By Kareem Chehayeb -- aljazeera -- Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanese security agencies have foiled an attempt to smuggle nine million illegal amphetamine Captagon pills to an unnamed Gulf country, officials said. Lebanese Customs said in a statement on Wednesday that they arrested several perpetrators and have opened a judicial investigation into a plot to smuggle the pills out of Lebanon after officials found them in a shipment of plastic oranges at the Beirut port. Speaking at the port later, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said he could not disclose details about who had been arrested and what they knew so far about the operation. However, he said the investigation will reveal where the pills were produced and packaged, and who was responsible for hiding them in the shipment of fruits. “We promise [our] citizens and all the friendly countries, especially the Gulf countries, the Lebanese authorities are serious in combatting the smuggling of Captagon,” he said. Sources familiar with the case told Al Jazeera that the Captagon shipment was heading to Kuwait.

The seizure comes as the cash-strapped country tries to resolve an ongoing diplomatic rift with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia last April announced an indefinite ban on Lebanese agricultural products after officials said they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle 5.3 million Captagon pills hidden in a shipment of pomegranates at Jeddah port. Captagon is manufactured in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and is often exported to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The Saudi authorities have since announced the seizure of several shipments containing millions of Captagon pills from Lebanon and Syria.

by HASSAN AMMAR -- TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s energy minister launched two projects in the country’s north on Tuesday to facilitate the flow of natural gas from Egypt. The move aims to improve electricity production and expand the country’s tanks to increase oil reserves. The revival of the Arab Gas Pipeline to deliver Egyptian gas to Lebanon comes as the small country is reeling from a crippling electricity crisis. The pipeline has been out of service in Lebanon since before Syria’s 10-year conflict began in 2011. Lebanese Energy Minister Walid Fayad said Egypt’s Technical Gas Services will begin renovation work on the pipeline inside Lebanon within days and work should be done in a little more than two months. Egypt has agreed to supply Lebanon with natural gas to its power plants through Jordan and Syria. Syrian experts have finished work inside the war-torn country.

The Syrian government is under U.S. and Western sanctions for its role in the war, which has left nearly half a million killed and disappeared and nearly half of the population displaced. Despite the sanctions, the U.S. has supported the resumption of natural gas flow from Egypt to Lebanon via Syria. Fayad told The Associated Press during a tour of an oil facility that U.S. officials who have visited Lebanon said the contract to bring gas from Egypt will not be targeted by sanctions because “no cash is going from any side to Syria.” He added that Egyptian officials are in contact with the Americans to make sure that the contract does not violate the sanctions.

By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Officials in Lebanon continue to acquit themselves of all the crises that the Lebanese people are facing, as a result of the economic collapse, political disputes and Hezbollah’s influence on Lebanon’s external decisions. Following President Michel Aoun’s televised speech to the Lebanese people, where he indirectly criticized Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a press conference on Tuesday. He said that “interfering in the work of the Cabinet hindered the mission of his salvation government” and that “halting the Cabinet’s session since Oct. 12 constitutes a structural malfunction in the work of the government that cannot be ignored or overlooked.” Mikati stressed that he does not accept any settlement at the expense of institutions. “I do not barter the Cabinet’s meetings for any settlement that is not accepted by the Lebanese people and families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion, and the international community.” He added that he cannot hold anyone responsible for not holding the Cabinet’s sessions “as I am convinced of a disruption in the course of the Beirut port investigation; however, this cannot disrupt the government and stop the reforms.”

Mikati stressed the need to “distance the judiciary from political disputes and maintain its independence to preserve one of the state’s most important pillars,” in response to Hezbollah and the Amal Movement’s insistence on the dismissal of Judge Tarek Bitar from the investigation of the Beirut port explosion. He said: “When the state stopped acting by the law and became influenced by the sectarian political authority, it started breaking down and lacking the capability to carry out its missions as a body that is trusted to implement policies and strategies.” Mikati called for a national dialogue to improve Lebanon’s ties with the Arab states, especially in the Gulf. He also urged Lebanese leaders not to interfere in their internal affairs, and called for a return to the “dissociation policy that preserves our home and protects its relations with the international community and the Arab world.” He said that remediation should be done “within constitutional and legal frameworks,” and stressed the necessity to implement the constitution. He added that if his resignation is the solution, he will not hesitate to resign if he sees that it will contribute to further damage.

President Michel Sleiman: “Une nouvelle stratégie défensive devrait confier les armes à l’autorité exclusive de l’État dans un délai d’un an”  https://icibeyrouth.com/liban/20060