Lebanese police drag protesters, remove roadblocks in Beirut

1 / 7
Police carry a demonstrator during an operation to open a blocked highway during ongoing anti-government protests in Beirut, Lebanon, October 26, 2019. (Reuters)
Updated 27 October 2019
Follow

Lebanese police drag protesters, remove roadblocks in Beirut

  • The Lebanese army said it fired gunshots into the air after a clash at a protest road-block near Tripoli
  • When riot police moved in to clear roadblocks on the ring road linking eastern and western Beirut, many protesters sat or lay down on the asphalt

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces pushed and dragged away protesters who refused to move from roadblocks in central Beirut on Saturday, to reopen roads closed during a campaign of civil disobedience.

The protesters had set up several roadblocks around Beirut and on major highways to enforce their calls for the government to step down amid nationwide protests, now in their tenth day.

When the riot police moved in to clear the roadblocks on the ring road that links eastern and western Beirut, many protesters sat or lay down on the asphalt in defiance.

Some protesters chanted: “The people want to bring down the regime.”




A riot police armoured vehicle removes a concrete block used by demonstrators to block a highway, during ongoing anti-government protests in downtown Beirut on October 26, 2019. (Reuters)

“We are no bandits,” cried one man. “We have rights and are asking for them.”

Pushing and shoving, the security forces successfully opened the road and traffic flowed through. In another part of Lebanon, the army removed a roadblock without incident.

But on the coastal highway to the north, a large crowd of residents sat on the ground and others stood in one line, blocking the military’s efforts to remove the roadblocks with a bulldozer. The military retreated.

The military warned that blocking roads was in violation of the law. The head of Lebanon’s powerful militant Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, called on protesters to open the roads in a speech Friday.




Members of the Lebanese security forces surround protesters blocking a major bridge in the centre of the capital Beirut, during an anti-government protest on October 26, 2019. (AFP)

The Lebanese army said it fired gunshots into the air after a clash at a protest road-block near the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, injuring several people.
The army said it had intervened to break up a skirmish between protesters and people trying to drive their cars on the road. Stones and fireworks were thrown at soldiers, injuring five of them, it said in a statement.
After using tear gas, the army said it then fired into the air and also used rubber bullets, injuring several people.
A witness said soldiers shot into the air after trying to re-open a road out of Tripoli that some protesters had been blocking, near the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp.
As part of a wave of unprecedented protests demanding the government resign, people have closed routes across Lebanon with makeshift barriers and sit-ins for days.




Lebanese anti-government protesters stand behind a burning barricade during a demonstration in Beddawi town on the outskirts of Tripoli on October 26, 2019. (AFP)

The protests have paralyzed the country, which already faces a major economic crisis. Banks, universities and schools have been closed since last week.

But the unprecedented demonstrations have also brought together Lebanese from all sects and political affiliation, uniting them in a common demand that long-serving politicians, accused of corruption and mismanagement, step down.

Squares in Beirut and other cities have filled up in a spontaneous expression of anger at the country’s political elite. A common chant, “All means all,” has demanded all incumbent officials step down.

Nasrallah ordered his supporters to leave the protests on Friday after they clashed with anti-government protesters who criticized him. The Hezbollah leader tried to cast doubt on the spontaneity of the protests, saying that foreign powers and rivals are trying to exploit the rallies for political gains against his group.

Just before the security forces moved in on Saturday, two women and two men were manning the roadblock on the ring road. They said they have been at the roadblock for 10 days and have no plan to dismantle it but added that they would not fight the army. They let through an ambulance and a motorcycle.




Anti-government protesters shout slogans as they block a main highway, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. (AP)

“This is an uprising of a people who have been suffering for the last 30 years and can no longer tolerate their lies, theft and hypocrisy,” said 29-year-old Rima, who was manning the roadblock, referring to the government. “We are protesting. We are not vandalizing or violent.” Rima declined to give her last name, worried about her safety.

To the south, Lebanese soldiers removed chairs and tents set up in the middle of the intersection that links Beirut to the presidential palace, the mountain overlooking the city, the east and suburbs of Beirut.

The protesters did not resist but one broke into tears, telling the local LBC television station that he was disappointed the army had to force them to remove the roadblocks.

Amnesty International has said that blocking the roads was part of the protesters’ efforts to make their voice heard, and called on authorities to protect the rallies against violence from political opponents.


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in therecorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.
 


Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

Updated 20 min 12 sec ago
Follow

Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran late Thursday not to respond to Israeli strikes by hitting American bases, saying Washington was not involved.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”
Israel announced strikes on Iran, where loud explosions were heard, hours after US President Donald Trump publicly said they should not do so.
Trump had said that Israel would ruin chances for a peacefully negotiated solution, which he said was close.
A sixth round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program had been scheduled between the United States and Iran on Sunday in Oman.
“Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense,” Rubio said, without offering support or criticism of the strikes by the close US ally.
“President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” he said.
 


Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

Updated 24 sec ago
Follow

Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

JERUSALEM: Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel said it targeted nuclear and military sites.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.
Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel.
People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blast. State television acknowledged the blast.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighborhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area — but it wasn’t immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.
An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.
The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly 5 percent on the news.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.
The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”
“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.
Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.
“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.


US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

Updated 13 June 2025
Follow

US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

WASHINGTON: The US military announced Thursday that a recent airstrike had killed an Daesh group official in northwest Syria.
In a post to social media, US Central Command  said its forces “conducted a precision airstrike in northwest Syria killing Rakhim Boev, a Syria-based Daesh official,” using another name for Daesh.
The post on X said Boev was “involved in planning external operations threatening US citizens, our partners, and civilians.”
The accompanying image depicts an SUV vehicle with a bashed-in windshield and roof.
AFP previously reported that two people were killed in separate drone strikes Tuesday, on a car and a motorcycle, in the northwestern bastion of the Islamist former rebels who now head the Syrian government.
A call to CENTCOM seeking confirmation that the incidents are related was not immediately returned.
The twin drone strikes in the Idlib region mirror the US-led coalition’s past strikes on jihadists in the area.
During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh.


Returning Syrian refugees cut global displaced total

Updated 12 June 2025
Follow

Returning Syrian refugees cut global displaced total

  • UN believes 1.5m from abroad and 2m internally displaced will be home by the end of 2025

GENEVA: Refugees returning to Syria have cut the global total of displaced people from a record peak at the end of 2024, the UN said on Thursday.

More than 500,000 have returned from abroad and 1.2 million internally displaced people have gone back to their home areas since Bashar Assad was deposed in December. The UN refugee agency estimates 1.5 million from abroad and 2 million internally displaced will return by the end of 2025.
Worldwide, a record 123.2 million were forcibly displaced by last December, but the total had fallen to 122.1 million by the end of April. The main drivers of displacement were conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine.

“We are living in a time of intense volatility ... with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said. “We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.”