs beneath, and lingerie bustiers peaked through sheer chiffon. […]

UN proposal to create permanent refugee camps in Lebanon likely to be rejected by Lebanon’s cabinet   Dubai The United Nations High Commmissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced plans to naturalise 100,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, who says he obtainted the report. In comments published in the Al […]

  A group loyal to al-Qaida’s official Syrian arm the Al-Nusra Front will head soon to the governorate of al-Raqqa in northern Syria to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, al-Akhbar newspaper reported. The daily said in a report published on Wednesday that Al-Nusra Front fighters are angered by the “achievements accomplished by the Islamic […]

  SIDON, Lebanon: Israeli soldiers deployed in the Kfar Shouba Hills area near Lebanon’s southern border took shelter behind concrete barriers Wednesday, fearing reprisal attacks linked to Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip. There were no visible presence of Israeli troops along the eastern sector of the border with Lebanon, which stretches from the […]

  From Libya to Iraq to Yemen, too many people and too many animals have stretched water resources beyond their limits WASHINGTON – The Middle East’s seemingly endless conflicts are diverting attention and resources from a graver long-term threat that looms over the whole region: the growing scarcity of water. And the situation will get […]

  BEIRUT: Beirut Municipality Saturday celebrated naming a street in one of its neighborhoods after Lebanese poet and writer Said Akl, to mark his 103rd birthday. At the Sioufi Garden in Ashrafieh, the ceremony unveiled the newly named street and the memorial plaque that read: "Said Akl Street, a century of giving, creativity, honest nationalism.” […]

  A THOUSAND years ago, the great cities of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo took turns to race ahead of the Western world. Islam and innovation were twins. The various Arab caliphates were dynamic superpowers—beacons of learning, tolerance and trade. Yet today the Arabs are in a wretched state. Even as Asia, Latin America and Africa […]

  Across the Muslim world, this is an age of revolution beyond the experience of any official now living. Hundreds of thousands have died; millions more flee their homes. Now, the crisis in Iraq and Syria threatens to perpetuate chaos between Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities throughout the Middle East. Many in the region, craving […]