Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil The controversial Janna dam project and the State security agency issues threaten to further cripple the work of an already crippling government, the differences over both topics will be discussed by the Cabinet at a meeting on Thursday. The meeting comes at the same time as two Kataeb Party ministers ...

  Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil On Thursday night Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk revealed that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s nomination of MP Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency was initially proposed by Britain, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. “MP Sleiman Prangieh’s nomination did not come from Saad Hariri. But from the British Foreign Ministry and ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil Wednesday saw Egypt reopen its border with the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip –in both directions – for the second time in a month to “humanitarian cases” and Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing. The Rafah crossing will be open for four non-consecutive days according to Gaza’s border authority, ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil Egyptian Authorities hired a deep ocean survey and recovery company to join the hunt for wreckage of the EgyptAir jet that went down over the eastern Mediterranean last week as new satellite evidence emerged to help narrow down the likely crash site. The country’s civil-aviation ministry signed a Deep Ocean ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil Sunday brought about the resignation of the chief peace negotiator of Ayria’s main opposition bloc, who claimed he was resigning over the failure of the UN-backed Geneva peace talks to bring a political settlement to the Syria crisis. Mohammad Alloush, who is also the representative of the powerful Jaysh al-Islam ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil The Egyptian authorities expelled a French journalist this week further highlighting the crackdown on press freedoms by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egyptian and French officials said on Wednesday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, that the journalist, Rémy Pigaglio, was blocked for ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil Wednesday marked the 16th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. The country commemorated the day known as Resistance and Liberation Day with Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who viewed the Israeli withdrawal from most of South Lebanon on May 25, 2000 as a victory for all Lebanese no matter ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil US-backed Syrian fighters and Iraqi forces pressed twin assaults against the Islamic State (IS) group on Wednesday, in two of the most important offensives yet against the militant group. The twin offensives marked some of the most serious ground efforts against Islamic State since the militant group declared its self-styled ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday that Egypt has sent a robot submarine to join the hunt for an EgyptAir plane, which crashed in some of the deepest waters of the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board. Personal belongings, debris and body parts from the Airbus 320 have ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil Militant groups in Syria have said they will no longer abide by the ceasefire unless the Syrian army ends a major offensive on their positions in the suburbs of Damascus within 48 hours. A statement with the signatures of around 29 rebel groups was released by members of the Free ...