BEIRUT: Police launched a “wide-scale search operation” early Monday morning in Lebanon’s sensitive Roumieh prison following a weekend riot by Islamist inmates, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said. He said a Strike Force unit, part of the Internal Security Forces’ Special Operations Command, carried out the search operation” at Roumieh’s Block D between 5 a.m. […]

  Ten years after my beloved brother Basil’s passing I can still remember that morning in the U.S., when amid the business of the morning rush to work and school on Feb. 14, 2005, we heard the NPR news mention a big explosion in Beirut. It was already afternoon in Beirut. The report was vague […]

  Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced that the riot at Roumieh prison, staged by Islamist inmates on Friday, is over, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday. He told the daily that the situation at the facility “was back to normal and that the officers who were taken hostage by the rioters have been released.” A […]

  BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army will receive its first shipment of French weapons Monday, part of a $3-billion military aid package funded by Saudi Arabia to assist the poorly equipped military in its war against jihadi militants. Meanwhile, Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi said during a tour of the southern border that the armed […]

  U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call on all Lebanese leaders to work without any further delay for the election of a new president and work for the nation’s interest. According to An Nahar daily published on Friday, Ban expressed his growing concern over the continued failure to elect a head of state in […]

  BEIRUT: Lebanon’s 2015 deficit is projected to reach $5 billion as the economy grows by 2.5 percent, the government was told Thursday during a session to discuss the draft budget, with ministers set to decide next week whether to approve the budget along with a public sector salary scale. Addressing the Cabinet, Finance Minister […]

  The Lebanese army said on Friday that it seized mortar shells and explosives during a night raid in the northern city of Tripoli’s Bab al-Tabbaneh area. A military communique said an army unit raided a depot at the grocery market on Thursday night after receiving information that militants had stashed weapons there. The troops […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will reportedly meet on Thursday the ambassadors to Lebanon of western powers, Gabriele Caccia, the papal ambassador to Lebanon and U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag to urge them to facilitate the election of a new head of state. According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Wednesday, Bkirki’s move comes […]

  BEIRUT: Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri Wednesday said that the crisis in Yemen was of no concern to Hezbollah and urged the group to drop the matter, two days before party chief Hasan Nasrallah is scheduled to speak on the issue. “First of all, I have the right to respond to issues […]

  The army intelligence reportedly detained a police sergeant at the municipality of the northern city of Tripoli on charges of aiding Sheikh Khaled Hoblos and renting an apartment for him. According to As Safir newspaper published on Wednesday, Sergeant Mohammed Seifeddine Qader, who is related to Hoblos, had rented two apartments for the sheikh, […]