Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam Tuesday warned that the yearlong presidential vacuum is threatening the country’s existence, as Christian March 14 lawmakers lobbied for the Maronite patriarch’s support to reduce the quorum required for an electoral Parliament session. The development came a day after Lebanon marked the one-year anniversary… اقرأ المزيد
If I were Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi, I’d be slightly worried that I received a telephone call from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday assuring continued American military support and coordination to combat ISIS. Last week, ISIS made dramatic gains by taking over the provincial capital of Ramadi without much of a fight… اقرأ المزيد
Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed Sunday to oust Islamist militants from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, and also to plow on with the offensive in the Qalamoun region until the Lebanese-Syrian border is secure. Nasrallah’s remarks, seen as a serious escalation of the… اقرأ المزيد
The Daily Star BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned Hezbollah that Arsal would not be turned into a “scapegoat” for its Qalamoun offensive, adding that the party would fail in its efforts to drag the Lebanese Army into the conflict. “Arsal [should] not be made a scapegoat for Hezbollah’s defiance of the national… اقرأ المزيد
Hussein Dakroub BEIRUT: MP Michel Aoun’s latest initiative to resolve the yearlong presidential crisis appeared Wednesday to have reached a dead end, with the Future Movement, backed by its March 14 allies, opposing any constitutional amendment to allow for the president to be elected directly by the people. The development comes as MPs from… اقرأ المزيد
The capture of Ramadi last weekend by ISIS fighters is a significant setback for U.S. strategy in Iraq and shows that, nearly a year after the extremists overran Mosul, the U.S. still doesn’t have a viable plan for protecting the country’s Sunni areas. The collapse of the Iraqi army in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar… اقرأ المزيد