January 2, 2017 by yalibnan

According to reports coming from Israel, the IDF would continue to use preemptive operations, such as the “unconfirmed” attacks on Syrian armories and on truck convoys hauling advanced weapons across the Lebanese border, to be handed to Hezbollah. IDFF is reportedly “cautiously optimistic” in its assessment of the security challenges of 2017, expecting to get to the other side “without having to wage major combat operations,” writes DefenseNews‘ Barbara Opall-Rome, after an interview with a senior defense official in Tel Aviv. However, she quotes the same official, “Today, the most probable war is one in which both sides didn’t want it, but due to the dynamic of escalation, we might find ourselves in it.”

The senior official told Opall-Rome that Israel is cautious and mindful of “unintended consequences” resulting from its actions regarding Hezbollah up north, Hamas in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, and even faraway countries such as Iran.

In his opinion, the hierarchy of threats against Israel in 2017 will be: 1. The PA; 2. Hamas; and 3. Iran-backed Hezbollah, which, despite the fact that it is the strongest of the three “the probability [for confrontation] is low, as long as we don’t get into a dynamic of escalation.”

Khazen.org presents its deepest condolences to the victims of  the Istanbul Reina Nightclub Ortakoy Istanbul nightclub in New Year's celebrations. The Lebanese victims Elias Wardini, Rita Chami, Haykal Mousallem. May the virgin Mary protect them and help the family of the victims & quick recovery for the injured!!!

Elias Wardini in the picture funeral

By Naharnet: Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday declared national mourning over the Lebanese victims of Istanbul's nightclub massacre as the country bid farewell to three youths killed in the bloody attack. “Work will stop across Lebanon and radio and TV networks should adjust their programs in a manner befitting of this tragedy for one hour starting from 2:00 pm today, Tuesday, January 3, 2017,” said a decree issued by Hariri. “Lebanese wherever they may be are also asked to observe five minutes of silence at 3:00 pm to condemn this heinous crime, express a comprehensive Lebanese stance against terror and terrorists, and show solidarity with the families of the martyrs and the wounded,” Hariri added. There has been widespread shock and mourning in Lebanon over the deaths of the three Lebanese killed.

Rita Shami was a 26-year-old student. Elias Wardini, also 26, was a personal trainer. Haykal Musallem was a 36-year-old physical trainer with the Tadamon Zouk basketball team whose wife managed to survive the attack. A convoy carrying the coffin of Mussallem had left Ashrafieh's Hotel Dieu de France hospital for his hometown al-Bireh in Chouf in the morning. The coffin Wardini was meanwhile taken from Ashrafieh's Saint George Hospital to a nearby church for the funeral. He was laid to rest at Ashrafieh's Mar Mitr cemetery. Wardini's body was carried through the streets of Ashrafieh to the sounds of traditional darbuka drums and trumpets.

At the district's Notre Dame church, his open casket was lifted over the heads of friends and family, beneath giant portraits reading "The Angel of Ashrafieh" and "The Groom of Ashrafieh". As is tradition in Lebanon for the death of young unmarried people, the funeral ceremony included the trappings of a wedding, with the church decorated in white flowers. His two older sisters collapsed several times during the ceremony, one them shouting at the body: "Get up! Why don't you answer me?" The night before a minute of silence had been observed for the three victims during a basketball match between Tadamon, where Musallem worked, and Beirut club La Sagesse, Wardini's favorite team. Portraits of the three victims hung over the stands.

The young woman Rita Shami will be buried on Thursday. The bodies of the victims and five of the wounded had arrived Monday evening in Beirut aboard a Middle East Airlines plane. Bushra Doueihi, the wounded daughter of Zgharta MP Estephan Doueihi, stayed in an Istanbul hospital due to her serious injuries and is expected to be transferred to Lebanon in the coming days.

in the picture: Haykal Mousallem, Rita Chami & Elias Wardini

Denver, Colo., Dec 30, 2016 / 08:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- It’s a common sight at a city intersection. A man or a woman holds a cardboard sign: “Homeless, Hungry. Please Give. Anything Helps.”

Most motorists, stopped at the light and eager to move on, just ignore the person. But what should you do before the light changes?

The Denver-based urban ministry Christ in the City offers some advice. “Ask the person’s name,” said the group’s tip sheet. “One of our friends on the street told us he went four months without hearing his own name. Ask the person’s name and remember it. Those with a regular commute should remember that name and say hello the next time. “You’ll be amazed how his or her face will light up that you remembered.”

“To love is to know and be known,” Christ in the City said. “And so, the chronically homeless become unknown, they become separated, not just from society but from the experience of love itself.”

by Reuters , Saturday 31 Dec 2016

Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir printed its final edition on Saturday, forced to close after 42 years because of financial problems as other news outlets in the country face similar difficulties. The front page led with an editorial entitled "The nation without As-Safir".

"The economy is not well, and nor is politics. This cannot but reflect on and impact the press," the article said. Chief editor Talal Salman earlier in the year blamed the newspaper's planned closure on falling revenues and Lebanon's political and sectarian problems, including the absence of a president and functioning state institutions.

Lebanon's parliament elected President Michel Aoun in October after more than two years without a head of state, and a new government was named this month. Growth in Lebanon's economy has been sluggish since the collapse of a unity government and the start of the Syrian civil war next door in 2011. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at only two percent in 2014.

As-Safir's editorial said that despite Lebanon escaping the levels of violence that have plagued much of the region in recent years, the knock-on economic and political effects on the tiny Mediterranean country, which hosts over 1 million Syrian refugees, have taken their toll on its once thriving press. The daily, which is close to the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, was founded in 1974 with the slogan "a voice for those who have no voice".