BEIRUT: In a defiant response to the execution by ISIS of two Lebanese soldiers, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Sunday Lebanon has “several options” to free its captured soldiers, warning that the militant captors were seeking to incite sectarian strife in the country. Speaking in a televised speech to the Lebanese Sunday night,… اقرأ المزيد
BEIRUT: A Qatari delegation Friday stepped in to help secure the release of Lebanese soldiers and policemen held hostage by militants, meeting with commanders from ISIS and the Nusra Front to convey their demands to the government. The Qatari mediation came a day after the government rejected the militants’ demands to swap the… اقرأ المزيد
I had the uncomfortable feeling this week that we may be at the start of a replay of that period in 2001-2003 when the United States launched a “global war on terror,” or GWOT, to defeat Al-Qaeda and its brand of terrorism. A decade later, the U.S. and the United Kingdom led an attack on… اقرأ المزيد
Hasan LakkisHussein Dakroub BEIRUT: The Cabinet gave the Lebanese Army a free hand to launch a military operation to free the captured soldiers Thursday, rejecting demands by jihadist groups to swap the hostages with Islamist detainees held in Roumieh prison. The Cabinet’s tough stance on the hostage crisis coincided with widening protests by the… اقرأ المزيد
Talk about America’s decline is usually wrong. But how else would you describe a country that, in a world of exploding tensions, is unable to confirm dozens of ambassadors to foreign posts because of partisan political squabbling? Even by Washington standards, the Senate Republicans have hit a new low for hypocrisy. They denounce President Barack… اقرأ المزيد
BEIRUT: With the release of Islamist prisoners topping the demands of extremist militants holding security personnel in Arsal, a long-held suspicion was confirmed: ISIS has a stake in Lebanon, and the Roumieh prison lies at the heart of the matter. The first inkling came in June, when the group posted a video on… اقرأ المزيد