Our sinceres condolences to the family of the Hero Massoud Achkar. You will be missed! 

by lorientlejour.com -- Tilda ABOU RIZK -- Depuis ce lundi matin, Achrafieh pleure Massoud Achkar, affectueusement surnommé Poussy depuis le début de la guerre en 1975. Un des premiers et plus proches compagnons du fondateur des Forces libanaises et ancien président assassiné, Bachir Gemayel, Massoud Achkar est décédé à 64 ans des suites de complications dues au coronavirus, douze jours après avoir été admis aux soins intensifs du centre universitaire LAU-hôpital Rizk, suite à la détérioration de son état de santé. C’était le jeudi 31 décembre. Deux jours plus tard, samedi, une marche aux flambeaux a été organisée à son intention Place Sassine, suivie d’une veillée de prière devant le centre hospitalier. Le chef d'Etat Michel Aoun a rendu hommage au disparu. "J'ai perdu aujourd'hui un ami, uni à lui par l'amour de la patrie depuis de longues années", a-t-il regretté. "Le Liban a besoin aujourd'hui d'hommes comme lui, un combattant, un patriote, un homme d'honneur qui n'a pas fait de compromis sur la dignité, l'unité et la stabilité du Liban", a estimé le président, souhaitant "que Dieu ait son âme et console sa famille".

Avec la disparition de Massoud Achkar, Achrafieh perd un de ses principaux soutiens, une figure charismatique qui, quarante-six ans durant, a défendu inlassablement les mêmes principes souverainistes et maintenu le même discours politique en faveur d’un Liban souverain, indépendant et libre pour lequel il aura plaidé jusqu’au dernier souffle. Ce sont ces mêmes principes qui l’ont poussé à porter les armes alors qu’il était tout juste âgé de 19 ans, au début de la guerre. Avec Bachir Gemayel et plusieurs autres camarades dont nombreux sont tombés en cours de chemin sur les champs de bataille entre 1975 et la fin des années quatre-vingt, ils se sont engagés à protéger les quartiers chrétiens d’Achrafieh, Saïfi, Rmeil et Médawar face d’abord à l’alliance dite palestino-progressiste, puis à l’armée syrienne et enfin aux milices dominant la partie ouest, à majorité musulmane, de la capitale. Poussy Achkar était au cœur de la Résistance libanaise fondée par Bachir Gemayel qu’il a accompagné tout au long de son parcours : dans les rangs du parti Kataëb, puis avec la fondation des Forces libanaises, jusqu’à l’assassinat de Bachir en septembre 1982.

by businessinsider.com -- Joshua Zitser -- In the wake of Wednesday's attempted coup, Forbes — the American business magazine — has issued a warning to companies hoping to hire former officials from President Donald Trump's administration. Businesses that choose to hire Trump administration alumni will, the editor said, be held to account. "Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie," the magazine's editor Randall Lane wrote. "We're going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we'd approach a Trump tweet," Lane added. In the article titled 'A Truth Reckoning: Why We're Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable,' Lane reflected on the lies that spurred rioters to ransack the US Capitol building.

The easiest way for American democracy to recover from the insurrection, he wrote, is to "create repercussions for those who don't follow the civic norms." In the Forbes article, Lane name-called Trump's press secretaries and a former senior counselor to the president — Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, Kayleigh McEnany, and Kellyanne Conway — and referred to the group as "Trump's fellow fabulists." This ultimatum follows the news that some White House staff are worried about securing their next job, according to Politico. Administration officials told the media outlet that they fear Wednesday's events will damage their reputations, finances, and future careers. Lower-level Trump staffers are also "trying to save face for future employment," a source told Politico.

Beirut (AP) -- Israeli military jets carried out several low flying flights over Beirut as reconnaissance drones also buzzed overhead Sunday in what has become a daily occurrence. Israel regularly violates Lebanon airspace, often to carry out strikes in neighboring Syria. On Christmas Eve, Israeli jets flew low late into the night, terrorizing Beirut residents who are no strangers to such flights. They were followed by reported Israeli strikes in Syria. The frequency of low flying warplanes over the capital has intensified in the last two weeks, making residents jittery as tensions run high in the region on the final days of President Donald Trump's administration. “When the drone leaves, the warplanes come. When the warplanes leave, the drones return. They have seen us in our PJs, filmed us in our PJs and surveilled us in our PJs. Now what,” quipped Twitter user Areej_AAH. “Of all types of panic I experienced in life in Beirut, the panic that accompanies the Israeli warplanes flying this low in Beirut is very special,” Tweeted Rudeynah Baalbaky, who said it brought back memories of the 2006 war with Israel. Israel rarely comments on these reports.

by Charlie McCarthy -- newsmax.com -- Suggestions the U.S. has become a banana republic are way off base, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday. Using his personal Twitter account, Pompeo criticized politicians and journalists who have compared the U.S. to countries where "mob violence determines the exercise of power," according to Pompeo per The Hill. Pompeo's remarks were posted one day after demonstrators protesting the presidential election results attacked the Capitol. As of Friday afternoon, five people had died as a result of the insurrection. "In the wake of [Wednesday's] reprehensible attack on the U.S. Capitol, many prominent people -- including journalists and politicians -- have likened the United States to a banana republic," Pompeo wrote. "The slander reveals a faulty understanding of banana republics and of democracy in America. "In a banana republic, mob violence determines the exercise of power. In the United States, law enforcement officials quash mob violence so that the people's representatives can exercise power in accordance with the rule of law and constitutional government."