Lebanese parents encouraging children to move abroad
STORY SUMMARY February 25, 2014 12:22 By Brooke Anderson Keeping kids close to home normally means peace of mind for parents. Not so these days in Lebanon, where increasingly frequent […]
Why Salafist-takfiris should worry us
By Rami G. Khouri (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb) Several months ago when I wrote about the looming danger of the growing strength of Salafist-takfiri groups in Iraq and Syria, I focused on the threats that thousands of their fighters, bombers and terrorists posed to those countries and also to […]
U.N. to offset refugee crisis by buying Lebanese
STORY SUMMARY The Industry Ministry in cooperation with U.N. agencies will advise Lebanese businesses on the procedures to participate in U.N. tenders to purchase goods for refugees, Sabounjian told The Daily Star. Pasini, who participated in the meeting with Sabounjian and Watkins, said the workshop aimed at bridging the gap […]
Justice or Peace? Hariri Trial Could Spark Further Unrest in Lebanon
By Erich Follath SPIEGEL.DE Proceedings in the case of murdered ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are set to being in the Netherlands this week. The trial could cause further unrest in a country that is already on the verge of chaos. Rarely has there been a case like this one. […]
Ariel Sharon: Peacemaker, hero… and butcher
He was respected in his eight years of near-death, with no sacrilegious cartoons to damage his reputation; and he will, be assured, receive the funeral of a hero and a peacemaker. Thus do we remake history by Robert Fisk, The Independent, UK Any other Middle Eastern leader who survived eight […]
No Palestinian tears for ‘criminal’ Sharon
NASSER ABU BAKR & ADEL ZAANOUN | AFP ARABNEWS RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinians on Saturday hailed the death of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, describing him as a “ criminal” but regretting that he is now permanently beyond the reach of the law. Human Rights Watch (HRW) also lamented the […]
A post-everything moment in the Mideast
January 08, 2014 12:31 AM By Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star Story Summary Leading examples include the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the Nusra Front, the Tawhid Brigade, the Army of Islam, the Islamic Front, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, the Free Syrian Army, the Mujahedeen Army […]
Now it’s Middle Eastern regimes fighting al-Qa’ida, while the US ties itself up in knots This is “Arab unity” as we have never seen it before. But watch out
By Robert Fisk, The Independent And so, for the first time in recent history, it seems that the “war against terror” – and specifically against al-Qa’ida – is being fought by Middle East regimes rather than their foreign investors. Sure, American drones still smash into al-Qa’ida operatives, wedding parties and […]
Do you get phone calls from nowhere? About a year ago, I began to recieve a wonderful series of calls from America and London
by Robert Fisk, The Independent, UK My Lebanese mobile phone has long been the victim of gremlins who would surely make Edward Snowden lick his lips. For months, I have received calls from Canada which registered on my receiver to a series of non-existent numbers with the direct-dial code of […]
A cold night with refugees in the Bekaa Valley
STORY SUMMARY Less than an hour later, the gray skies delivered the first snowfall of the winter, which pelted the plastic sheeting covering the Bazazi family tent, as Sleiman played […]
Lebanon’s snowfall begins: the worst is yet to come
STORY SUMMARY Lebanon witnessed Wednesday some of its first snowfall this year in the northern and eastern region as the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute warns “Alexa” has not yet reached […]
An obsessive’s documenting of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon can show us how the West lost respect for international law
Odd Karsten Tveit By Robert Fisk, The Independent One Norwegian officer left Lebanon, with a typed report on torture, taped to his chest Odd Karsten Tweit was always a very obsessional […]
Killing of Hezbollah operative bears Israeli fingerprints
Story Summary December 05, 2013 01:08 AM By Rakan al-Fakih, Thomas El-Basha The Daily Star In yet another blow to Hezbollah this year, a senior party commander was assassinated south […]
Slim pickings
Story Summary The news that Carlos Slim, one of the richest people on the planet, is focusing efforts on investing some of his vast fortune in Israel should come as […]
Politicians see hope in region, Berri offers to help in Saudi-Iranian rift
STORY SUMMARY By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star Lebanese politicians voiced hope Thursday that the nuclear deal with Iran would have a positive impact on Lebanon and the region, as […]
Suicide attack in Beirut: Tragedy is spreading from Iran’s western border to the Mediterranean
The suicide attack in Beirut last week was unusual in several respects, not least that the target was the Iranian embassy By Robert Fisk, The Independent The night before they blew themselves up outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut last week, the two suicide bombers stayed at the local Sheraton […]
The Wahhabi – Likudnik war on terror
By Pepe Escobar ASIA TIMES The double suicide bombing targeting the Iranian embassy in Beirut – with at least 23 people killed and 170 wounded – was a de facto terror attack happening on 11/19. Numerology-wise, naturally 9/11 comes to mind; and so the case of the Washington-declared war on […]
Refugees spiraling deeper into poverty: Oxfam
November 21, 2013 01:58 AM By Samya Kullab The Daily Star STORY SUMMARY Monthly incomes for refugees is around $250 but average monthly expenditure is around $520, including rent, $225, […]
Fatal blast near Iran Beirut embassy
Seven people have been reported killed as an explosion struck near the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Conflicting reports say the blast could have come from rockets or a car bomb. Several buildings were damaged in the blast on Tuesday morning, eyewitnesses said. Iran is a major backer […]
Mass migrations are nothing new in the Middle East, but the sheer numbers involved are having a devastating effect
Polio has broken out in Syria and 20 million children are to be vaccinated BY ROBERT FISK, THE INDEPENDENT The Syrian tragedy grows more ferocious by the week. I was shocked to learn this weekend that at least 2,000 Afghans, the poorest of the poor from the harshest country on […]