By: Agnes Helou -- defensenews.com -- BEIRUT — A shipment of 100 armored patrol vehicles sailed from the U.K. on Tuesday as a donation from the British government to the Lebanese Armed Forces to secure the northern and eastern borders. The Land Rover RWMIK — or Revised Weapons Mounted Installation Kit — vehicle package is worth £1.5 million (U.S. $2 million) and “will further reinforce the stability on the Lebanese border with Syria and help the LAF to counter efforts by terrorists and smugglers to cross into the country,” according to the news release issued by the U.K. Embassy in Lebanon. The U.K. previously supported Lebanon’s military by deploying four land border regiments, constructing more than 75 border towers, providing 350 Land Rovers, and training more than 11,000 LAF personnel to counter extremists and smugglers seeking to infiltrating Lebanon from Syria, which has been a problem for years. “I am delighted that the U.K. has been able to help with this donation. These vehicles will make a real difference to the work of the land border regiments, whose efforts make life safer for all communities in Lebanon,” said Martin Longden, Britain’s special envoy to Syria. “It’s a great practical example of the friendship and collaboration between the armed forces of our two countries, and the U.K.’s genuine commitment to a strong and stable Lebanon.”

Lebanese expert and retired security forces brigadier Naji Mlaeb stressed the necessity of such vehicles to support the country’s border security mission. “These vehicles will facilitate the transportation of armed forces in the rugged terrain of the borders, whether northern or eastern ones, where most roads between the towers are not even paved but are dirt roads opened by the Lebanese Army to move between towers,” Mlaeb told Defense News. “As the borders with Syria are very long, there is an impossibility to monitor them through personnel or even mines to prevent sneaking or smuggling. That’s why the Land Rover RWMIK will facilitate the four regiments’ mission in border security.”

by thearabweekly.com -- BEIRUT – Lebanon’s top Christian cleric has urged President Michel Aoun to set up a reconciliation meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to form a cabinet and end the country’s political deadlock. “The tragic state of the country and the people does not justify any delay in the forming of (new) government,” Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai said at his Sunday sermon at his seat in Bkirki. “The door leading to the road of a solution is the formation of a salvation Cabinet made up of Lebanese elite, personalities who succeeded in Lebanon and the world,” he added. The country’s fractious politicians have been unable to agree on a new administration since the last one quit in the aftermath of the August 4 Beirut port explosion, leaving Lebanon rudderless as it sinks deeper into economic crisis.

Tensions between Aoun and Hariri, who publicly traded blame in December after failing to agree to a cabinet, came to a head last week when a leaked video showed Aoun apparently calling Hariri a liar. Rai said at his Sunday sermon that the situation in Lebanon was now “tragic” and there was no excuse to further delay forming a government. “We wish that his Excellency the president takes the initiative and invites the prime minister-designate to a meeting,” he said. Veteran Sunni politician Hariri was named premier for a fourth time in October, promising to form a cabinet of specialists to enact reforms necessary to unlock foreign aid, but political wrangling has delayed the process. The leaked video that circulated on social media last week showed Aoun talking to caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab about Hariri. “There is no government formation, he (Hariri) is saying he gave me a paper, he is lying,” Aoun is heard saying. Sources in the president’s office said the dialogue had been taken out of context and was not complete. After the video circulated, Hariri tweeted Biblical verses referring to wisdom not residing in bodies that were amenable to sin.

by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health minister in the caretaker government, Hamad Hassan, who is in hospital fighting a coronavirus infection, has signed the first payment of financial dues for government and private hospitals from the country’s World Bank loan. The decision came after hospitals protested against delays in the paying of bills for coronavirus treatments. About 15,000 beds have been allocated in Lebanese hospitals for use by COVID-19 patients, with 13,000 in private hospitals and 2,000 in government hospitals. But every bed in Lebanon’s hospitals is occupied, together with emergency departments, where hundreds of patients wait for beds to become available. Lebanon’s nationwide lockdown is scheduled to remain in effect until Monday. It will be reviewed after the country’s infection rate is examined in the coming days. Salma Assi, head of the Medical Equipment and Devices Importers Syndicate, said: “Companies received their requests for oxygen equipment today. Some companies expect to receive their requests during this week and others at the end of the week.”

Lebanon is facing a lack of oxygen machines following a huge surge in demand as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the country, with some citizens stockpiling them for private use. Assi said: “A mechanism has been put in place to prevent the monopoly of these machines so that the device is delivered based on a doctor’s order, only if a patient can prove a positive PCR test. “There are a lot of machines on the market. We do not know how they were brought or how effective they are. They were sold on the black market.” Lebanon’s lockdown measures have also been compromised in parts of the country. Health violations were recorded in popular areas after shop owners and craftsmen pretended to close their businesses, but continued to trade behind closed doors.

By By Sandy Fitzgerald -- Newsmax.com -- The late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught that people "must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools," and his message still holds true in a nation that has become increasingly divided, his niece, Alveda King, said Monday, on the federal holiday that honors her uncle. "I believe we can begin to learn to live together as brothers and sisters with personal accountability," King said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We have to realize that we are one human race, not separate races." King said she's personally decided "not to argue, not to fuss, even though my political views may vary and be different from others'." For example, she said, she is "very pro-life" and she will "continue to say that it is a civil wrong to abort a baby" but she won't argue or fight with others about it. "I believe we can heal if we begin to communicate with compassion rather than anger," said King. She added that she believes her uncle's advice today would be to "listen to God." "You have to remember Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist preacher, so he would be telling us to look to God and to pray for those who are in authority so that we can have peaceful lives," said King. "So we pray for our leaders, when we don't agree we peacefully make that known. We have other elections and things coming up. We can vote again soon. So be aware of that as well."