The Daily Star — BEIRUT: Future Movement MP Hadi Hobeish filed a lawsuit against Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Ghada Aoun Thursday as the latter …

by Tom Rogan — washingtonexaminer.com — With telling embarrassment, Iran is rowing back comments made by an adviser to the commander of the Islamic …

by By CLAIRE PARKER - AP --PARIS (AP) — Lebanon cannot expect to receive international aid for its battered economy until a new government undertakes serious reforms, diplomats decided at a closed-door meeting in Paris on Wednesday. The international group, led by France and the United Nations, met to discuss conditions for helping ease turmoil in Lebanon, which is facing its worst financial crisis in decades and political uncertainty amid an ongoing protest movement. Lebanese businesses and households are growing increasingly desperate as cash supplies there have dwindled. Representatives from several countries, including the United States, and international financial institutions agreed on a set of principles Lebanon must meet before it can expect to receive foreign cash.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said attendees agreed to give technical advice to Lebanese institutions but they won't provide the bailout that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri requested. Hariri had called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports. “There’s no aid package; there is no bailout,” Schenker told The Associated Press. “Lebanon is not being saved from its financial mess." Schenker said the group is considering sending some humanitarian aid to Lebanon to alleviate residents’ suffering, though it was unclear when or how much. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in closing remarks that the group supports protesters who have taken to the streets since Oct. 17 to call for an end to corruption and the overhaul of the Lebanese political system. “The Lebanese have mobilized for many weeks to demand reforms. They must be heard,” he said. Le Drian called the “institutional void” that has existed since Hariri resigned as prime minister on Oct. 29 “worrying.”

by aawsat.com --Asharq Al-Awsat received the draft statement that will be issued by the meeting of the International Group in Support of Lebanon, which will be held in Paris later on Wednesday. According to the statement, representatives from China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the Arab League and the World Bank participated in the meeting, in addition to a Lebanese delegation. Members of the international community recognize that Lebanon is facing a crisis that puts it on the brink of an economic collapse and greater destabilization, the statement read.

by naharnet.com --Speaking after the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said any international financial support for Lebanon hinges on the formation of what he called a “reformist government.” “The only standard should be this government’s effectiveness in terms of the reforms awaited by the people. Only this approach will allow all the participants in this meeting and others to mobilize in order to offer Lebanon all the support it needs,” Le Drian said. The secretary general of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry Hani Chemaitelly, who represented Lebanon at the meeting along with other mid-level officials, meanwhile told LBCI television that the atmosphere at the meeting was positive and that the ISG “sent a clear message on being committed to helping and embracing Lebanon.” The TV network for its part reported that Chemaitelly held bilateral talks in Paris with Le Drian, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, director of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry, Christophe Farnaud, and his counterpart at the French foreign ministry. The ISG was created in 2013 by then U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help Lebanon deal with the fallout of the war in neighboring Syria. It gathers agencies of the U.N., the European Union, Arab League, United States, China, France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Britain.

by diplomatie.gouv.fr --1. A meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG), jointly chaired by France and the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, was held in Paris on December 11th. China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the League of Arab States, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation took part in the meeting. Representatives of the Lebanese authorities also attended the discussions.

2. Lebanon has been left without a government for more than six weeks since Saad Hariri resigned on October 29th. The Group considers that preserving Lebanon’s stability, unity, security, sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity requires the urgent formation of an effective and credible government capable to meet the aspirations expressed by all the Lebanese that will have the capacity and credibility to deliver the necessary substantive policy package of economic reforms, and that will be committed to dissociate the country from regional tensions and crisis. It is urgent for the new government to be in place as quickly as possible.