13 year old boy killed in renewed Tripoli clashes

A 13-year-old boy was killed and at least four other people wounded by sniper fire in the Lebanese city of Tripoli in north Lebanon on Wednesday . (more…)

Pity the tiny nation

Woe, again, is Lebanon. Pity the tiny nation that seems condemned to be dragged into virtually every one of the region’s conflagrations. Such is the fate of a perennially divided country.

Right from the start of the uprising against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, it was inevitable that similar tensions would echo inside the borders of Syria’s smaller, weaker, more subdivided neighbour ( (more…)

Charbel: Al-Qaeda doesn’t exist in Lebanon

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Wednesday that there are individuals in Lebanon who sympathize with Al-Qaeda, but that the group as an organization does not exist in the country does not have any bases and does not receive any funding. (more…)

Renewed fighting rocks Lebanon’s Tripoli

Heavy fighting rocked Lebanon’s northern port of Tripoli for a fourth day on Wednesday, wounding
at least six people in a city where sectarian tensions have been growing over the revolt in neighbouring Syria, security sources said.

The fighting in Tripoli, 70 km (43 miles) from Beirut, has highlighted how violence in Syria can spill into Lebanon (more…)

Syria’s neighbors funding, arming rebels, report

Syrian rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, an effort paid for by the Gulf nations and coordinated in part by the United States, according to opposition activists and U.S. and foreign officials. (more…)

Lebanese army deploys in Tripoli areas hit by fighting

The Lebanese army deployed Tuesday in sectors of Tripoli affected by clashes, calming the area after three days of sectarian fighting that killed nine people, an AFP correspondent said.

Troops entered Syria Street, the frontline of fighting between the districts of Bab el-Tebbaneh, and Jabal Mohsen, (more…)

Renewed clashes reported in Tripoli, Lebanon

Renewed clashes were reported on Tuesday in Tripoli , Lebanon’s northern capital in the area of Talaat al-Rifaia between the Nashar and Hajer families according to New ( Al Jadeed) TV.

According to the report the Nashar family sympathizes with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, while the Hajer family sympathizes with the Islamist organizations. (more…)

Saudis holding union talks with Bahrain

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain discussed a political union at a meeting in Riyadh yesterday in a development that could see the tiny Gulf kingdom largely absorbed by its neighbour.

Critics of the deal, the details of which are yet to be made clear, say it might affect the line of succession in Bahrain where the Sunni al-Khalifa royal clan has been split on how to respond to demands for democratic reform from the Shia majority. (more…)

Five dead, dozens wounded in Lebanon clashes

Five people were killed and more than 70 wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday (more…)

EU slaps new sanctions on Syria

European Union foreign ministers on Monday imposed new sanctions on the Syrian regime, urging it to adopt a U.N.-backed peace plan that so far has failed to stop the mounting carnage.

At the same time, effects of the Syrian conflict are being felt in neighboring Lebanon, where clashes have killed at least seven people near Tripoli. (more…)