Lebanon

BEIRUT, May 23 (Reuters) - Lebanon is likely to be placed on a "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny over unsatisfactory practices to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Being added to the list would be another major blow to a country in a financial tailspin since 2019 and struggling to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund.

22 May 2023; MEMO: France's judiciary has summoned the brother of, and an assistant to, Lebanon's Central Bank Governor, two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Monday, as it continues its probe into alleged embezzlement and money-laundering by the bank chief, Reuters reports.

AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise.

Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

19 May 2023; MEMO: Lebanon has received an Interpol notice issued for its Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, the country's caretaker Interior Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, told Reuters on Friday, saying he would implement it if the judiciary instructed him to do so, Reuters reports.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon on Friday received an Interpol notice for the country’s embattled central bank governor who failed to show up in Paris earlier in the week for questioning in a key corruption case, officials said.

France, Germany, and Luxembourg are investigating the governor, Riad Salameh, and his associates over myriad financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and the laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Salameh after he did not answer summons for questioning in Paris.

19 May 2023; MEMO: Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh Al-Shami, called on Thursday for Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, to resign following France's issuing of an arrest warrant against him as part of a fraud investigation, Reuters reports.

16 May 2023; MEMO: French prosecutors have issued an international arrest warrant for Lebanon's Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, after he failed to appear at a court hearing amid a series of legal cases against him.

According to the news agency, Reuters, which cited anonymous sources close to the case, Salameh failed to show up at a hearing in the French capital, Paris, where an investigative magistrate was reportedly set to indict him over charges involving fraud and money laundering.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor failed to appear before French prosecutors on Tuesday to be questioned on corruption charges, officials said.

A European judicial team from France, Germany and Luxembourg is conducting a corruption probe into an array of financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and alleged laundering of $330 million, implicating the Lebanese governor, Riad Salameh.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria on Monday called on Arab countries to invest in the war-torn nation, now again a member of the Arab League. The appeal from Syria’s economy and trade minister came during an economic conference in Saudi Arabia, ahead of a league summit in the kingdom.

The 22-member Arab League agreed earlier this month to reinstate Syria, ending a 12-year suspension and taking another step toward bringing Syrian President Bashar Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold.

13 May 2023; MEMO:  Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah announced on Friday that Hezbollah "will not hesitate to provide assistance" to the Palestinian resistance, indicating that it maintains continuous communications with the leadership of the Palestinian resistance.

"We are in constant contact with the leadership of the resistance in Gaza, and we will not hesitate to assist at any time that responsibility requires it," he added.