By Hala Abdallah -- dohanews.com -- In an exclusive interview with Doha News, a Lebanese official responds to a proposal for Lebanon put forward by the former Qatari prime minister. The former Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, known commonly as HBJ, called on all Lebanese parties to prioritise the country’s national interest and accelerate the formation of government to overcome crises leading the country to abyss. The proposition came in a series of tweets on Sunday as concerns rose over the dire situation in Beirut, exacerbated by a devastating port explosion that killed hundreds in August last year. “Lebanon, dear to our hearts, does not need mediations from outside to get out of its current crisis, it needs all parties to unite and reach an agreement to solve the ongoing crisis,” Hamad bin Jassim said. “I do not want to go into the reasons that drove Lebanon into this crisis because they are known to everyone,” he stated, adding that most Lebanese have already lost all their savings as a deterioration of the Lebanese pound continues to make life impossible for millions in Lebanon.

The Qatari official’s comments stem from a rich background on the Lebanese situation, Kassem Hachem, a Lebanese politician and a

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanese Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy told Arab News that he could not deny or confirm the involvement of Hezbollah in the smuggling of the Captagon shipment to Saudi Arabia, an operation thwarted by the Saudi authorities in April. Fahmy stressed that “investigations are underway, and their contents cannot be disclosed until now, fearing for the integrity of the investigation. Upon completion of all data and the initial investigation, we will speak. We hope that we will get the results soon.” The minister of interior inspected on Sunday the illegal crossing points on the borders with Syria, starting from the Al-Fawj border center in Shedra, Akkar district (the far north of Lebanon) to the town of Ras Baalbek (eastern Lebanon).

He listened to a briefing from the regiment commander, Col. Milad Saliba, about the military situation, the conditions of the legal crossing points, and the illegal routes at the Lebanese-Syrian borders, through which smuggling operations take place in the region. Fahmy said that “cross-border smuggling is a chronic problem that goes back to before the year 1975, and no country can control its borders 100 percent.” He said: “But we will activate border controls based on the directives of President Michel Aoun and the orders of the Supreme Defense Council, and anyone responsible for any act of corruption or smuggling will be held accountable.”

By By Nabila Rahal — arabianbusiness.com — S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is in the midst of a consolation with market …

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel will resume technical negotiations on demarcating their maritime border, under US auspices, at the UN headquarters in Ras Al-Naqoura in southern Lebanon over the weekend. The two sides engaged in four rounds of negotiations from Oct. 14 to Nov. 11, but talks stopped due to Lebanon’s adherence to its demand to expand the disputed area with Israel to reach 2,290 square km instead of 860 square km. This disputed area is located in the potentially gas-rich region. The US State Department announced that the American delegation mediating the negotiations was heading to Beirut on May 3 to resume talks. These negotiations are the first between the two sides under the new US administration.

Lebanon and Israel are officially still at war, and there is no demarcation of land or sea borders between them. The State Department renewed “its commitment to mediate between Lebanon and Israel to facilitate the maritime talks.” John Deruscher is expected to be the US mediator. Lebanon showed some confusion on the issue of demarcating its maritime border, as it drew a border from Ras Al-Naqoura to Line 23 and brought it to the notice of the UN in 2011. However, Lebanon later said this was based on wrong estimates, and the correct one was Line 29. Lebanon demanded during the negotiation sessions an additional area of 1,430 square km that includes part of the Israeli Karish gas field in which the Greek Energean PLC operates. However, the Lebanese request to amend the maritime border has not yet been sent to the UN because Decree No. 6433 related to border demarcation, which extends the border to Line 29, was not amended because President Michel Aoun did not sign it.