Tag Archives: lebanon

Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri stepped down after failing to form a government 10 weeks after the election. Hezbollah and its allies blocked the formation of a new government after “rounds and rounds of consultations which always ended in obstruction,” Hariri said.

Security forces captured Taha al Hajj Suleiman, the Syrian member of Fatah al Islam who escaped from a high security prison in Beirut yesterday. Seven other members of the group were prevented from escaping. Suleiman’s escape led to the firing of more than 360 prison officials for poor performance.

Taha al-Hajj Suleiman, a “dangerous” member of Fatah al Islam, escaped from the high-security Roumieh prison in eastern Beirut. Seven other members of the group, including the chief spokesman, were captured while attempting to escape. The Fatah al Islam members were captured during the 2007 assault on the Nahr el Bared Palestinian refugee camp.

The Army arrested ten members of a Fatah al Islam cell in the Ein al Hilweh Palestinian camp. The cell was plotting attacks against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon as well as against targets outside the country. Nine members were from outside Lebanon.

Security forces broke up “a huge network of Al-Qaeda,” Brigadier General Jean Kahwaji, the commander of the Lebanese Army said. The group was plotting to “destabilise Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries including Kuwait.” No further details on the cell were given.

Hezbollah has accepted defeat in yesterday’s national elections. After a final tally of votes, the anti-Syrian March 14 alliance took 71 of the 128 seats in parliament. The Hezbollah-led alliance had been widely expected to win the election.

The anti-Syrian March 14 coalition won a decisive victory over Hezbollah’s March 8 coalition. March 14 won 70 of 128 seats in parliament in a national election that saw very little violence. International observers said the elections were fair.

Wanted terrorist and master bomb maker Husayn al Umari, who is better know as Abu Ibrahim, is thought to be residing in the northwest Lebanese city of Tripoli. Umari was behind several bombings in the 1980s and was sheltered by Iraqi intelligence for decades. He is thought to have played a role in the Iraqi […]