The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon today denied media reports claiming that the Israeli military forces recently carried out an incursion over the Blue Line separating the two countries. “There was no violation of the Blue Line,” UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Major-General Alain Pellegrini said in a statement. “Members of the Israel Defence Forces were carrying out regular maintenance work on the technical fence near the village of Ayta Chaab. Throughout their maintenance work, they remained south of the Blue Line,” he added. Read more about UN denies media reports of Israeli incursion
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the continuing detention of New TV reporter Firas Hatoum, cameraman Abdel-Azim Khayat and driver Mohammed Barbar, who were arrested on 19 December 2006 for entering the apartment of a key prosecution witness in the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. New TV is a satellite news station based in Beirut. “These three New TV employees pose absolutely no threat and should not have to remain in prison while awaiting the trial,” the press freedom organisation said. Read more about TV reporter, cameraman and driver held in connection with Hariri murder coverage
The 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah has left Lebanon heavily damaged and politically destabilised, with hopes for a better future only dimming as the New Year approaches. Before Jul. 12 this year when the war broke out, many people in this nation of four million situated north of Israel believed they were finally shaking away the last of the dust from the 15-year civil war 1975-90 which decimated the country. That civil war was fought between extreme Muslim and Christian groups. Lebanon is now believed to be about 60 percent Muslim. Read more about Lebanon Destroyed, Destabilised, Desperate for Change
The lack of centralised, detailed development-related data in Lebanon has hampered the efficiency of emergency and rehabilitation efforts, humanitarian experts have said. “Information has been poorly coordinated, and although you can access, for instance, statistics on a given town or village via the municipality, there is no central mechanism to provide a global view of the different projects going on in Lebanon at any given time,” said Rabih Bashour, coordinator for the relief and reconstruction committee at local NGO Al-Huda Society for Social Care. Read more about Poor data limits aid work
Lebanon has badly lost its balance and is at risk of new collapse, moving ever closer to explosive Sunni-Shiite polarisation with a divided, debilitated Christian community in between. The fragile political and sectarian equilibrium established since the end of its bloody civil war in 1990 was never a panacea and came at heavy cost. It depended on Western and Israeli acquiescence in Syria’s tutelage and a domestic system that hindered urgently needed internal reforms, and change was long overdue. But the upsetting of the old equilibrium, due in no small part to a tug-of-war by outsiders over its future, has been chaotic and deeply divisive, pitting one half of the country against the other. Read more about Lebanon at a tripwire
The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed that a year after the assassination of leading Lebanese journalist Gebran Tueni in Beirut, the perpetrators remain at large. On December 12, 2005, Tueni, managing director and columnist for the leading daily Al-Nahar, was killed by a bomb that targeted his armored vehicle in east Beirut. Tueni was also a member of parliament and harsh critic of Syrian policies. He was killed on the day he returned home from Paris, where he had spent considerable time because of fears for his safety. To date, his killers have yet to be identified or brought to justice. Read more about Tueni's killers go unpunished one year on
In a report titled, “Media in Lebanon: Reporting on a Nation Divided,” the International Press Institute (IPI) provides an assessment of the current challenges to press freedom in Lebanon. Commenting on the report, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said “The Lebanese media offers diverse and wide-ranging opinion and analysis and enjoys a greater degree of press freedom than many of its regional neighbours, which are home to the some of the most restrictive media environments in the world. In recent years journalists have paid a high price for that freedom. The brutal murders in 2005 of publisher and IPI member Gebran Tueni and leading columnist Samir Qassir and the maiming of TV-journalist May Chidiac have created a climate of fear and insecurity that threatens the vitality of the media.” Read more about IPI report says political instability undermining press freedom
In a report titled, “Media in Lebanon: Reporting on a Nation Divided,” the International Press Institute (IPI) provides an assessment of the current challenges to press freedom in Lebanon. Commenting on the report, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said “The Lebanese media offers diverse and wide-ranging opinion and analysis and enjoys a greater degree of press freedom than many of its regional neighbours, which are home to the some of the most restrictive media environments in the world.” “In recent years journalists have paid a high price for that freedom. From 8 to 13 December 2006, IPI carried out a fact-finding mission to Lebanon. Read more about Press Institute report says political instability undermining press freedom
The number of civilians killed and injured as a result of unexploded cluster bombs in south Lebanon, which were dropped by Israeli forces during the recent conflict between Israel and Hizbullah, is increasing steadily. Some 26 people have reportedly lost their lives, and some 186 have been injured. Cluster munitions spread small bomblets over a wide area, many of which do not explode on impact but remain live and lethal. Children are particularly vulnerable and some have been killed while playing in their towns and villages. Other people have been killed while investigating their homes for damage following the war and others while working on their land. Read more about Number of cluster bomb deaths continues to rise
Despite one man being killed and two injured from an explosion on Tuesday in the southern Lebanese village of Marjayoun, mine clearance specialists say that the incidence of cluster bomb casualties in the country has fallen significantly over recent weeks. From an initial average of three accidents a day in the immediate aftermath of the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, the rate has fallen to an average of three accidents per week. “Over the past three weeks, the rate of casualties has been as low as two victims in one week,” said Dalya Farran, media and post-clearance officer for the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre for South Lebanon (MACC). Read more about Rate of cluster bomb casualties falling
