by Lisa Barrington – BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon said on Friday it had signed its first offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreements for two blocks, including a block disputed by neighboring Israel. Lebanon’s energy minister said the dispute with Israel would not stop Lebanon benefiting from potential undersea reserves in the contentious Block […]

PARIS (AFP) – When Lebanese chef Alan Geaam first arrived in Paris two decades ago he found himself sleeping on the streets, lost and penniless with hardly a word of French. This week Geaam, who began his career as a dishwasher while he was sleeping rough in a Paris park, received his first Michelin star […]

MiddleEastMonitor.com A Russian media sources revealed that on Tuesday Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, instructed the Russian Defence Ministry to begin talks with its Lebanese counterpart to sign a military cooperation agreement between Russia and Lebanon. The draft agreement to be signed between the parties included the opening of Lebanese ports in front of Russian […]

by Naharnet — David Satterfield, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state, on Thursday toured the Blue Line – the U.N.-demarcated border line between Lebanon and Israel – amid high tensions in the area. Accompanied by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, Satterfield arrived earlier at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force […]

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Lebanese judge has ordered the trial of a man suspected of the December murder of Rebecca Dykes, a British woman who worked at the British embassy in Beirut, court documents showed on Thursday. Hanna Braidi, investigative judge for the Mount Lebanon district where the crime occurred, released a charge sheet for […]

BEIRUT — by VOA – Reporting by Heba Kanso – In a country where women occupy only three percent of the parliament seats, Lebanon’s first women’s affairs minister — a man — is supporting a campaign to attract more women politicians. The government’s decision to appoint him as women’s minister in 2016 attracted some criticism. […]

Hong Kong, China, (CNA).- A possible Vatican agreement with the Chinese government has prompted feelings of unease and fears of betrayal, Cardinal Joseph Zen has warned in a strong statement continuing his criticism of negotiations. “In recent days, the brothers and sisters living on the Chinese mainland have learned that the Vatican is ready to […]

Al Arabiya English — The Lebanese citizens will be the first Arabs to be able to travel to Alexandria without a visa through a new charter airline recently inaugurated by Egypt’s second largest city. The newly inaugurated charter airline will now connect Alexandria to Beirut, and its further lights paths are said to extend to […]

BEIRUT, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) — Differences among Lebanese leadership have been resolved and the government is planning to take actions to counter any threats from Israel, said a statement released by the presidential office Tuesday. Calling the meeting as “positive,” Hariri also hailed the outcome of the meeting and said that the country’s leadership will […]

Article represents opinion of the author   by Elliott Abrams CFR– In May, 2017 Major General Qassem Soleimani, chief of the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations branch known as the Qods Force, visited the Iraq/Syria border in the company of an Iran-backed Shia militia. A spokesman for the militia, called the Popular Mobilization Forces, was quoted in […]