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40 U.S. backed troops ‘killed fighting Islamic State in Syria over weekend’

October 27, 2018 By administrator

BEIRUT, LEBANON Over 40 U.S.-backed fighters were killed fighting the Islamic State group in eastern Syria this weekend, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday, October 27, Al-Masdar News reports.

According to the SOHR report, the Islamic State killed at least 41 members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces near the strategic town of Hajin in the southeastern countryside of the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

The Islamic State’s official media wing, Al-‘Amaq, would later corroborate the report, while also posting a video of their militants capturing six members of the Syrian Democratic Forces alive.

The militant group was able to repel another big attack by the Syrian Democratic Forces forces near the IS stronghold of Hajin this weekend after an intense battle that lasted for several hours on Thursday and Friday.

The Syrian Democratic Forces have repeatedly attempted to crack the Islamic State’s lines near Hajin; however, their attacks have been repeatedly repelled by the militant group.

Source:

Al-Masdar News. Over 40 US-backed fighters killed by ISIS in eastern Syria: monitor

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: BEIRUT, Lebanon

30th anniversary of Armenian pogroms in Sumgait commemorated in Beirut

March 1, 2018 By administrator

Sumgait commemorated in Beirut

Sumgait commemorated in Beirut

On February 25, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Artsakh to the Middle East Garo Kebabjian participated in the commemoration ceremony dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, held in the St. Nishan Church in Beirut.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Lebanese Republic Samvel Mkrtchyan and representatives of the Armenian community and the clergy of Lebanon were present at the event.

Then, the participants laid wreaths to the cross-stone monument of the Church to commemorate the victims of the Sumgait pogroms.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: BEIRUT, commemorated, Sumgait

Armenian businessmen shot in Beirut

June 2, 2017 By administrator

Armenian businessmen shot in Beirut Armenian businessmen shot in BeirutArmenian businessman Haruth Kferkian was shot in his shoulder by unknown assailants in a luxurious residential district of the Lebanese capital city of Beirut.

Kferkian was transported to hospital in a stable health condition, reported Lebanese state-owned National News Agency (NNA).

A probe has been opened into the incident.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenian, BEIRUT, businessmen, shot

Saudi prince held in Beirut airport drug bust

October 26, 2015 By administrator

f562e304434ca6_562e304434ce1.thumbSaudi prince and four others were detained on Monday in Lebanon in the largest drug bust in the history of the Beirut airport, security source said.

Saudi prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four others were detained by airport security while allegedly “attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine,” a security source told AFP, according to the Express Tribune.

“The smuggling operation is the largest one that has been foiled through the Beirut International Airport,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Captagon is the brand name for the amphetamine phenethylline, a synthetic stimulant. The banned drug is consumed mainly in the Middle East and has reportedly been widely used by fighters in Syria.

source: tert.am

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: BEIRUT, bust, drug, Saudi prince

Lebanon: ‘Revolution against corruption’: Beirut braces for new wave of protests

August 29, 2015 By administrator

REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir  - RTX1PC5D

REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The Lebanese capital is expecting a new wave of protests Saturday. Last weekend rallies against the authorities’ inability to deal with the rubbish collection problems resulted in violent clashes with police and calls for the government to step down.

“In our life we have only one chance to be united and to make revolution against all the corruption people,” Salah Nowzeddine, a protester from the “You Stink” movement, told RT’s Paula Slier.
The situation has been tense in Beirut since July when the authorities stopped using one of the country’s main landfills in the town of al-Naameh, south of Beirut, and piles of rubbish began to appear on the streets of the capital.

On August 22, the protests turned violent, resulting in injuries among both protesters and police officers. Numerous videos released on social media show demonstrators throwing rocks and firecrackers at police. The officers responded with water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas to tackle the demonstrators.

Following Saturday protests the Lebanese prime minister, Tammam Salam, described force used against protesters as “excessive” and promised that those responsible would be held to account.

Later, Amnesty International called on the Lebanese authorities to investigate the use of excessive force of police on protesters.

“Lebanese security officials responded to overwhelmingly peaceful protesters in downtown Beirut by shooting into the air with live rounds, firing rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and water cannons, and in some cases hurling stones and beating protesters with batons and rifles,” said Lama Fakih, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International.

Lebanese officials must uphold this right and send a clear message to security personnel that such attacks against peaceful protesters will not be tolerated… Even when responding to violence, security forces should never recklessly fire rubber bullets and other projectiles into crowds of protesters.”

Amnesty quoted Red Cross as saying that at least 343 people were treated for injuries and 59 more were hospitalized, following the rallies of August 22-23.

According to data from the country’s Internal Security Forces (ISF), 99 of their members had been injured in the protests, 30 of them seriously.

The political situation in Lebanon is very unstable, in part due to legislators being unable to pick a new president for more than a year.

Among the factors affecting the instability in the country are the war in neighboring Syria and the threat of Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: BEIRUT, protests

Police Detain Over 40 Demonstrators in Beirut – Organizers

August 26, 2015 By administrator

1026102065A representative of an activist group claims that more than 40 peaceful protesters were detained by police in Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday during an anti-government rally.

BEIRUT  (Sputnik) — More than 40 peaceful protesters were detained by police in Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday during an anti-government rally, a representative of an activist group told RIA Novosti.

On early Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered at the center of Beirut to march in solidarity with those who had been protesting against garbage collection crisis last week. The rally began peacefully, but later turned violent as the police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons against the activists.

“We came here to protest peacefully, our guys tried to calm down the provocateurs in order to avoid clashes. We asked our companions to leave the area and continue the rally Bar-posttomorrow. When there were only provocateurs and us, along with a group of people who had little time to leave, the police began beating everyone. About 40 of our people were detained and delivered to the police stations…,” a senior member of the group behind the demonstration said.

 

The rest of activists went to protest to the police stations in Beirut, demanding the release of their comrades, the group representative added.

Last week, thousands of Lebanese activists took to the streets of Beirut to protest against government corruption and political inaction amid a spreading garbage crisis. The action turned violent as police applied measures against protesters, and dozens of people were injured and hospitalized.

Following the incidents, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam vowed justice and threatened to resign if the next cabinet session did not yield results.

The problem of garbage in Lebanon became sharp after the country’s main landfill was closed in July. Since then, thousands of tonnes of garbage have been left uncollected as the officials fail to take measures.

Source: sputniknews.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: BEIRUT, demonstrators, detain, police

BEIRUT: Yemeni students in Lebanon protest Saudi-led airstrikes

April 1, 2015 By administrator

The Daily Star
404372_img650x420_img650x420_cropBEIRUT: Dozens of mostly-Yemeni expat students from Lebanese University protested outside a U.N. office in Downtown Beirut Wednesday against the Saudi-led airstrikes launched last week.

The students, joined by a number of their comrades from Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain, raised banners and shouted slogans outside the U.N.’s ESCWA building to denounce the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen.

One Yemeni student raised a poster that read “stop the massacre,” while another held up a sign that said “stop the siege.”

Students also raised pictures of the Yemeni flag and shouted slogans expressing rejection of the Saud-led intervention in the country.

The protest comes as at least 37 workers were killed and 80 wounded overnight at a dairy plant in an attack at a port in Yemen, although authorities could not say if the Saudi-led force or Houthi rebels were behind the attack.

Since Friday at least 93 civilians have been killed and 364 wounded in the fighting, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: air strike, BEIRUT, Protest, saudi, student, yemen

Lebanon: Army foils infiltration attempt by jihadi militants near Arsal

March 1, 2015 By administrator

Report Nidal al-Solh| The Daily Star

Lebanese Army soldiers in Arsal. (REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah)

Lebanese Army soldiers in Arsal. (REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah)

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army Sunday foiled an infiltration attempt by jihadi militants near the northeastern town of Arsal, a security source said.

The security source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said heavy clashes erupted around 9:30 a.m. Sunday in the Wadi Hmeid area on the outskirts of Arsal, which resulted in death of several militants.

Resident from the northern neighborhoods of the Arsal told The Daily Star that they heard the sounds of intense artillery fire by the Army for at least 30 minutes Sunday morning.

Another security source explained that the Army’s recent victory against militants in Ras Baalbek and its repositioning in the eastern town has forced the jihadis to find other areas of safe haven.

Last Thursday, an Army operation drove jihadi militants off of two strategic hilltop positions along the northeastern frontier with Syria, in a preemptive operation aimed at protecting residents of border villages from extremist groups.

The Army said in a statement that its troops managed to “wrest full control” of the hilltop positions Sadr al-Jarash and Harf al-Jarash, northeast of Talet al-Hamra on the outskirts of the village of Ras Baalbek.

– See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-01/289161-army-foils-infiltration-attempt-near-arsal.ashx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=Newsletter#sthash.HZwlzNTg.dpuf

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Army, BEIRUT, foils, jihadi, Lebanese

ISIS, Nusra Front gearing up for major Lebanon push

February 28, 2015 By administrator

Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star
The southern village of Shebaa in front of Jabal al-Sheikh

The southern village of Shebaa in front of Jabal al-Sheikh

BEIRUT: Syria-based jihadi groups are gearing up for a major offensive deep into Lebanese territory along the eastern border with Syria to achieve two main goals: securing new supply routes and establishing a foothold as a prelude to setting up an Islamic emirate in Lebanon, analysts and military experts said.

According to retired Lebanese Army generals, ISIS and the Nusra Front, entrenched on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, have long been preparing for such an attack, but have been hampered by bad weather conditions, particularly the severe blizzards that hit Lebanon in recent months.

“The two militant groups are just waiting for favorable weather conditions to launch their attack, which could happen in the second half of March,” they said.

Hisham Jaber, a retired Lebanese Army general and an expert on terrorism, said a major attack on Lebanon by Daesh, Arabic acronym for ISIS, and the Nusra Front, Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, was inevitable because the two militant groups weren’t planning to come to Lebanon for tourism purposes.

“Daesh and the Nusra Front have been preparing military plans to attack Lebanon for quite some time. They have been militarily surveying areas on the eastern border in search of a weak belly where the Lebanese Army does not exist,” Jaber told The Daily Star.

“These tafkiri groups are not waiting for the snow to melt. They will strike when they deem the conditions are fit for their attack,” said Jaber, director of the Beirut-based think tank, the Middle East Center for Political Studies and Research.

He said the two groups would try to break through Christian towns or mixed Christian-Sunni towns, such as Ras Baalbek, al-Qaa and Fakiha, areas on the eastern frontier with Syria where Hezbollah does not have any presence.

“The goal of the ISIS-Nusra attack is to undermine stability in Lebanon, strike the Lebanese Army, incite sectarian strife and hit Hezbollah in its stronghold in the Bekaa region,” Jaber said.

Mario Abou Zeid, a research analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the two sides, the Syrian opposition groups, including ISIS and the Nusra Front, on the one hand and the Syrian Army, Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army on the other, are getting ready for a major battle when winter ends next month.

“All the parties are gearing up for the battle once the snow melts,” Abou Zeid told The Daily Star. He said the fighting would begin as soon as weather conditions improve.

Despite the heavy Army deployment, designed to tighten the noose around the jihadis holed up in caves on the outskirts of Arsal, Abou Zeid said the Nusra Front has managed to survive the siege over the past six months, having stored enough food supplies, ammunition and arms.

“But now because it is running out of supplies and ammunition, the Nusra Front will launch an attack into Lebanese territory whose main target is to have access to new supply routes,” he said.

Abou Zeid said ISIS has a goal totally different from that of the Nusra Front from any possible attack deep into Lebanese territory.

“ISIS will seek to establish a foothold in Lebanese territory as part of their long-term plan to set up an Islamic emirate in Lebanon,” he said.

Asked if the Syrian Army and Hezbollah would launch a pre-emptive strike to forestall possible attacks by ISIS and the Nusra Front, Abou Zeid said: “The Syrian Army and Hezbollah are already locked in fighting Syrian rebels in the south, seeking to capture Deraa. But the attack by the Syrian Army and Hezbollah has been repulsed by a mix of Syrian rebel groups.”

He added that should the Syrian Army and Hezbollah succeed in capturing Deraa, they would then launch a pre-emptive strike against ISIS and the Nusra Front in the Qalamoun region.

Among the options envisaged by the Nusra Front to open new supply routes is the Shebaa-Rashaya area near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, he said.

Given the fact that the Nusra Front is so desperate for a new supply line, Abou Zeid said the Shebaa-Rashaya front carries a high risk of exploding in the face of the Syrian Army and Hezbollah.

Thousands of Nusra Front militants are deployed in the Syrian town of Qunaitra in the Golan Heights.

Amid growing fears of an impending jihadi assault when winter ends, the Lebanese Army, whose pre-emptive strikes against terror cells have already thwarted several suicide bomb attacks, is fully ready to repulse any new assault by ISIS and the Nusra Front, which are still holding 25 soldiers and policemen hostage. They were captured during the two groups’ incursion into Arsal last August.

“The Lebanese Army is always ready to confront any attack by any terrorist group in any area in Lebanon,” a senior military official told The Daily Star.

He recalled the militants’ botched attempt last month to overrun a military outpost near the northeastern town of Ras Baalbek, sparking fierce clashes between the Army and ISIS militants that left eight soldiers dead and 22 others wounded. At least 40 militants, whose bodies were discovered on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, were killed in the fighting, most of them in Lebanese Army airstrikes.

Asked if the Army was taking extraordinary military measures to face any possible militant attack, the official said: “These are military matters which we cannot disclose.”

In a televised speech earlier this month, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese Army to be prepared to face attacks by ISIS and the Nusra Front when the snow melts at the end of winter on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria.

Retired Army general Amin Hoteit warned of the impending danger posed by ISIS and the Nusra Front, saying he expected the two groups to launch their offensive in Lebanon in the second half of March. He called for coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies to forestall any jihadi attack.

“The aim of the attack is to seize territory and secure logistical supply lines,” Hoteit, a supporter of Hezbollah, told The Daily Star.

“On Lebanon’s eastern mountain range near the border with Syria, there are two terrorist groups, the Nusra Front and ISIS. These groups are unable now to carry out massive military operations because of the difficulty of movement and due to the snow,” he said.

“After their failure to occupy any village in the Qalamoun region, these groups will try to expand toward Lebanon, namely toward the towns of Arsal and Brital,” Hoteit said.

“Lebanon is facing a serious threat from these terrorist groups. In order for Lebanon to meet this challenge, the Lebanese Army’s readiness should be raised to a high level to confront any terrorist attack,” Hoteit added.

“Secondly, there should be coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies in order to put the terrorists in a pincer grip to restrict their movement toward Lebanon and prevent their return to Syria so that they can be killed,” Hoteit said.

Asked if the Lebanese Army is capable of repulsing a joint ISIS-Nusra Front attack, Hoteit replied: “If provided with the appropriate arms along with logistical and manpower support, the Army can accomplish this mission. But as matters stand now, the Army might need assistance and backing from the resistance [Hezbollah].”

Abou Zeid, the Carnegie researcher, said: “The Lebanese Army has defensive capabilities to repel any attack. But it lacks the needed military equipment for offensive purposes.”

Jaber, the retired Army general, said the Lebanese Army needs helicopters to repel any joint massed ISIS-Nusra attack. “But based on intelligence information, the Army is capable of confronting those terrorist groups and ambushing them,” he said.

According to Jaber, if ISIS and the Nusra Front attacked Lebanon, Hezbollah would intervene to help the Lebanese Army in repelling these groups.

Jaber lamented the fact that despite increased talk on the need to equip the Army with weapons to enable it to face jihadi groups, “the Army, except for the U.S. military assistance which is insufficient, has not received even a screw from French arms funded by the $3 billion Saudi grant.”

Earlier this month, the United States delivered $25 million worth of weapons, including heavy artillery, to the Lebanese Army, while France promised to send the first batch of Saudi-funded arms in April.

The Future Movement and Hezbollah, alarmed by the security threats posed to the country by Islamist militants, have been meeting to defuse sectarian tensions and last week began discussing a joint national strategy to fight terrorism.

The move came days after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri called on Lebanese parties, especially Hezbollah, to hammer out a national strategy to fight terrorism.

Hariri’s call has been welcomed by Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, who has voiced support for an anti-terror strategy against Islamist incursions into Lebanon.

– See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Feb-25/288654-isis-nusra-front-gearing-up-for-major-lebanon-push.ashx#sthash.oRT4OQhG.dpuf

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: BEIRUT, ISIS, major, nusra-front, push

Hundreds of Assyrians in Beirut protest ISIS kidnappings

February 28, 2015 By administrator

The Daily Star
Hundreds of Assyrians march in Downtown Beirut against the ISIS abduction of Assyrians in Syria, Saturday, Feb 28, 2015. (The Daily Star/Hassan Shaaban)

Hundreds of Assyrians march in Downtown Beirut against the ISIS abduction of Assyrians in Syria, Saturday, Feb 28, 2015. (The Daily Star/Hassan Shaaban)

BEIRUT: Hundreds of Assyrians marched in Downtown Beirut Saturday in solidarity with their brethren abducted by ISIS in Syria earlier this week.

The marchers chanted slogans in their native language and carried signs that read: “Assyrians are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia,” “We demand action from the United Nations,” and “Save the Christians in the Middle East.”

The protesters began their afternoon march at Martyr’s Square and headed towards the U.N.’s nearby ESCWA building.

An activists group earlier this week reported that no less than 220 Assyrian Christians were abducted from their homes by ISIS in northeastern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were kidnapped from 11 villages in the Hassakeh province, and that thousands more have fled their homes to avoid capture.

But on Saturday, the Observatory said that 29 of the kidnap victims were ordered released by an ISIS Sharia cout in the countryside of Tal Tamer.

An Assyrian commander “confirmed to SOHR that they communicated with [ISIS] through mediation with [ISIS] jurists who informed us that the kidnapped Assyrians of the other villages will be brought in front of the Sharia courts to decide on their verdict,” the group wrote in a statement posted to its website.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: assyrians, BEIRUT, ISIS, Protest

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