Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Lebanese Christian politician Samir Geagea will back his arch rival Michel Aoun for the presidency on Monday, local media reported, an apparent break with his Saudi-backed allies that aligns him with a civil war era enemy supported by Hezbollah.

Lebanese Forces media representative Melhem Riashi announced on Monday that Geagea will endorse the candidacy of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at a news conference later in the evening.

The move boosts Aoun’s chances of filling the presidency that has been vacant for 20 months, but does not guarantee him the post. Beyond his existing allies, among them the Iran-backed Hezbollah, Aoun still needs the backing of other groups to secure the necessary parliamentary backing.

• Robert Fisk

Just when you thought the heritage of the Middle East was being destroyed, here’s a tale to prove the opposite. Maybe. In Syria, our world’s history is being blasted apart. This is no “light at the end of the tunnel” story, maybe just the spark of a match on a blackened wall at night – a Lebanese wall, just 100 miles from Damascus.

The old and semi-derelict Pink House on the seafront is Beirut’s best-known building, its Ottoman arcades and balconies symbolising the great Levantine city once regarded as the jewel in the crown of the Sultan’s Empire. It survived sea battles in the First World War, Vichy troops and Allied invasion in the Second World War and, though damaged by Israeli shells, survived Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

AFP

The United States on Sunday announced new sanctions linked to Iran's ballistic missile program, just a day after sanctions targeting its nuclear program were lifted.

In remarks shortly before the US announcement, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said that any new American sanctions would be "met by an appropriate response."

The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had added five Iranian nationals and a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates and China to an American blacklist. 

It said the network had "obfuscated the end user of sensitive goods for missile proliferation by using front companies in third countries to deceive foreign suppliers" and that the five individuals had "worked to procure ballistic missile components for Iran."