For many in Lebanon, the events constituted a blatant disregard for state authority and international law.

by Adnan Nasser Follow @Adnansoutlook29 on Twitter — In the days leading up to May 25, the twenty-third anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, Hezbollah engaged in a series of highly-visible wargames. The demonstration of force included hundreds of fighters with live ammunition and sophisticated weaponry typically used by national armies. Except it was not the Lebanese Armed Forces that carried out the drills but a mere political party with an armed wing. For many in Lebanon, the events constituted a blatant disregard for state authority and international law. The question of what to do about Hezbollah’s weapons is consistently being put on the back burner out of fear of internal unrest. Hezbollah claims it needs its weapons to defend Lebanon from Israel. Yet others say this is nonsense and that the group wants to keep its arms to maintain its impunity from state rule.

History Strategy Game

This debate has gone on for decades and, indeed, it is nowhere near being resolved. Supporters of Hezbollah cite Israel’s eviction in 2000 as a sign of the Shia group’s justification to keep its guns. One person from the south told The National Interest, “I don’t remember the Lebanese army fighting Israel. Only Hezbollah.” Others remember Hezbollah’s action on May 7, 2008, when the group seized half of Beirut in defiance of the government’s attempt to subdue its telecommunication network, and point to it as an example of why the group cannot be trusted.

Domestic response to Hezbollah’s actions

The politicians and members of various political parties that oppose Hezbollah and advocate for state sovereignty have denounced the military drills. The caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, acknowledged that these maneuvers challenge the government’s role in defending Lebanon, but followed up by stating that the situation is too complicated for the state to act alone. The Lebanese government “rejects any act that infringes on the state’s authority and sovereignty, but the issue of Hezbollah’s arms requires a comprehensive national consensus,” Mikati said.

By Saundra Latham, Editor at LinkedIn News — HBO Max is now “Max,” and whether that’s a savvy marketing move or the “rebrand blunder of the year” depends on who you ask. Some say the streamer’s new name reflects its expanded content — exactly what owner Warner Bros. Discovery wants. Others say it erases HBO’s […]

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Thirty-one reformist, independent, and opposition MPs expressed their concern on Friday about a military maneuver carried out by Hezbollah in the town of Aaramta in southern Lebanon. The MPs said they believe such a maneuver, which they described as typical of the militia’s longstanding practices, “contradicts the concept of the state.” In a statement, the MPs argued that Hezbollah’s maneuver challenged the majority of Lebanese citizens and went against the Arab Summit declaration in Jeddah. They perceived it as an assertion by Hezbollah that its sovereignty surpasses that of the state, implying that no decision in Lebanon can contradict the party’s will or that of the regional axis it aligns with.

The MPs said the lives and future of the Lebanese people were being “held hostage” by Hezbollah’s project. But the MPs also stressed that Hezbollah cannot impose its political, military, security, and economic agendas on the Lebanese state, regardless of how much it undermines the foundations of the state’s existence. They argued that Lebanon, as a state, could not coexist with Hezbollah as a fiefdom. They said it was an “urgent duty” to resolve the issue by ending Hezbollah’s armed status through the implementation of the Taif Agreement and the constitution derived from it, which called for the dissolution of militias. The MPs emphasized the need to adhere to UN resolutions 1559 and 1701 — putting an end to Hezbollah’s military and security interventions abroad — and to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries. Doing so would help restore Lebanon’s historical relations with the international and Arab communities, they said. Additionally, the MPs called for the dismantling of Hezbollah’s parallel economy, which they claimed had been built through smuggling via legal and illegal crossings, promoting tax evasion, and facilitating corruption. They demanded that Hezbollah engage in political activities like other Lebanese parties, operating within the framework of the constitution, Lebanese laws, democracy, and respect for public freedoms.

Hezbollah participates in the Lebanese parliament through a bloc consisting of 13 MPs, and it has allies in parliament, most notably the bloc of speaker Nabih Berri, which comprises 15 MPs. In a televised speech, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah reiterated his commitment to the “equation of the army, the people, and the resistance,” stating that he considered it a “crucial source” of strength for Lebanon. Nasrallah responded to threats made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following Hezbollah’s military maneuver, saying: “It is not you who threatens us with a major war, rather we are the ones threatening you.”

By Najia Houssari – arabnews.com –– BEIRUT: Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt announced his sudden resignation as the head of the Progressive Socialist Party on Thursday. A prominent Druze leader, Jumblatt led a party that has held a pivotal position in Lebanese political life since its establishment in 1949. In his announcement, Jumblatt called for a general election conference on June 25, per the provisions of the party’s constitution and internal regulations. He entrusted the general secretariat with completing the necessary preparations, including issuing relevant notifications regarding nomination requests and withdrawal deadlines, and all conditions related to the electoral process. Additionally, the secretariat will prepare lists of conference members and send out invitations. Jumblatt’s decision is rare as leaders typically do not voluntarily step down from their positions. Most leaders who participated in the Lebanese civil war continued to hold political positions they assumed after the war. Jumblatt inherited the party’s leadership from his father, Kamal Jumblatt, who was assassinated on March 16, 1977. He led the party during the darkest stages of the Lebanese civil war.

Currently, the Progressive Socialist Party is represented in the Lebanese parliament by the Democratic Gathering bloc, headed by Jumblatt’s son, MP Taymour Jumblatt, and consisting of nine MPs. Taymour will likely assume the presidency of the Progressive Socialist Party through elections. In 2017, on the commemoration of Kamal Jumblatt, the founder of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt took the symbolic step of handing over the leadership mantle to his son by donning the abaya (traditional garment) for him. This was a social, followed by a political gesture signifying the gradual transfer of the Druze leadership to his son in 2022. In recent weeks, there have been reports of differences of opinion between Walid Jumblatt and his son Taymour regarding the approach to electing the next president.

Beirut (AFP) – A Lebanese judge has banned the country’s central bank governor Riad Salameh from travelling, days after Beirut received an Interpol Red Notice following a French arrest warrant, a judicial official said Wednesday. Salameh has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, which he denies. French investigators suspect that during his three decades as central bank chief, Salameh misused public funds to accumulate real estate and banking assets concealed through a complex and fraudulent financial network.

On Wednesday, judge Imad Qabalan questioned Salameh and “decided to release him pending investigation, ban him from travelling, and confiscate his Lebanese and French passports”, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Activists say the travel ban on the central bank chief helps shield him from being brought to justice abroad — and from potentially bringing down others in Lebanon’s entrenched political class. “The Lebanese judiciary, with the exception of a few judges, has shown that it is not independent. It is biased for politicians who steer it the way they want,” charged lawyer and activist Karim Daher. “The corrupt Lebanese regime… has no interest in Salameh being tried abroad and spilling the beans” about the political class’s financial activities, he told AFP.

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by LBCI news  — Jean Abboud, the President of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agents in Lebanon, confirmed that “2023 is witnessing a significant positive push in terms of the number of visitors to Lebanon, as the indicators suggest that 2023 will be better than 2022 regarding the tourism sector.” “Preliminary estimations indicate the […]

Sidon (Lebanon) (AFP) – Lebanese activists protested Sunday at a beach in the coastal city of Sidon after a woman said she was harassed there over her allegedly indecent bathing suit, an AFP correspondent said. \ Defying a municipality ban on their demonstration, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered briefly in the Sunni Muslim-majority conservative city, the correspondent said. “We have all come to support women’s right to be in public spaces, whether in a bikini or a burkini,” said Diana Moukalled, a journalist and women’s rights activist. “Public spaces don’t just belong to certain people as a function of their beliefs, but to everyone. It’s a constitutional right,” she told AFP.

In last week’s incident, a group of conservative religious Muslims reportedly assailed a bather and her husband at the public beach in Sidon, accusing them of not respecting local norms due to the woman’s attire. The incident sparked a wave of solidarity on social media, with some women posing in bathing suits with the hashtag #Sidon. Others instead praised the conservative intervention.

By Ruth Sherlock, Jawad Rizkallah, npr.com — NEAR AARAMTA, SOUTHERN LEBANON — Muscle-bound Hezbollah fighters karate chopped terracotta tiles to smithereens with their bare hands, as others leapt onto fast moving dirt-bikes while wielding rifles. Rockets smashed into a hillside the Lebanese militia had dotted with “enemy” Israeli flags. Snipers hit metal cut-outs of Israeli soldiers from hundreds of meters away. “Oh Zionists, we are coming for you, from places you know and places you don’t,” a Hezbollah member shouted into a microphone, as fighters sprayed their targets with live ammunition in the simulated attack. “We will come at you from the sea, from the air and from the land.”

The military exercise on Sunday at a Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, was the biggest public show of force by the militia in at least a decade. The group invited local and foreign journalists to attend, giving them rare access to a sensitive military position to report on the event. The display was ostensibly to mark the upcoming anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon on May 25, 2000. But it also comes at a time of heightened tension between Israel, Hezbollah and allied groups.

by Delia Reynolds — bollyinside.com — Princess Sara said ilmi “will offer all Saudi Arabia’s young and lifelong learners the ability to realize their potential, further drive advances in the Kingdom, and help shape the future. The ilmi center reflects the city’s goals to embody creativity and sustainability through integration in its natural surroundings and extensive landscaping, and make use of natural light. As featured on SPA, ilmi’s core is a unique approach that seeks to project a detailed, quality picture of how young people across Saudi Arabia best connect with STREAM subjects.

A new science and technology center called “ilmi” will be launched in Saudi Arabia in 2025. The center aims to encourage scientific curiosity and develop skills among youth in the kingdom, with a focus on STREAM subjects (science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and mathematics). Princess Sara bin Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud created the center, which will be a fully accessible Science Discovery and Innovation Center located at Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City in Riyadh. The project is a philanthropic, non-government initiative incubated and supported by the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation. The center will feature permanent exhibitions, installations, events, talks, performances, and learning partner programs designed to build a new STREAM community in Saudi Arabia. As featured on Arab News, a new center for science and technology called “ilmi” will be launched in Saudi Arabia to encourage scientific curiosity among youth in the kingdom as well as developing their skills. The center, created by Princess Sara bin Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, aims to allow youth to best connect with STREAM subjects like science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

Princess Sara, the wife of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stated that “ilmi will be a beacon of creativity, learning and accessibility.” The new center, which its name translates to “my knowledge” in Arabic, will be a fully accessible Science Discovery and Innovation Center. Located at Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City in Riyadh, the ilmi center is set to open in 2025 and spans 27,000 square meters.