Khazen

Eight Ministers to Meet at Suleiman’s Residence after Mechanism Amendment

  Eight cabinet ministers are expected to hold talks at the residence of former President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday, in the third such meeting in one month, An Nahar daily reported. The ministers are representatives of the Kataeb party and of Suleiman. They also include Ministers Butros Harb and Michel Pharaon. Kataeb Ministers Sejaan Qazzi, […]

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Refugees asked to promise not to work

  BEIRUT: Aid organizations have expressed concern over General Security’s new residency renewal measures for Syrian nationals, especially a provision requiring registered refugees to pledge not to work. Aid agencies were informed about the measures, which have not been publicized by General Security, in an internal memorandum circulated earlier this year that went into effect […]

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Report: ISIL Mobilizing along Lebanon’s Border, Preparing for ‘Spring Battle’

  Fighters linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian al-Qalamoun are reportedly mobilizing and moving closer to the border with Lebanon ahead of a battle along the country’s eastern border. Lebanese and Syrian security sources said in comments published on Tuesday in al-Akhbar newspaper that ISIL fighters are […]

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Read the words of an Orthodox bishop kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago

 

.- On April 22, 2013, both the Greek and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi and Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, were kidnapped in Syria near the Turkish border. Their driver, Deacon Fatha’ Allah Kabboud, was killed. Today, 23 months later, the bishops remain missing – though for some time it has been rumored that only one of them is still alive. The bishops were abducted on their way back from the Turkish border, where they were negotiating the release of two priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz, who had themselves been kidnapped in February 2013.

Archbishop Ibrahim and Archbishop Yazigi are only two of the multitude of victims of the Syrian civil war, which today is entering its fifth year. The war has claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people. There are 3.9 million Syrian refugees in nearby countries, most of them in Turkey and Lebanon, and an additional 8 million Syrian people are believed to have been internally displaced by the war.

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Families of martyred troops decry state incompetence

  BEIRUT: Families of soldiers killed during the 2013 Sidon clashes slammed the country’s politicians Sunday for protecting suspects accused of attacking the military, and demanded death sentences against those accused of killing troops. The large protest staged in Martyrs’ Square in Downtown Beirut was attended by the families of martyred soldiers and their supporters, […]

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Israeli Troops Briefly Cross Blue Line overnight

  Israeli soldiers violated on Saturday night the Blue Line that demarcates the border between Lebanon and Israel, announced the army in a statement on Sunday. It said that three soldiers crossed overnight the border line near the southern town of Kfarkila. Nearby Lebanese troops took up defense positions in the area. Fifteen minutes later, […]

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Deported from UAE arrive back home

  BEIRUT: Three Lebanese citizens recently deported from the United Arab Emirates arrived at Beirut airport Sunday, with more expected to come later as the reasons for their expulsion are still unclear. Sources at Beirut airport said that three Lebanese citizens arrived from the Emirate of Sharjah, a day after four other deportees flew in […]

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UAE not targeting Lebanese citizens: PM

  BEIRUT: UAE’s prime minister assured his Lebanese counterpart Saturday that his country has no official policy of targeting Lebanese citizens, one day after the Gulf government decided to deport 70 families. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Tammam Salam raised the matter with his Emirati counterpart, Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, on the sidelines of an […]

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Army Defuses Bomb in Border Town of Abboudiyeh

  A military expert dismantled on Saturday a bomb located in the border town of al-Abboudiyeh in the northern district of Akkar, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said that a suspicious body was found in a parking lot in the town. An army expert arrived swiftly at the area and inspected the body, […]

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March 14 Puts Final Touches on Political Manifesto ahead of BIEL Conference

  A meeting was held between the representatives of parties affiliated to the March 14 alliance to discuss the final draft of their political document and the establishment of its National Council that the coalition is set to unveil on its 10th anniversary, which will be celebrated on Saturday afternoon in BIEL in downtown Beirut. […]

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