Lebanon news updates for August 21

Here are the latest updates on current issues in Lebanon.

You Stink protests

Commenting on Wednesday’s You Stink protests, Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt denounced the “barbaric” behavior that the security forces used in confronting the protesters assuring that the demonstrations are “righteous and legal.”

You Stink, an activist group that was born from Lebanon’s garbage crisis held Wednesday a protest to pressure the government to adopt a sustainable solution to the country’s garbage crisis.

The protesters blocked the Riad al-Solh road outside the Grand Serail.
Security forces tried using water cannons to disperse the protesters . This led to clashes between the group and security forces which resulted in several injuries and the arrest of 4 more protesters.
“The protests carried out by some youth in downtown Beirut are legal and righteous, but the barbaric way used to disperse them are strongly rejected and condemned,” said Jumblatl via twitter on Friday.

Fires

A huge fire erupted in a warehouse in Mansourieh, VOL(100.5) Radio Station reported on Friday
NNA reported that Civil Defense firefighters are trying to extinguish a fire that broke out in a parking lot in Mkalles

Raids
NNA reported that the army carried out raids in the border town of al-Qasr in Hermel district in search for wanted men, and seized arms and ammunition.

Arrests
VOL (100.5) Radio Station reported that : the army arrested a Syrian national, Mohammed Abdo Tweir, in Bir Hassan for suspicious moves near one of the foreign embassies and for assuming the identity of a Lebanese citizen.

The army also arrested 45 Syrians in al-Marj for lacking legal documents and Lebanese Hussein Ali al-Hadi for facilitating their movement from one area to the other.

More arrests ….ISF Intelligence Branch in Tripoli arrested a Lebanese man on charges of smuggling foreigners from Lebanon via the Mediterranean sea.
Another Israeli raid
Five people were killed in a new Israeli raid on a Syrian position in the Quneitra area of the Golan Heights near border with Lebanon , Syrian state TV said.

FPM/LF meeting
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Ibrahim Kanaan, delegated by FPM Leader Michel Aoun, is currently visiting Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, in Meerab, NNA reported

More Arms to Lebanon
French officials have been holding talks with their counterparts in Beirut away from the media spotlight to follow up the delivery of French weapons to the Lebanese army under a Saudi grant, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

France is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small Corvette warships and a range of surveillance and communications equipment over four years as part of the $3 billion Saudi grant for modernization of the Lebanese army

The contract also calls for seven years of training for the 70,000-strong Lebanese army and 10 years of equipment maintenance.

FATAH hands killer to LAF

NNA reported that  The Palestinian Fatah movement handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)  on Friday one of its members who shot and killed a fellow Palestinian due to a personal dispute in Ain el Helweh   Palestinian  Refugee Camp.

The shooter, Aouny Zoubeidat, is  now in the custody of the LAF Intelligence

Bakery shut down

Health Ministry inspectors shut down a bakery near the southern coastal city of Sidon Friday for failing to meet food safety standards.

The inspectors found that Bassam Hayek, the owner of the condemned bakery located in the Sidon suburb of Abra, was storing expired ingredients like sugar, flour and cheese.

This   closure is part of   the latest in a campaign launched in November by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour to enforce proper sanitation and hygiene measures in food establishments.

Hundreds of shops, restaurants and slaughterhouses have been  shut down  or forced to adopt stricter measures since the launch of the campaign.
Christian monastery of Mar Elian

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri slammed the destruction by ISIS of the ancient Christian monastery of Mar Elian in the central Syrian town of al-Qaryatain in Homs province as a despicable act against coexistence .
“The crime is a flagrant assault on the noblest values that observe coexistence between Muslims and Christians,” Hariri said Friday in a tweet on Twitter.