Lebanon

25 April 2022; MEMO: A rocket launched from Lebanon on Monday struck harmlessly in Israel, which responded with artillery fire, in an apparent spill-over of Palestinian-Israeli confrontations at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Reuters reports.

Flare-ups along the Israeli-Lebanese border are rare and Israel's chief military spokesman, Brigadier-General Ran Kochav, estimated that Palestinian groups in Lebanon fired the rocket, which he said hit open ground in northern Israel.

BEIRUT, Apr 25 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese army, yesterday, rescued 45 people and recovered eight bodies, after a migrant boat sunk in the waters off the northern city of Tripoli.

The Lebanese army said at a press conference that, high waves submerged the overloaded boat, which carried more than 50 people.

Some of the rescued people were treated on the ground, while others were transferred to nearby hospitals, to receive emergency medical care.

Search operations began Saturday night, shortly after the boat, leaving the coastal town of Qalamoun, in the sea.

BEIRUT, Apr 25 (NNN-NNA) – The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), yesterday called for continuous international support for Lebanon and the refugees and migrants hosted in the country, according to a joint press release.

The appeal by the two UN agencies came, a day after a boat reportedly carrying 84 people capsized, off the coast of Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, killing at least six, including a 40-day-old baby, according to the press release.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — The Lebanese military Sunday recovered the bodies of five migrants whose boat carrying nearly 60 people sank the night before, raising the death toll to six, state media reported.

The National News Agency said the five bodies were found near a small island off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli. It earlier reported that eight bodies were recovered but later lowered the number to five.

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.