by Sam Brennan — by al-monitor.com —TAANAYEL, Lebanon — Bobbing up and down in the circles of the folk dance dabkeh and eating a rich assortment of dips, meats and vegetables known as mezze, hundreds of people celebrated a drink that makes both dabkeh and mezze more enjoyable, the anise-based spirit Arak. The small town of Taanayel’s Festival de L’Arak, now in its fourth year, was held June 15-16 in the Bekaa Valley. Run by Arcenciel, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization that promotes diversity and development, at the organization’s EcoLodge hotel, the event celebrated the long history and unique cultural role of Lebanon’s national drink. Served with two-thirds water and ice, the liquor is similar to but — as arak producers quickly and forcibly point out — still distinct from other anise-based drinks like the Greek ouzo or Turkish raki. It is made by crushing grapes and distilling them into alcohol using a copper contraption called an alembic. In the second or third distillation the all-important anise is added, giving the drink its distinct taste. Once the distilling is done, the liquid is placed into large clay jars to make the taste smoother. Small changes to the process lead to a wide variety of outcomes, and the alcohol content varies between 50% to as high as 80% when homemade.

Richard Kazan, the director of Arak Bechara Balaban and one of the many producers at the festival, is well acquainted with this process as a fourth-generation arak maker. Bechara Balaban itself has been producing arak since 1883 and was the first company to be registered in the Bekaa governorate of Lebanon. Its business number is 1/1948. The capital of this governate, Zahle, is the epicenter of arak production. Originally, people “would make arak from the fermentation of grapes only,” Kazan told Al-Monitor. “Then the Zahle people added anise.”

Arak continued to be linked to Zahle and the surrounding areas, including Taanayel, often playing an integral role in holidays and celebrations. Kazan said, “My grandparents and parents during Easter would have nuts, not chocolate, and arak without water. This is a tradition. You would get one almond and a full glass of arak.” This culture is common to nearly all who grew up in Zahle. Elias Boutros Maalouf, managing partner of Chateau Rayak, told Al-Monitor that he began making arak and wine for his grandfather. Though he passed away before Maalouf could serve him arak, a photograph of his grandfather holding a vine of local grapes is engraved on Cheteau Rayak’s giant alembic.

by naharnet.com —The Syrian army detained two members of the General Directorate of State Security after reaching the border between Lebanon and Syria while on a hiking trip in the Mount of Hermon, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday. NNA said the two security members were detained two days ago and were identified […]

by theguardian.com —The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has appealed to Donald Trump for help and rejected suggestions that she was implicated in her husband’s alleged financial crimes. Ghosn, once one of the most powerful figures in the global car industry, is awaiting trial in Japan over allegations he under-reported his salary and […]

by latimes.com —Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, imprisoned since the military removed him from office in 2013, died Monday after collapsing in court, officials said, putting the nation’s authoritarian-minded government on the defensive over his treatment in custody. The country’s first democratically elected president and a leader of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement, the 67-year-old California-educated Morsi lasted only a year in office before his defense minister, Abdel Fattah Sisi, moved to wrest power from him. Sisi has been president ever since.

Egyptian authorities did not immediately disclose the cause of death. The public prosecutor said in a statement that Morsi was taken to a hospital after his collapse, and pronounced dead there. It said there would be a forensic report, but did not say when that was expected. Security jitters were immediately apparent after the death announcement. Egyptian media said the Interior Ministry had ordered a state of the highest alert. But in Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the Arab Spring protests that set in motion events that led to Morsi’s presidency – the mood was calm, with little obvious sign of extra police vigilance, although some street cafes were closed. On a nearby bridge over the Nile, Egyptian families were enjoying a night out, with vendors selling balloons and snacks. Morsi’s death, which followed years of reports of his health deteriorating in prison, was a dramatic new inflection point in Egypt’s tumultuous journey from the massive Arab Spring protests of 2011 that toppled Hosni Mubarak, a dictator of decades’ standing, and the country’s subsequent slide into a new era of repression under Sisi.

State television said Morsi collapsed during a court session that was part of his trial on espionage charges, one of dozens of legal proceedings that punctuated his years of imprisonment on an array of charges. At one point he was sentenced to death. In early courtroom appearances, he defiantly maintained that he was the country’s legitimate president. After he yelled angrily at judges, the authorities soundproofed the cage-like dock in which the accused are customarily held.

Washington (CNN) — The US will send 1,000 additional US forces and more military resources to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Monday. “In response to a request from the US Central Command for additional forces, and with the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in consultation with the White House, I have authorized approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East,” acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement. “The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said, adding that the “United States does not seek conflict with Iran.” Shortly before the announcement the Pentagon released a detailed set of photos that it said showed Iranian boats removing a mine from one of two tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman on June 13. The US attributes the attack to Iran. Tehran has vigorously denied the charge.

“The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests,” Shanahan said. “We will continue to monitor the situation diligently and make adjustments to force levels as necessary given intelligence reporting and credible threats.” News of the additional troop deployment comes as the State Department announced Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel Tuesday to the command center that oversees Middle East military operations. A day earlier, Pompeo said the Trump administration is still mulling military action against Iran.

by _richardhall — independent.co.uk — Beirut has launched a hop-on/hop-off bus tour service as the Lebanese capital experiences huge visitor growth. The number of tourists heading to Beirut has always risen and fallen depending on the political situation in the country. The 1960s was remembered as a golden age for tourism in Lebanon, and Beirut was often called the “Paris of the Middle East”; a playground for the rich and famous. But that was brought to an abrupt halt when civil war broke out in 1975. Then after years of steady recovery, and record numbers in 2010, a war in neighbouring Syria in 2011 hit the industry again. A diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia led to the Kingdom banning its citizens from visiting Lebanon for more than a year from 2017, dealing another blow. But according to recent numbers, tourists are flocking to Beirut again. Nearly two million came in 2018, with Europeans and Americans accounting for more than half of that number. The Lebanese government has spent the past few years trying to diversify the industry to attract tourists from beyond the Gulf, and it appears to be working.

It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise then that the city now has its own hop-on/hop-off bus tour. Three double-decker City Sightseeing buses now prowl the city throughout the day, navigating Beirut’s notoriously traffic-ridden roads. Josh Eyre, visiting from London, is among the handful of tourists on board the bus on Friday. “I’m really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Tbilisi. Lots of snazzy new buildings up against lots of different architectural styles, historically. It’s an important cultural crossroads.”

(MENAFN) Lebanon’s oil and gas sector is being targeted by companies from Russia and Europe for investments while the country sets for offshore drilling this year’s end. Energy Minister Nada Boustani, speaking to Agence France Peesse, confirmed that “several big companies have visited Lebanon.” According to the Lebanese minister, “we are talking about Gazprom (Russia), […]

by libyaobserver.ly — Lebanese press sources reported that the judicial judiciary in Lebanon has suspended prosecutions against Hannibal, the son of Muammar Gaddafi, for lack of jurisdiction, in the case regarding the abduction and attempting of the killing of a Lebanese doctor in Libya. The sources added that the judicial judiciary said that such cases fall […]

BEIRUT,  (Xinhua) — Elias El Khoury, CEO at company Promoteam, reported an increasing demand by the Lebanese on residential properties in Greece, Portugal and other countries that offer investment opportunities in return for residency permits and citizenships. “Demand by the Lebanese on such kinds of investments has increased in the past year because of the […]

BEIRUT (Rahnuma): Nizar Zakka, who has barely been out of Tehran’s Evin Prison 24 hours after spending nearly four years in it, still feels the impact of what happened to him. After his release, Zakka summarized what happened to him — his tears streamed down his face more than once during the interview. Zakka said he visited Iran only four times previously on official invitations, and on a fifth after an invitation from the country’s vice president to participate in a conference on informatics. “Three days after my participation in the conference, I did not feel that I was an unwanted guest and had not received any remarks. On my way back to the airport, a car with people in civilian clothes intercepted us. They took me out of the car and spoke to me in English saying that no one would see me anymore,” he told Arab News. “They arrested me, and said that they would kill me. There was no explanation for what happened, and I was tortured. They asked me to say on camera that I was working with the Americans and I planned on overthrowing the regime in Iran. I was there because of an official invitation. So, I refused their request. I felt that if it was going to end in death, why not resist what was happening to me unjustly? “They knew that I was innocent, but it seems that they wanted to send a message. The kidnappers were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and they wanted to show that they could do what they wanted. I was an activist in the field of human rights and had free access to the internet, and expressed my opinion at a conference in Tehran. They exploited this as a weak link for international companies, to send them a message that they are forbidden to enter Iran. They succeeded, they stopped coming to Iran — they feared their safety.”

Sham trial

Regarding the trial he was subjected to, he smiled. “It was only for show. I stood in front of the judge and they began to mock me. One of them said that I was detained for inciting the revolution in Ukraine. I laughed and told the judge they had the wrong file. The representative of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps read out the accusations, without asking me a single question, and that’s how I was sentenced. The cell I stayed in had 50 detainees living in the worst conditions.” He said that in the cell, he knew Americans Ziyu Wang and Karen Godafari, former Iranian Vice President Hamid Mashaki, and Mahdi Rafsanjani, the son of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. He said that he also met “an Iraqi detainee and many Iranians, Kurds and Arabs. There were many Iranian diplomats, all accused of treachery because it is the easiest charge. “Every person who was arrested was subjected to physical torture of all kinds, which later turned into a psychological torture. I slept every night hoping not to wake up the next day.” As for his contact with the outside world, Zakka said: “At first they allowed us to call family members, but only for 4 minutes that would go by without speaking, and later, when they transferred me to the public prison, those who ran it allowed us a 15-minute phone call. They dealt with us more compassionately than the Revolutionary Guard did. “A year ago, I met with the director general of the Lebanese Directorate of General Security, but nothing happened. I lost hope. I was informed that Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil spoke about my release date during Ramadan. The month went by, then Eid came, and nothing happened. Two days ago, those who imprisoned me came to tell me that I would be released.”