Lebanon - The African Mirror

Jan

2024

By LAILA BASSAM, NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and ARAFAT BARBAKH

Hamas leader’s killing raises fears of wider war, Israel keeps up bombardment of Gaza

ISRAELI forces kept up their assault on the Gaza Strip and told civilians to leave a refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian enclave after the war reached into Lebanon with the killing of the Hamas deputy leader in Beirut. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. But military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario. The assassination was a further sign that the nearly three-month war between Israel and Hamas was spreading across…

Oct

2023

By The African Mirror

Reuters journalist killed in Lebanon in missile fire from direction of Israel

WORLD

A Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists injured in southern Lebanon when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them, according to a Reuters videographer who was at the scene. The group of journalists, including from Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse, were working near Alma al-Shaab, close to the Israel border, where the Israeli military and Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been trading fire in border clashes. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and a Hezbollah lawmaker blamed the incident on Israel. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s U.N. envoy, Gilad Erdan,…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Israel blames Hamas for multiple rockets launched from Lebanon

WORLD

HENRIETTE CHACAR and MAYA GEBEILY ISRAEL blamed the Islamist group Hamas for a volley of more than 30 rockets fired from Lebanon, following escalating tensions after Israeli police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to hold a meeting of the security cabinet to decide a response to the attack, the biggest rocket attack from Lebanon since 2006, when Israel fought a war with the heavily armed Hezbollah movement. "No one should test us, we will take all necessary measures to defend our country and people," Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Vatican mulling Jerusalem meeting between pope, Russian patriarch

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA THE Vatican is studying the possibility of extending Pope Francis' trip to Lebanon in June so he can fly to Jerusalem to meet their Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who has backed Russia's war in Ukraine, two sources told Reuters. It would be only their second meeting. Their first, in Cuba in 2016, was the first between a pope and a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church since the Great Schism that split Christianity into Eastern and Western branches in 1054. Kirill, 75, has given his full-throated blessing for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a position that has splintered the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Refugees in their own country’: Lebanon backs aid for 500,000 families

WORLD

TIMOUR AZHARI LEBANON’S parliament has approved a $556 million cash injection for half a million families - the latest aid package for a population pauperised by an economy in collapse. The programme would provide up to $137 per family per month for a year and complements a $246-million World Bank loan for a basic social safety net that was approved by parliament in March but has not yet been disbursed. It aims, in part, to replace a subsidy programme for basics such as fuel and food that costs the cash-strapped state some $6 billion a year but could now be…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Murders of women spark anger in Lebanon as domestic violence doubles

WORLD

TIMOUR AZHARI and KATY MIGIRO THE murder of three women has provoked outrage in Lebanon, as authorities revealed a doubling of domestic abuse reports in a country that recently won praise for new laws to protect women. The most high-profile death was that of model Zeina Kanjo, who was strangled at home. An arrest warrant has been issued for her husband, who was charged with her murder after fleeing to Turkey, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). A local news channel invited Kanjo's husband, Ibrahim Ghazal, on to share his version of events, triggering anger on social media…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Lebanon’s president seeks evidence behind US sanctions on son-in-law

WORLD

PRESIDENT Michel Aoun says Lebanon would seek evidence and documents from the United States that led Washington to impose sanctions on Gebran Bassil, a prominent Christian politician who is his son-in-law. The United States has blacklisted Bassil, leader of Lebanon's biggest Christian political bloc, accusing him of corruption and ties to the Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah movement that Washington deems a terrorist group. Aoun asked Lebanon's caretaker foreign minister to obtain the evidence and documents that should be submitted to Lebanon's judiciary "to take the necessary legal measures" if any data is available, said a statement tweeted by the presidency. Gebran…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Treated like slaves’, African and Asian migrant workers bear brunt of Lebanon crisis

HUMAN RIGHTS

ALAA KANAAN CHANTING their national anthem in the departure hall of Beirut airport, a group of migrant workers prepared to return home and close a chapter on their time in Lebanon which drove some to despair. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which supports many domestic workers in Lebanon, says as many as 10,000 migrants have asked to be repatriated because their wages collapsed after the country plunged into a deep financial crisis a year ago. Many employers stopped paying salaries in dollars and some foreign workers said they were leaving with their wages unpaid. The numbers of those asking…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Beirut port blast death toll rises to 190

WORLD

THE death toll from this month's Beirut port blast has risen to 190 with more than 6,500 injured and three people missing, Lebanon's caretaker government said in a report. Lebanese authorities are probing what caused highly explosive material stored unsafely for years to detonate in a mushroom cloud, wrecking swathes of the city and fuelling anger at a political class already blamed for the country's economic meltdown. The army said on Saturday that seven people were still missing - three Lebanese, three Syrians and one Egyptian. It was not immediately clear if some had since been found. The August 4…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Lebanon government resigns amid outrage over Beirut blast

NEWS

MICHAEL GEORGY LEBANON’s prime minister has announced his government's resignation, saying a huge explosion that devastated the capital and stirred public outrage was the result of endemic corruption. The August 4 detonation at a port warehouse of more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate killed at least 163 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean capital, compounding months of political and economic meltdown. In a televised address, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said he backed calls by ordinary Lebanese for those responsible for "this crime" to be put on trial. Diab made the announcement after the cabinet,…