Lebanon

BEIRUT, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday announced that it has reached an agreement with the Swiss government and the Sursock Palace Association to finance the rehabilitation of the Sursock Palace, an iconic building damaged by the Beirut port blasts two years ago.

"The Sursock Palace is a gem of Lebanese architecture and a powerful symbol of pride and resilience for the Beirut community, " UNESCO's Director General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

BEIRUT, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese parliament on Thursday failed for the second time in a month to elect a new head of state as President Michel Aoun's term is about to end in about two weeks.

House Speaker Nabih Berri announced the postponement of the election session to Oct. 20 after the parliament failed to secure a quorum for the election, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

Only 71 out of 128 members of parliament (MPs) attended Thursday's session, while 86 Mps, or about two-thirds of the parliament, are needed to meet the quorum.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said Thursday that the cash-strapped country has approved a U.S.-mediated maritime border deal with Israel.

Lebanon and Israel both claim around 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea that are home to offshore gas fields.

The agreement to demarcate the maritime border comes after months of talks mediated by senior U.S. official Amos Hochstein, and would mark a major breakthrough in relations between the two countries, which have formally been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948.

12 October 2022; MEMO: The Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, says it will not recognise any maritime border deal between the government and Israel until it is officially signed.

Yesterday, Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said that until an agreement is finalised, Hezbollah "will remain vigilant".

"The pending hours are fateful. As the people of Lebanon, we are awaiting (declaration of) an official position on the part of our President and the Zionist enemy," he said.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, announced Wednesday that his country will start returning Syrian refugees to areas controlled by the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad at the end of next week.

In statements published by the Lebanese Presidency on Twitter, Aoun said "starting next week, the process of returning the displaced Syrians will begin in batches to their country".

12 October 2022; MEMO: The Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon headed by Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, said Wednesday that reaching an agreement to resolve the maritime border dispute with Israel "does not, in any way, constitute an entry into the path of normalisation with the enemy".

The Progressive Socialist Party urged, in a statement, all political forces in Lebanon and the concerned authorities to embark on serious and persistent work to invest in this achievement "away from brokering" and "side deal".

11 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanon and Israel have received a final draft of a US-mediated maritime border deal that satisfies all of their requirements and could imminently lead to a "historic deal", negotiators from the two countries said today, according to Reuters.

9 October 2022; MEMO: Israel on Sunday started to test the pumping of gas from the disputed Karish gas field amid tension with Lebanon, according to local media, Anadolu reports.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that Israel's security establishment has given the US gas drilling company Energean the green light to start its tests.

Public broadcaster KAN said full pumping operations from the site may be ready within weeks after the completion of the tests.

BEIRUT, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music funded by the Chinese government near Lebanon's capital Beirut will be a center of attraction for the Middle East region, said Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday.

"It wouldn't have been possible to build this artistic and cultural beacon if it wasn't for the cooperation between the Chinese and Lebanese governments," Mikati told Xinhua while he visited the conservatory to check the completion of the project's first phase.

BEIRUT, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) will increase its financial assistance to Lebanon by 75 million euros (73.83 million U.S. dollars) in 2022 to support the country in light of its difficult social and economic situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosions.