Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Suspected Israeli airstrikes in Syria in recent weeks have killed two Iranian military advisers, temporarily put the country’s two largest airports out of service, and raised fears of regional escalation.

While Israel has fought a shadow war with Iran in Syria for years, it has intensified recently, with near-daily airstrikes attributed to Israel by Syrian officials over the past week.

BEIRUT (AP) — A drone strike carried out by the American-led coalition in northwestern Syria has killed a senior member of the Islamic State group who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the United States military said Tuesday.

The man killed Monday in the strike was identified by a U.S. military statement as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri. The military statement added that his death “will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks.”

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese government’s last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight savings time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in mass confusion Sunday.

With some institutions implementing the change while others refused, many Lebanese have found themselves in the position of juggling work and school schedules in different time zones — in the same tiny country.

BEIRUT, March 25 (Reuters) - The death toll in U.S. air strikes on pro-Iran installations in eastern Syria has risen to 19 fighters, a Syrian war monitor said on Saturday, in one of the deadliest exchanges between the U.S. and Iran-aligned forces in years.

The U.S. carried out strikes in eastern Syria in response to a drone attack on Thursday that left one American contractor dead, and another one wounded along with five U.S. troops. Washington said the attack was of Iranian origin.

24 Mar 2023; MEMO: A federal judge in New York has ordered Iran's Central Bank and a European intermediary to pay $1.68 billion in compensation to the family members of US Marines killed in the 1983 bomb attack on their barracks in Beirut, Reuters has reported.

BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia is in talks with Syria to reopen its embassy in the war-torn nation for the first time in a decade, state television in the kingdom reported late Thursday, the latest diplomatic reshuffling in the region.

23 Mar 2023; MEMO: Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, said Thursday that "the situation requires a quick emergency operation to save the country," stressing that the solution is to elect a president, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Mikati met with Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, at the assembly's headquarters in Beirut, according to a statement by Berri's office.

BEIRUT, Mar 23 (NNN-NNA) – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), yesterday launched a project, with 2.2 million U.S. dollars in grant financing, to help revitalise the cultural life in Lebanon.

Implemented by UN-Habitat, the BERYT project is financed by the Lebanon Financing Facility (LFF), a multi-donor trust fund, administered by the World Bank, and UNESCO Beirut will oversee the implementation of the cultural and creative industries component.

BEIRUT (AP) — On a recent school day, the Rene Mouawad High School in Beirut was empty, its classrooms dark, just like all of Lebanon’s public schools have been for most of the past three months. Its striking teachers were protesting in front of the Education Ministry, not far away.

15 Mar 2023; MEMO: Lebanon's veteran Central Bank head, Riad Salameh, did not attend a hearing on Wednesday into accusations of embezzling public money after his lawyer objected to the presence of European investigators, two sources said, Reuters reports.