by Martin Jayia  Sputnik news – The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of khazen.org

In the last few days, both Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement exchanged threats, reviving the specter of another Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Even the Western mainstream media admits the root cause of the tension could be Mr. Trump’s threats to garbage the nuclear agreement with Iran, Hezbollah’s longtime supporter.  No one could take the ensuing threats more seriously than the people
in Lebanon. Lebanon has faced war so many times that the people here
regard the black dog almost as an old friend, such is their despondency
when faced with it once again. After the official end of the civil war
in 1989, Lebanon survived several bombing campaigns by Israel (the
biggest one in 2006, which decimated the country’s infrastructure
for years to come). Now Lebanon is home to 1.5 million refugees
from neighboring Syria, becoming the most densely populated “refugees’
safe haven” in the world.

Hezbollah’s Attraction: Natural in Lebanon, Fatal in the US

In this situation, it is natural that the militant group Hezbollah,
which was born as a response to the Israeli occupation in 1982 and which
helps the Syrian government to fend off the Islamic State’s extremists –
it is natural that this group enjoys some popularity in Lebanon.
Hezbollah also has a strong faction in the Lebanese parliament, and the
group’s charity work is visible everywhere.

Unfortunately, it is not visible to the
American government which continues to view Hezbollah through the prism
of hostility, as if Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah continued
to shout ‘Death to Americans!” – despite these slogans having been
dropped by Hezbollah decades ago.  

By Nicholas Blanford – BEIRUT – Article represents view of Author

Recent visits by US civilian and military officials to
Beirut come amid con­cerns that the adminis­tration of US President
Donald Trump could reduce fi­nancial assistance to the Lebanese Army,
which is playing a vital role in defending Lebanon against the Islamic
State (ISIS) and other ex­tremist groups. Lebanese
President Michel Aoun caused a diplomatic and political stir in February
when he said the militant Shia Hezbollah, Iran’s most prized proxy
force, was a “comple­ment” to the Lebanese Army in helping defend the
tiny Mediterra­nean country against Israeli aggres­sion.

Aoun’s
comments raised ques­tions in the United States about the continued
funding of a military that is said to collude with what Wash­ington
classifies as a “terrorist” or­ganisation.“Lebanon’s
new president is le­gitimising Hezbollah’s military role, which is
independent of control by the Lebanese state,” wrote Elliott Abrams,
senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council for For­eign
Relations and former US depu­ty national security adviser. “If
it is true that LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces)-Hezbollah coopera­tion is
increasing, the United States should demand that the trend be halted and
reversed,” he wrote.

Aoun’s comments also earned a
retort from the top UN diplomat in Lebanon who said Hezbollah was
required to disarm under UN Secu­rity Council resolutions rather than
serve as a defence force for Leba­non. Saudi King
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was also reported to have postponed a
planned visit to Beirut to protest the comments by Aoun, a Christian who
was backed by Hez­bollah to become president. Saudi Arabia is one of several Arab countries that classify Hezbol­lah as a “terrorist” organisation.

In
February, US Army General Joseph Votel, the head of the US military’s
Central Command, vis­ited Beirut to discuss the military assistance
programme and the war against ISIS. Several hundred
militants from ISIS and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, considered an al-Qaeda
affiliate, are holed up in barren mountains near the town of Arsal in
Lebanon’s north-eastern corner adjacent to the Syrian border.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006 calls for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. “The constant threats that are being expressed by Israeli government officials and in the media against Lebanon’s civilians and their legitimate institutions and infrastructure aim at covering up for Israel’s persistent violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701, to which Lebanon is committed,” […]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006 calls for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. “The constant threats that are being expressed by Israeli government officials and in the media against Lebanon’s civilians and their legitimate institutions and infrastructure aim at covering up for Israel’s persistent violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701, to which Lebanon is committed,” […]

The daily star BEIRUT: Stavro Jabra, a famous cartoonist who had worked for The Daily Star and other newspapers in Lebanon and abroad, passed away Sunday as a result of a chronic illness, a source told The Daily Star. He was 70-years-old. “Stavro Jabra is a pen that stabs ignorance with liberty, may you rest […]

AlJazeera, Years of war and political instability have disrupted Lebanon’s ambitions to tap into its energy sector. Bidding for the right to develop oil and gas fields buried offshore is due to start later this year amid hopes the discoveries will help transform the country’s economy.  Lebanon, which has the highest debt as a share […]

by gulfnews 0 Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer – Beirut: It takes Mansour Khalife a good two hours to reach the
Lebanese capital from the city of Jounieh given the unprecedented
traffic chaos prevailing in the country. “I promise to light a
candle to Mar Charbel [the country’s venerated Maronite patron saint]
the day I reach my shop in an hour,” Khalife, a salesman who works in
downtown Beirut, told Gulf News. Khalife’s car is among the 1.6 million registered vehicles taking to Lebanon’s roads every day. That
figure does not include cars not registered in Lebanon, which has
swelled due to the massive number of Syrians who have filtered into the
country due to the civil war in their land. Chronic congestion and
lack of parking have always plagued the country, but a growing
population coupled with the influx of Syrians has made the situation
particularly intolerable.

Syrians
now make up a quarter of the population, bringing the total population
to around 6 million, up from 4 million. This figure does not take into
account the country’s one million Palestinian refugees and 750,000
foreign workers who are not counted in national census figures. Hundreds
of thousands of commuters who drive to Beirut every day complain that
they waste precious hours of their life behind the wheel. To
alleviate the growing burden on the roads, governor Ziad Chebib promised
to reveal a new plan to revamp the city’s public transport system
within weeks. However the promise has not excited Lebanese due to
many past pledges that have not materialised — a plan for a metro and
light-rail system have been floated. The absence of an effective public transit system has only made Lebanese more dependent on cars.

In
2015, the last year for which statistics are available, 39,361 new
passenger cars were sold in Lebanon, up by an annual 4.1 per cent, which
brought the state over $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) in excise taxes,
cars registration fees, and cars control fees. Few Lebanese take
public buses due the danger associated with navigating the country’s
haphazard roads combined with the reckless drivers to whom they would
perforce have to entrust their safety. Lebanon records more than 6
million automobile passenger trips each day, up from 2.8 million in
2007 and 1.7 million in 1995, according to statistics from the Ministry
of Public Works and Transport.

A 2012 American University of
Beirut study confirmed the existence of a “deep-rooted need for an
effective public transportation system as a competitive alternative to
automobile dependency”. The Council for Development and Reconstruction —
the supra-national body in charge of everything after the civil war —
failed to heed calls for urgent action, which is the primary reason why
traffic jams are now the norm.

by the961–  The new Lebanese Nationality Program website
was launched by the Lebanese government to help Lebanese people abroad
(who don’t have their citizenship) reclaim their Lebanese nationality. This is an initiative launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs & Emigrants to initiate and facilitate the process for
people of Lebanese heritage. This service is completely free and the website is available in 4 languages: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. There were several major waves of emigration from Lebanon to South
America starting in the late 1800’s due to the 1860 conflict in Lebanon. The ruling parties at the time intentionally passed laws to “punish”
these emigrants, denying them the automatic right of return to Lebanon –
making it near impossible to pass the nationality to their children.

Despite several generations in South America and the Lebanese
language not being passed on to the children, there still maintains a
strong Lebanese ethnic identity. Brazil alone is home to the most number of Lebanese people in the
world, including Lebanon. Estimates range from 7 million up to 12
million Lebanese. Hence why the website is available in Portuguese.