By Jennifer Jacobs -- Bloomberg -- Lebanon’s security chief held talks with top administration officials in Washington this week as the U.S. seeks to resolve his country’s energy dispute with Israel and free an American journalist kidnapped in Syria, according to people familiar with the matter. Abbas Ibrahim, the influential head of Lebanon’s General Security agency, spoke with Robert O’Brien, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, at a dinner on Friday night, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private meetings. He also met Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel. Amid the Trump administration’s push to shift broader U.S. policy in the Middle East, the fate of Austin Tice remains unresolved some eight years after he was abducted in Syria while on assignment. Trump said in March that the U.S. is working with Syria — Lebanon’s war-wracked neighbor — to secure the journalist’s release.

O’Brien and Ibrahim also met at the White House during the Lebanese official’s visit, according to one of the people. The two know each from when O’Brien served as Trump’s hostage envoy in 2018 and 2019. Ibrahim played a role in the release of three hostages, including Sam Goodwin, a U.S. citizen released from Syria last year, and Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman and U.S. resident who was let go by Iran and accompanied by Ibrahim on his return to Beirut. The White House and a CIA spokeswoman declined to comment. A General Security spokesman in Beirut said he had no information on any meetings. Read more: Senators Urge Pompeo to Press for Release of Americans Overseas Guests at the Friday night dinner included Diane Foley, the mother of American journalist James Foley, who covered Syria’s civil war and was beheaded by Islamic State in 2014. She presented Ibrahim with an award, according to one of the people.

by AP -- Lebanese protesters are still calling for the downfall of the political elite, although a year of rallies has so far failed to spark a full-blown revolution. The country is still reeling from the deadly Beirut blast. Anti-government protesters rallied across Lebanon on Saturday, marking a year since hundreds of thousands of people first came out on streets to protest taxes, corruption and poverty. "We will continue no matter what," read one placard at the protests in Beirut, as thousands of people chanted "Revolution, revolution." The protests first broke out after people people disappointment with the government boiled over last October. With minor changes, the ruling elite has been in power since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. While the rapidly deteriorating economic crisis and a collapse of the currency were the main driving force for the protests that rocked the country, the situation has only gotten worse since then.

The country faces an uncertain future with no stable government in place, which has further amplified the damage caused by the coronavirus and the massive August 4 explosion at the capital city’s port. The blast has killed over 190 people and injured 6,00 more. While marches seem to have taken a backseat in the current political and economic climate, protesters maintain that the movement will continue. They demand the resignation of President Michel Aoun. "The revolution did not die," said activist Rabih al-Zein, as protesters took to the streets of Beirut, Tripoli, and other cities. "We can hold this corrupt authority accountable and the proof is we brought down two governments." In Beirut, protesters marched near the central bank and parliament, before continuing down to the site of the devastating August blast. A candlelight vigil marked the exact time when ammonium nitrate exploded at the port.

by alkhaleejtoday.co -- Beirut – The US embassy in Lebanon had to issue a notice to explain what was said by US Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker during his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, where it said that Schenker urged President Aoun to use the sword of transparency “figuratively”, and he did not mean any courtesy. In a statement, the US embassy spokesman in Beirut Casey Bonfield said that Schenker referred to the sword hanging in President Aoun’s office, which was written on it: Transparency is the sword that eliminates corruption. Commenting on the phrase, Schenker urged President Aoun to use the sword of transparency (a metaphorical use) to change the governance approach. The Baabda Palace statement indicated that Schenker “praised the positive role that President Aoun plays in leading the fight against corruption and changing the approach that prevailed in the past, considering that reforms in Lebanon are essential, especially since there is no difference between politics and economics.”

Lebanese political circles saw in the words of the US embassy spokesman a clear denial of the statement issued by the Republican Palace, denying the existence of any intention by Schenker to polish the image of Michel Aoun and to show it in the guise of those working to combat corruption. David Schenker’s words to President Michel Aoun were not intended as courtesy Schenker arrived in Beirut last Wednesday to participate in the opening of the Lebanese-Israeli negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime borders. It was expected that the American official would leave Beirut for Rabat immediately after the opening session of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, but he decided to stay in Lebanon for other days to hold talks with politicians and activists in the political field, who listened to their views and views.

By Michael Jansen -- irishtimes.com -- Beirut seemed calm, quiet and normal a year ago today when President Michael D Higgins, on an official visit to Lebanon, lunched with his counterpart and took tea with the parliamentary speaker. In the evening, as we tailed his motorcade to our hotel from the Serail, the handsome Ottoman barracks where premier Saad Hariri hosted a banquet, 150 protesters took to the streets nearby. They demanded electricity, water, jobs, reforms and an end to the sectarian system of governance imposed by colonial ruler France before independence in 1943. Lebanon has not seen a normal day since. The trigger for the protest was a tax on WhatsApp calls, one in a series of demands imposed on the public to fill depleted state coffers with hard currency – and thus enable purveyors of food, medicine and fuel to supply essentials for a country which imports 80 per cent of its needs.

The uprising was dubbed a “revolution” by hundreds of thousands of Lebanese of all backgrounds and faiths who filled the capital’s central squares, turned out in towns and cities across the country, and erected barricades on highways. Happy revolutionaries brought children to the demonstrations, brandished flags and posters and handed out bottles of water and sweets. Lebanese were as optimistic as the cheerful Egyptians who massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the 2011 rising.