The disciplinary committee in the Internal Security Forces issued its final decisions related to the ongoing investigations of some officers linked to the smuggling of drugs and other banned material into prisons, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. Informed security sources revealed to the daily that the decisions include the sacking of two prison officers […]

  Glamorous young couples twiddle their cocktail stirrers on the terraces of Beirut’s Zaitunay Bay, looking out across a balmy evening scene that could be lifted straight from Monaco or Cannes. The lights of glitzy towers twinkle on the water, as a group of teenage girls stroll along the teak boardwalk, posing for selfies in […]

Saudi Arabia’s 90-year-old King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died, according to Saudi media outlets.

Saudi New King Salman Abdul-Aziz Al Saud

Saudi King Abdallah with Crown prince Salman who is now the new King

Saudi King Abdallah with President Michel Sleiman

New King Salman with President Suleiman

PM Hariri with Saudi King Abdallah

FILE – In this Tuesday, June 3, 2003 file photo, from left, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah, U.S. President George W. Bush, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, stand together for a group photo after their meeting in Sharm El-Sheik,

Saudi King with President Obama

Last week he was admitted to the hospital in Riyadh for "medical checks" at the end of December.  

 Crown Prince Salman has been named the new king. The king assumed the throne in 2005 as the country’s sixth king. Salman, 79, is Abdullah’s half-brother and has been making appearances and speeches on behalf of the late king for the last couple of months.

Salman is also reportedly in poor health, so from here the family’s succession could get interesting. According to Reuters, "King Salman has called on the family’s Allegiance Council to pay allegiance to Muqrin as his crown prince and heir." 

Muqrin bin Abdulaziz is Abdullah’s half-brother and is 69 years old. He was controversially named deputy heir to Abdullah last March, effectively bypassing two of the late king’s other half brothers. The move went against the unspoken rule that succession passes down according to age.

Armin Rosen

Fighters loyal to a renegade general in Libya just seized a Central Bank facility in the coastal city of Benghazi that houses a reported $100 billion in cash and gold, according to The New York Times.

Libya’s ongoing civil war has split the country between an Islamist-supported central government based in Tripoli and a rival nationalist administration held together by the renegade general Khalifa Hifter and based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

But the country had a couple of remaining bright spots, including Africa’s largest proven oil reserves, an oil industry positioned just across the Mediterranean Sea from western Europe, and a reported $113 billion in foreign currency, according to Al Hayat.

This was down from the $321 billion in reserves from before the country’s 2011 uprising but was still enough to ensure that salaries would be paid and that the country’s oil infrastructure would continue to function.

By Mariam Karouny

(Reuters) – With a confident smile, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement warned in a recent interview that allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would strike back if Israeli attacks inside Syria continued."This attack shows that Israel has crossed the red line in the security war with Hezbollah, which means the rules have changed," said a senior security source close to the group.

  Few expected Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s comments to be put to the test so quickly. Three days later, an Israeli raid inside Syria killed several prominent Hezbollah figures, including a son of the group’s late military chief, Imad Moughniyah.

The attack could have repercussions. It has put Hezbollah under pressure to respond, sources close to the group said, and also put a ceasefire between Israel and Syria at risk. The group’s leadership has yet to comment.

  Maronite Bishop Samir Mazloum stressed on Wednesday that Bkirki encourages dialogue between the rival Christian parties, expressing hope that talks among the arch-foes would lead to extensive results. Mazloum denied in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper that any Christian party is boycotting Bkirki, pointing out that it “isn’t standing with any side against another.” […]

  Last week’s Israeli airstrike that killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in Syria’s Golan Heights has revived fears of a new Lebanese-Israeli war that would torpedo the current security status quo which is backed by international powers. The Israeli raid has also refocused attention on the flaws that have been […]

  Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji will travel to Saudi Arabia at the head of a military delegation to participate in the fifth meeting for the chiefs of staff for Armed Forces. According to al-Akbar newspaper published on Wednesday, the meeting will tackle the war against jihadists. The high-ranking talks will be held at the […]

  GHOBEIRI, Lebanon: Beirut’s southern suburbs were swarmed with people Monday paying their condolences and showing support during the funeral parade of Jihad Mughniyeh, who was killed during an Israeli airstrike in the Golan Heights in Syria the previous day. “Goodbye you martyr, son of Imad,” Hezbollah official Ali Abbas bellowed at the crowd gathered […]

  Several militants have kidnapped a Lebanese man in the northeastern border town of Arsal and taken him to its outskirts, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday. The assailants from the extremist Islamic State group abducted on Monday night Younes al-Hujeiri in the area of Wadi Hmeid, said NNA. The agency said the […]