Source: Reuters and The National
Security & Justice
Army Warns Against Instability as Lebanon Faces Israeli Violations, Regional Turmoil
The Lebanese Army said it remains committed to maintaining internal stability and safeguarding civil peace, as the country faces mounting security and political challenges, including continued Israeli violations of its sovereignty and growing regional volatility.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Lawmaker Fails to Appear Before Beirut Port Blast Judge
As widely anticipated, MP Ghazi Zeaiter did not appear on Friday for his scheduled interrogation session before Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead judicial investigator in the 2020 Beirut port explosion probe.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Opinion
Now Is Not the Time to Ease Up on Hezbollah—or Beirut
On July 7, U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack traveled to Beirut three weeks after giving the Lebanese government a letter demanding immediate steps to disarm Hezbollah and other militias. The June 19 ultimatum and accompanying roadmap for implementation gave Beirut several months to make significant progress toward this goal and initiate financial and economic reforms, reflecting Washington’s growing frustration that such efforts had stalled.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Lebanese Leadership's Failure to Confront Hezbollah Would Invite More Israeli Devastation
Optimism about Lebanon’s ability to transition itself from a vassal state to a state with stature and the capacity to govern itself is waning. As neighbouring Syria makes strides following a civil war, Lebanon is still behaving like an extension of Hezbollah’s mini state.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Sports
Man City's 115 Charges Outcome 'in a Month' - Guardiola
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says the club expects to learn the outcome of the hearing into its 115 charges of alleged Premier League financial rule breaches "in one month".
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Marcelo, Ex-Real Madrid and Brazil Captain, Retires from Football
Former Brazil and Real Madrid defender Marcelo has announced his retirement from football, bringing the curtain down on a trophy-laden career that included five UEFA Champions League triumphs.
Friday, February 7, 2025
Thursday 17 July 2025 11:41:49
French Court Rules for Release of Georges Abdallah After 40 Years in Prison
A French court on Thursday ruled for the release from prison of Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, after serving almost 40 years in prison for attacks on American and Israeli diplomats in France, BFM TV reported.
The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade (LARB), which was an offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was sentenced to life in 1987 for his role in the 1982 murders in Paris of US military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov, and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.
Abdallah has been eligible for release since 1999. However he remained incarcerated despite filing 11 requests.
But in November, a Paris court granted his release on condition that he leaves France and does not return. It said that Abdallah had been irreproachable in prison and posed "no serious risk to renew terrorism acts".
The office of France's anti-terrorism prosecutor appealed against the decision, automatically keeping him in prison. The Paris Court of Appeal hearing took place on December 19 and judges were due to give their ruling in February but the decision was postponed to July.
The United States is reported to have pressured France to block Abdallah's release. In January 2013, his eighth request to be freed was successful, but the Interior Ministry then refused to validate his expulsion from France. It has been reported that Hillary Clinton, then US secretary of state, had called prime minister Laurent Fabius to ask for him to not be released.
Again, in November 2024, the US Department of Justice wrote to French judges to oppose his upcoming hearing, saying that his return to Lebanon would represent a threat to public order and highlighting that Abdallah had refused to repudiate the killings.
