by naharnet -- The Israeli army alleged Tuesday that a Lebanese shepherd nabbed by Israeli forces in the border area of Kfarshouba was collecting information for Hizbullah. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee tweeted that the shepherd was “arrested in an ambush” after he “deliberately” crossed the frontier into Israeli-controlled territory. Noting that the shepherd was taken to interrogation, Adraee stressed that the Israeli army “will not tolerate any attempt to violate the sovereignty of the State of Israel.” “The arrested Lebanese shepherd belongs to a group that has been identified as being collaborative with Hizbullah, which uses shepherds in missions for collecting information and monitoring the Israeli army forces,” Adraee added. The Lebanese Army identified the shepherd as Hassan Qasem Zahra and said he was guarding livestock when he was detained.

by NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com --BEIRUT: Lebanon filed a complaint to the UN Security Council against Israel on Tuesday, over the latter’s continued violation of Lebanese airspace. The Lebanese Armed Forces command said that at least eight air violations were recorded by Israeli warplanes, which carried out low-altitude flights over the south and Mount Lebanon, in one day alone. It added: “The air violations are accompanied by sea violations. An Israeli gunboat violated on Monday Lebanese territorial waters off Ras Al-Naqoura in four stages and for a maximum distance of about 314 meters.” The army command stressed that “the issue of the violations is being discussed with the UN Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL).”

MP Walid Sukkarieh, a retired Lebanese army officer, told Arab News: “There are two types of Israeli aircraft that violate the Lebanese airspace: Drones, which aim to monitor the movements on the ground, especially Hezbollah’s movements, and F-16 and F-17 warplanes, which are flying over Lebanon these days to show off. “Israel was betting on US President Donald Trump launching a war on Iran, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot perform this mission alone without the US. However, what happened in the US Congress made Trump back off on this adventure, and when the factors of war crumble, Israel resorts to show off its strength in this manner.” He added that he believed that “neither Iran nor Hezbollah wants any war, nor do they have an interest in it.” UNIFIL has recorded a number of flights over Lebanese airspace in recent days by Israeli unmanned and fighter aircraft, said its spokesman Andrea Tenenti, who stressed that these are violations of Resolution 1701 and Lebanese sovereignty. “We have once again called on the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) Command to cease the overflights,” he said. “The continued violations increase fear among the local population and undermine our efforts to reduce tensions and establish a stable security environment in southern Lebanon.”

by middleeastmonitor.com — Lebanese, some wearing protective masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shop at a market in the Sabra neighbourhood of …

Vatican City, Courtney Mares -- (CNA) --- Pope Francis issued a motu proprio Monday changing canon law to allow women to serve as lectors and acolytes. In the motu proprio “Spiritus Domini,” issued on Jan. 11, the pope changed canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law to read: “Lay people who have the age and skills determined by decree of the Episcopal Conference, they can be permanently assumed, through the established liturgical rite, to the ministries of lectors and of acolytes; however this contribution does not give them the right to support or to remuneration by the Church.” Prior to this change, the law formerly said that “lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte.”

The roles of lector and acolyte are publicly recognized ministries instituted by the Church. The roles were once considered “minor orders” in the tradition of the Church and were changed to ministries by Pope Paul VI. According to Church law, “before anyone is promoted to the permanent or transitional diaconate, he is required to have received the ministries of lector and acolyte.” Pope Francis wrote a letter to Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explaining his decision to admit women to the ministries of lector and acolyte. In this letter, the pope highlighted the distinction between “‘established’ (or ‘lay’) ministries and ‘ordained’ ministries,” and expressed hope that opening these lay ministries to women might “better manifest the common baptismal dignity of the members of the People of God.” He said: “The Apostle Paul distinguishes between gifts of grace-charisms (‘charismata’) and services (‘diakoniai’ – ‘ministry [cf. Rom 12, 4ff and 1 Cor 12, 12ff]). According to the tradition of the Church, the various forms that charisms take when they are publicly recognized and are made available to the community and its mission in a stable form are called ministries,” the pope wrote in the letter published Jan. 11. “In some cases the ministry has its origin in a specific sacrament, Holy Orders: these are the ‘ordained’ ministries, the bishop, the presbyter, the deacon. In other cases the ministry is entrusted, with a liturgical act of the bishop, to a person who has received Baptism and Confirmation and in whom specific charisms are recognized, after an adequate journey of preparation: we then speak of ‘instituted’ ministries.”

by FRANCES MARTEL -- After decades on the list — since 1982 — President Barack Obama removed Cuba from the official State Department list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 2015, claiming the evidence did not support a place for the regime on that list. At the time, Cuba shared the list with Iran, Syria, North Korea and Sudan; the administration of President Donald Trump removed Sudan from the list in 2020. Since Obama’s decision to remove Cuba, reports have repeatedly indicated that Cuba has direct ties to the Shiite jihadist organization Hezbollah, including reports linking Cuban funding to the creation of Venezuelan passport machines that ultimately created fraudulent documentation for Hezbollah members from the Middle East. The Castro regime has also never hidden its support for the FARC, a Marxist terrorist organization, including allowing prominent FARC leaders to march in its parades after Obama removed it from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

In announcing the designation Monday, Pompeo said in a statement that the move was necessary in light of the Communist Party of Cuba “repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists.” “The Trump Administration has been focused from the start on denying the Castro regime the resources it uses to oppress its people at home, and countering its malign interference in Venezuela and the rest of the Western Hemisphere,” Pompeo noted. Countries on the list of state sponsors of terrorism are subject to “restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions,” according to the State Department.