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Street performance by Syrians in Lebanon opens wounds

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June 24, 2016

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By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press

SAADNAYEL, Lebanon (AP) — The small crowd broke out in giggles when a young male actor, dressed in a towel and a wig, strutted around the dusty open market in Lebanon's Bekaa valley during a street performance. He was portraying a Syrian woman coquettishly complaining of how she has no privacy with her husband in a crowded refugee tent.

The mood turned from comedy to tragedy as the troupe of Syrian actors moved to the next act: A refugee girl with a heart condition dies because no Lebanese hospital agrees to admit her on an emergency basis. While some among the Lebanese watching were sympathetic, one family walked away, grumbling in protest. "There are lots of lies," Mohammed Razzak said of the performance. "As a Lebanese, I don't get the assistance they (Syrians) get."

The range of reactions at the Saadnayel market was precisely what the directors anticipated, even desired. The Caravan, a street performance project touring Lebanon over the next six weeks, gives Syrian refugees the chance to tell and act out their own stories and experiences and present them to Lebanese who often see the Syrians as little more than a wave of the needy and poor that has overwhelmed their country.

The relationship between Israel and Lebanon is deteriorating again – and it’s civilians who will suffer

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June 23, 2016

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Uncategorised

By Robert Fisk

Major General Herzl ‘Herzi’ Halevy was at it again a few days ago. Another war in Lebanon, the Israeli chief of the country’s ‘Military Intelligence Directorate’ threatened, would turn it into “a country of refugees”. Not very original, when you come to think of it, because Lebanon already hosts around 350,000 Palestinian refugees from the land which Herzi calls Israel and a further million refugees from Syria. In total, that’s about a fifth of the entire population of Lebanon. The Lebanese might be forgiven for yawning. Haven’t we been here before?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, we have. But first the usual context. Herzi was talking to the annual Herzliya conference in Israel where chiefs of staff and military intelligence bosses warn their countrymen of the massive firepower which may be unleashed on them by Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, Isis, Arab states with whom they don’t have a peace treaty, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Herzi was marking the 10th anniversary of the last Lebanon war – the third Lebanon war, according to the Israelis, who would have to explain why there have really been five Lebanon wars (1978, 1982, 1994, 1996 and 2006) if they stuck with the facts. But there you go.

Lebanese Army Slowly Crushing Extremists Near Syria Border

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June 23, 2016

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Uncategorised

By bassem mroue and andrea rosa, associated press

In a remote corner of Lebanon near the border with Syria, Lebanese troops have been quietly making steady progress, fighting against Islamic extremists holed up in the rugged mountains.

It is a fight less visible than the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State group in Syria, Iraq and Libya. But hardly a day passes without army artillery stationed on the edge of this restive eastern Lebanese town pounding nearby militant positions.

Aided directly by the United States and Britain — and indirectly by the Syrian army and its Lebanese militant Hezbollah allies working on the other side of the border — the under-equipped Lebanese military has registered steady successes against the militants.

In recent months, Lebanese armed forces have clawed back significant territory once held by IS and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, and have killed and detained hundreds of extremists, forcing many others to flee. According to the army, the militants still hold about 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) of land in the border area, compared with 20 times this size in the months after Syria's conflict began.

My big fat Lebanese wedding

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June 22, 2016

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Uncategorised

Angie Boustani news.com.au

I didn’t play “weddings” with my sisters or have a scrap book full of magazine cut outs and drawings of my dream wedding dress. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was against the whole idea or anything. I’m just not a girl who cares that much about “the most important day in my life”. And then in February this year my best friend of 12 years asked me to marry him.