reuters

BEIRUT – The leader of al Qaeda’s Syrian wing tried unsuccessfully at a recent meeting to convince rival Islamist factions to merge into one unit, several insurgency sources have told Reuters.

Abu Mohamad al-Golani, head of the Nusra Front, even suggested he was willing to change the name of his group if the others, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham organization, agreed to the deal, the sources said.

But he made clear that Nusra would not cut its ties with al Qaeda, and its allegiance would remain to Ayman al-Zawahri, who took over as leader after U.S. Navy SEALS killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.Much was riding on the outcome of the meeting, which the sources said took place about 10 days ago.

catholicHerald.co.uk

On Tuesday morning, a motorcade of limousines crossed St Peter’s Square. Sitting inside one of them was President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, on his way to a strictly private meeting with Pope Francis. We don’t know precisely what was said, but the Vatican announced that the two men had discussed “common spiritual values”, the recent nuclear deal and “the spread of terrorism”.

It was the first time a pope had sat down with an Iranian head of government since 1999. That is hardly surprising, given some of the activities of the Islamic Republic in the intervening years.

But did you know that Iran has more diplomats accredited to the Holy See than any other nation except the Dominican Republic? That certainly is surprising, and it raises an obvious question: why?

Beirut (AFP) – The head of Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah on Friday said he backs Christian ally Michel Aoun for president, a key post that has been vacant for 18 months.

"We remain committed to General Aoun as long as he remains the candidate," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address. "This commitment is based on mutual trust."

Nasrallah added however that Hezbollah would not force other political allies to back Aoun, 82.

"We don’t impose our decision on anyone," Nasrallah said.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when the mandate of Michel Sleiman expired.

By Nadim Ladki

The U.S. presidential election has long ceased to be just a local American story, and with the campaigns approaching the final stretch as the primaries begin, international interest in the race to the White House is set to intensify.

It’s testimony to the fact that the United States remains the true global power that people and the media in most countries will follow the race closer than they follow even some local stories. This is particularly so in the war-ravaged Middle East.

While the social and economic agendas of candidates inevitably top the focus of the American public and media, the main interest in the Middle East is the foreign policy of the pretenders to the position of most powerful person in the world.

by AFP

 A vulture captured in Lebanon has been returned home with the help of the United Nations, Israeli authorities said Friday.

“In a discreet operation with the Lebanese and with the great help of UN forces and the UN liaison unit, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority was able to return the vulture that was caught a few days ago by villagers of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon,” the authority said in a statement.

The UN acted as a go-between in negotiations between the Lebanese and the Gamla Nature Reserve where the bird lived before it flew across the border, it added.

“The attempts were successful and yesterday evening at a meeting at the border at Rosh Hanikra the vulture was returned in reasonable health by UN officers,” the statement said, referring to an area in the north of the country.

Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Lebanese leaders held their 14th national dialogue session on Wednesday and agreed on a tentative accord to appoint three officers to the sensitive Military Council although last minute roadblocks were not ruled out.

The gathering, which highlighted a looming danger to the Prime Minister because participants accepted that executive branch decisions would now be handled under the leadership of Speaker Nabih Berri, allowed for a semblance of tolerance ahead of a scheduled Cabinet session on Thursday.

It was unclear whether the full session would occur, as rival leaders apparently consented to the Minister of Defense’s recommendation that he name three individuals for each of the three vacant posts, reserved for a Shiite, a Greek Orthodox and a Catholic even if the exercise resembled theatre 101.

By independent.co.uk

A vulture from an Israeli nature reserve has been captured in southern Lebanon by locals who claimed it was spying.

The bird was spotted in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, several miles from a nature reserve in Israel’s Golan Heights.

People who captured the bird, numbered P98, said they noticed a transmitter device, wing tags and a metal rings with Israeli markings attached to its body.

#Lebanon Israeli "Spy vulture" captured near Bin Jbeil. 100$ this is just normal tracking device. pic.twitter.com/IRlLOcOsH9

BeiRUT—

Some Lebanese see Michel Samaha as the ultimate traitor, but with the trial of the ex-minister who confessed to planning terrorist attacks on home soil imminent, the country’s judicial system has also found itself in the dock.
Earlier this month, Beirut’s plush Achrafieh district echoed with calls for justice as demonstrators made themselves heard outside the home of Samaha in the first of a series of protests across the country.  
A former information minister, Samaha was arrested in 2012 after being caught colluding, allegedly with a Syrian intelligence chief, to smuggle explosives into Lebanon with the aim of targeting political and religious figures.  The controversy generated by what some perceived as a short sentence, four-and-a-half years, led to a planned retrial.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea endorsed the candidacy of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun for the presidency of Lebanon. This move came as a surprise to most observers for two reasons:

1. Samir Geagea was a candidate for the presidency himself
2. Samir Geagea and Michel Aoun were on opposing sides during the Lebanese Civil War

News website Now Lebanon wrote that “the move comes after Future Movement leader Saad Hariri [son of a former prime minister] moved to support Marada chief Suleiman Franjieh [grandson of a previous president]”, portraying Geagea’s decision as an almost expected reaction to Hariri’s and describing it as a “political bombshell”.