Lebanon

22 April 2022; MEMO: The European Commission announced on Thursday that the EU will send €20 million (almost $22 million) of humanitarian aid to Lebanon to ease the food insecurity exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"To support the most vulnerable segments of the population in Lebanon, the EU has allocated an additional €20 million in humanitarian aid to respond to rising food insecurity and other needs," the EU executive body said in a statement.

BEIRUT (AP) — For journalist Amer Matar, a decade-long search for his younger brother has defined him and changed the course of his life, now dedicated to researching and documenting crimes committed by the Islamic State group in Syria.

His brother, Mohammed Nour Matar, vanished in Syria’s northern city of Raqqa in 2013 while reporting on an explosion that hit the headquarters of an insurgent group. His burnt camera was found at the scene of the blast, and his family soon after got word he was in an IS prison. But there has been no other sign of him since.

BEIRUT, Apr 13 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Interior Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, called on the Lebanese, to respect the security of brotherly countries, including members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC countries have always supported all Lebanese equally, without discrimination,” Mawlawi said, during a meeting with the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Walid al-Bukhari, in Beirut.

Lebanon is committed to preventing any verbal or practical harm to the Gulf states, he added.

BEIRUT, April 12 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and seven others were wounded in an explosion in southern Lebanon early on Tuesday, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

The explosion rocked a scout center affiliated with the Shi'ite Amal Movement in the town of Benafoul, destroying a municipal council building and damaging other buildings nearby.

Preliminary information revealed that the explosion was caused by oxygen flasks that caught fire due to electric friction. The oxygen flasks were stored in the scout center for coronavirus patients.

BEIRUT, Apr 11 (NNN-NNA) – The World Food Programme (WFP), will increase its food rations distributed to the Lebanese, amid deteriorating food insecurity in the country, Abdallah Al-Wardat, the country director and representative of WFP in Lebanon, said yesterday.

“We are in a very difficult situation and the rate of food insecurity is on the rise. We are providing the Lebanese with financial aid and will increase food rations for the population,” local TV channel, MTV quoted al-Wadat as saying.

BEIRUT (AP) — A delegation from the European Union election observers on Monday wrapped up a six-day visit to Lebanon during which they discussed the deployment of observers ahead of the upcoming May 15 parliamentary elections in the crisis-hit country.

The observer mission said it will start deploying 30 observers throughout Lebanon later this week, with their numbers reaching more than 150 from 27 EU member states, Switzerland and Norway on the day of the vote.

10 April 2022; MEMO: Kuwait has vowed support to cash-strapped Lebanon, the Lebanese government said on Sunday, reported Anadolu Agency.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati received a phone call from Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah.

A statement issued by Mikati's office said Sheikh Ahmed said Kuwait "will spare no efforts to support Lebanon and help it to bounce back."

BEIRUT (AP) — Rising food prices as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are increasing the risk of malnutrition of millions of children in the Middle East and North Africa, the U.N. children’s agency warned Thursday.

UNICEF added that families are struggling to put food on the table during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been hard hit by wars and poverty and the coronavirus has only made things worse.

06 April 2022; MEMO: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are to offer support to Lebanon, whose government declared the state and its Central Bank was bankrupt earlier this week.

04 April 2022; MEMO: Lebanon as a State, and its Central Bank, has gone bankrupt, according to Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh Al-Shami.

"The State has gone bankrupt as did the Banque du Liban, and the loss has occurred, and we will seek to reduce losses for the people," Al-Shami told the local Al-Jadeed channel.

He said the losses will be distributed among the State, the Banque du Liban, banks and depositors.

"There is no conflict of views about the distribution of losses," he added.