Latest news with #Raad
Nahar Net
4 days ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Raad meets Aoun, says state must perform 'duties' before discussing arms
by Naharnet Newsdesk 27 May 2025, 12:35 A delegation from Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc held meetings Monday with President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri. 'We exchanged viewpoints in general about the priorities and challenges facing our country, topped by preserving national sovereignty, ending Israeli occupation, and halting the hostility and violations that are unfortunately sponsored and backed by some countries that are sponsors of the ceasefire agreement,' Raad said after the meeting with Aoun. He added that the talks also tackled 'rebuilding what was destroyed by the (Israeli) aggression, preserving stability and activating state institutions through electoral junctures, such as the latest municipal and mayoral elections.' 'The space of understanding between us and the president is broad and can be counted on, and we do not find ourselves bound by a timing, places, tools or methods to fill this space, as long as things in Lebanon are moving forward with care and keenness from the president on achieving the priorities that I first mentioned,' Raad said. Hitting out at Prime Minister Nawaf Salam for recently omitting the word 'Resistance' from the official name of the 'Resistance and Liberation Day' holiday in one of his statements, Raad said: 'We insist that this holiday is the Resistance and Liberation Day and not only Liberation Day, because the liberation was achieved by the resistance.' Asked whether the visit had 'opened the door for bilateral dialogue between the president and Hezbollah over monopolizing arms in the hands of the state,' Raad responded: 'There are no closed doors in the way of exchanging discussions and ideas with the president on any level … The doors have been open since the presidential election and will remain open to everything that can achieve sovereignty and preserve stability and the rights of all individuals and essential components of this country.' As for the issue of arms, the Hezbollah lawmaker said: 'The state can have no privileges without committing to its duties. When the two become equal -- duties and commitments -- an agreement would take place.' Asked about Salam's remarks that 'the era of exporting the Iranian revolution has ended' and that the state 'will not remain silent over any arms outside the state's control,' Raad said: 'I don't want to comment on this statement in order to preserve what's left of cordiality.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC widow accuses Lebanese bank of ‘stealing' her family's $17.6M fortune
'Corrupt' Lebanese banks stole $17.6 million from an Upper West Side widow and her three kids — and New York courts have refused to help them get their fortune back, she told The Post. Patricia Raad said her husband, Michel, immigrated to the US when he was 18 from their native Lebanon, and spent a lifetime working his way up as a businessman in the cosmetics and perfume industry. For 30 years until his death of cancer in 2009 at age 69, he sent the fruits of his labor — millions of dollars put in a trust for his kids — to Lebanon-based Bank Audi. Nine years after his death, when the trusts matured and were ready to be accessed, Patricia told Bank Audi she planned to transfer the millions to New York. But a Bank Audi manager allegedly begged her not to move the dough and then ignored agreements to deliver the funds, she said in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit. The bank manager 'started begging and pleading, saying, 'Please don't do that, it will look bad on me,'' Raad, 70, recalled. 'They betrayed me.' Raad claims she signed agreements with Bank Audi managers in Lebanon to transfer the money in separate installments of about $2 to $3 million to herself, son and daughter — and paid taxes in America on the full amount while waiting. But Bank Audi never transferred a dime, she said in court papers. Lebanon spiraled into a crippling 2019 financial meltdown the World Bank later described as a 'Ponzi scheme,' which encouraged money to flow in while failing to pay for public services or safeguarding depositers such as Raad. In 2022 it was reported that more than $100 billion in deposits were stuck in Lebanon's banking system, with that nation's financial institutions refusing to give people like Raad their cash. 'There can be no genuine debate that $17,623,674 of [Raad's] money on deposit with Bank Audi is immediately due,' she said in the lawsuit, which accused the bank of 'misappropriating' the money. But Raad has had little luck getting New York courts to hear her story. In March 2024, a Manhattan judge rejected her December 2020 lawsuit, contending New York had no jurisdiction over Bank Audi and that the dispute must play out in Lebanese courts. Raad has appealed, and appeared before judges in the US Court of Appeals Second Circuit in Manhattan this week to plead her case. If Raad lived in certain parts of Europe, she would likely be having an easier time fighting for her money, said her attorney, Douglas Kellner. 'England and France do allow their citizens to sue the Lebanese banks — but not the courts in New York,' he said. Raad and her attorneys have argued New York has jurisdiction because Bank Audi had business relationships with Big Apple financial institutions such as Bank of New York Mellon, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Standard Chartered. The connection, known as 'correspondent banks,' allows one financial institution to provide services on behalf of another. Being unable to get the money her husband secured for their family has been 'devastating,' she said. 'The trust was to protect his children and protect the money,' she said, adding that being deprived of the funds 'was like killing Michel a second time by taking his legacy.'
Al Binaa
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Binaa
Aoun: Israel Obstructs the Agreement, the Resistance Is Committed, and the Rockets Are a Pretext for Escalation
The political editor wrote For the first time since the ceasefire took effect exactly four months ago, the occupying entity's warplanes and drones launched a series of airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut. This came after the spread of rumors about U.S. guarantees that Beirut and Dahieh would not be targeted by the occupation following last week's rocket incident into occupied Palestinian territory. The strikes resulted in the destruction of several residential and commercial buildings. American statements left no doubt about the purpose of these airstrikes, and perhaps even the rockets and their launchers, as a pretext for justifying aggression. Three identical U.S. positions emerged, offering full support for the Israeli assault while placing blame on Lebanon. They asserted that the Israeli strikes were due to the Lebanese army's failure to initiate a battle to disarm the resistance. This stance was conveyed by Morgan Ortagus, the U.S. Deputy Envoy to the region, as well as through reports from Axios citing American officials, and a statement from the U.S. State Department. These American statements followed previous calls for Lebanon to establish political negotiation committees with the occupation. The illusion that Washington would pressure Israel to fulfill its ceasefire obligations under Resolution 1701, and thereby support Lebanon's recovery, was decisively shattered. This was made clear in a joint press conference in Paris, where President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed that Hezbollah had upheld its commitments to the Lebanese state. Aoun held Israel responsible for violating the ceasefire and continuing its aggression against Lebanon. He also refused to blame Hezbollah for the rocket fire or the Lebanese army for not preventing it, noting that Israel had remained in Gaza for over a year and still failed to stop rocket launches from there. He praised the resistance's adherence to its obligations under the ceasefire and Resolution 1701, reiterating that the issue of its arms and future would be determined through a national dialogue on defense strategy. For now, he stressed, the priority is securing Israel's withdrawal and stopping its aggression. He described the rockets as a mere pretext for launching an unjustifiable assault. In Lebanon, during the Iranian Embassy's commemoration of International Quds Day, Mohammad Raad, head of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, responded to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's claim that the 'people-army-resistance' equation was a thing of the past. Raad countered that governments are what fade into history, while equations forged in the blood of martyrs endure beyond time itself. Raad further stated, 'Anyone in this country who claims exclusive authority over war and peace, whether the state or any other entity, is detached from reality. The Zionist enemy alone wages war, continues its aggression, and maintains its occupation. The state, on its own, lacks the capacity to defend the country and protect its people, while some within it promote defeatism and submission, aligning with the enemy's schemes and bowing to its will. At the very least, the government, its president and ministers, should unify its national rhetoric in this critical phase.'
Saba Yemen
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Raad strongly condemns Zionist aggression on Lebanon's southern suburbs
Beirut - Saba: The head of the Al-Wafa' al-Muqawama bloc, Mohammad Raad, strongly condemned the Zionist aggression on the southern suburbs of Lebanon. He called on the government to use all available means to stop the Zionist aggression and force it to withdraw from the occupied territories unconditionally. During the Iranian Embassy in Beirut's commemoration of "International Quds Day," Raad emphasized that "the resistance, which agreed to the ceasefire declaration, is committed to it and does not violate it," calling on the state "to fulfill its duty to deter the enemy and force it to stop the aggression and end the occupation by all means at its disposal, instead of just justifying its failure, impotence and betting." "The Resistance strongly condemns today's Zionist aggression against Dahiya and its people, denounces all its improvised and fabricated pretexts, and affirms its commitment to thwart the policies of this enemy and all its attempts to drag Lebanon towards normalization with it," Raad said. Raad advised "whoever is led by his delusion to assume that the resistance has become a thing of the past, and that its triangular equation has ended irreversibly," to "beware of the drunkenness of the temporary authority, as governments usually become a thing of the past, while the equations drawn by the martyrs with their blood and sacrifices are immortalized beyond history." Raad emphasized that "whoever claims in our country that he exclusively owns the decision of war and peace, or (calls) for the exclusive possession of this decision by the state or others, he is ignorant of reality and truth, because the Zionist enemy in our days is the only one who wages war and continues the aggression and occupation. The state alone does not have the ability to defend its country or protect its people, and some in it are marketing defeatism and surrender among citizens, in acquiescence to the enemy's plan and submission to its will, and the government, president and ministers, must harmonize its national discourse, at least at this stage." Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Al Manar
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Manar
Raad: Governments Become Thing of Past, While Resistance Formulas Get Perpetuated
Head of Loyalty to Resistance bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, firmly condemned the Israeli aggression on Beirut's Dahiyeh and all of Lebanon. Israeli war jets launched on Friday an attack on a residential building in the Jamous-Hadat area of Beirut's southern suburbs. This marks the first such assault on the region since the cessation of Israel's large-scale aggression on Lebanon on November 27, 2024. MP Mohammad Raad maintained that Hezbollah is committed to ceasefire, Lebanese government must assume responsibility of deterring the enemy. Those who claim of possessing the war decision in Lebanon are wrong, according to MP Raad who added that the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, and the Lebanese state is unable to deter it. MP Raad stressed that the governments may become a thing of the past, while the resistance formulas get perpetuated. 'Anyone who is led by illusions to assume that resistance has become a thing of the past should beware of the intoxication of the temporary authority.'
