Libanon

Lebanon's disparate opposition, independent and main Christian parties said Sunday they had nominated IMF official Jihad Azour for the presidency in a challenge to Hezbollah-backed candidate Suleiman Franjieh.

A military tribunal in Lebanon has formally accused five men of killing an Irish UN peacekeeper in December … A senior judicial official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, alleged all five are linked with Lebanese group Hezbollah.

About 200 Hezbollah fighters take part in military exercises ahead of anniversary of Israel’s 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Judges investigating the deadly August 2020 explosion at the port in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, must be free to do their job in peace, a UN independent human rights expert said on Wednesday. 

[…] The violence came amid widespread anger over the harsh economic conditions in the country, where mismanagement by the ruling class has been rampant for years, preceding the economic meltdown that started in late 2019.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun left office last October, finishing a six-year term that saw a deepening political divide and a worsening economic crisis. Since Aoun's departure, the Lebanese parliament has convened — and failed — more than 10 times to elect a new president.

The central bank has confirmed the new official rate of 15,000 pounds per dollar, up from little more than 1,500.

Some two million people in Lebanon, including 1.29 million Lebanese residents and 700,000 Syrian refugees, are suffering some form of food insecurity as a result of the multiple crises afflicting the country, with the situation expected to get worse in the months ahead, UN agencies said on Thursday.

An Irish soldier of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon near the Israeli border was killed and three wounded after their convoy came under fire, Irish officials said Thursday.

A UN peacekeeper from Ireland serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been shot and killed, reportedly while on patrol, and three other ‘blue helmets’ have been injured during the incident, the mission said in a statement on Thursday. UNIFIL said the incident took place in Al-Aqbieh, “just outside” the mission’s area of operations in south Lebanon.