27 Jun 2025 16:58 PM PM Nawaf Salam chairs Cabinet session at Grand Serail
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is currently chairing a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail, attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Finance Yassin Jaber, Culture Ghassan Salameh, Defense Michel Menassa, Energy Joe Saddi, Tourism Laura Khazen Lahoud, Social Affairs Hanin Al Sayed, Foreign Affairs Youssef Rajji, Economy, and Trade Amer Bisat, the Displaced and Information Technology Affairs Kamal Shehadeh, Interior Ahmad Hajjar, Justice Adel Nassar, Telecommunications Charles Hajj, Youth and Sports Nora Bayrakdarian, Education Rima Karami, Industry Joe Issa El Khoury, Administrative Development Affairs Fadi Makki, Labor Mohammad Haidar, Public Works Fayez Rassamny, Agriculture Nizar Hani, Information Paul Morcos, Environment Tamara Al-Zein, and Public HealthRakan Nassereldin.
Also present are the Director-General of the Lebanese presidency Dr. Antoine Choucair, and the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, Judge Mahmoud Makkieh.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
5 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Israel strikes Lebanon in one of biggest attacks since November ceasefire
One person died and 21 others were injured, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Israel said it was targeting an underground Hezbollah site. By Rachel Chason , Suzan Haidamous , Mohamad El Chamaa and Lior Soroka BEIRUT — Israel pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. Video showed massive plumes of gray smoke rising above a hilltop, and Lebanon's official National News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Nabatieh. The Washington Post was unable to immediately verify who or what struck the residential building in Nabatieh; neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Lebanon's government responded to requests for comment. Lebanon's Health Ministry said one person was killed and 21 were injured during the strikes. The National News Agency reported there were more than 20 hits in under 15 minutes. The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli air force fighter jets targeted a 'significant underground project' used by Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon. The site was 'completely taken out of use' following the strikes, the IDF said. Beaufort Ridge is about five miles from Nabatieh. In a separate Arabic-language statement , spokesman Avichay Adraee said the IDF did not target a civilian building. Instead, he said, a rocket, stored by Hezbollah inside the building, 'was launched and hit the civilian building' as a result of Israel's strike. Adraee accused Hezbollah of endangering civilians by not giving up its arsenal to the Lebanese government, saying he expected the Lebanese military to confiscateHezbollah's weapons. Lebanon's government, which has pledged to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, condemned the attacks, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying they represented 'a blatant violation of national sovereignty … and pose a threat to the stability we are keen to preserve.' Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel 'continues to flout regional and international resolutions' and called on the international community to intervene. The Trump administration argues a ceasefire between Israel and Iran could help secure peace on Israel's other fronts , including Gaza, as well as lead to normalization agreements with some of Israel's Arab neighbors. But in southern Lebanon, even since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire seven months ago, Israeli strikes have remained a near-daily occurrence, analysts say. In its Friday statement, Israel said Hezbollah had been making 'rehabilitation attempts' in southern Lebanon; the November ceasefire deal required Lebanese forces to ensure that all Hezbollah infrastructure is removed from the area. Between Nov. 27 — the day after the deal was announced — and June 9, 172 Lebanese deaths and 409 injuries have been reported as a result of Israeli attacks, said Hussein Chaabane, a Beirut-based investigative journalist with Legal Agenda who has been tracking the strikes. Chaabane's toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Despite a mid-February deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw, the IDF has remained in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon close to the border. And entire areas in the south have become 'unofficial buffer zones,' where residents who dare to travel face sniper fire and drone strikes by the IDF, Chaabane said. He said the strikes on Friday were significant — and caused fear in the surrounding community — because of the size of the explosions. 'What is happening is more than just the ceasefire being violated,' Chaabane said. 'It is the transformation of the south of Lebanon. … It has become a de facto security strip.' The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Chaabane's report. Hassan Wazni, the director of Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital, said the strikes were so strong that they shook the ground, reminding him of the period of heavy strikes last year David Wood, a Lebanon analyst with the International Crisis Group, said that while some people in other parts of the country feel the war has ended, 'that has never been the case in southern Lebanon.' 'There is a feeling that the ceasefire doesn't protect them, that Israel is doing whatever it pleases in a military sense, and that the United States — which is the chair of the monitoring committee — is allowing them to do so,' he said. He referred to a committee including representatives from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations that is charged with monitoring violations of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Wood added that the longer the strikes continue and civilians are killed, the more frustration in southern Lebanon could grow, including with the new government for failing to protect its residents. 'The longer this goes on and the state can't protect them,' he warned, 'the more likely people are to turn to Hezbollah and groups like it that could emerge.' WASHINGTON POST
LBCI
7 hours ago
- LBCI
President Aoun discusses Qatar visit and regional developments with PM Salam, meets Apostolic Nuncio
President Joseph Aoun followed up on the Israeli attacks that struck the Nabatieh and Iqlim al-Tuffah regions earlier today, particularly the artillery and missile strikes that targeted residential apartments, wooded areas, and surrounding hills. Army Commander General Rodolph Haykal briefed Aoun on the details of the assaults and strongly condemned Israel's continued aggression, which he said violated Lebanon's sovereignty and the agreement reached in November. He added that this situation requires 'serious international action to halt these attacks, especially from the countries that sponsored and endorsed the November agreement—particularly the United States and France.' President Joseph Aoun received Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Baabda Presidential Palace, where Salam briefed him on the outcome of his recent visit to Qatar and the discussions he held with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, and other relevant ministers. President Aoun and Prime Minister Salam also held a broad discussion on the latest regional developments. President Aoun later received the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, Monsignor Paolo Borgia, who Advisor Monsignor Giovanni Bianchiari accompanied. The meeting reviewed Lebanon's relations with the Holy See in light of the president's visit to the Vatican two weeks prior, during which he met with Pope Francis and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Nahar Net
10 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Argentina to try Iranians and Lebanese in absentia over 1994 bombing
by Naharnet Newsdesk 27 June 2025, 10:04 An Argentine judge on Thursday ordered that the seven Iranians and three Lebanese citizens accused of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires face trial in absentia for the first time in the long-running case plagued by setbacks and controversy. For years Argentine courts have ordered that the suspects — Iranian former officials and Lebanese nationals — be apprehended and brought before a judge because Argentina never allowed trials in absentia. Past efforts to encourage foreign governments to arrest the suspects, including an influential advisor to Iran's supreme leader, on the basis of Interpol red alerts never gained traction. But right-wing President Javier Milei, a loyal ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fierce critic of Iran who studies the Torah with a rabbi despite being born Catholic, pushed a bill through Congress earlier this year that authorizes trials in absentia for fugitives that have long sought to evade justice — allowing Argentina to put the defendants on trial for the first time. On Thursday, Judge Daniel Rafecas approved the trial in absentia following a request from the special prosecutor's office responsible for investigating the 1994 attack, the deadliest in the South American country's history, which killed 85 people two years after a separate bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 22 people. Rafecas described the trial as the only way to avoid impunity now more than 30 years after the bombing. "Trial in absentia, however limited, remains a tool that allows us, at the very least, to attempt to uncover the truth, reconstruct what happened, and, above all, give those representing the victims a place to express themselves publicly in this process," he wrote in his ruling. Last year, a high court in Argentina ruled that the Iranian government had masterminded the 1994 attack on the center, known by its acronym AMIA, and that members of Lebanon's Hezbollah had carried it out. Iran has long denied any involvement in the attacks. Among the seven Iranians who are subject to Argentine arrest warrants are former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, former commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Mohsen Rezaei and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who now advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The three Lebanese citizens include Salman Raouf Salman, who allegedly coordinated the attack, and fellow Hezbollah members Abdallah Salman and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar. All have been declared in contempt of court, in some cases decades ago. Advancing the AMIA case has been a key goal of Milei, who concluded a trip to Jerusalem on June 12, the night before Israel launched its unprecedented air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership. Milei escalated his rhetoric against Iran and in support of Israel during the 12-day war between the regional foes, calling the Islamic republic "an enemy of Argentina" and praising Israel as "saving Western civilization."
