JACKSONVILLE – Every day on her way to work, Ruthann Bland drives alongside the column of pear trees, past the memorial and its solitary bronze Marine.Every day, she remembers her husband, the pictures on the television and the knock at the door.A 58-year-old Hubert resident, Bland lost her husband, Lance Cpl. Stephen Bland, on Oct. 23, 1983, a truck packed with explosives crashed through a barricade, past a sentry post and into the lobby of a Marine compound – 241 U.S. troops were killed, most of them Marines and sailors from 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. Stephen Bland was one of them."I was actually asleep, and I got a phone call," Ruthann Bland said. "It was my neighbor across the street asking me how my husband was. She said to go turn the TV on. That’s when I saw the building had been bombed."It was days before she was told her husband had died in the blast. "The whole time I’m thinking, I just got a letter from my husband," she said. "I’m really optimistic that it’s not him. I got the knock on the door, I was totally blown away."The bombing that killed Bland’s husband and his comrades remains the worst terrorist attack against Americans on foreign soil. Here in Jacksonville, it’s nearly impossible to forget about the Beirut tragedy. The pear trees lining N.C. 24 represent the lives lost, and a somber memorial sits close to the Camp Johnson gate.
By Barry Schweid, Associated Press | October 22, 2005 WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday said the UN should deal quickly and seriously with a report implicating Syria in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, a killing that led to protests and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after nearly 30 years as overlord.”The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said.In Damascus, Syrian leaders dismissed the findings and the government of President Bashar Assad prepared to fight growing Western sentiment to punish it with economic sanctions.Imad Moustapha, Syrian ambassador to the United States, said the report was baseless and the Bush administration was motivated by Syria’s opposition to the war in Iraq.He said of the report, in Washington, ”It will only help fuel anti-American sentiment around the world."The report was likely to worsen the divisions between Lebanon’s pro- and anti-Syrian groups. Syria’s opponents in Lebanon welcomed the findings as the long-awaited truth about the assassination and about Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. Pro-Syrian politicians vigorously criticized the findings.The United Nations investigative report, which Bush called ”deeply disturbing," made a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the car bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others in February.
UNITED NATIONS Oct 20, 2005
By CLAUDE SALHANI UPI International Editor WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) — Quite unlike the invasion of Iraq, the U.S. Marines in Lebanon came in peace — and at the request of the Lebanese government. This Sunday, Oct. 23, will mark the 22nd anniversary of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut where 241 U.S. servicemen, mostly Marines, lost their lives. At approximately 6:22 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23, 1983, a lone terrorist driving a yellow Mercedes-Benz stake-bed truck loaded with explosives accelerated through the public parking lot south of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit Battalion Landing Team headquarters building, detonating about 12,000 pounds of hexogen. According to the official Department of Defense commission report, the force of the explosion ripped the building from its foundation. The building then imploded upon itself and almost all of the occupants were crushed or trapped inside the wreckage.
"It was one of the largest noises I’ve ever heard in my entire career," said retired Marine Maj. Robert T. Jordan, the 24th MAU public affairs officer at the time of the bombing. Jordan was in his rack in an adjacent building when the explosion split the still morning air and showered him with glass and pulverized concrete. It was also the heaviest loss the Marine Corps suffered in any single day since the battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. A few moments later another suicide bomber rammed his truck into the "Drakkar," a building occupied by French paratroopers. Fifty-eight French soldiers perished in this attack. The Marines, the French, the Italian and the Brits had come in peace — to help secure peace in Lebanon.
THE United States and France plan to introduce two UN resolutions next week aimed at holding Syria to account for meddling in Lebanon and for its alleged links to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.The moves
By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT (Reuters) – The leaders of Syria and Lebanon could be fighting for political survival if, as many expect, a U.N. inquiry blames Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese officials for the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Analysts and diplomats say they expect a cycle of bombings and killings to continue or intensify in Lebanon, where Syrian influence remains strong and where pro-Syrians will challenge any such U.N. findings as politically motivated. Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis presents his report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday over the February 14 assassination of Hariri and 20 others in a truck bomb in Beirut.Diplomats and Lebanese political sources have told Reuters they expect Mehlis to name some Syrian officials in his report, as well as several pro-Syrian Lebanese officials and others.It was not clear whether the suspects would include members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The bankruptcy administrator of German construction company Walter Bau AG said Monday he has had a Lebanese passenger jet impounded as collateral for debts owed by the Lebanese government.Walter Bau had the Airbus A321, owned by Lebanon’s flagship carrier Middle East Airlines, impounded while it was parked at the airport in […]
BEIRUT, 13 October (IRIN) – People who know they are HIV positive in Lebanon keep very quiet about the matter to avoid becoming social outcasts. AIDS is taboo. Anyone suspected of having the disease risks total rejection by their friends, family and colleagues at work. Sara, a 40-year-old office worker in Beirut, knows all about that.
انتقل الى رحمته تعالى المأسوف عليه الشيخ سرحال توفيق الخازن شقيقته الشيخة نوميس ارملة فريد الخوري وابنتها ماري دانيال زوجة الدكتور حكمت بركات وعائلاتهما ينعونه بمزيد الأسى. يحتفل بالصلاة لراحة نفسه اليوم الاربعاء 12 تشرين الأول الساعة الرابعة من بعد الظهر في كنيسة سيدة الحبل بلا دنس البوار الشعب. تقبل التعازي قبل الدفن وبعده في […]
Oct 12 (Reuters) – Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, said by Syria’s state news agency to have committed suicide on Wednesday, long served as the top enforcer of his country’s policies in Lebanon. Kanaan was interviewed last month by a U.N. team probing the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis is expected to submit his report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Oct. 21.
Here is a chronology of events in Lebanon since Hariri’s death. Feb. 14, 2005 – Hariri is killed by truck bomb in Beirut. Feb. 16 – At least 150,000 Lebanese turn Hariri’s funeral into outpouring of anger against Syria.Feb. 28 – Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns. March 5 – President Bashar al-Assad tells Syrian parliament that his troops will start phased pullout from Lebanon. March 8 – Lebanese flood central Beirut for pro-Syrian rally organised by Hizbollah guerrilla group. Syrian troops begin redeploying. March 10 – Karami reappointed to form government. March 14 – Anti-Syrian protesters stage biggest demonstration since Hariri’s killing.March 19 – Bomb in Christian suburb of Beirut wounds 11. March 23 – Bomb kills three people in Christian town of Kaslik north of Beirut. April 7 – U.N. Security Council orders international investigation into Hariri’s assassination. April 13 – Karami resigns after failing to form cabinet. April 15 – President Emile Lahoud appoints moderate Syrian ally Najib Mikati as prime minister. April 19 – Mikati forms government. April 25 – Pro-Syrian Lebanese security chief Jamil al-Sayyed resigns.
Population Movements to Keserwan - The Khazens and The Maans
ما جاء عن الثورة في المقاطعة الكسروانية
ثورة أهالي كسروان على المشايخ الخوازنة وأسبابها
Origins of the "Prince of Maronite" Title
Growing diversity: the Khazin sheiks and the clergy in the first decades of the 18th century
Historical Members:
Barbar Beik El Khazen [English]
Patriach Toubia Kaiss El Khazen(Biography & Life Part1 Part2) (Arabic)
Patriach Youssef Dargham El Khazen (Cont'd)
Cheikh Bishara Jafal El Khazen
Patriarch Youssef Raji El Khazen
The Martyrs Cheikh Philippe & Cheikh Farid El Khazen
Cheikh Nawfal El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Hossun El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Abou-Nawfal El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Francis Abee Nader & his son Yousef
Cheikh Abou-Kanso El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Abou Nader El Khazen
Cheikh Chafic El Khazen
Cheikh Keserwan El Khazen
Cheikh Serhal El Khazen [English]
Cheikh Rafiq El Khazen [English]
Cheikh Hanna El Khazen
Cheikha Arzi El Khazen
Marie El Khazen