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Syrian troops capture key town near Lebanon border

AP Photo DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian government troops captured a key town near the Lebanese border from rebels on Tuesday, days after launching a broad offensive in the mountainous western region, state media, activists and the army said. The attack on Qara began Friday morning in what appeared to be an operation aimed at cutting off rebel supply lines to Lebanon. The Qara route is particularly important to rebels entrenched in suburbs around Damascus, and also lies on the main north-south highway linking the capital to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast. State TV reported troops were “in full control,” while the army said in a statement it had captured the town Tuesday morning and that “large numbers of terrorists who took positions in the city were wiped out.” The Syrian government refers to all armed opposition fighters as terrorists. “This achievement aims to strengthen control of supply […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon blasts near Iran’s embassy in Beirut

Breaking news 19 November 2013 Last updated at 08:22 Seven people have been reported killed as explosions struck near the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Conflicting reports say the blasts could have come from rockets or a car bomb. Several buildings were damaged, eyewitnesses said. Iran is a major backer of the Lebanaese Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to back the government of Bashar al-Assad. The conflict in Syria has worsened sectarian tensions in Lebanon. The area around the Iranian embassy, in south Beirut, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. On 15 August, 16 people were killed in a blast in south Beirut. Hezbollah fighters were instrumental in a strategic victory by Syrian government forces in Qusair, close to the border with Lebanon, in early June.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon blasts near Iran's embassy in Beirut

Breaking news 19 November 2013 Last updated at 08:22 Seven people have been reported killed as explosions struck near the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Conflicting reports say the blasts could have come from rockets or a car bomb. Several buildings were damaged, eyewitnesses said. Iran is a major backer of the Lebanaese Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to back the government of Bashar al-Assad. The conflict in Syria has worsened sectarian tensions in Lebanon. The area around the Iranian embassy, in south Beirut, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. On 15 August, 16 people were killed in a blast in south Beirut. Hezbollah fighters were instrumental in a strategic victory by Syrian government forces in Qusair, close to the border with Lebanon, in early June.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Hezbollah Chief Says His Forces Will Stay in Syria

LONDON — The head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group whose armed followers are fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, pledged on Thursday that his forces would remain there as long as necessary. The leader, Hassan Nasrallah, spoke at a Shiite ceremony in his stronghold in southern Beirut, the Lebanese capital, held to observe Ashura, one of the most important holidays on the Shiite religious calendar. It commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Mr. Nasrallah’s battle-hardened fighters joined the fray in Syria earlier this year to recapture a border town, and Mr. Assad’s foes say they have also been deployed on other fronts in the south near Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo in the north. “As long as the reasons remain, our presence there will remain,” Mr. Nasrallah told thousands of his followers. “Our fighters, our mujahedeen, are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon’s gas boom-in-waiting goes into deep freeze

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 7 (UPI) — Lebanon’s energy boom-in-waiting seems to be more or less on permanent hold these days, with little prospect that the country’s perpetually feuding politicians can set aside their sectarian rivalries to get exploration under way. But the danger of spillover from the Syrian civil war next door and meddling by regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran could well put the whole economy-saving enterprise into deep freeze for a long time. The most immediate problem is that Lebanon, squeezed by a national debt of $60 billion and its economy crumbling by the day, has been without a government since March, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engineered the collapse of a so-called unity Cabinet. All efforts to cobble together a new one have foundered on the sectarian rivalries that have dogged the tiny Mediterranean state since France bestowed independence in 1943. At that time, Christians, headed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lebanon's gas boom-in-waiting goes into deep freeze

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 7 (UPI) — Lebanon’s energy boom-in-waiting seems to be more or less on permanent hold these days, with little prospect that the country’s perpetually feuding politicians can set aside their sectarian rivalries to get exploration under way. But the danger of spillover from the Syrian civil war next door and meddling by regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran could well put the whole economy-saving enterprise into deep freeze for a long time. The most immediate problem is that Lebanon, squeezed by a national debt of $60 billion and its economy crumbling by the day, has been without a government since March, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engineered the collapse of a so-called unity Cabinet. All efforts to cobble together a new one have foundered on the sectarian rivalries that have dogged the tiny Mediterranean state since France bestowed independence in 1943. At that time, Christians, headed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon’s energy minister say gas reserves now near 96 tcf

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 30 (UPI) — Energy Minister Gebran Bassil says natural gas reserves off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast are far greater than previously estimated, saying there may be 95.9 trillion cubic feet plus 865 million barrels of oil. The estimates mark a massive increase in Lebanon’s potential energy wealth, fueling growing expectations the violence-prone country is on the brink of a boom that will, at a stroke, eliminate its deepening economic distress — a debt approaching $60 billion — as it stumbles from day to day without a government and faces calamity from the spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria. Indeed, the figures cited by Bassil, whose term has been marked by a steadily deteriorating electrical supply that leaves much of Lebanon without power daily, are almost too good to be true, even with his caveats. “The current estimate, with a probability of 50 percent, for almost […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon's energy minister say gas reserves now near 96 tcf

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 30 (UPI) — Energy Minister Gebran Bassil says natural gas reserves off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast are far greater than previously estimated, saying there may be 95.9 trillion cubic feet plus 865 million barrels of oil. The estimates mark a massive increase in Lebanon’s potential energy wealth, fueling growing expectations the violence-prone country is on the brink of a boom that will, at a stroke, eliminate its deepening economic distress — a debt approaching $60 billion — as it stumbles from day to day without a government and faces calamity from the spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria. Indeed, the figures cited by Bassil, whose term has been marked by a steadily deteriorating electrical supply that leaves much of Lebanon without power daily, are almost too good to be true, even with his caveats. “The current estimate, with a probability of 50 percent, for almost […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lebanon says gas, oil reserves may be higher than thought

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said new estimates for nearly half of Lebanese waters suggested the country’s reserves of natural gas and oil might be larger than previously thought. "The current estimate, under a probability of 50 percent, for almost 45 percent of our waters has reached 95.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and 865 million barrels of oil," he said. The estimates are based on seismic surveys conducted ahead of an auction for exploration rights which has already been delayed by several months by a political stalemate in Lebanon. As Lebanon prepares to move toward exploring and developing its offshore oil and gas resources, Bassil said he hoped that hydrocarbon revenues would give the country "political, economic and financial independence". "This definitely needs more exploration and drilling activities to get more precise figures, but this is an indication that with more work surveys and analyses, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple