BEIRUT: The number of Syrian refugees in the country now exceeds 625,000, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees reported in its weekly update Friday.   However, for the second week running the report noted a slight decrease in the number of new arrivals in the Bekaa Valley as compared with the period during […]

  Last week, the Central News Agency reported that fundamentalist groups were likely responsible for the bombing of Bir al-Abed in Beirut’s Dahiyeh. This week, another attack targeted Hezbollah in the Beqaa, causing many experts to wonder if Lebanon is becoming a breeding ground for Salafists.   “The Dahiyeh suburbs and Hezbollah do not seem […]

  BEIRUT — A country with 18 religious sects and a history of sectarian conflict, Lebanon often seems on the brink of violence. Since the uprising in Syria began more than two years ago, that tension has escalated, especially between Sunni and Shia.   Lebanese playwright and director Yehia Jaber is trying to defuse the […]

  BEIRUT: A senior U.S. diplomat has renewed his government’s offer to help mediate a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over an 850 kilometer offshore border area, Grand Serail sources said.   President Michel Sleiman and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos J Hochstein Wednesday. “Hochstein conveyed his country’s […]

  An-Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday that a man was admitted into a Aley hospital after being beaten and castrated for having married a woman without her parents’ consent. The man, identified as Rabih A.A. from Akkar’s Harar, was rushed into Qabr Shamoun’s Western Shahar Hospital after the attackers severely beat him and cut off his […]

  British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher announced on Tuesday that his country will provide Lebanon with a financial assistance to fortify its army’s capabilities and to help it confront the Syrian refugees crisis. Fletcher said after a meeting with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace that his country will supply Lebanon with $20 million […]

  BEIRUT: The Beirut Municipal Council has approved the naming of several streets in the city of Beirut after notable Lebanese figures. Street number 77 in the greater Beirut area of Sioufi will be renamed after the poet and writer Said Akl, the council said in a statement issued Friday.   The council also approved naming […]