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Will Berri succeed in defusing tension between Aoun and Hariri in today’s parliamentary session?

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who yesterday summoned MPs for a plenary session to discuss the letter he received on Tuesday from President Michel Aoun — in which the latter implicitly accused the...

Jeanine JALKH, 20 May 2021

The Kataeb offices at Nijmeh Square in Tripoli were set alight this evening when unidentified individuals threw a Molotov cocktail at the premises, local media outlets report. The blaze has since been extinguished

20 May 2021

Polling day for Syrians in Lebanon underscores local tensions and political divisions over the regime next door

BEIRUT — Lebanese politicians made their stance on Syria’s regime abundantly clear on Thursday as violence erupted in various parts of the country between Syrians turning out to vote in their...

Ghada Alsharif, 20 May 2021

BDL announces a new dollar injection mechanism aimed at stabilizing the lira

BEIRUT — Banque du Liban has said that from next week it will start selling dollars to commercial banks at an exchange rate of LL12,000 per greenback. The sales will take place through Sayrafa, the...

Omar Tamo, 20 May 2021

Lebanon has registered 394 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Seven more people have died, bringing the death toll to 7,658

20 May 2021

Demonstrators carrying Syrian flags and images of Bashar al-Assad are marching through Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen neighborhood to protest assaults they endured earlier today as they traveled to vote in Syria’s presidential election at the country’s embassy in Beirut, the NNA reports

20 May 2021

Calm has returned to the Jounieh highway after tensions erupted between protesters from the area and passengers in vehicles carrying the Syrian flag and pictures of President Bashar al-Assad, the NNA reports. Army units deployed in the area to bring the situation under control

20 May 2021

BDL Gov. Riad Salameh has announced that the central bank will sell commercial banks dollars in exchange for LL12,000. Banks will have to deposit the counter-value in cash lira by Tuesday, and BDL said it will honor the purchase on Thursday

20 May 2021

With the outcome of Syria’s presidential election in little doubt, hundreds of Syrians in Lebanon turn out to vote amid allegations of coercion

BAABDA — Hundreds of Syrians lined up outside the Syrian Embassy in Baabda on Thursday morning — some having trudged up the highway on foot, others having arrived in buses, many clutching posters...

Abby Sewell, 20 May 2021

The Lebanese Army has foiled an attempt to smuggle 125 Syrian refugees from Lebanon off the coast near Akkar, an army statement says. This is at least the fourth thwarted smuggling attempt in recent weeks amid Lebanon's collapsing economy

20 May 2021

Scuffles have broken out in a number of areas, including Nahr al-Kalb and Zouk, as some Lebanese attacked convoys of Syrians who were traveling to Baabda to vote in the Syrian presidential election after they expressed support for Assad

20 May 2021

Hundreds of Syrians have arrived at the Syrian Embassy in Baabda to cast their ballot in the Syrian presidential election, with many saying they were bussed in from across Lebanon. Many voters carried posters and chanted in favor of current President Bashar al-Assad

20 May 2021

Eid al-Fitr is over, yet no breakthrough in cabinet formation

The stalemate in the cabinet formation appears set to persist as no breakthrough is foreseeable before Saad Hariri returns to Beirut. The prime minister-designate has been on vacation in the United...

Yara ABI AKL, 20 May 2021

Wehbi steps down, rockets draw Israeli shell fire, Syrian voters go to the polls: Everything you need to know today

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up. Charbel Wehbi asked to be relieved of his duties as caretaker foreign minister amid the fallout from comments he made Monday...

20 May 2021