By Kareem Chehayeb, Harun al-Aswad -- middleeasteye.net -- The Lebanese Army, following days of contradictory reports, announced on Saturday in a statement that it had arrested six Syrian nationals for allegedly entering the country illegally. Two of those arrested were transferred to Lebanon's General Security, the army said, without providing details on the locations of the other four. The border agency initially denied holding any of the missing Syrian nationals prior to confirmation from the army's press office. Five of the six men have been identified as Tawfik al-Haj, Mohammad Abdelillah al-Waked, Mohammad Saeed al-Waked, Ahmad Ziad al-Eid and Ibrahim Majed al-Shammari. It has been reported that several of those arrested had been affiliated with the Syrian opposition movement. The army's announcement came days after news surfaced that five men from Daraa province went missing at the Syrian embassy near the Lebanese capital. The detentions allegedly took place after embassy staff told the men to come pick up their Syrian passports. Middle East Eye obtained the number of one of the missing men and tried to contact him on WhatsApp, but there was no reply.

'Arrested inside the embassy'?

A relative of one of the missing men told MEE that they had received a call from a private number, introducing themselves as Lebanese intelligence and telling them that their family member had been detained for entering the country on 18 August illegally. "They do not have personal identification papers so they cannot enter Lebanon legally," one of the relatives said. "They went to the Syrian embassy to try to get a passport processed the day after they arrived." Embassy staff originally told them their passports would be processed on 25 August, but when they went back to the embassy that day, they were asked to return two days later, the relative told MEE. It is still unclear whether those detained were arrested at the Syrian embassy or nearby, and the Lebanese Army's statement does not specify where exactly they were apprehended. One relative of the missing told MEE that they are adamant that the men were arrested at the embassy. "The embassy told them to come in on Friday at 9am. They went. But we lost contact with them at noon," the family member said. "I was with many of our other relatives in direct contact with them. They went missing inside the Syrian embassy in Lebanon."

 فارس خشان  -- annahar.com  لم تحرّر حكومة مصطفى الكاظمي العراق من "سطوة" الميليشيات المرتبطة بإيران. كلّ ما فعلته أنّها أثبتت، بالأقوال، استقلاليتها عنها، وبيّنت، بالممكن من الأفعال، نيتها مواجهة انحرافاتها. 

ولكنّ النتائج الضحلة التي حققتها هذه الحكومة العراقية، كانت كافية، بفعل ثبوت "حسن النيات"، ليلتف المجتمعان العربي والدولي حولها، في محاولة لتوفير ما يلزمها من إمكانيات.

ولا يشذ  عن هذا المسار نجاح  مؤتمر "قمة دول جوار العراق" المتصارعة و"المتمحوِرة"، الذي  انعقد، عشية الانتخابات النيابية المقررة في تشرين الأوّل ( اكتوبر) المقبل، بعدما كان قد جرى تبكير مواعيدها، نزولاً عند مطالب "الحراك الشعبي"، صاحب الفضل الأوّل في تشكيل حكومة الكاظمي وفرض الخط السيادي في برنامج عملها.

ولكن، لماذا يُحظّر على بيروت ما يُتاح لبغداد؟

الجواب عن هذا السؤال بسيط، من دون ان يقع في التبسيط: العراق يقدّم أدلّة على نهجه "التحرّري"، بينما يُمعن لبنان في سقوطه،يوماً بعد يوم، ومنذ وصول العماد ميشال عون الى رئاسة الجمهورية، في قبضة "حزب الله".

by reuters -- BEIRUT: Christine Tohme had already been diagnosed with ovarian cancer when Lebanon’s financial system began to unravel in 2019. She never expected that two years later her country’s economic meltdown would pose a direct threat to her life. The 50-year-old was later diagnosed with third stage colon cancer in February. Having undergone surgery earlier this year, she was then prescribed six sessions of chemotherapy. But with shortages of basic goods plaguing every aspect of Lebanese life, Tohme was told there was no guarantee she would complete her treatment as hospitals run out of vital drugs. So far she has only undergone three sessions. Her cancer has metastasized to her lymph nodes and she fears if she cannot complete her treatment she will only have months to live. Having knocked on every door to try to secure her medication at any cost, Tohme took to the streets on Thursday, despite her ailing health, to join a sit-in protest with other cancer patients, doctors and nongovernmental organizations. “I’m hoping that God gives me strength, as I don’t have that much, to stand on my two feet and take part so that maybe people will see us and sympathize with us and send us treatment,” Tohme told Reuters two days before the event. “I have kids, I want to be happy with them and see them get married and become a grandmother.”

Lebanese healthcare workers have warned for months of declining stocks of vital medical supplies. Many pharmacy shelves are empty as the country’s foreign reserves are depleted on the back of a subsidy scheme used to finance fuel, wheat and medicine that cost the state around $6 billion a year. This month the central bank declared it could no longer finance fuel imports at subsidized exchange rates because its dollar reserves had been so badly depleted. Tohme’s case is not unique. Dr. Joseph Makdessi, who heads the hematology and oncology department at the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, estimates around 10 percent of cancer patients have been unable to source their treatment in the past couple of months. “We need an immediate solution,” Makdessi said. “I can’t tell my patients this is a crisis and ask them to wait till it eases because this disease has no patience.”

هل يعلم احد ما هو السعر الذي سيباع به النفط الايراني ؟ شكراً للاستاذ المصحح بصرف النظر عن النظريات المتعلقة بالاستراتيجيات الدولية …