Michael B Kelley – Business Insider

The US and Turkey are headed for a showdown over Syria, as evidence mounts that Ankara is enabling groups that Washington is actively bombing.

Discord between the two allies is now more public than ever following a new report by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer and Merve Tahiroglu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"Bordering on Terrorism: Turkey’s Syria Policy and the Rise of the Islamic State" details Turkey’s apparent willingness to allow extremists — including militants from the Islamic State (aka IS, ISIS, or ISIL) — and their enablers to thrive on the 565-mile border with Syria in an attempt to secure the downfall of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

"The IS crisis has put Turkey and the US on a collision course," the report says. "Turkey refuses to allow the coalition to launch military strikes from its soil. Its military also merely looked on while IS besieged the Kurdish town of Kobani, just across its border. Turkey negotiated directly with IS in the summer of 2013 to release 49 Turks held by the terrorist group. In return, Ankara reportedly secured the release of 180 IS fighters, many of whom returned to the battlefield. 

"Meanwhile, the border continues to serve as a transit point for the illegal sale of oil, the transfer of weapons, and the flow of foreign fighters. Inside Turkey, IS has also established cells for recruiting militants and other logistical operations. All of this has raised questions about Turkey’s value as an American ally, and its place in the NATO alliance."

  BEIRUT: Inspection conducted by Lebanon’s National Social Security Fund in 2013 indicated that 3,311 employees eligible for social security insurance were not disclosed by their employers and that 414 files belonged to fictitious employees, stripping the fund of LL 57 billion ($37 million). In a statement released Tuesday, head of the NSSF Mohammad Karaki […]

  Former president Michel Suleiman on Monday called on the Maronite political parties to put aside “personal interests” and put an end to the drawn-out presidential vacuum. “I reiterate my call for all Maronite parties to put aside personal interests and elect a new president immediately,” Suleiman said during a ceremony at the Vatican, where […]

  BEIRUT: Former President Michel Sleiman was honored Monday with a Papal Order of Knighthood during a ceremony at the Vatican. Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin decorated Sleiman with the Order of Pius IX, which is the highest Order that the Vatican currently grants, and the third-highest among all papal Orders. Its name […]

  BEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces arrested Sunday a Lebanese man who raped an Ethiopian woman after kidnapping her from the area of Dawra near Beirut, a statement said Monday. The suspect, 31, identified by his initials M.A., abducted the Ethiopian woman Sunday after impersonating a security official. (Link)

  The head of the Beirut Bar Association slammed the continued paralysis in the presidential seat Saturday, demanding politicians rise to the occasion and elect a new head of state, during a mass rally outside Baabda Palace to mark the 71 anniversary of Independence Day. “Our main concern is not to fill the vacant seat but […]

  U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated the Lebanese people on Friday on the occasion of Lebanon’s 71st Independence Day, lamenting on the anniversary the current vacuum in the presidency. He said in a message to Lebanon: “As a friend of the Lebanese people, the United States regrets this anniversary day passes without an elected president of […]

Happy Lebanese day for Lack of Independence in pictures

#LebanonLackOfIndependence #LebaneseIndependence

Lebanese government cancels Independence Day celebrations for the first time since the civil war

Joseph A. KechichianSenior Writer, gulfnews.com

Beirut: While the Lebanese Government cancelled its annual military parade to celebrate the country’s 71st Independence Day anniversary, Google—where several Lebanese-American techies have build solid reputations for themselves and their company—answered with a homepage doodle that featured dancers performing the traditional folk dance called dabké.Divided at every imaginable level, the Lebanese government canceled Independence Day celebrations for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war both because of the country’s presidential vacuum and, equally important, because at least 27 Lebanese soldiers and members of the internal security forces are still held by Deash and Jabhat Al Nusra.