By Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese authorities detained a hardline Sunni Islamist cleric wanted for attacks on the Lebanese army as he tried to flee the country on Saturday, security officials said.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, a Lebanese citizen, was arrested at Beirut airport as he tried to depart using a forged passport, the officials said. The National News Agency said he wanted to travel to Egypt.

Assir rose to prominence with the onset of the civil war in neighboring Syria that has triggered instability in Lebanon by exacerbating sectarian tensions between its Sunni and Shi’ite communities.

catholicherald.co.uk

Church bells will be rung on the Feast of the Assumption to show solidarity with the persecuted Christians in the Middle East. So far six French bishops have decided the bells will ring out in all churches in their diocese on Saturday, August 15, the Feast of the Assumption.

Launched by Archbishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon, the initiative calls on parishes to gather at noon to show their support for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. It is hoped more churches will also take part, with Switzerland confirming Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva will also ring their church bells tomorrow.

By Elise Harris and Angela Ambrogetti

Al-Hasakah, Syria, Aug 14, 2015 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After Islamic State militants on Tuesday freed 22 Christians they have held captive since February, a Syrian archbishop cautioned that while the news is good, it could be a distraction ahead of another major assault.“Perhaps we can do an analysis on why (the Islamic State) returned them, because one month ago they attacked Hassake to take it, (and) they couldn’t,” Jacques Hindo, Syriac Archbishop of Hassake-Nisibi, told CNA Aug. 12.

“Maybe, maybe, they are giving a signal that we are expecting another attack. It’s a little like a drug for us, to reassure us so that we aren’t vigilant, and then they’ll make a new, large attack.”Archbishop Hindo’s diocese is centered in Syria’s northeastern-most province, Al-Hasakah, which borders Turkey and Iraq. The archbishop collaborates closely with the city’s bishop from the Assyrian Church of the East (historically associated with Nestorianism), whose people were those abducted in February.

Source : Mehr

Iran’s top MP Ali Larijani congratulated the Lebanese nation and Hezbollah on the anniversary of their victory over Israel in 2006.  In two congratulatory messages to Lebanese nation and resistance movement Hezbollah, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani hailed the victory of the Lebanese over the Israeli regime in the 33-day war of 2006.

The messages were delivered to Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah and Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.  In part of his message to Nasrallah it reads “this great victory, undoubtedly, achieved by the Islamic resistance, people’s persistence and the unity of all groups and factions will pave the ground for greater victories.”

By: Joseph A. Kechichian,Senior Writer

Beirut: A few thousand Lebanese supporters of presidential hopeful Michel Aoun gathered Wednesday night in Martyrs’ Square in downtoan Beirut following his call on Saturday to protest against the extension of terms of top security posts.

However, conspicuously missing from the rally were Hezbollah supporters, traditional allies of the FPM.

Their lack of presence could be explained by a recent meeting between Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Zarif with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, of which the details were not revealed.

However during a meeting with Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil (also Aoun’s son-in-law), Zarif stressed his support for the current government, in a move that signaled a possible change in tactics by Iran from instagator to mediator.

A survey conducted  by the U.S.-based opinion polling think tank Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of Lebanese consider the current economic situation in Lebanon “very bad” and 36 percent see it as “bad,’ compared to 9 percent who believe it is “good” and 1 percent who say it is “very good.” The responses indicate an improvement since 2014, when 56 percent of Lebanese respondents believed that the economic situation was “very bad,” and 2013, when 57 percent of respondents said the economy was “very bad.”

The survey was conducted between April 7 and May 5, 2015, through face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Lebanese residents who are 18 years or older.

By Joseph A. KechichianSenior Writer

Beirut: In what was a surprising declaration, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif started his two-day visit to Lebanon on Tuesday with an extraordinary meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, whom he praised for his “major role” to “provide security, fight extremism and terror, and find cooperation among the various Lebanese parties.”

Observers were stunned at the tenor used by Zarif, who also met with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday night, although no public declarations followed that meeting.

By: Al-Araby al-Jadeed & agencies

In Beirut, Michel Aoun, former army chief, current MP and leader of the largest Christian faction in parliament the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) has instructed his supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday. The new protests are taking place on the back of a dispute over top military appointments – and what Aoun sees as a drive to marginalize Christian representation in the Lebanese state.

The protests follow Defence Minister Samir Moqbel’s decision last week to extend the terms of army commander Gen. Jean Kahwaji and other top generals by an additional year, after they expire in September. Aoun is strongly opposed to the move, and wants new officers – including his son in law Gen. Shamel Roukoz – to be appointed.

After a meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc that he heads, Aoun told his supporters: "There is no longer a constitution respected in Lebanon." He added: "I call on the Lebanese to take to the streets; we want a country governed by law and a constitution rather than garbage, theft and corruption."

Aisha Subhan

I finished my second year of college feeling as if I was about to loose something dear to me. I had completed the Arabic program at my university. Some of my favorite memories formed in the Arabic classroom. Fortunately, this wouldn’t be the end of my Arabic study.

My parents encouraged me to study Arabic abroad. Grateful for my parent’s encouragement and after a few Google searches, I decided exactly where I wanted to go — Beirut, Lebanon. That summer I would spend six weeks in a Middle Eastern country, studying Arabic at the Lebanese American University.

Catholic World News –   The Council of Maronite Bishops warned that Lebanon may soon collapse unless the nation’s parliament elects a new president. Since 1943, Lebanon has typically had a Maronite Christian president and a Sunni Muslim prime minister. President Michel Suleiman’s term ended in May 2014, but the parliament’s political factions have not […]