Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate has offered to release three Lebanese soldiers in exchange for an ex-wife of the leader of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and four other female prisoners.Al-Nusra Front, which along with ISIS has held 25 Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage for almost a year, issued the offer in a statement aired on Lebanon’s MTV television on Saturday night.“If five of our sisters leave prison… we will hand over three soldiers in exchange,” said Abu Malek al-Shami, Al-Nusra’s “emir” in the Syrian region of Qalamun bordering Lebanon.

By ANNE BARNARD BEIRUT, Lebanon — Five Czechs and their Lebanese taxi driver disappeared in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Saturday in an episode that the authorities said they were investigating as a possible kidnapping. The Czechs’ car was found in Kefraya, a relatively secure area that is popular with foreign tourists and Lebanese alike for […]

By Ruth Sherlock

by Ed West,
Ed West is the deputy editor of the Catholic Herald

Syria may be the most dangerous place in the world to be a priest today. But even that war-battered nation occasionally produces good news.

On Monday media reported that Fr Dhiya Azziz, an Iraqi cleric seized by jihadists earlier this month, had been released unharmed.The Franciscan order, to which Fr Azziz belonged, thanked those who had prayed for the priest’s liberation but urged well-wishers not to forget other clerics missing in Syria.

Fr Azziz’s release brings the number of captive clergy in Syria to six. But there is an ever-present danger that that number will increase. The going rate for a kidnapped cleric is said to be $200,000. After four years of the war, the Syrian flock has been scattered far and wide.

By Alexandra Talty

Recently called “the Silicon Valley of the Middle East” by CNN, and “the Middle East’s Tech Hub” by TechCrunch, Beirut’s tech scene is the darling of international media of late. (Though Techonomy first wrote about it over two years ago.) The tech scene here has turned a corner, going from fledgling to now officially on the map. Among the reasons: the launch of various funds that will bring over $100 million in investments to Lebanon’s startup economy over the next five years, and the ongoing efforts of Lebanon’s Central Bank to decrease the risk of investing in startups.

But now three new companies that specifically aim to foster tech startups are setting up. Two of them are accelerators, and one will invest and nurture slightly more mature companies. In a city of 2.2 million, some are wondering, is this a bubble? And if so, when will it burst?

Al Jazeera,

The deadly stabbing of a man in broad daylight in one of Beirut’s busiest streets and in front of dozens of bystanders has shaken Lebanese society and raised questions about the perceived culture of impunity in the country.

Scores of people took to the streets on Friday evening to protest against the killing of George al-Reef two days earlier by an enraged man following a feud over a car collision.

About 200 people marched in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh Street, a commercial area packed with restaurants and pubs, where Wednesday’s incident – filmed by a number of bystanders – took place.

http://www.lebaneseexaminer.com/

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Beirut-based real estate advisory firm RAMCO revealed the average sales prices of apartments under construction in Beirut vary between USD 2,088 and USD 7,000 per square meter.

The BCD, the seafront stretch, and some neighborhoods in Ashrafieh are still the most expensive in Beirut. The central residential neighborhoods – from Bachoura to the North down towards Hamad and Rweiss in the South – are the least expensive in the capital.

The RAMCO research department produced a map of average asking prices of apartments in 346 buildings among 71 Beirut neighborhoods.

Shibley Telhami, The Brookings Institution

The immediate reaction of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the announced Iran nuclear deal was to continue his total rejection of the agreement, calling it a historic mistake.

This, despite the near consensus that, at this point, Congress is unlikely to be able to stop its implementation.

Given that the agreement was long in the making and expected, it’s hard to believe that Netanyahu’s reaction was not well rehearsed. Yet, it’s hard to understand what this posture can gain him strategically. What are Bibi’s options?

First, he could try to quickly shift gears to other aspects of Iranian behavior beyond the nuclear issue.

The problem is that the most troubling aspects for Israel (and ones that could draw American and international attention) have to do with Iranian support for Hamas and Hezbollah, which are not currently hot issues; Hezbollah is deeply entangled in Syria and on guard in Lebanon, and Hamas is still licking its wounds from last year’s brutal war.