Lebanon

BEIRUT, Feb 10 (NNN-NNA) – The number of Lebanese people, who migrate from Lebanon to foreign countries, increased by 346 percent to 79,134 in 2021, from 17,721 in 2020, a report said yesterday.

The year 2021 witnessed the largest number of Lebanese migrants during the past five years, reported the quarterly online magazine, The Monthly, affiliated with Information International, a research centre in Lebanon.

10 Feb 2022; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun met with US envoy Amos Hochstein on Wednesday. Hochstein is mediating in the maritime border demarcation negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

BEIRUT, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese experts believe that Lebanon is facing severe economic and financial challenges in 2022, urging the introduction of a comprehensive recovery plan which comprises thorough structural reforms to prevent the country from sliding further into collapse.

Patrick Mardini, president of the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies, told Xinhua that the main challenge facing the Lebanese government in 2022 is to achieve a budget balance.

08 Feb 2022; MEMO: Italy has donated military vehicles and other equipment to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the local population.

Last week at the Naval Base in Beirut, a ceremony for the donated materials took place in the presence of Italy's Ambassador to Lebanon, Nicoletta Bombardiere, commander of the Italian Joint Command Operations, General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, and the Italian Defence Attache in Lebanon, Colonel Marco Zona.

09 Feb 2022; MEMO: The number of Lebanese citizens who emigrated from the country in 2021 increased by 346 per cent compared with the previous year, a local consultancy company has found. According to the study conducted by Information International, as many as 79,134 Lebanese citizens left the country in 2021 compared with just 17,721 in 2020.

BEIRUT, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary polls must be held on time, U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea told Reuters, amid widespread concern that powerful parties may seek to postpone the May vote that could see them lose some power in the legislature.

"The international community is unanimous that the elections must be held on time in a fair and transparent manner," Shea told Reuters. "There's no wiggle room."

The UN Security Council last week "underlined the importance of holding free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections as scheduled on 15 May 2022".

04 Feb 2022; MEMO: Two experts have praised the qualitative security operation conducted by the Information Branch of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces which resulted in dismantling of 17 Israeli spy networks operating in various Lebanese territories and in Syria.

Palestinian writer and political analyst Ahmed Al-Hajj said the Israeli security and intelligence services are interested in Lebanon due to the openness and diversity of its society.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of boys are missing from a Syrian Kurdish prison that held members of the Islamic State group and their families, after the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces fought IS militants for 10 days to retake the facility, an international human rights group said Friday.

BEIRUT, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) announced on Wednesday that it has secured 3.7 million euros (4.19 million U.S. dollars) from the European Union to finance renewable energy projects in Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

During his meeting with Lebanese Industry Minister George Bouchikian, UNIDO Representative in Lebanon Emmanuel Kalenzi said the new donation will boost the use of renewable energy in industrial projects in Lebanon, according to NNA.

BEIRUT, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's security forces busted at least 17 suspected Israeli spy networks in one of the largest nationwide crackdowns in recent years, state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday.

Those networks operated both "locally and regionally," Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi was quoted by NNA as saying.

The minister did not go into detail about the operation or the number of people arrested during the operation conducted by the Internal Security Forces.