BEIRUT: Two rockets hit the Sahel al-Taybe area near the Bekaa village of Britel Friday.
A security source told The Daily Star, that the rockets were launched from Syrian territory towards the Eastern Mountain Range. No casualties have been reported so far.
More to follow ...
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BEIRUT: George Clooney Friday slapped down Britain’s Daily Mail’s apology over a report it had published on his future mother-in-law, saying the newspaper knew the story was false.
Earlier this week, the newspaper published a report that Baria Alamuddin, a Lebanese-born journalist, was against her daughter marrying the actor and director on religious grounds.
Clooney responded in a rare letter to USA Today, denying the report as 'fabricated' and saying it incited religious violence.
"The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal," Clooney said in his initial letter.
Hours after the letter was published, The Daily Mail issued an apology to Clooney, saying the story had been "supplied in good faith by a reputable and trusted freelance journalist."
"We accept Mr. Clooney's assurance that the story is inaccurate and we apologize to him, Miss Amal Alamuddin and her mother, Baria, for any distress caused."
However, the apology fell short of satisfying Clooney, prompting him to issue another damning letter that argued that the apology itself proved the newspaper knew in advance the story was a fake.
“There is one constant when a person or company is caught doing something wrong. The cover-up is always worse,” Clooney, scheduled to tie the knot in September to Lebanese-born Amal Alameddin, said.
“In this case, the Daily Mail has printed an apology for insinuating religious tensions where there are none. In the apology, managing editor Charles Garside claims that the article was ‘not a fabrication,’ but based on conversations with senior members of the Lebanese community."
“The problem is that none of that is true. The original story never cites that source, but instead goes out of its way to insist on four different occasions that ‘a family friend’ spoke directly to the Mail. A ‘family friend’ was the source. So either they were lying originally or they're lying now.”
“Furthermore, they knew ahead of time that they were lying. In an article dated April 28, 2014, reporter Richard Spillett writes in the Mail that ‘Ramzi, (Amal's father), married outside the Druze faith,’ and a family friend said that ‘Baria, (Amal's mom), is not Druze.’ The Mail knew the story in question was false and printed it anyway.”
Lebanese Internal Security Forces arrest a drug dealer and two of his clients in Ramlet al-Baida after a Beirut police...
BEIRUT: An assessment on the impact of the humanitarian crisis on Syrian and Lebanese youths in Lebanon revealed the high prevalence of suicidal thoughts and sexual abuse among Syrian adolescents.
“Forty-one percent, often or sometimes, thought of ending their life and 53 percent never once felt safe in Lebanon. These findings reflect feelings of anxiety,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator Ross Mountain.
Mountain quoted a respondent from the survey saying that “he wishes a car would run him over and he dies, as he just hates the kind of life he is living.”
The "Situation Analysis of Youth in Lebanon Affected by the Syrian Crisis" report was launched Friday at the Phoenicia Hotel, with the event dedicating World Population Day to youth in the humanitarian context.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)'s report evaluated the humanitarian crisis in terms of shelter, education, livelihoods, health, protection, and social cohesion.
According to its findings, Syrian refugee youths are overburdened with anxiety and insecurity, with young woman in particular suffering from sexual harassment and exploitation.
“If you are not responsive or submissive to inappropriate requests or favors you are not allowed a break nor given water to drink while working sometimes for more than 15 hours,” said Mountain, quoting one female refugee who works in the agriculture sector in the Bekaa.
The humanitarian crisis has led to dire economic conditions, which in turn led to a high number of school dropouts -- with others forced in to early marriage in return for food, money or shelter.
“Syrian refugees are living in distress ... young woman in particular suffer from their living conditions, sexual harassment and exploitation, and other factors that are restricting their mobility and encouraging early marriage as a coping strategy,” said a UNFPA official in a statement released by the organization.
The report also pointed out that 66 percent of female refugees aged 15-18, have no knowledge of contraception -- contributing to high birth rates and large families. In total, 46 percent of Syrian refugee youth have no knowledge of contraception.
The report recommended all adolescents be provided age-appropriate and comprehensive reproductive health education in order to address the problem.
The number of registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon surpassed one million in April, of which 185,000 are aged 15-24.
BEIRUT: A local Lebanese television channel Friday issued an apology for writing "the war on Israel" during a segment reporting on the situation in Gaza.
MTV ran a report on the hostilities between Gaza and Israel with the reporter’s picture, Majdi al-Halabi, on the right-hand side of the screen while text for the story read: “The war on Israel.”
A photo of a TV screen with the report’s details circulated on social media with the original poster asking: “Could anyone explain the title please?”
An hour after the photo was published MTV issued a statement, apologizing for what it said was a mistake.
“ MTV apologizes for the unintentional mistake that was in its report during the afternoon news hour with regards to the war on Gaza,” the television said.
“It is of our concern that we affirm the channel’s clear and honest [coverage] with regards to Arab issues, particularly the righteous Palestinian cause.”
MTV had found itself in a similar controversy back in 2012 when its correspondent in Israel, al-Halabi, interviewed an Israeli expert on the threat posed by Hezbollah to the Jewish state.
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SIDON, Lebanon: Dozens of Palestinians and Lebanese protested in the coastal city of Sidon Friday in solidarity with Gaza, asking Hamas to boost its operation against Israel.
The protesters in Martyrs’ Square carried dolls wrapped in bloodied white wraps and denounced Israel’s deadly attacks on civilians, including Palestinian children.
They also brought in a vehicle carrying several M75 rockets, urging Hamas to strike Tel Aviv and Israeli state buildings.
One of the protesters, Fadwa, carrying a fake rocket, told The Daily Star that the rocket represented her more than President Mahmoud Abbas, criticizing the latter for saying Israel would launch a ground operation.
“Is he Israel’s messenger now?” asked Fadwa.
Ali Youssef, an official from Hamas, gathered the crowd, reassuring the protesters that Hamas has more in store for Israel.
“Be patient because Hamas has much more than they think. We are still at the beginning. You will enjoy,” Youssef said as the crowd cheered.
He also blasted the Egyptian government for closing the Rafah crossing, saying the move “was slowly killing the Palestinian people.”
“They only opened at the request of [U.N. Chief] Ban Ki-moon,” he said.
“Mohammad Morsi had opened the border from both sides, while Abdel-Fattah Sisi closed it off.”
Over 100 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s air campaign against the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, while rockets fired by militants reached deeper into the Jewish state with no casualties reported.
The conflict began following the abduction of three Israeli teenagers who were found murdered and the retaliatory kidnapping of a Palestinian teenager who was burned alive.
Hamas has denied any involvement in the abduction of the Israeli boys, while Israeli officials have blamed extremist Jews for the killing of the Palestinian.
BEIRUT: Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has called on the international community to combat all types of terrorism plaguing the Middle East, including the state terrorism exercised by Israel against the Palestinians, the National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday.
“Lebanon and the region are in utmost need for a daring stance by the international community to combat the terrorism to which we are exposed,” Bassil said.
“We are suffering from two types of terrorism, one that is exercised by states like Israel, and the second by extremist groups who are driven by ideologies that don’t tolerate others,” he added.
Bassil said Lebanon is seeking world support to safeguard its diverse social fabric and national coexistence, strongly endangered by rampant radicalism in the Middle East.
Bassil made his comments during an ongoing official visit to Brazil.
According to the NNA, Bassil held talks with the Brazilian ministers of foreign affairs, defense and energy on enhancing trade, encouraging Brazilian investments in Lebanon’s young oil and gas sector and exploring ways of assisting the Lebanese Army in its fight against terrorism.
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