Source: AFP
Security & Justice
Captured Hezbollah Operative May Have Been Israeli Double Agent, Report Suggests
The alleged senior Hezbollah operative abducted by Israeli special forces last week in Batroun may have been operating as a double agent, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Lebanon’s Probe into Israeli Raid Expected to Take Days as Security Officials Weigh Theories
Lebanese authorities are ramping up investigations into an Israeli commando raid last week in the northern coastal city of Batroun, during which Imad Amhaz, a Hezbollah official, was snatched.
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
Monday 28 February 2022 11:43:33
Three French Judges Arrive in Beirut to Pursue Investigation of Carlos Ghosn
Three French judges connected with the investigation of Lebanese former Renault-Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn in Nanterre, France, landed in Beirut on Sunday, reports AFP.
Here’s what we know:
• The judges plan to stay in Beirut until Thursday, where they will question witnesses, AFP’s sources said. This visit could signal a change in the status of Mr. Ghosn, who has lived in Beirut since his escape from Japan at the end of 2019. In concrete terms, French authorities can ask Lebanese prosecutors to notify Ghosn of charges, the equivalent of an indictment in France, or issue an arrest warrant against him.
• This is the second trip to Lebanon by French judges in Ghosn's case. Last June, Ghosn was questioned for five days in connection with the investigations targeting him in Nanterre, but also in Paris, as part of a commission of international rogatory. At the end of this hearing, his lawyers said he was "happy" to have been able to "explain his position." However, he refused to answer questions based on a hard drive, which he believes was "stolen in Lebanon by Nissan" and "perhaps modified," he said in an interview with French outlet Le Parisien on Feb. 12. A source familiar with the matter told AFP that the questioning of witnesses this week could be linked to this hard drive.
• The former car tycoon is targeted in France by two legal proceedings: in Paris, for the consulting services concluded by RNBV, a Dutch subsidiary embodying the Renault-Nissan alliance, with former French Justice Minister Rachida Dati and criminologist Alain Bauer; and in Nanterre, in particular for misuse of corporate assets and money laundering.
• Aged 67 and targeted by an arrest warrant from Interpol, the former businessman, who has Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship, has been forced to stay in Lebanon since his incredible flight from Japan in December 2019. Arrested in November 2018 in Tokyo, he justified his escape by claiming it was necessary in order to "escape injustice," denouncing a "plot" by the Japanese authorities.
