Category:

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Blasts That Killed Dozens in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A fiery double suicide bombing terrorized a mostly Shiite residential area of southern Beirut on Thursday, ripping through a busy shopping district at rush hour. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 43 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded in the worst attack to strike the city in years. The Islamic State extremist group, which controls parts of neighboring Syria , claimed responsibility for the attack. The group portrayed its motives as baldly sectarian, saying it had targeted Shiite Muslims, whom it views as apostates. It mentioned almost as an afterthought that it had targeted Hezbollah , the Shiite militant organization that backs the Syrian government in the civil war raging next door. Hezbollah maintains tight security control in the district that was hit, and the bombing seemed aimed at hurting the group by attacking civilians in an area where it has many […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hezbollah throws weight behind protests, deepening crisis

AP Photo/Hassan Ammar BEIRUT (AP) — The powerful Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah threw its weight Tuesday behind mass protests calling for the government’s resignation, deepening a crisis that started over piles of uncollected garbage in the streets of the capital but has tapped into a much deeper malaise. The explosion of anger targets the endemic corruption, hapless government and sectarian divisions of a brittle country once torn by civil war and now struggling with a wave of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. A grassroots youth movement calling itself "You Stink" mobilized thousands of people in two rallies over the weekend, and has called for another large protest on Saturday. The Hezbollah announcement of support for the protests is likely to fuel concerns the Iranian-backed group and its allies will try to hijack a rare, non-political movement for its own political gain. Hezbollah ministers and their allies walked out […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudi Arabia Sanctions Two Hezbollah Commanders, Alleging Terrorist Activities

Saudi Arabia sanctioned two top Hezbollah commanders allegedly involved in regional terrorist operations, in a sign of the kingdom’s growing coordination with the U.S. Treasury Department. Riyadh on Wednesday blacklisted Khalil Yusif Harb and Muhammad Qabalan for activities the Saudis alleged were designed to destabilize the kingdom’s close strategic allies in Yemen, Egypt and Lebanon. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned the same Lebanese men in August 2013. Hezbollah is a militia and political party based in Lebanon. “The Saudi government will continue to combat Hezbollah’s terrorist activities with all available tools and will continue to work with partners around the world to make it clear that Hezbollah’s militant and extremist activities should not be tolerated by any nation,” Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of the Interior said in a statement. The Treasury Department’s top counterterrorism official praised the action as a sign of increased cooperation between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Syria, Iran condemn Israeli airstrikes

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers have condemned Israeli airstrikes on two areas near Damascus, calling it an act of aggression that proves Israel was "in the same trench" with extremist groups fighting the Syrian government. Israeli warplanes bombed the two areas Sunday, striking near Damascus’ international airport as well as outside a town close to the Lebanese border. The Syrian government said the attacks caused material damage. Israel has not commented on the strikes. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem claimed Israel was trying to compensate for losses incurred by Islamic extremist groups in Syria at the hands of the Syrian army. He did not elaborate. He spoke Monday at a joint news conference in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Israel strikes near the Syrian capital: Syrian TV

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian state television said on Sunday that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon. An Israeli army spokesman said he would not comment on the "foreign reports". Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the three-year conflict, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for their long-time foe Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon. "The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus International Airport," state television said, adding that there were no casualties. Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions. Syria’s army general command said on state television that there were "material losses in some […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

New clashes break out in Lebanese border town

Fighting erupted Wednesday in a Lebanese border town held by Islamic extremists from neighboring Syria after a negotiated truce collapsed overnight. Muslim clerics launched new efforts to broker another cease-fire in what has been the most serious spillover from Syria’s civil war. The initial truce, brokered on Tuesday, was meant to end days of fighting in the eastern town of Arsal and allow for negotiations for the release of captive Lebanese soldiers. According to the Lebanese National News Agency, clashes broke out again after Syrian militants in Arsal opened fire on Lebanese troops early Wednesday and then spread through several fronts across the predominantly Sunni town. Later in the morning, a delegation of Sunni clerics entered the town to try to mediate another ceasefire, said Sheik Raed Hleihel from the Association of Muslim Scholars and a Syrian activist who uses the name Ahmad Alqusair. The two […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Border Fighting Intensifies Between ISIS and Lebanon

A deadly confrontation worsened on Monday between Lebanon’s armed forces and Islamist insurgents from Syria who seized the border town of Arsal over the weekend in what appeared to be the most serious spillover of the Syrian civil war into Lebanese territory since the conflict began more than three years ago. The Lebanese Army said in a statement that its forces were engaged in fierce battles with the Islamists in Arsal, where witnesses reached by telephone, including the deputy mayor, said shelling had hit the town from multiple directions and thousands of residents had fled. Arsal is also one of the temporary homes for many of the Syrian war refugees who have sought sanctuary in eastern Lebanon, and witnesses said Lebanese Army checkpoints were refusing to let the refugees relocate deeper into the country. Some refugees said they were panicking because they had nowhere to go. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon Set to Delay Oil and Gas License Auction Until 2015

Lebanon is likely to delay again the first auction of oil and natural gas licenses in its coastal waters until 2015 because of political gridlock over decrees needed to start the bidding process, people familiar with the matter said. The nation, which claims it may have as much as 96 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 850 million barrels of oil off its coast, repeatedly has delayed the bidding round for the licenses after a cabinet failed to approve two necessary decrees. "The situation is quite complicated. The ministerial committee that was formed to review the decrees has not done much since some members are not happy about the royalties and taxes mentioned in the drafts," one official familiar with the matter said. "Now no one wants to move forward with any action until the parliament elects a new president and we have a new government, which could […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Beirut delays offshore energy auction

Lebanon’s government postponed an offshore natural gas auction after rancor erupted Tuesday over the amount of revenue Beirut would get from energy companies. The Lebanese government estimates there are 95 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 750 million barrels of oil in its territorial waters. A committee led by Prime Minister Tammam Salam has only met a few times to discuss offshore prospects since it was formed early this year. A source close to ministerial negotiations for the auction told The Daily Star newspaper in Beirut policymakers "believe that the state should have a bigger royalty and higher taxes from the profits generated by the oil companies once the actual drilling starts." Royalties of between 5 and 12 percent were seen as too low when compared with other countries. Lebanese Energy and Water Minister Arthur Nazarian is set in August to outline a new date […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Israeli Warplanes Strike Near the Border of Syria and Lebanon

Israeli warplanes launched two raids near the Syrian-Lebanese border late Monday, according to Lebanon ’s National News Agency, raising speculation that Israel might have targeted a weapons convoy to prevent the Syrian government from delivering missiles to its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah . Israel has struck Syria at least three times in the past year, according to United States officials, to prevent sophisticated weapons from reaching Hezbollah amid the chaos of Syria ’s war. Neither Syria nor Hezbollah has retaliated. The potential significance of Monday’s strike depended on whether the raids hit Syrian or Lebanese territory, which was not immediately clear. Analysts said it would be politically harder for Hezbollah to refrain from striking back if Israel, its longtime enemy, had struck inside Lebanon. An Israeli strike inside Lebanon would also represent a further escalation in the regional involvement in — and spillover from — the Syrian […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Bombs Strike Southern Beirut, Killing at Least Five

Two powerful explosions struck a busy area in southern Beirut near an Iranian cultural center on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding dozens in the latest in a series of bomb attacks on civilians here as violence continued to spill over from the war in neighboring Syria. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an offshoot of Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility, saying that it would continue such attacks until the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah withdrew its forces from Syria, where they are supporting the government’s fight against Syrian rebels and foreign-backed jihadist groups. “We tell our people in Syria that Iran’s party won’t enjoy security in Lebanon until you restore security in Syria,” the group said in a statement posted on its Twitter account. Until Hezbollah pulls out of Syria and Sunni militants are released from Lebanese jails, it said, “We will continue targeting Iran and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Minister claims Lebanon faces ‘conspiracy’ over gas fields

As Lebanon’s political leaders and sectarian chieftains squabble over who will control the Energy Ministry and the oil and gas bonanza in the eastern Mediterranean, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil accuses rivals of "conspiring against our oil." And just to underline the extent of the prize that’s at stake, one of Lebanon’s major banking houses, Bank Audi, reported that on the basis of the 96 trillion cubic feet of gas and 865 million barrels of oil the ministry estimates lies offshore, Lebanon’s energy wealth could exceed $600 billion. The bank said in the report published Thursday it was optimistic about the prospects for the nascent energy industry, even though Lebanon’s been without a functioning government since March 2013, has a $63 billion national debt, and is hovering on the brink of another bout of sectarian bloodletting linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Minister claims Lebanon faces 'conspiracy' over gas fields

As Lebanon’s political leaders and sectarian chieftains squabble over who will control the Energy Ministry and the oil and gas bonanza in the eastern Mediterranean, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil accuses rivals of "conspiring against our oil." And just to underline the extent of the prize that’s at stake, one of Lebanon’s major banking houses, Bank Audi, reported that on the basis of the 96 trillion cubic feet of gas and 865 million barrels of oil the ministry estimates lies offshore, Lebanon’s energy wealth could exceed $600 billion. The bank said in the report published Thursday it was optimistic about the prospects for the nascent energy industry, even though Lebanon’s been without a functioning government since March 2013, has a $63 billion national debt, and is hovering on the brink of another bout of sectarian bloodletting linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon pols battle over energy ministry to control gasfields

As deeply divided Lebanon struggles to form a new government after 10 months of political paralysis, one of the key issues is which faction will control the Energy Ministry and the development of potentially rich offshore gas fields. Indeed, it has become something of a Catch-22 situation that’s blocking progress toward extracting the rich natural gas fields that lie in 2,000 feet under the eastern Mediterranean that could rescue the tiny Mediterranean country from economic collapse. And, like just about everything else in Lebanon, the issue has assumed sectarian overtones with the various sects all wanting to control the financial bonanza that the gas fields, which officials say could hold at least 96 trillion cubic feet, plus 850 million barrels of oil, will bring — if drilling ever starts. Work on the 10 exploration blocks in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone cannot begin until […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon’s prospects of gas bonanza slip further away

With Lebanon’s long-awaited auction for exploration licenses in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean postponed because there’s no functioning government, time may be running out for the tiny country to grasp what’s likely to be its last chance for economic salvation as it slips once more toward sectarian savagery. Energy Minister Gebran Bassil was supposed to hold the auction Friday, but on Wednesday he postponed it — for the third time — to April 10 after political rivalries blocked the caretaker government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati from convening to endorse two decrees authorizing the bidding for exploration blocks in Lebanon’s maritime exclusive economic zone. "This is the last time bidding will be delayed," he declared, although it was far from clear why that should be so since the political paralysis gripping the nation is not expected to end anytime soon. Bassil insisted the auction […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon's prospects of gas bonanza slip further away

With Lebanon’s long-awaited auction for exploration licenses in the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean postponed because there’s no functioning government, time may be running out for the tiny country to grasp what’s likely to be its last chance for economic salvation as it slips once more toward sectarian savagery. Energy Minister Gebran Bassil was supposed to hold the auction Friday, but on Wednesday he postponed it — for the third time — to April 10 after political rivalries blocked the caretaker government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati from convening to endorse two decrees authorizing the bidding for exploration blocks in Lebanon’s maritime exclusive economic zone. "This is the last time bidding will be delayed," he declared, although it was far from clear why that should be so since the political paralysis gripping the nation is not expected to end anytime soon. Bassil insisted the auction […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon Again Delays Offshore Energy Auction

Lebanon has again delayed its first auction of oil and natural gas licenses in its coastal waters after the government repeatedly failed to vote on decrees needed to start the bidding process, the country’s energy minister said Wednesday. The auction will now be held three months later than scheduled on April 10, instead of this Friday, Gebran Bassil said in a statement, but vowed that the bidding round will go ahead regardless of whether it has government backing. "It is sad for Lebanon to postpone this tender for the third time and this will certainly lead to a lack of trust and a lack of seriousness among the companies," Mr. Bassil said. Lebanon had twice deferred the licensing round—from Nov. 4 to Dec. 10, and then to Jan. 10—after the cabinet failed to approve two decrees. Mr. Bassil insisted that his ministry was willing to launch the bidding on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudis’ Grant to Lebanon Is Seen as Message to U.S.

If a wealthy patron were all the Lebanese Army needed to counter the Shiite militant group Hezbollah as the dominant force in the country, the recent $3 billion grant from Saudi Arabia might make a decisive difference in the country’s complex political landscape. But the Saudi aid package — nearly twice Lebanon’s $1.7 billion annual defense budget — is earmarked to buy French arms and is unlikely to give the army what it needs most, say supporters and opponents of Hezbollah here. And even if it does, they say, it will take years to make an impact. And while the Saudis are clearly alarmed at Hezbollah’s staying power and its intervention in Syria’s civil war, analysts say the gift announced last week was intended as much to send a message to the United States as to shift the military balance. Yezid Sayigh, a scholar of Arab […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hezbollah Upgrades Missile Threat to Israel

U.S. officials believe members of Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran, are smuggling advanced guided-missile systems into Lebanon from Syria piece by piece to evade a secretive Israeli air campaign designed to stop them. The moves illustrate how both Hezbollah and Israel are using Syria’s civil war as cover for what increasingly is seen as a complex and high-stakes race to prepare for another potential conflict—their own—in ways that could alter the region’s military balance. Some components of a powerful antiship missile system have already been moved to Lebanon, according to previously undisclosed intelligence, while other systems that could target Israeli aircraft, ships and bases are being stored in expanded weapons depots under Hezbollah control in Syria, say current and former U.S. officials. Such guided weapons would be a major step up from the "dumb" rockets and missiles Hezbollah now has stockpiled, and could sharply increase the group’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Beirut Bomb Hits Hezbollah Stronghold

A car bomb ripped through a Hezbollah stronghold in a crowded district of southern Beirut on Thursday, days after a blast in another part of the Lebanese capital killed a politician who opposed the Shiite political and militant group. Thursday’s bombing, which killed five people, drew warnings from officials across Lebanon’s divided political spectrum that the country was teetering on the edge of sectarian warfare, threatening the kind of tit-for-tat killings that marked the country’s 1975-90 civil war. Tensions and violence has surged in Lebanon as the country has been pulled into the civil war in neighboring Syria over the past three years. Three bombs have struck Beirut’s southern suburbs—knownbroadly as Dahyeh after the Arabic word for suburb—in the past year, apparently targeting Hezbollah and its supporters. Hezbollah has sent fighters to Syria to bolster regime troops in their fight against mostly Sunni rebels, a role that became public […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hezbollah Moving Long-Range Missiles From Syria to Lebanon, an Analyst Says

Amid the chaos of Syria ’s civil war, Hezbollah has been moving long-range missiles to Lebanon from bases where it had stored them inside Syria, including long-range Scud D missiles that can strike deep into Israel , according to an Israeli national security analyst. The analyst, Ronen Bergman, who has close contacts with Israeli intelligence officials, said Thursday that despite Israel’s undeclared campaign of airstrikes in Syria to stop new deliveries, most of the long-range surface-to-surface missiles given to Hezbollah by its allies Iran and Syria have been disassembled and moved to Lebanon. American intelligence analysts have also concluded that members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, are smuggling components of advanced Russian-made antiship missile systems piecemeal into Lebanon from war-stricken Syria to avoid an Israeli air campaign, a United States official said Thursday. As many as 12 Russian-made antiship cruise missile systems may now be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudis Pledge $3 Billion to Support Lebanon’s Army

Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to bolster Lebanon’s armed forces, in a challenge to the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia’s decadeslong status as Lebanon’s main power broker and security force. Lebanese President Michel Sleiman revealed the Saudi gift on Lebanese national television Sunday, calling it the largest aid package ever to the country’s defense bodies. The Saudi pledge compares with Lebanon’s 2012 defense budget, which the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put at $1.7 billion. Lebanon would use the Saudi grant to buy "newer and more modern weapons," from France, said Mr. Sleiman, an independent who has become increasingly critical of Hezbollah. It followed what he called "decades of unsuccessful efforts" to build a credible Lebanese national defense force. As a direct challenge to Hezbollah, the Saudi gift—and the Lebanese president’s acceptance—has potential to change the balance of power in Lebanon and the region. It also threatens to raise sectarian and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudis Pledge $3 Billion to Support Lebanon's Army

Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to bolster Lebanon’s armed forces, in a challenge to the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia’s decadeslong status as Lebanon’s main power broker and security force. Lebanese President Michel Sleiman revealed the Saudi gift on Lebanese national television Sunday, calling it the largest aid package ever to the country’s defense bodies. The Saudi pledge compares with Lebanon’s 2012 defense budget, which the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put at $1.7 billion. Lebanon would use the Saudi grant to buy "newer and more modern weapons," from France, said Mr. Sleiman, an independent who has become increasingly critical of Hezbollah. It followed what he called "decades of unsuccessful efforts" to build a credible Lebanese national defense force. As a direct challenge to Hezbollah, the Saudi gift—and the Lebanese president’s acceptance—has potential to change the balance of power in Lebanon and the region. It also threatens to raise sectarian and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple