Baabda Palace press office violated the protocol after failing to include the name of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam on the list of attendees of the reception of well-wishers at the Baabda Palace on the occasion of the country's 70th Independence Day.
According to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Tuesday, the press office included the names of Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati but failed to place the name of Salam on the list.
Full StoryCaretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour has warned that the massive influx of Syrian refugees in the past days could no longer be resolved through humanitarian aid, saying the Lebanese authorities should ask the international community for political or security measures to end the crisis.
In remarks to local dailies published on Tuesday, Abou Faour said: “The situation is very worrying. The continued influx of the displaced is putting an additional burden on Lebanon that it can't handle.”
Full StoryPhalange Party urged the state to adopt the necessary measures to stop Syrian violations of Lebanese territories, slamming transforming border regions “into a mailbox for political messages between the Syrian regime and opposition.”
"We condemn the use of border regions as a war tool and transforming them into a mailbox for political messages between the Syrian regime and the opposition,” the party said in a released statement after the political bureau's weekly meeting.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Monday that Lebanon's constitution and National Pact make no reference to resistance movements.
He declared during a press conference: “The lack of reference renders Hizbullah an unconstitutional and illegitimate armed group and we will never recognize its legitimacy.”
Full StoryA delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement and another from the Phalange Party held talks on Monday as part of the former's initiative to end the political deadlock in Lebanon.
FPM MP Simon Abi Ramia announced: “We were in agreement over all issues and the need to revitalize legislation.”
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat called on Monday for preserving the cultural heritage of Beirut, noting also that the price for destruction in the Arab world is very high.
"If reports saying that the plan to demolish the Massad Stairs (in the Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mikhael) has been canceled, then this is good news for Beirut's heritage that is gradually getting extinct,” Jumblat said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website.
Full StoryCaretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati noted on Monday that Lebanon's economy is suffering as a result of the poor political and security situation in the Arab world, especially the crisis in Syria.
He said: “Solutions to economic and social affairs should be kept away from Lebanon's political divide.”
Full StoryA Lebanese woman was killed and her two children injured after their car collided with a truck transporting cement in the Hasbaya region, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.
NNA said Yumna Nayef al-Qadi, who was driving a BMW, died and her children Rabiaa and Bassel suffered injuries, in the crash on the Mimes-Kfeir road in Hasbaya.
Full StoryThe cousins of the municipal chief of the northeastern border town of Arsal were allegedly killed on Monday in a raid carried out by Syrian helicopter gunships.
Youssef and Khaled al-Hujairi died in the attack on the outskirts of Arsal in Wadi Mira, media reports said.
Full StoryInternal Security Forces units began deploying in the neighborhoods of the northern city of Tripoli on Monday to implement phase two of a security plan that aims at maintaining stability in the city.
Units will be deployed in various neighborhoods of the city, including the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
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