By

Nicholas Blanford,

Beirut, Lebanon — The death last month of a top Hezbollah
commander in Syria prompted proud eulogies from the party’s leadership,
satisfaction from his enemies – and, in a quiet suburb of The Hague, a
legal quandary. For Mustafa Badreddine was not only a veteran
Hezbollah commander who oversaw the party’s military intervention in
Syria. He is also being tried in absentia by an international tribunal
for helping to organize the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former
billionaire prime minister who was killed, along with 22 other people,
in a massive truck bombing in central Beirut.

Although Badreddine
was given a full public funeral and his body lies buried in Hezbollah’s
“martyrs” cemetery in southern Beirut, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
(STL) has concluded that his trial would continue. The Judges do not believe that sufficient evidence has yet been
presented to convince them that the death of Mr. Badreddine has been
proved,” the STL said in a statement last week.

The STL’s decision has hardened the perception among many in Lebanon
that the tribunal, which is tasked with uncovering and prosecuting Mr.
Hariri’s killers, has failed in its core mission. After 11 years and
hundreds of millions of dollars, those that ordered Hariri’s murder and
the motive behind the assassination are still unknown and the subject of
intense and conflicting speculation. The only men currently on trial
are Badreddine and four other Hezbollah men, who are alleged to have
been foot soldiers rather than architects of the assassination plot.

“[The
STL] has been beneath all expectations … it’s a case of justice
delayed, justice denied … and this idiotic rejection of the death of
Badreddine is another expression of their surreal impotence,” says
Chibli Mallat, presidential professor at the University of Utah and
author of “Philosophy of Nonviolence: Revolution, Constitutionalism, and
Justice beyond the Middle East.”

AP, Daily Star Lebanon’s Agricultural Ministry is banning the import of Syrian produce in an effort to protect Lebanese farm revenues.

Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb says he is trying to protect
“production and farmers” in the country. He says authorities will crack
down on cross-border smuggling. Lebanon’s agricultural sector has suffered under the strain of the war in neighboring Syria,
now in its sixth year. The Jordanian-Syrian border has been closed
since 2015, freezing overland exports from Lebanon to the rich Gulf
market, and causing a glut of agricultural produce in Lebanon.

Vegetables and fruits have overwhelmed the local markets, having a
huge negative effect on the farms, which can no longer handle the
situation,” he said, adding that there has been an “unprecedented” flow
of Syrian produce over the past few days.

By Samar Marwan – Struggling to find the words to inspire the graduating class of 2016 at American University of Beirut, critically acclaimed Lebanese filmmaker and actress Nadine Labaki. The 2015 Cannes Film Festival judge told the story of how she found her happiness after graduation, after losing her enthusiasm she found her happiness again when she […]

by Joseph A. Kechichian

Beirut: The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily Al Akhbar reported in its
Wednesday edition that several Lebanese banks started implementing the
Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, which the Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury
introduced in December 2015, as a condition to doing business with the
Lebanon.

Al Akhbar claimed that
unnamed sources confirmed that the banking accounts of Hezbollah
institutions, including the “Imdad Committee for Islamic Charity,” the
“Martyrs’ Foundation” and the “St. George Hospital,” were suspended
along with “hundreds or maybe thousands of other accounts.”

These same sources
anticipated additional closures in the weeks ahead, although it was
unclear why organisations, schools, and hospitals were targeted for
retribution. The newspaper did not provide any details on links between
the groups that saw accounts closed or suspended, with Hezbollah,
although it identified the affected charities

American actress Milla Jovovich, Lebanese designer Elie Saab and
Tunisian actress Afef Jnifen pose as the arrive for the amfAR’s 23rd
Cinema Against AIDS Gala on May 19, 2016 at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in
Cap d’Antibes, France (Photo Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)

Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle

OK, so we all know Elie Saab
as the couturier of choice to Tinseltown’s stars ever since Halle Berry
walked the red carpet in one of his burgundy dresses at the 2002 Oscars
and won Best Actress. An overnight success after he became the first
Lebanese designer to dress an Academy Award winner, A-list celebrities,
including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Emmanuelle Béart, Beyoncé, Michelle
Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Aishwarya Rai, Marillon Cotillard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Diane Kruger, Dita Von Teese and Sophie Marceau, figure among his
clients clamoring to get their hands on his modern, elegant apparel
showcasing his great attention to detail, intricate finishes and
fastidiously-selected fabrics. He has today established himself as one
of the most respected names in the fashion industry globally, known for
dressing royalty like Queen Rania of Jordan and Middle Eastern
princesses, and is present regularly at large media events, displaying
his personal touch and developing close relationships over time.

By Joseph A. Kechichian, gulfnews

Beirut: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and Druze leader Waleed
Junblatt noted on Sunday that the presidential chances of the Marada
Movement’s pro-Syrian Sulaiman Franjieh have “started to collapse” and
he was now willing to endorse Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader
Michael Aoun for the post.Franjieh’s chances probably ended after the Minister of the Interior,
Nouhad Mashnouq, revealed that the UK, the US and Saudi Arabia played
key roles in his nomination.

“Franjieh went too far during his trip to Paris and his chances to
reach the presidency have started to collapse,” Junblatt said in an
interview with the LBCI television station, referring to Franjieh’s
Paris meeting with Future Movement leader Sa‘ad Hariri, though he added
that the real roadblock was in Damascus because “Syria cannot accept a
Lebanese president whose policies are not guaranteed”.

Junblatt was highly critical of Ashraf Rifi, who stunned all
establishment parties with an unprecedented victory in last month’s
municipal election in Tripoli, concluding that the Hariri machine’s
failure — even when backed by former Prime Minister Najeeb Mikati and
such figures as Mohammad Safadi and Faisal Karami — was “the beginning
of Sulaiman Franjieh’s fall in the presidential race”.

By philip issa, associated press

At the eastern edge of the rural Bekaa Valley, where the rocky hillsides
are stippled with cherry trees, a generations-old kinship with Brazil
has imbued two Lebanese villages with a Latino spirit. Lusi and Sultan Yaacoub are home to more than one thousand Brazilian
nationals, many of whom speak Portuguese as fluently as they do Arabic.

The villages are deeply influenced by Brazilian culture, but this is not
apparent at first glance. The Islamic call to prayer reverberates
through the zigzag alleys five times a day and the pale stone houses
resemble any others in the Bekaa Valley.

But residents mix Portuguese and Arabic in nearly every conversation and
the local cuisine is unmistakably Brazilian. Though there are no
official statistics, one municipal council representative said “99
percent” of the community are Brazilian nationals. Almost everyone said
they had lived in South America at some point.

Don’t believe everything you hear.

But,
compounding my lack of awareness, the U.S. Department of State had put
up a roadblock in the form of a Lebanon travel warning. And yet, it
has warnings out for Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, Turkey, Israel…
the list goes on. I’ve been to Mexico three times this year. Why should
Lebanon be any different? Furthermore, my sister said she was conscious
of where was safe to venture and where was not. Attacks such as the
one in November 2015 have specifically targeted Shiites in the Beirut
suburbs, not tourist areas in the city. I admit that knowledge made me
feel safer.

Paula Astih and Youssef Diab

Beirut-Future Movement is still confounded by the severe loss it
suffered in the municipal elections in Tripoli, the capital of the North
and Lebanon’s second largest city.

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, who fought the elections alone
against a coalition of political parties and Tripoli personalities,
achieved an unexpected victory last month. The shock that Future suffered from compelled its leaders to launch a
campaign of self-criticism to review the mistakes which it had
committed and which had led to a drop in popular support for the
movement – not just in northern Lebanon but also in the capital Beirut
where the results of the municipal polls were disappointing.

Unlike many other political parties, Future, which is led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, has admitted to making mistakes. Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, who is a party member, has
called on the movement to learn from those blunders ahead of next year’s
parliamentary elections. The changes in people’s temperament have not only affected the Future
Movement but also the rest of the political parties from the March 8
and 14 rival camps.

While Hariri hasn’t directly commented on the results of the
municipal elections, the ongoing activity at this residence in Beirut
suggests that he has launched a mission to rectify the miscalculations.