Lebanon

25 October 2022; MEMO: The Syrian regime yesterday cancelled a scheduled meeting with Lebanese officials to discuss the delineation of their sea boundaries.

According to Reuters, this came in a letter sent by the Syrian government to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry yesterday, saying "the time was not right" for such a visit.

23 October 2022; MEMO: The Lebanese and Syrian presidents discussed delineating their countries' shared maritime border on Saturday before a visit to Damascus next week by a Lebanese delegation tasked with negotiating the issue, a Lebanese official said, reports Reuters.

A dispute over their shared sea boundary emerged last year after Syria granted a licence to a Russian energy company to begin maritime exploration in an area Lebanon claimed. Several gas discoveries have been made in the eastern Mediterranean.

20 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's Parliament failed to elect a president for the third time on Thursday, bringing the country closer to institutional deadlock amid a deep financial crisis, Reuters reports.

Outgoing President, Michel Aoun's term ends on 31 October and divisions remain among political blocs over the makeup of a new cabinet.

Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since May. The presidency has fallen vacant several times since the 1975-90 Civil War.

BEIRUT, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Before Lebanon's government approved a U.S.-brokered deal settling a decades-long maritime boundary dispute with Israel, the powerful Hezbollah had scrutinized the final draft line by line and given a crucial nod of acceptance.

Branded a terrorist group by Washington and a sworn enemy of Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was certainly nowhere near the negotiating room during U.S. shuttle diplomacy which clinched the landmark deal last week.

BEIRUT, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday launched the National Strategy for Digital Transformation in Lebanon 2020-2030 in partnership with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said a statement by the Council of Ministers.

"The digital transformation initiative has been our government's priority as it is linked to the reform and recovery plan, and converges with the anti-corruption strategy being implemented systematically and gradually," Mikati said.

BEIRUT, Oct 16 (NNN-NNA) – Twenty Lebanese entrepreneurs won a UN-organised competition, that granted them a cash prize for launching businesses, in disadvantaged regions of the country, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced.

Most winners of the “Women do Business Experience” competition are women and young people, said the event’s organiser, Beirut-based ILO regional office for Arab States, in a statement.

17 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanon has won its dispute with Israel over the disputed maritime border, the head of Hezbollah's political council, Ibrahim Amin Al-Sayyed, claimed yesterday.

"Thanks to the resistance and the unified national stance," Al-Sayyed told Russia Today, "Lebanon has won the dispute about the border and its undersea resources without needing to go to war."

15 October 2022; MEMO: Amnesty International has called on the Lebanese authorities on Friday to stop implementing a plan to involuntarily return Syrian refugees to their country after statements were made by officials to resume their deportation in batches starting next week.

13 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's President, Michel Aoun, announced on Thursday his country's acceptance of the US-brokered maritime border deal with Israel, saying talks had come to "a positive end", Reuters reports.

13 October 2022; MEMO: A leading Lebanese politician who is sanctioned by the United States said on Thursday he played a behind-the-scenes role in US-brokered talks to delineate Lebanon's maritime boundary with Israel by liaising with Hezbollah, Reuters reports.

Gebran Bassil, a Christian Member of Parliament and former minister, was sanctioned in 2020 for alleged corruption and material support to Hezbollah but denies the accusations.