Beirut (AFP) - Activists poked fun at the Lebanese tourism ministry over a video it commissioned showing natural beauty by releasing their own aerial footage of garbage festering across the country.

Rubbish has piled up on beaches, mountain forests and river beds across Lebanon since the closure in July of a landfill.

Called "Rise Above Lebanon's Political Garbage", the mock video commissioned by the "You Stink" protest movement shows mountains of rubbish across the country.

In one of the shots filmed by a drone, plastic bags containing rubbish can be seen stretching for miles like overflowing rivers.

AFP

A special court set up to try the killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on Tuesday quashed on appeal the conviction of a senior TV journalist accused of obstructing justice.

Al-Jadeed television's deputy chief editor, Karma Khayat, had in September been cleared of one charge of contempt of court after her station published details of the witnesses in the highly-sensitive trial.

The television station had also been cleared of all accusations of contempt brought against it.

But Khayat was found guilty by the tribunal based in The Hague on a lesser charge of obstruction of justice for failing to remove the broadcast from the TV's website and social media as ordered.

reuters

The United States said on Tuesday it had raised concerns with Saudi Arabia about the kingdom's cutting off aid to the Lebanese army, adding that international assistance to Lebanon is essential to curbing the influence of Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Saudi Arabia said last month it had suspended a $3 billion aid package for the Lebanese army in what an official called a response to Beirut's failure to condemn January attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

"We have raised our concerns about the reports of aid cutoff with the Saudi authorities," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a news briefing. "I am not going to talk about the details."

Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: A regularly scheduled League of Arab States (LAS) meeting in Cairo this coming Thursday may further exacerbate Lebanon’s ties with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in general and with Saudi Arabia in particular, as rumours fly that the LAS could issue an expulsion warning if Beirut fails to dissuade Hezbollah from its active participation in several regional wars at Iran’s behest.

According to the Al Nahar daily, Egyptian officials are trying to set up a meeting between Lebanese Foreign Minister Jibran Bassil and his Saudi counterpart, Adel Al Jubeir, to see whether growing tensions between the two countries could be rolled back from the current high levels of antipathy.