BEIRUT: The Lebanese government must create a level playing field for all startups in order to be able to create more job opportunities and cut down the unemployment rate, a senior economist said Tuesday. “Some of the policies that are in place in Lebanon are undermining healthy competition by benefitting only a few firms […]

  U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly welcomed on Thursday the recent efforts to push for dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement. Plumbly said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh that he agreed with him that “dialogue is necessary for strengthening Lebanon’s security, stability and coexistence and for moving forward on […]

  BEIRUT: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov arrived in Beirut on a two-day official visit for talks with Lebanese officials that would focus on local and regional security. Bogdanov made no statements upon arrival at Beirut airport shortly before midnight. (Link)

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s interior minister said on Wednesday that a women detained by security forces was the wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for three months, the first Lebanese government official to speak publicly on the arrest.

Security officials in Lebanon, speaking on condition of anonymity, had said on Tuesday that the Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria late last month.

Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk told Lebanon’s MTV channel on Wednesday that the woman was no longer Baghdadi’s wife:

"Saja al-Dulaimi married three times and Baghdadi was her second husband for three months six years ago."

  BEIRUT: The Council of Maronite Bishops deplored the latest killing of Lebanese troops by jihadis in east Lebanon Wednesday, calling on rival political groups to rally around the Army and security forces who are fighting terrorism on behalf of the Lebanese people. A statement issued at the end of the monthly meeting, chaired by […]

  Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Wednesday on the last leg of his tour to West Africa that the Lebanese officials should end their disputes and resolve the problems of Lebanese expatriates. “We should work hand in hand and put our political and sectarian differences aside, in particular when we talk about the issue […]

  BEIRUT: From Mexican actress Salma Hayek, to Lebanese-Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, to Anglo-Lebanese vocalist MIKA, a slew of artists have achieved international fame overseas. The latest is 28-year-old Lebanese-American screenwriter and actor James Jurdi. Having written and acted in several short films, Jurdi broke through Hollywood’s celluloid ceiling this year with two feature-length movies packaged […]

By Laila Bassam and Sylvia Westall

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine days ago, security officials said on Tuesday, in a move seen as likely to put pressure on the Islamist chief.

The woman was identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a Lebanese security official and a senior political source.

The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with "foreign intelligence".

A Lebanese security source said the arrest was “a powerful card to apply pressure” in negotiations to secure the release of 27 members of the Lebanese security forces captured by Islamic militants – a view shared by other Lebanese officials who confirmed the arrest.

However, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed any suggestion that Washington might also try to use similar tactics to free prisoners. "We do not engage in that type of negotiation. Period," he told a news conference in Brussels.

Conflicting Report from Iraq:

By Avaneesh Pandey

Who Is Saja Abdul al-Dulaimi? Confusion Prevails Over Identity Of Woman Detained By Lebanese Military

In a statement released by the Iraqi interior ministry, a government spokesperson said that the woman who was reportedly detained by Lebanese security forces about 10 days ago, is the sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi — an Iraqi national who has been sentenced to death on a number of terror related charges.

“The wives of the terrorist al-Baghdadi are Asmaa Fawzi Mohammed al-Dulaimi and Esraa Rajab Mahel al-Qaisi,” the Iraqi government spokesperson said, in the statement. “There is no wife named of Saja al-Dulaimi.”

The statement contradicted earlier media reports, which suggested that the woman was possibly one of al-Baghdadi’s wives or one of his ex-wives.

Meanwhile, CNN contested the Iraqi government’s statement on Wednesday, citing “regional sources” to report that the woman is in fact one of his two wives. The report also claimed that al-Dulaimi is a “powerful figure” within the Islamic State group and is “very active” within the organization. Some other reports claim al-Baghdadi has three wives.

The mother of Mohammed Suleiman, one of at least six Lebanese soldiers who was killed during an ambush by gunmen in Ras Baalbek, carries her son’s military clothes during his funeral in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli December 3, 2014.

Lebanese military soldiers man a checkpoint, near the site of an ambush where gunmen killed at least six Lebanese soldiers, in the mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek December 3, 2014

Friends and family members carry the coffin of Mohammed Suleiman, one of at least six Lebanese soldiers who was killed during an ambush by gunmen in Ras Baalbek, during his funeral in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli December 3, 2014

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Gunmen killed at least six Lebanese soldiers when they attacked an army patrol near the border with Syria on Tuesday, the army and a Lebanese security source said.

The source said the gunmen crossed from Syria to the mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek after dark and ambushed the patrol. Clashes between gunmen and a special army unit erupted after the attack and the army was able to retrieve the bodies of six of its soldiers.

"Six bodies just arrived at the local hospital of the town of Ras Baalbek," he told Reuters.

The army said in a statement that a "terrorist" group had attacked a patrol on a surveillance mission and killed six of the soldiers. The army had sent immediate reinforcement to the area and "took appropriate field procedures".

  The funeral service for poet and writer Said Akl was held on Tuesday at Saint George Cathedral in downtown Beirut. He passed away on Friday at the age of 102. Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi led the prayers. “Akl loved Lebanon and raised its name high,” al-Rahi said, adding that the poet “considered Lebanon an […]