President Aoun says reforms driven by Lebanon's own priorities, not foreign demands
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Paul Grove, Republican Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Department of State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee that the country's reform process is already underway and stems from Lebanon's own interests rather than solely from international pressure.
Grove reaffirmed Washington's commitment to continuing U.S. aid to support Lebanon.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Libnan
4 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Trump says Musk relationship over, warns of ‘serious consequences' if he funds Democrats
By Nandita Bose A newspaper front page featuring U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk is displayed at a shop at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Donald Trump said on Saturday his relationship with his billionaire donor Elon Musk is over and warned there would be 'serious consequences' if Musk funds U.S. Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the president's sweeping tax and spending bill . In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to say what those consequences would be, and went on to add that he had not had discussions about whether to investigate Musk. Asked if he thought his relationship with the Tesla (TSLA.) and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'No,' Trump told NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk. 'I have no intention of speaking to him,' Trump said. However, Trump said he had not thought about terminating U.S. government contracts with Musk's StarLink satellite internet or SpaceX rocket launch companies. Musk and Trump began exchanging insults this week, as Musk denounced Trump's bill as a ' disgusting abomination .' Musk's opposition to the measure complicated efforts to pass the legislation in Congress, where Republicans hold only slim majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. The bill narrowly passed the House last month and is now before the Senate, where Trump's fellow Republicans are considering making changes. Nonpartisan analysts estimate the measure would add $2.4 trillion to the $36.2 trillion U.S. debt over 10 years, which worries many lawmakers, including some Republicans who are fiscal hawks. Musk also declared it was time for a new political party in the United States 'to represent the 80% in the middle!' Trump said on Saturday he is confident the bill would get passed by the U.S. July 4 Independence Day holiday. 'In fact, yeah, people that were going to vote for it are now enthusiastically going to vote for it, and we expect it to pass,' Trump told NBC. Republicans have strongly backed Trump's initiatives since he began his second term as president on January 20. While some Republican lawmakers have made comments to the news media expressing concern about some of Trump's choices, they have yet to vote down any of his policies or nominations. DELETED MUSK POSTS Musk has deleted some social media posts critical of Trump, including one that signaled support for impeaching the president, appearing to seek a de-escalation of their public feud , which exploded on Thursday. During his first term as president, the House, then controlled by Democrats, twice voted to impeach Trump but the Senate both times acquitted him. The White House and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday on the deleted posts. People who have spoken to Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they thought he would want to repair his relationship with Trump. One of the X posts that Musk appeared to have deleted was a response to another user posting: 'President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and (Vice President) JD Vance should replace him.' Musk had written 'yes.' On Theo Von's 'This Past Weekend' podcast – recorded on Thursday as the feud between Trump and Musk unfolded and released on Saturday – Vance called Musk's criticism of Trump a 'huge mistake.' 'I'm always going to be loyal to the president, and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear. But I hope it is,' said Vance, describing Musk as an 'incredible entrepreneur.' Trump is due to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight card on Saturday in New Jersey. Since his second election win, he has attended two previous UFC mixed martial arts fight cards with Musk. Musk is not expected to attend on Saturday. Musk, the world's richest man, bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, spending nearly $300 million in last year's U.S. elections and taking credit for Republicans retaining a majority of seats in the House and retaking a majority in the Senate. Trump named Musk to head an effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending, lauding him at the White House only about a week ago for his work as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk cut only about half of 1% of total spending, far short of his brash plans to axe $2 trillion from the federal budget. REUTERS
Ya Libnan
4 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Lebanon FM stresses to Iranian counterpart the need to disarm Hezbollah
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raji informed his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, on Tuesday that Hezbollah put his country in a 'difficult situation' when it embarked on more than a year of fighting with Israel in 2023, and stressed the importance of disarming the Tehran-backed terror group. Araghchi met with Raji — a member of the Lebanese Forces party — in Beirut, on his first visit to Lebanon since October last year, when Hezbollah was in the midst of an all-out war with Israel in southern Lebanon. A month later, Beirut and Jerusalem would sign a ceasefire agreement that brought an end to the fighting During the meeting, Raji told Araghchi that recent 'military adventures' — an apparent reference to Hezbollah — had put the country in a 'difficult situation,' the Saudi Al Arabiya news outlet reported. These adventures, Raji told his Iranian counterpart, 'had not contributed to ending the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.' When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon following the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces per the terms of the November 2024 ceasefire, it left troops stationed in five strategic hills located several hundred meters inside Lebanon, which it says are necessary to defend Israeli border communities. Six months on from the start of the ceasefire, the Lebanese state has been working methodically to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in the south of the country, and is estimated to have seized the majority of the group's weapons stockpile south of the Litani River area. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his government had achieved 80 percent of its objectives regarding the disarmament of militias in the country's south. 'All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms,' Salam told the US outlet, stressing 'the need to extend and consolidate the authority of the state.' Echoing his prime minister on Tuesday, Raji appeared to take a firm stance against allowing Iran's agenda to influence Lebanon's future, telling Araghchi that the country's ability to recover from the recent fighting was tied to Hezbollah's disarmament, Al Arabiya reported. Unprovoked, Hezbollah began attacking military outposts and communities in northern Israel on October 8, 2023, in a show of support for fellow Iranian proxy Hamas in Gaza after its assault on southern Israel a day earlier. The fighting continued for more than a year, including some two months of open war in southern Lebanon, and ended with the ceasefire signed in late November. The fighting displaced over 1 million people inside Lebanon, and caused destruction that the World Bank has said will cost $11 billion in reconstruction. Raji informed Araghchi that 'coordination between Lebanon and Iran should occur through official state channels,' rather than via proxies like Hezbollah, which enjoys Tehran's support, monetary and otherwise, having received billions of dollars and all types of weapons over the years.
Ya Libnan
4 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
US and Israel agreed to end UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon
The United States and Israel agreed that United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) must cease its operations in southern Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday The American administration has decided not to renew UNIFIL's mandate, and Israel reportedly 'did not try to convince the US otherwise.' The vote on the mandate in the United Nations Security Council is expected to occur within a few months. UNIFIL's mandate was most recently renewed by the Security Council on August 28, 2024, through resolution 2749 (2024), extending it until August 31, 2025. This is a yearly renewal, requested by the Lebanese Government. What is UNIFIL? UNIFIL was created in 1978 following the First Lebanon War, and was founded with the intention of confirming Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, as well as assisting the Lebanese government with restoring authority in the area. After the Second Lebanon War in 2006, UNIFIL's mandate was extended to monitor hostilities in the region and ensure humanitarian access to local civilian populations. UNIFIL currently has over 13,000 uniformed personnel, and its top military contributor is Indonesia . No officials from the US, Israel, or the UN have commented on the announcement. Source: Jerusalem Post
