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October 2012 Beirut Bombing
On 19 October 2012, Wissam al-Hassan, a brigadier general of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) and the head of its intelligence-oriented information branch, died along with several others killed by a car bomb in the Achrafieh district of Beirut. The killing of a senior figure closely linked with the anti-Assad camp in Lebanon led to immediate speculation that Syria, or its allies, were behind the attack in Beirut. Al-Hassan had also led the investigation that implicated Syria and its ally Hezbollah in the killing of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri. According to a report in ''Der Spiegel'', Hezbollah might have had a hand in the attack on al-Hassan since his cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal had made him a sworn enemy of the Party. The FBI noted similarities with the Hariri assassination, between the explosives used, planning and execution of the attack, and that they point to the same group of perpetrators. According to Lebanon's National New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sassine Square
Sassine Square ( ar, ساحة ساسين) is a town square in Beirut, Lebanon, it is one of the most prominent urban areas of East Beirut, Lebanon. It is located in the Achrafieh district. Historically and popularly named after an old and prominent family of Achrafieh, Sassine Square was officially inaugurated in the early '90s under the auspices of President Elias Hrawi, Prime-Minister Rafic Hariri, Member of Parliament Michel Sassine, and the Municipal Council of Beirut City . /ref> Sassine Square is reputed to be a key social and commercial focal point of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samir Geagea
Samir Farid Geagea ( ar, سمير فريد جعجع Lebanese pron.: , also spelled Samir Ja'ja'; born 25 October 1952) is a Lebanese politician and militia commander who has been leading the Lebanese Forces party and dissolved militia since 1986. Born in Ain al-Remaneh in Beirut with origins from Bsharri, Geagea joined the Kataeb Party in his early years. He led the Northern Front in the Lebanese Forces from 1979 to 1984. In March 1985, after the deterioration of the Christian political situation in the eastern regions after the assassination of the Lebanese Forces leader Bachir Gemayel, he led, jointly with Elie Hobeika and Karim Pakradouni, an uprising that led to control of the political situation without any bloodshed. On January 15, 1986, Geagea led a movement against the tripartite agreement sponsored by Syria to become the commander of the Lebanese Forces after the overthrow of Elie Hobeika, the head of the executive body at the time and one of the signatories o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lebanese Government Of June 2011
The formation of a new government led by Najib Mikati follows five months of negotiations after the fall of the Saad Hariri government. Mikati formed a controversial 30-minister cabinet. Following ruptures and tensions and two previous threats to resign, Mikati finally resigned on 23 March 2013. Tammam Salam was tasked to form a new government on 6 April 2013. Background The Hariri government fell after the withdrawal on March 8 of members from his cabinet following refusals to end cooperation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. President Michel Suleiman then tasked Mikati to form a new government amid concerns of instability. Mikati was nominated for office by Hezbollah, Michel Aoun and Walid Jumblatt in January 2011. The cabinet formation process took nearly five months. Method Eleven ministers were selected by Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc, giving him alone veto power, along with one merge minister backed by both Aoun's political party and Michel Suleiman's pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Mamlouk
Ali Mamlouk ( ar, علي مملوك) (born 19 February 1946) is a special security adviser to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and is one of his trusted men. Mamlouk is also head of the National Security Bureau of the Ba'ath Party. Early life Ali Mamluk was born in Damascus into a Sunni family on 19 February 1946. There is another report giving his birth year as 1945. His family is originally from İskenderun (Hatay in Turkey). Career Mamlouk is said to be one of the founding officers of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence in the 1970s. He was deputy director there, when in June 2005 President Bashar Assad appointed him head of the General Security Directorate. Mamlouk is said to be on good terms with all of Syria's intelligence agencies; the heads of the Air Force Intelligence Directorate and the Political Security Directorate were once his assistants. In July 2012 following the Damascus security HQ bombing, it was reported that Mamlouk would become the head of the National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saad Hariri
Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ar, سعد الدين رفيق الحريري, translit=Saʿd ad-Dīn Rafīq al-Ḥarīrī; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese-Saudi politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. The son of Rafic Hariri, he founded and has been leading the Future Movement party since 2007. He is seen as "the strongest figurehead" of the March 14 Alliance. Hariri served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 9 November 2009 to 13 June 2011. After three years living overseas, he returned to Lebanon on 8 August 2014 and served a second term as Prime Minister from 18 December 2016 to 21 January 2020. Hariri's surprise announcement of an intent to resign, broadcast on 4 November 2017 on Saudi state TV, has widely been seen as part of the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict in Lebanon, and triggered a dispute between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. The resignation was later suspended, following President Michel Aoun's request to "put it on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Future Movement
The Future Movement ( ar, تيار المستقبل) is a Lebanese political party affiliated with the Sunni sect. The party was founded as a coalition in 1995 led by Rafic Hariri but was officially founded in 2007. The party is led by Saad Hariri. The party is the largest member of the March 14 Alliance, which governed Lebanon from 2005 to 2018 except for the period 2011–2013. The coalition lost its majority in the 2018 parliamentary elections. In mid-October 2019, a popular protest movement began calling for increased accountability and transparency in politics. On 29 October, Chairman Hariri offered his resignation as a concession, saying "This is in response to the will and demand of the thousands of Lebanese demanding change". However, as of December 2019, President Michel Aoun has yet to accept his resignation, and it is possible the Hariri will suspend his resignation a second time. His purported resignation has, however, been confirmed as a stunt by one of his aides. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michel Samaha
Michel Samaha ( ar, ميشال سماحة; born 9 September 1948) is a former minister of information and minister of tourism in Lebanon, and a longtime politician and intelligence operative. Samaha is known for his long and close relationship with the Syrian government, and was one of several Lebanese officials sanctioned by the United States in 2007 for allegedly "contributing to political and economic instability in Lebanon." In December 2012 Samaha was listed by the United States as a global terrorist under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. Arrested and imprisoned in August, 2012, Samaha was convicted in May 2015 of transporting explosives into Lebanon with the help of Jamil El-Sayyed, a member of the Lebanese parliament, and sentenced to four and a half years in jail. He was released on bail in January 2016. Samaha was sentenced again to 13 years with hard labour in April 2016 for attempting to carry out terrorist acts. In August 2022, he was finally released from jail af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Najib Mikati
Najib Azmi Mikati ( ar, نجيب عزمي ميقاتي; born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman, and three-time Prime Minister of Lebanon whose current term began in September 2021. He also serves as the acting President of Lebanon as of October 2022 in his capacity as prime minister. He previously served as Prime Minister from June 2011 to February 2014 and from April to July 2005. He also served as Minister of Public Works and Transport from December 1998 to 2003. In 2005, he headed an interim government that supervised the general election following the withdrawal of Syrian troops. In 2011, he formed his second government backed by the March 8 alliance, before he resigned in 2013. He was a member of parliament for Tripoli from 2000 to 2005 and was re-elected in 2009 and 2018. In July 2021, he was designated as Prime Minister. According to ''Forbes'', he is the richest man in Lebanon, with a net worth of $2.5 billion in 2021. He has been subject of mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TNT Equivalent
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of TNT. In other words, for each gram of TNT exploded, (or 4184 joules) of energy is released. This convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosive materials, of which TNT is a typical example, although other conventional explosives such as dynamite contain more energy. Kiloton and megaton The "kiloton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 terajoules (). The "megaton (of TNT)" is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 petajoules (). The kiloton and megaton of TNT have traditionally been used to describe the energy output, and hence the destructive power, of a nuclear weapon. The TNT equivalent appears in various nuclear weapon control treaties, and has b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lebanese Armed Forces
) , founded = 1 August 1945 , current_form = 1991 , disbanded = , branches = Lebanese Ground ForcesLebanese Air Force Lebanese Navy , headquarters = Yarze, Lebanon , flying_hours = , website = , commander-in-chief = Vacant , commander-in-chief_title = Commander-in-chief , chief minister = Najib Mikati , chief minister_title = Prime Minister , minister = Maurice Sleem , minister_title = Minister of Defense , commander = Joseph Aoun , commander_title = Commander of the Armed Forces , age = 18–30 years of age for voluntary military service , conscription = No (abolished in 2007) , manpower_data = , manpower_age = 18–39 , available = 1,106,879 , available_f = 1,895,723 , fit = 934,828 , fit_f = 948,327 , reaching = , reaching_f = , active = 75,000 , ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashraf Rifi
Ashraf Rifi ( ar, أشرف ريفي; also spelled Achraf Rifi) (born 1 April 1954) was the general director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF; the national police) from 2005 to 2013. He served as minister of justice from 15 February 2014 to 21 February 2016. Early life and education Rifi was born into a Sunni family in Tripoli, Lebanon on 1 April 1954. He attended Lebanese University, studying the sociology of crime. He studied police work abroad during assignments with police forces in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Maisons-Alfort, France; and Saudi Arabia. Career and alliances Rifi was promoted to major general in April 2005 when he was named to head the national police due to the resignation of former head, Ali Al Hajj. Rifi is one of the board members of the Prince Nayef University for Security Studies. Rifi has close ties to Saudi Arabia. Rifi's term ended on 1 April 2013 and he retired due to mandatory age limit. Rifi's term was not extended by the Lebanese governme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
