Latest news with #GhassanSalame
The National
4 days ago
- Business
- The National
Price of Syria sanctions relief could be deal with Israel, Lebanese minister says
Syria may have to pay for newfound western support by reaching an understanding with Israel, Lebanon 's Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, Mr Salame spoke of the need to support Syria, where 'there are entire areas destroyed' after years of civil war. The US and Europe have offered the regime a new start with a promise to lift sanctions imposed during Bashar Al Assad 's rule. But Mr Salame alluded to whether there might be 'a price tag or a cost for the western embrace'. 'I believe the West does not offer anything for free,' he said. Addressing what that cost may be, he said: 'Perhaps pressure towards an understanding with Israel or something to that end." He went on to say there will be an effort 'to diversify the foreign influence on Syria', in reference to Iran's previous influence in the country. Syria and Israel have been technically at war since 1967. The former regime of Mr Al Assad, and his father Hafez Al Assad, negotiated peace with Israel several times, without agreement. An offensive led by the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham rebel front toppled the Assad regime on December 8. Quoting unnamed sources, Reuters reported on Tuesday that the two sides have held direct talks in the region of Quneitra, where there is a demilitarised zone. Mr Salame said that Syria is 'in the early stages of transformation', pointing out that its regional allies have shifted from Russia and Iran to Turkey and Arab Gulf states. On May 14, President Donald Trump met Syrian leader Ahmad Al Shara in Riyadh after being urged to do so by Ankara and Saudi Arabia and asked him to join the Abraham Accords. In 1973, Syria launched a failed effort to regain the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Mr Trump also decided sanctions on the Syrian economy are to be lifted. This contributed to a similar move by the EU. Officials said that the moves were prompted by fears that the pressure on livelihoods could lead to another civil war and a revival of ISIS. Although Mr Al Shara is a former ally of Al Qaeda, many see him as a bulwark against more extreme elements in the country. Israel has bombed Syria since he was named leader by fellow rebels in late January, but the raids have subsided in the last several weeks. Mr Al Shara said this month that Syria is engaged in 'indirect talks through mediators' with Israel 'to calm down the situation so that it does not get out of control″. There was no information about the participants in the talks, except that they reportedly included Ahmad Al Dalati, a former rebel whom Mr Al Shara appointed this month as governor of the mostly Druze province of Suweida in south Syria. The Druze minority is also present in Israel. Last month, military intervention by Israel halted an onslaught by HTS-allied militias on the Druze minority.
LBCI
4 days ago
- Business
- LBCI
Culture Minister at Arab Media Summit: Rebuilding Syria and Gaza benefits Lebanon, and vice versa
At the Arab Media Summit, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame emphasized that Lebanon is no longer the sole focus of reconstruction efforts; instead, the entire Near East is in urgent need of rebuilding. He stressed the importance of cooperation rather than competition among countries seeking foreign aid, highlighting that the recovery of Syria and Gaza directly benefits Lebanon and vice versa.
National News
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- National News
Culture Minister, Austrian Ambassador discuss means to bolster cultural ties
NNA - Minister of Culture, Dr. Ghassan Salame, on Monday welcomed Austrian Ambassador to Lebanon Franziska Honsowitz in a courtesy visit at the National Library in Sanayeh, during which they discussed bilateral relations and ways to enhance cooperation, particularly in the cultural sector. Following the meeting, Ambassador Honsowitz described the encounter as 'highly fruitful,' noting that they exchanged ideas proposed by Minister Salame, whose vision for revitalizing cultural initiatives she described as 'insightful and distinguished.' Talks also focused on strengthening cultural relations between the two countries, especially in the field of music, where collaboration is already underway with several Austrian conservatories. The ambassador also expressed Austria's interest in expanding cooperation in the broader domain of cultural heritage. ======R.H.
Gulf Today
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Lebanon's museum shows nation's resilience during civil war
When Lebanon's civil war erupted 50 years ago this month, its national museum became a flashpoint of its capital's deadly frontline, with militants barricaded among ancient sarcophagi and sniping through historic mosaics. Now, students and tourists roam through its artefacts – some still blackened by indoor campfires lit by those fighters – and into a new pavilion opened during Lebanon's most recent war last year, when Israel and armed group Hezbollah traded heavy fire. For its admirers, the building not only houses the country's heritage, but also symbolises its resilience. Lebanon's Culture Minister Ghassan Salame stands next to an artefact damaged during the Lebanese civil war. Reuters "I hope these young people I see here also know what happened in the museum in 1975, because what happened here is something worthy of respect," said Lebanon's culture minister Ghassan Salameh, speaking to Reuters in the main museum hall. A duty to remember "There is a right to forget. The Lebanese who want to forget the civil war – it's their right to do so. But there is also a duty to remember, so that we do not repeat it again, and again, and again." The war erupted on April 13, 1975, after Christian gunmen fired on a bus carrying Palestinian fighters in Beirut – just a few kilometres from the museum, which first opened in 1942. A man walks near artefacts at the National Museum of Beirut. A frontline running directly adjacent to the museum split east Beirut from the west. After militants took up the museum as a barracks, the director of antiquities at the time, Maurice Chehab, ferried small artefacts to vaults at Lebanon's central bank and encased the larger pieces in reinforced concrete to protect them from shelling. At least four major pieces were damaged, Salameh said. They are visible in the museum today, including a football-sized hole in a floor-to-ceiling 5th century mosaic used by snipers to target rival militants near the front. The war lasted 15 years, leaving more than 100,000 dead and displacing hundreds of thousands more. Halfway through it, Israeli troops invaded all the way to Beirut and Hezbollah was founded the same year, vowing to push Israel out. A facade damaged during the Lebanese civil war in the new pavilion of the National Museum of Beirut. In 2023, a new war erupted between the old foes, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel, triggering a year of tit-for-tat strikes until Israel escalated its air and ground campaign. New wing Even as that conflict was raging, the museum worked to open a new wing for rotating exhibitions. As construction was under way, archaeologists uncovered dozens of artefacts that Chehab had buried in the museum's backyard to protect them, said Sarkis Khoury, Lebanon's current director of antiquities. He spoke to Reuters while standing in front of an outer wall damaged during the civil war that museum authorities had decided to preserve as a testament to its resilience. "The things we left visible are a lesson for the future, because we are a country that should be a country of peace, a country of coexistence, because this is our history," said Sarkis Khoury, Lebanon's current director of antiquities. "Its face is full of wounds and wrinkles, but this is a beautiful face for Lebanon," Khoury told Reuters, gesturing at the pockmarked wall. People gather at the entrance of the National Museum of Beirut, in Beirut on April 10, 2025. Photos: Reuters Keeping the wall is a rare example of memory preservation in Lebanon, where other landmarks of the civil war have remained abandoned or were covered up by the rapid construction of high-rises once the conflict ended. The post-war administration agreed a general amnesty for all political crimes perpetrated before the war's end, and most school curriculums opt not to teach its history. Asked whether Lebanon should one day establish a museum dedicated solely to the civil war, Salameh, the minister, said no – because it had only "produced destruction." But he remained hopeful about his country's future. "This country has been declared dead dozens, even hundreds of times... but this part of the Mediterranean has remained standing, with its specificities and its problems." "It never ceases to be." Reuters
LBCI
27-03-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
PM and several Lebanese Ministers abstain from voting for Karim Souaid's appointment: Sources to LBCI
According to LBCI sources, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, along with ministers Ghassan Salame, Tarek Metri, Haneen Sayed, Amer Bisat, Rima Karami, and Fadi Maki, abstained from voting in favor of Karim Souaid's appointment as Lebanon's new Central Bank Governor.
