An Islamic-Christian summit held Thursday at Dar al-Fatwa called on Lebanese parties to stop relying on foreign influence to empower themselves domestically, as it rejected the proliferation of arms in the country under the excuse of self-defense against jihadist groups. The summit also stressed the importance of dialogue for preserving pluralism and addressing disputes. According to […]

  In the part of his Sept. 10 speech on confronting the Islamic State that probably drew the least attention, President Obama mentioned the need to help Christians and other minorities, expelled from cities and villages in northern Iraq, return from where they came. “We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient […]

    في زمَن خرقِ الدستور وعدم احترام الصيغة والميثاق، عبر حذف رئيس الجمهورية الماروني من المعادلة الميثاقية، أطلَّ البطريرك الماروني الكاردينال مار بشارة بطرس الراعي مُعلناً رفضَه القاطعَ لأيَّ مؤتمر تأسيسي، والمثالثة، والسلاح غير الشرعي، ما أثارَ حفيظة بعض الأطراف السياسيّين، فيما تساءَلَ البعض الآخر عن خلفية هذا الكلام وتوقيته.   إختارَ البطريرك الماروني […]

  RAS BAALBEK, Lebanon: In the dark of night a group of around 10 armed men donning military fatigues and carrying Kalashnikovs gathered at a house near the edge of Ras Baalbek, close to where Islamist militants have tried to infiltrate the town on a few occasions.   “We have welcomed many Syrian refugees and […]

  After spending nearly six years of his presidency installing a series of constraints on U.S. counterterrorism operations, President Obama has launched a broad military offensive against Islamist groups in Syria that stretches the limits of those legal and policy enclosures. The barrage of airstrikes was aimed mainly at a militant group, the Islamic State, that […]

  Parliament Tuesday failed to elect a new president over a lack of quorum, prompting Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the session to Oct. 9. Tuesday’s was the 12th session that was thwarted by a lack of quorum in the past five months to pick a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure ended […]

  The families of the soldiers and policemen taken captive by militants in the northeastern border town of Arsal blocked on Wednesday several roads to pressure the authorities on meeting the demands of the abductors. The Dahr al-Baidar road that links Beirut and Mount Lebanon with the eastern Bekaa valley was blocked at the Falougha junction. […]

Vladimir Poutine, le président russe, s’est adressé à la Dūmā  relativement aux rapports tendus avec des minorités en Russie :   "En Russie chacun doit vivre comme des russes. N’importe quelle minorité, de n’importe où, s’il veut vivre en Russie, marcher et manger en Russie, devrait parler le russe et devrait respecter les lois russes. […]

Top 4 reasons to worry about President Obama Policy against ISIL

Source: Malek el Khazen

1.       US to arm inexperience Opposition to fight ISIL and Regime:

The US have trained and financed Iraqi army for almost a decade. Iraqi army was unable to fight against ISIL; many surrendered or deserted their posts and left all of the US arms to ISIL.

 Now sending arms to the Syrian opposition sounds a great idea, but unfortunately this opposition has not been trained, how can we expect this opposition to fight ISIL and the Assad regime?

2.       President Obama fail to mention Al Qaeda front in Syria and Iraq  known as Al Nusra front

We are still at war against al Qaeda. I do not understand how we can ignore them while eliminating ISIL. This campaign should target all fundamentalists.

3.       Somalia and Yemen very bad outcome

Somalia and Yemen are countries in complete chaos in the verse of having their regime collapse. It is a disaster to try and follow the same strategy in Iraq and Syria.

4.       Syrian opposition is divided into many groups and some groups do not want to fight ISIL

Many of the Syrian opposition groups oppose fighting ISIL or Nusra before completely eliminating the Assad Regime. How can the US count on an opposition that does not want to fight?

  Families of Lebanese troops abducted by Syria-based militants on Sunday threatened to escalate their protests across Lebanon to press for the release of their loves ones, as some of them accused Hizbullah of obstructing negotiations between the Lebanese government and the kidnappers. “We have been giving negotiations a chance but we haven’t sensed any […]