Source: L'Orient Today
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Tuesday 28 May 2024 19:05:55
French Envoy Arrives in Beirut to Address Presidential Deadlock
Jean-Yves Le Drian, the special envoy from the Élysée Palace to Lebanon, landed in Beirut Tuesday afternoon for a 24-hour visit aimed at "inaugurating a new phase in the presidential process," according to information obtained by L'Orient-Le Jour. The presidency has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in late October 2022, amid ongoing internal tensions and a series of crises.
Le Drian is set to meet with outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and several political leaders, including Sleiman Frangieh, the Marada leader and presidential candidate backed by Amal and Hezbollah. Sources indicate the French diplomat is unlikely to meet with Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, following a tense previous encounter. Additionally, he will be received at Bkerkeh by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai.
This trip follows roughly two weeks after a tonal shift by the Quintet (United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar) involved in trying to solve the presidential deadlock, shifting toward an approach of "consultations, limited in scope and duration, between the political blocs."
