michel aoun Archives - ArabAmericanNews

Posts tagged with "michel aoun"

Lebanon

Lebanon agrees new government to tackle economic collapse

September 10th, 20210 BEIRUT - Lebanese leaders agreed a new government led by Sunni Muslim tycoon Najib Mikati on Friday after a year of feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a resumption of talks with the IMF. The breakthrough followed a flurry of contacts with France, which has led efforts to...

Lebanon

“U.S.-Lebanon Friendship” congressional caucus calls for action on deteriorating situation

August 19th, 20210 A group of lawmakers wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, calling on U.S. support towards Lebanon’s deteriorating economic and political situation. U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), co-chairs of the...

Lebanon

Lebanon’s Aoun shields patriarch after he urged halt to rockets

August 10th, 20210 BEIRUT — On Tuesday, President Michel Aoun condemned criticism of Lebanon's Christian Maronite patriarch after he expressed opposition to the Iran-backed Shi'a group Hezbollah, warning that insults must be avoided to safeguard national unity. Following a cross-border salvo between Israel and Hezbollah, Patriarch Bechara Boutros...

Lebanon

HRW report: Some officials saw risk of Beirut blast, did not act

August 3rd, 20210 BEIRUT — A report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday concluded there was strong evidence to suggest some Lebanese officials knew about and tacitly accepted the lethal risks posed by ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut port before the fatal blast there on Aug. 4 last year. HRW called for a U.N. investigation into the...

Lebanon

Businessman Mikati secures votes to be designated Lebanon’s PM

July 26th, 20210 BEIRUT — Wealthy Lebanese businessman Najib Mikati secured enough votes in parliamentary consultations on Monday to be designated the next prime minister. Mikati, who has been prime minister twice before and unlike many Lebanese leaders does not hail from a political bloc or dynasty, received 72 votes out of a total of 118 members...

Lebanon

Lebanon spins further into crisis as Hariri abandons bid to form government

July 15th, 20210 BEIRUT — Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri abandoned his months-long effort to form a new government on Thursday, dimming the chances of a cabinet being agreed on any time soon that could start rescuing the country from financial meltdown. Hariri announced his decision after meeting with President Michel Aoun, saying it was clear...

World

Well-known Lebanese composer Samir Sfeir believed to be detained in Saudi Arabia for unknown reasons

April 28th, 20210 BEIRUT — Samir Sfeir, a well-known Lebanese music composer, is believed to be detained in Saudi Arabia for unknown reasons, according to local media and international news sources. Sfeir has sung about Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun and is said to be close to the president’s party. He is from Ajaltoun, Lebanon. The Lebanese...

COMMUNITY

Lebanese president Aoun fears chaos as crisis bites

April 2nd, 20210 BEIRUT — Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday the country could face chaos before it can recover from a financial meltdown. Crushed under a mountain of debt and decades of graft, Lebanon has plunged into its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Aoun, a former army commander, and Saad al-Hariri, a three-time...

Lebanon

Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc warns against sidelining president

March 27th, 20210 BEIRUT — Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), warned prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Saturday against sidelining President Michel Aoun and other parliamentary blocs in talks over forming a cabinet. Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads over the cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a...

COMMUNITY

Roadblocks cleared in Lebanon after week of protests

March 12th, 20210 BEIRUT — Growing resentment and outrage among the Lebanese led to eight days of protests this week, with protesters using burnt tires to block roadways across the country in anger over the nation's economic meltdown and political deadlock amid a pandemic lockdown. The Lebanese army said on Wednesday it had started clearing...

Lebanon

Lebanese anger at economy grows as political deadlock persists

March 6th, 20210 BEIRUT — Protesters blocked some roadways in Lebanon for a second day on Wednesday, after the currency’s fall to a new low further enraged a population long horrified by the country’s financial meltdown. In the past year, Lebanon has been through a popular uprising against its political leaders, the bankruptcy of the state and...

COMMUNITY

Lebanese filmmaker and Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim shot dead

February 5th, 20210 BEIRUT — Activist, publisher and filmaker Lokman Slim was found dead in a car in Southern Lebanon on Thursday. Slim died from four bullets in the head and one in the back. Slim’s sister Rasha al-Ameer suggested he had been murdered because of his ardent criticism of Shi’a Hezbollah. He was last seen after visiting a poet...

COMMUNITY

Lebanon’s president seeks evidence behind U.S. sanctions on son-in-law

November 9th, 20200 BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that Lebanon would seek evidence and documents from the United States that led Washington to impose sanctions on his son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, a prominent Christian politician. On Friday, the United States blacklisted Bassil, leader of Lebanon’s biggest Christian political...

International

Lebanese continue their recovery efforts and demand reform, U.S. joins Beirut blast probe

August 14th, 20200 BEIRUT — Another day of unrest and protests in Beirut on Thursday, as Lebanese security forces tried to stop angry protesters from approaching a meeting of MPs. The MPs gathered for the first time since the port side blast that killed 172 people on Tuesday, Aug. 4, with dozens still missing. The death and injury toll (estimated...

COMMUNITY

“Possibility of external interference”: Lebanon’s president expands blast probe

August 7th, 20200 BEIRUT (REUTERS) — Lebanon’s president said on Friday an investigation into the biggest blast in Beirut’s history would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference, as residents tried to rebuild their shattered lives after the explosion. The search for those missing has intensified, as rescuers sifted...

Lebanon

Beirut reels from huge blast as death toll climbs to at least 135

August 5th, 20200 BEIRUT — On Wednesday, Lebanese rescue teams pulled out bodies and hunted for missing people in the wreckage caused by a massive warehouse explosion that sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 135. Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared three days of mourning from Thursday as early investigations blamed...

International

Lebanese foreign minister quits over slow reforms, Aoun adviser takes over

August 3rd, 20200 BEIRUT (REUTERS) — Lebanon named the president’s diplomatic adviser as new foreign minister on Monday after Nassif Hitti quit the post, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown, which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. Foreign donors have...

COMMUNITY

Lebanon: Hariri forms new government, vows bold reforms

January 31st, 20190 BEIRUT - Lebanon formed a new national unity government on Thursday, ending nine months of wrangling, and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said bold moves were needed without delay to address chronic problems facing the heavily indebted state. This cabinet of Hariri, who has Western backing, includes most parties including the Hezbollah...

World

U.S. envoy visits Lebanon and Israel amid tensions over border wall, energy

February 9th, 20180 BEIRUT — A U.S. envoy has assured Lebanon that Israel does not seek an escalation between the countries following a surge in hostile rhetoric, Lebanese and Israeli officials said on Thursday. Lebanon and Israel have exchanged threats and condemnation over a border wall being built by Israel, a tender issued by Beirut for oil and gas...

In Our Opinion

Hariri’s return marks a new era for him and Lebanon

November 23rd, 20170 Saudi Arabia added this week another political downfall to its long list of successive defeats in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Qatar and Palestine. The last blunder of the immature Saudi Crown Prince was holding the Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad al-Hariri hostage and forcing him to abruptly resign from a discreet place in his fumbling kingdom,...

World

Hariri to return to Lebanon for Independence Day

November 18th, 20170 PARIS - Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister this month while in Saudi Arabia, said on Saturday he would clarify his position when he returns to Beirut next week for Independence Day. Hariri’s resignation on Nov. 4 threw Lebanon into political crisis and put it center-stage in the Middle East’s overarching...

COMMUNITY

Lebanese Americans in Michigan condemn Saudi intervention, stand by Hariri

November 17th, 20170 DEARBORN — They might be thousands of miles away, but news of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri's resignation – and the prospect that Saudi Arabia has something to do with it – has Lebanese expatriates on edge. Dozens of Lebanese Americans in Metro Detroit joined a protest at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in Dearborn...