• Michael B Kelley

The Obama administration is no longer hiding the fact that the US is serving as the air force for Iran-backed Shia militias fighting ISIS in Iraq.

Helen Cooper of The New York Times reports that the US and Iran "have found a template for fighting the Sunni militancy in other parts of Iraq: American airstrikes and Iranian-backed ground assaults" with the Iraqi military serving as a go-between.

The US recently provided crucial air support in the Iran-led offensive to drive ISIS (aka Islamic State, Daesh) from Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit and bragged about it. US officials told The Wall Street Journal that "they deliberately used the Tikrit operation to drive a wedge between Iran and Iraq."

  BEIRUT: Politicians have no excuse for procrastinating over the election of a new Lebanese president, Maronite Beshara Rai said Saturday, accusing political parties of relying on external powers for directions. “Today we are experiencing a sort of political death that controls our destiny as a people, and the destiny of the state,” Rai said […]

  Head of the union of Arab tribes Sheikh Jassem al-Askar revealed that he is carrying out a series of contacts with a number of tribe leaders, who wield influence in Syria, to ensure the release of the Lebanese truck drivers who have been stranded since Wednesday on the Syrian-Jordanian border, reported al-Akhbar newspaper on […]

  BEIRUT: Highlighting the importance of animal welfare is among the reasons behind the Beirut governor’s recent decision to forbid the sale of colored baby chicks within the city, Ziad Chebib said Friday. Speaking of concerns over the coloring, sale and treatment of the baby chicks, Chebib told The Daily Star that banning sales can […]

  Lebanon’s presidential deadlock will top the agenda of talks that are expected to be held between French President Francois Holland and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi this month, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday. The daily said al-Rahi will travel to Paris in the second half of April for the inauguration of Europe’s Maronite Diocese in […]

  SIDON, Lebanon: The brief arrest of the mayor of a predominantly Christian east Sidon village sparked outrage, with some calling it a religiously motivated act aimed at displacing members of the sect again. Nicola Andraos, the mayor of Salhieh, was arrested Wednesday by Internal Security Forces members after he prevented a citizen from paving […]

  Spain’s King Felipe VI is expected to visit Beirut next Tuesday to meet with several Lebanese officials and members of his country’s contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, local dailies reported. The king will be accompanied by a high ranking ministerial delegation, said the newspapers. His visit would be a show […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi lauded the military leadership during a meeting he held with Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji, sources in Bkikri said on Thursday. The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the meeting between al-Rahi and Qahwaji, which was held on Tuesday, was “positive.” The patriarch “praised the efforts exerted by the army to […]

  BEIRUT: Lebanon’s share of the $3.8 billion in aid pledged at an international donors’ conference for Syrian relief in Kuwait has yet to be determined, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Wednesday. “This issue will be studied by the UNHCR, relevant agencies, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,” Derbas told The Daily Star. “If we […]

  The branches of the Lebanese banks abroad, in particular Bank Audi SAL–Audi Saradar Group, are reportedly being used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to fund the organization, despite confirmation by Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh that the group has no transactions in Lebanon. A banking source told al-Akhbar newspaper […]