Lebanon

BEIRUT, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that Lebanon can no longer bear the consequences of leaving the presidency vacant for long periods, the National News Agency reported.

"Lebanon cannot bear longer periods of presidential vacancy, and the Lebanese cannot endure further deterioration," Berri said during his meeting with a delegation from the Lebanese Press Syndicate.

BEIRUT, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht on Sunday announced new support from her country to the Lebanese army in maritime surveillance and training.

Lambrecht's remarks came during her visit to Lebanon to follow up on her country's maritime force operating with the United Nations Interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to the National News Agency.

BEIRUT, Nov 3 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Agriculture Minister, Abbas Hajj Hassan, yesterday launched a national strategy for wheat cultivation, amid concerns of a wheat crisis in the country, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to evolve.

“We developed a plan for distributing seeds to farmers and monitoring the seasons by seeking support from Lebanese and foreign experts,” said Hajj Hassan, hoping the plan could help Lebanon achieve high-quality production and build a solid agricultural sector.

02 Nov 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday said that US guarantees would protect a maritime border deal with Israel should Israel's conservative former premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, win a majority in elections Reuters reports.

03 Nov 2022; MEMO: An armed man yesterday stormed a branch of Credit Libanais bank in the Lebanese capital's suburb of Hazmieh, demanding that his savings be returned to him.

Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the depositor was a "former soldier in one of the state security agencies."

They noted that the bank handed over a total of $30,000 to the armed man.

01 Nov 2022; MEMO: Arab League Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, on Tuesday called on Lebanese politicians to reach a consensus on electing a new president, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, left office on Monday after his six-year term expired, with lawmakers failing to agree on a new president.

Aboul Gheit met Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, in Algeria on the sidelines of the 31st Arab Summit.

BEIRUT (AP) — President Michel Aoun left Lebanon’s presidential palace Sunday, marking the end of his six-year term without a replacement, leaving the small nation in a political vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic economic meltdown.

As Aoun’s term ends, the country is being run by a caretaker government after Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati failed to form a new Cabinet following May 15 parliamentary elections. Aoun and his supporters warn that such a government doesn’t have full power to run the country, saying that weeks of “constitutional chaos” lay ahead.

BEIRUT, Oct 27 (NNN-NNA) – The poverty rate among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon increased to more than 90 percent, it was reported yesterday, citing a UN official.

“Most of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are unable to secure their daily life necessities,” Leni Stenseth, deputy commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said, during a press conference held at the UNRWA headquarters in Beirut.

BEIRUT, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah announced on Thursday the end of his party's "exceptional" mobilization against Israel after Lebanese and Israeli leaders finalized a maritime demarcation deal.

"The mission was accomplished," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech, adding what happened is considered a great victory for Lebanon and its population.

Lebanese authorities were careful not to take any steps that may be perceived as normalization with Israel, Nasrallah noted. Technically, Lebanon and Israel have remained in a state of war.

27 October 2022; MEMO: Several buses of Syrian refugee families were repatriated Wednesday morning from different areas in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports.

According to the NNA, the intelligence branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) accompanied a bus Wednesday morning from Nabatieh to the General Security branch at the Masnaa border crossing on the Lebanese-Syrian border in the Bekaa Valley.