Lebanon

03 September 2022; MEMO: Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi has revealed that his country's prisoners are overcrowded by 300 per cent, and 75 per cent of inmates are not convicted, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

"We demand a reduction in all penalties, and we are studying the proposal from a legal point of view with the Minister of Justice and with the presidency of the government to find a solution to overcrowding," Mawlawi shared.

BEIRUT (AP) — Forty years since Hezbollah was founded at the height of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the group has morphed from a ragtag organization to the largest and most heavily armed militant group in the Middle East.

The Iranian-armed and funded Hezbollah, which has marked the anniversary with ceremonies in its strongholds in recent weeks, dominates Lebanon’s politics and plays an instrumental role in spreading Tehran’s influence throughout the Arab world.

01 September 2022; MEMO: The United Nations Security Council yesterday extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for an additional year, Anadolu news agency reported.

Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, welcomed the extension saying it would enhance the "stability" that southern Lebanon enjoys thanks to the close cooperation between the Lebanese army and UNIFIL.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese submarine ended its mission after locating a boat carrying migrants that sank earlier this year in the Mediterranean Sea, but bigger equipment is needed to pull it out, a legislator said Monday.

The comments by legislator Ashraf Rifi came days after the submarine found the remains of at least 10 migrants who drowned when their boat sank in April off the coast of northern Lebanon with about 30 people on board.

BEIRUT, Aug 28 (NNN-NNA) – Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, said yesterday that, his country is ready to donate fuel oil, if Lebanon needed so.

“Iran is keen to provide complete support for Lebanon. Our country is ready to donate fuel oil for Lebanon, upon the approval of the Lebanese government and the official visit of a delegation to Tehran, for direct coordination on this matter,” Mojtaba Amani was quoted as saying.

He made the remarks, during a meeting with Ali Youssef Hejazi, secretary-general of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Lebanon, according to the report.

BEIRUT (AP) — Satellite imagery showed widespread destruction at a giant military facility in western Syria targeted in a recent Israeli airstrike, and the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Sunday the strike targeted a depot housing hundreds of middle-range missiles for Iran-backed fighters.

Syrian state media reported after the Thursday night attack near the cities of Tartus and Hama that two people were wounded and fires were sparked in nearby forests. It added that the missiles were fired from over the Mediterranean and most of them were shot down.

26 August 2022; MEMO: Lebanon received 511.7 tons of food Thursday that was provided by Turkiye on a ship that arrived at the Tripoli Port, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The aid, the fourth in 2022, was provided by the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), based on directives by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese submarine has found the remains of at least 10 migrants who drowned when their boat sank earlier this year off the coast of Lebanon with about 30 people on board, the navy announced Friday.

The boat, carrying dozens of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians trying to migrate by sea to Italy, went down more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the port of Tripoli, following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy.

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. military said early Wednesday it carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria that targeted areas used by militias backed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist collective Deir Ezzor 24 said the airstrikes targeted the Ayash Camp run by the Fatimiyoun group made up of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan. The war monitor reported that at least six Syrian and foreign militants were killed in the airstrikes, while Deir Ezzor 24 reported 10 deaths.

BEIRUT, Aug 23 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese pound, yesterday sank to a new historic low, on the parallel market, amid the country’s protracted financial crisis, local media reported.

The exchange rate of the Lebanese pound declined to 34,250 against the U.S. dollar, down from the previous record low of 30,000 against the dollar earlier this month, reported the Elnashra news website.