The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief General Lloyd J. Austin III visited Beirut on Saturday to renew Washington’s commitment to provide military aid to Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy announced. The General met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Lebanese Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, the U.S. mission said in a press release. “Austin reiterated […]

  BEIRUT: Hezbollah detonated a car bomb rigged with half a ton of explosives Saturday in an area of Syria’s Qalamoun region it captured one day earlier, the party’s TV channel reported. “The resistance’s mujahideen have detonated a car that had been rigged with more than 500kg of highly explosive material on the Fatleh crossing […]

  The army arrested on Saturday morning a prominent member of the Islamic State group, reported the National News Agency. It said that he was arrested in Ain al-Shaab between the towns of al-Labweh and Arsal as he was fleeing the region to the North. NNA later revealed his name as Abdul Rahman al-Bazerbashi, 21, […]

  BEIRUT: Senior U.S. military officials are reportedly due in Beirut soon to follow up on arming and training the Lebanese Army, according to a report published Friday. Local daily Al-Joumhouria said a delegation from the U.S. Central Command, or CENTOM, will arrive in Beirut in the coming hours for talks with Defense Minister Samir […]

  A delegation from the U.S. Central Command is expected to visit Beirut soon for talks with top officials on military assistance to Lebanon, high-ranking diplomats said. The diplomats, who were not identified, told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Friday that the delegation is scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, Army chief Gen. Jean […]

  TRIPOLI, Lebanon: An underground pipe exploded Friday shooting water one meter high and flooding several kilometers of Kfar Aqa road in the northern province of Koura. Large chunks of concrete were thrown into the air and asphalt was strewn across the area after the pipe exploded without warning. The road closure caused huge traffic […]

Pamela Engel

President Barack Obama’s summit with Arab leaders doesn’t seem to be going as planned.

First, King Salman of Saudi Arabia embarrassed the Obama administration when he backed out of the summit after the White House announced he was going to attend.

The last-minute move was widely perceived as a deliberate snub, and the Saudis offered only a vague excuse for King Salman’s absence.

Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz attended the talks in Salman’s place.

Obama then incorrectly introduced the deputy crown prince and misnamed the founder of the kingdom.

  BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Cabinet continued to debate the 2015 budget bill Wednesday, in a session that will be followed by one more meeting to discuss the rest of the draft next week. “We have made great progress in discussing a number of proposed projects with regards to their distribution and funding,” Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi […]

  The Military Court on Wednesday sentenced former minister Michel Samaha to four and a half years of hard labor and stripped him of his civil rights, state-run National News Agency reported. Samaha had been charged with transporting explosives in his car from Syria into Lebanon with the aim of staging bombings and assassinating Lebanese […]

  A Lebanese businessman was killed overnight near the town of Charbilla in the northern district of Akkar, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. NNA said Asaad al-Warraq’s bullet-riddled body was found meters away from the entrance to his town. According to LBCI, he was found lying on the floor not far from […]