Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers held a memorial at the Beirut airport on Sunday for an Irish soldier killed by a mob that opened fire last week at two vehicles belonging to the U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

The attack that killed 24 year-old Pvt. Seán Rooney of Newtowncunningham took place near the southern town of Al-Aqbiya on Wednesday night, as he and seven other Irish peacekeepers from U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, were on their way to the Beirut airport.

17 Dec 2022; MEMO: Ninety per cent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon need humanitarian assistance to survive during the worst economic crisis the country has witnessed in decades, according to announcements made by international organisations on Friday.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: An Irish UN peacekeeper was killed and several others were wounded after unidentified attackers opened fire on a convoy in southern Lebanon, Irish and Lebanese military officials said yesterday according to Reuters.

The news wire said a pair of armoured vehicles carrying eight Irish UNIFIL peacekeeping troops was fired at as they drove north toward Beirut on Tuesday night from the town of Al-Aqbiya.

BEIRUT, Dec 14 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, yesterday said that, as one of the countries suffering the most from terrorist acts, Lebanon called for collective cooperation and intensive coordination to fight terrorism.

He made the appeal in a speech, delivered at a symposium on “Coordination Mechanisms in Combating Terrorism” organised by the Lebanese government, in cooperation with the “Advanced Counter Terrorism Project for Lebanon Security,” which is funded by the European Union.

BEIRUT (AP) — After weeks of deadly Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria, Kurdish forces and international players are trying to gauge whether Ankara’s threats of a ground invasion are serious.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned of a new land incursion to drive Kurdish groups away from the Turkish-Syrian border, following a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and on the Syria-based People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Both have denied involvement.

10 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Lebanese army announced on Friday that three Israeli gunboats violated Lebanese regional waters, while jets and a drone violated Lebanese skies, a statement revealed.

According to the statement, the Lebanese army confirmed that three Israeli occupation army gunboats violated regional waters opposite Ras Al-Naqoura.

Meanwhile, the statement added that an Israeli drone carried out a reconnaissance mission over Shabaa Farms, the Hasabya area, Mount Barghuz and the Litani River in Western Bekaa.

BEIRUT, Dec 4 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, inaugurated the 64th edition of the Beirut International and Arab Book Fair, yesterday.

The book fair, which will last until Dec 11, attracted around 133 publishing houses, and will include 24 symposiums for people to interact and discuss various topics.

In a statement released by the Council of Ministers, Mikati highlighted the broad participation of Arab publishers in the fair, describing it as a cultural landmark, where writers can interact with readers.

24 Nov 2022; MEMO: Lebanese lawmakers, on Thursday, failed for a seventh time to elect a new president as the country grapples with a deepening political and economic crisis, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The voting session was attended by 110 lawmakers of the 128-member Parliament.

Michel Moawad, a candidate backed by the Lebanese Forces party, got 42 votes, well short of the figure needed to win the first round, while 50 lawmakers cast blank ballots.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s largest Palestinian camp was once bustling with activity: It was crowded with mini-buses and packed with shops hawking falafel, shawarma and knafeh nabulsieh — a sweet concoction of cheese and phyllo dough.

Kids played soccer and brandished plastic guns until men with real guns came in when Syria descended into civil war. Over the past decade, fighting devastated communities across the country, including the Yarmouk camp, on the outskirts of the capital of Damascus.

16 Nov 2022; MEMO: The Israeli government has signed a deal with France's TotalEnergies and Italy's Eni to search for natural gas in the formerly disputed Lebanese territorial waters in the Mediterranean, the French company announced on Tuesday.

The dispute over maritime demarcation in the gas-rich waters was ended on 27 October, when Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a deal brokered by the US.