Syrian, Lebanese troops join Hezbollah in major ground offensive

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by Associated Press - The Syrian army and members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group launched a major ground offensive on Friday aimed at ending the years-long presence of hundreds of militants in a border area between the two countries. The offensive was widely expected after negotiations with militants to leave the area failed over the past days. The battle will be fought by Syrian troops and Hezbollah gunmen on the Syrian side of the border while the Lebanese army will likely fight against the militants on the Lebanese side.

On Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the country's military is preparing a military operation to secure a lawless section of the border with Syria while Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah hinted in a speech last week that a joint operation was in the works with the Lebanese and Syrian militaries to expel insurgents from the border area. Government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media reported that military operations began early Friday from two fronts on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Arsal and the Syrian village of Fleeta. It said Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters captured some areas from the militants and killed and wounded a number of extremists. The rugged mountainous region is a stronghold of Syria's al-Qaida's branch, known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham or Fatah al-Sham Front, as well as the Islamic State group and the Levant People's Brigades. Friday's fighting concentrated in areas controlled by JFS. Video released by SCMM shows Hezbollah's artillery pounding militant positions while drone footage showed smoke billowing from areas controlled by the militants. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army shelled an area on the border to prevent a group of militants from entering the Arsal area. There will be concerns about civilian casualties if the militants infiltrate Arsal, which is home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who fled civil war in their country. The militant-held areas are surrounded from all sides leaving them with no place to withdraw to. Hezbollah says the border area has been used in the past to launch attacks deep inside Lebanon, including a wave of bombings since 2013 that have killed scores of people. In 2014, militants briefly stormed Arsal and captured more than two dozen Lebanese soldiers and policemen. Al-Qaida exchanged the troops it was holding while nine soldiers taken by IS fighters are still missing. (AP)

Lebanon Looks to Investment Partnerships with KSA in Petrochemicals, Industry, Leisure

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by english.aawsat.com - Fatah Al-Rahman Youssef

Riyadh- The Lebanese Labor and Investment Council in Saudi Arabia  =said it was looking forward to increasing investment partnerships between Riyadh and Beirut in the sectors of health, services, petrochemicals, industry, leisure and tourism. It added that the resumption of “Flynass” flights to Beirut would enable the business sector in both countries to implement qualitative partnerships and encourage tourism in Lebanon. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Rabih al-Amin, the council’s secretary said: “We need a Lebanese economic vision that simulates Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia’s visionary programs, and that benefits from the stability of the Kingdom, under the aspirations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is one of the pillars of stability and prosperity in the Kingdom and the Arab region.” Al-Amin noted that major opportunities await the Lebanese investors, especially with the adoption of Saudi Vision 2030. In this regard, he stated that promising opportunities included investments in the sectors of health, services, petrochemicals, industry, leisure and tourism. However, the official warned of geopolitical circumstances, which might have an impact on the regional situation and would negatively affect progress on the Lebanese arena. He noted that since the last visit of the Lebanese President Michel Aoun to Saudi Arabia, “some Lebanese officials did not invest in this visit and its outcome in a way that serves the interest of Lebanon”. He also praised efforts deployed by the Saudi Chargé d’Affaires in Beirut, Walid Boukhari, who he said was able to build a distinguished presence through activities and initiatives of the embassy in Beirut, including the establishment of the Saudi Lebanese Business Center.

Lebanese held in Iran hospitalized after hunger strike

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Our prayers with Nizar Zakkar

BEIRUT (AP) " The family of a Lebanese man with U.S. permanent residency who has been held in Iran for nearly two years says his condition is deteriorating three weeks after starting a hunger strike. The brother of Nizar Zakka, who went missing on Sept. 18, 2015, during his fifth trip to Iran, says the 50-year-old was rushed to hospital on Sunday, where he refused an IV. Ziad Zakka said Tuesday his imprisoned brother is prepared to die if he is not released. Nizar, who used to live in Washington, leads the Arab ICT Organization, or IJMA3, an industry consortium from 13 countries that advocates for information technology in the region. Last September he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and given a $4.2 million fine in connection with spying allegations.

Lebanese army ‘taking all measures’ against terror threat at Syrian border

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by NAJIA AL-HOUSSARI | Special to Arab News  BEIRUT: The Lebanese army is taking “all necessary measures” to protect towns near the border with Syria from terrorists operating in the area, the commander of the country’s armed forces has said. Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun on Wednesday inspected the military forces in the areas around Jaroud Arsal.  The barren area in the mountains between Syria and Lebanon has been a base of operations for insurgents fighting in the Syrian civil war, including members of Daesh and the group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front. Aoun stressed the need to take “all necessary measures to protect border towns and villages and ensure the safety of their residents against any terrorist violations.”  He confirmed the army’s ability and determination to deter terrorist organizations, stressing that the army “was able to protect Lebanon in its most difficult situations, and would continue doing so regardless of the price… We don’t listen to all critical voices that want to jeopardize our ability to do our sacred role.”

The local mayor released a statement calling upon “Syrians in camps around the area… to stick to their tents and houses in cases of emergency, and not appear armed in any case. Otherwise, they will be held accountable.” Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said on Tuesday that the army would carry out an operation in the border area. Speaking in the Parliament, Al-Hariri described the operation planned for Jaroud Arsal as carefully studied, the National News Agency reported. The government had given the army the “freedom” to act, he added. Syrian regime warplanes have been intensifying strikes in the area, local residents said. Abu Omar, one of the residents, said: “This is the first time the hits take place in the morning and evening, indicating that the battle Hezbollah wants to wage against the Syrian militants in Arsal ... is approaching.”

Lebanon enacts laws to raise taxes for funding wage scale

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BEIRUT, July 19 (Xinhua) -- After passing the public sector's salary scale bill on Tuesday, the Lebanese parliament approved on Wednesday a series of laws that raise taxes to secure revenues for funding the wage scale. The house, in the second legislative session, approved a 7 percent tax rate on bank's profits, along with an imposed fine on maritime public property. The parliament also approved charging a fee of 5,000 Lebanon Pound (3.3 U.S. dollars) for non-Lebanese citizens upon their entry into the country, cancelled fees on economy travel tickets and kept the current fee at a price of 60,000 Lebanon Pound (40 U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, activists from the civil society, Kataeb party and former members of Armed Forces rallied near the parliament protesting against the tax hike.

Addiction and intrigue: Inside the Saudi palace coup

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This article does not represent the opinion of khazen.org -

(Reuters) - On Tuesday June 21 Mohammed bin Nayef, a powerful figure in Saudi Arabia's security apparatus for the past two decades and the next in line to the throne, was summoned to meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz on the fourth floor of the royal palace in Mecca. There, according to a source close to MbN, as he is known, the king ordered him to step aside in favor of the king's favorite son, Mohammed bin Salman. The reason: an addiction to painkilling drugs was clouding MbN's judgment. "The king came to meet MbN and they were alone in the room. He told him: 'I want you to step down, you didn't listen to the advice to get treatment for your addiction which dangerously affects your decisions'," said the source close to MbN.

The new details about the extraordinary meeting between the king and MbN that touched off the de facto palace coup help to explain the events that are reshaping the leadership of the world's biggest oil exporting nation. Reuters could not independently confirm MbN's addiction issues. Palace officials declined to respond to detailed questions about the circumstances surrounding MbN's overthrow. Sources with knowledge of the situation said however that the king was determined to elevate his son to be heir to the throne and used MbN's drug problem as a pretext to push him aside. Three royal insiders, four Arab officials with links to the ruling house of Saud, and diplomats in the region, told Reuters that MbN was surprised to be ordered to step aside. "It was a big shock to MbN," said a Saudi political source close to MbN. "It was a coup. He wasn't prepared." The sources said MbN did not expect to be usurped by the often impulsive Mohammed bin Salman, who MbN considered to have made a number of policy blunders, such as his handling of the Yemen conflict and cutting financial benefits to civil servants.

The high-stakes power grab has placed sweeping powers in the hands of the 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS, and appears designed to speed his accession to the throne. Should he get the job, the young prince will preside over a kingdom facing tough times from depressed oil prices, the conflict in Yemen, rivalry with an emboldened Iran and a major diplomatic crisis in the Gulf. The source close to MbN acknowledged that he had health issues, which were aggravated after an al Qaeda attacker tried to blow himself up in front of him in his palace in 2009. The health issues were corroborated by three other sources in Saudi Arabia and Arab official sources with links to the royal family. An Arab source with close Saudi links also provided a similar account of the meeting at which King Salman asked MbN to step down because of his alleged drug addiction. These sources said MbN had shrapnel in his body that could not be removed and he depended on drugs such as morphine to alleviate the pain. One source said MbN had been treated in clinics in Switzerland on three occasions in recent years. Reuters was unable to confirm this independently.

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