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
Wednesday 5 October 2022 09:31:17
Port Blast Victims' Families: Truth Will Not Be Lost with Impartial Judge
On the monthly anniversary of the Aug. 4, 2020, families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion gathered outside the port Tuesday, for the monthly vigil marking the blast, and called Judge Tarek Bitar “the master of his case,” stating that “with the bold and impartial judge, the truth will not be lost.”
The blast killed over 200, wounded thousands and ravaged entire neighborhoods. It’s been over two years since the explosion, with no one yet held accountable.
Earlier in September, a decision by the Higher Judicial Council was made to appoint an alternate investigative judge in the blast probe.
The Beirut Bar Association rejected the decision of the Higher Judicial Council.
"After the appointment of an investigating judge at the Court of Justice, in accordance with the law and in order for him to carry out a specific mission, it is not possible to appoint a substitute judge," the body said after a meeting chaired by the President of the Beirut Bar Association Nader Gaspard. The Bar Association invoked the "need to respect the laws and principles governing the courts," adding that "the investigation cannot be conducted by several investigators."
According to them, the leaders must "protect the magistrates, respect the law and the essential principles far from politicization and clientelism."
Almost two years after the tragedy, the investigation has been stalled by multiple political maneuvers and is currently suspended due to the different complaints filed against Bitar, notably by MPs Ghazi Zeaiter, Ali Hassan Khalil and former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos — who are all suspects in the investigation and have had warrants filed for their arrest. Despite them being suspects in the investigation, Zeaiter and Khalil were elected to Lebanon's Parliament in May 2022.
Caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, who is close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, was accused of impeding the investigation by not signing judicial appointments, which have been blocked for several months for political reasons, putting the port blast probe on hold.
