Lebanese judge orders retrial of Lebanese-American

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In this Aug. 16, 2006 file photo, a Lebanese flag flies over Khiam prison, in the southern town of Khiam, Lebanon. On Monday March 16, 2020. (AP)
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Updated 18 March 2020
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Lebanese judge orders retrial of Lebanese-American

BEIRUT: A Lebanese military judge Tuesday appealed a verdict by the military tribunal that ordered the release of a Lebanese-American held since September on charges of working for an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago, state-run National News Agency said.
Judge Ghassan Khoury asked the Military Court of Appeals to strike down an earlier ruling in favor of Amer Fakhoury and issue an arrest warrant against him. He asked that Fakhoury be put on trial again on charges of kidnapping, torturing and detaining Lebanese citizens as well as “killing and attempting to kill others,” according to NNA.
On Monday, Fakhoury was ordered released because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the so-called South Lebanon Army militia.
Some local media reported that Fakhoury was released but there was no official confirmation.
Fakhoury, 57, is a former SLA member who became a US citizen last year, and is now a restaurant owner in Dover, New Hampshire. His case has been closely followed in his home state of New Hampshire, where US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him.
Tuesday’s appeal came after an outcry in Lebanon over the verdict that ordered him released, including harsh criticism from by the powerful Hezbollah group that said the verdict to release Fakhoury came after “American pressures and threats.”
“This is a sad day for Lebanon and justice,” Hezbollah said in a statement adding that the reputation of Lebanon’s judiciary was at stake.
Riots also broke out in one of the country’s main prisons by detainees who demanded to be freed following the verdict against Fakhoury.
Fakhoury has not been attending questioning sessions in Lebanon over the past few months after being hospitalized with stage 4 lymphoma cancer.
Over the weekend, the Fakhoury family placed a sign on their restaurant’s door saying they anticipate reopening by early or mid-April, Seacoastonline.com reported.
Fakhoury has been jailed since Sept. 12 after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture.
Fakhoury’s family and lawyer, however, say he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture.
Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis.
Fakhoury’s lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000.
In February, Fakhoury was charged by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison.
Hundreds of former Lebanese members of the SLA militia had fled to Israel, fearing reprisals if they remained in Lebanon. Others stayed and faced trial, receiving lenient sentences.


Survivors bury dead after RSF attack devastates Sudan village

Updated 37 min 17 sec ago
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Survivors bury dead after RSF attack devastates Sudan village

  • The Emergency Lawyers reported on Monday that nearly 300 people were killed in North Kordofan villages
  • The area is home to several armed tribes that have refused to pledge allegiance to the RSF

PORT SUDAN: It took a full day for the villagers of Shaq Al-Nom, in Sudan’s North Kordofan state, to bury their dead after an attack by paramilitary fighters that left the village in ruins, a survivor told AFP on Tuesday.

The Saturday attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — the paramilitary force at war with the regular army since April 2023 — was part of a series of raids in recent days on villages in North Kordofan, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of the capital Khartoum.

“On Sunday, we collected the bodies from the village streets and inside the houses, and we buried 200 bodies,” Saleh Abdel Rahim, 34, told AFP.

The Emergency Lawyers, a group that documents atrocities by both sides in the war, reported on Monday that nearly 300 people were killed in North Kordofan villages between Saturday and Sunday.

Tolls are nearly impossible to independently verify in Sudan, with many medical facilities forced out of service and limited media access.

“It was indescribable,” Abdel Rahim said, using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation because he had fled to an area close to RSF positions.

“Under artillery shelling, houses burned with their families inside,” he told AFP via satellite Internet connection to circumvent a communications blackout.

Since it began, the war has killed tens of thousands and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, with 14 million Sudanese currently displaced inside the country and across borders.

The Emergency Lawyers reported on Monday that paramilitaries had killed women and children, abducted civilians and looted livestock in the villages surrounding the RSF-controlled city of Bara.

In Shaq Al-Nom, “RSF vehicles arrived in the village, in an attempt to storm it” on Saturday under a hail of machine gun fire and drone strikes, according to Abdel Rahim.

“We had no choice but to resist in defense,” he said, adding that “all of the villagers of the Bara countryside have fled.”

The area is home to several armed tribes that have refused to pledge allegiance to the RSF.

North Kordofan, key to the RSF’s fuel smuggling route via Libya, has been an important battleground between the army and the paramilitaries for months.

The RSF has tried to encircle the North Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid — the only road link between Khartoum and the vast western region of Darfur, which the RSF has all but conquered.

It has been unable, however, to seize the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher despite an ongoing siege for more than a year.

Sudanese analyst Kholood Khair told AFP that “they want to consolidate that road that links El-Fasher to El-Obeid and other parts of Kordofan, so effectively they’re in a race against time to consolidate in the west before the rains come.”

Sudan’s rainy season, which peaks in August, renders much of the country’s roads inaccessible, making it impossible for either side to capture territory until the floods start clearing in September.


Can Beirut’s new bus network succeed where past reform efforts in Lebanon failed?

Updated 23 min 43 sec ago
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Can Beirut’s new bus network succeed where past reform efforts in Lebanon failed?

  • Sleek new AC buses equipped with GPS and modern fare systems offer a welcome glimpse of efficiency
  • World Bank warns that dependence on private vehicles is unsustainable amid rising poverty and costs

LONDON: On Beirut’s congested roads, where traffic crawls and crumbling infrastructure testifies to decades of neglect, a new rhythm is quietly taking shape.

Sleek, navy-blue buses — equipped with GPS, air conditioning and modern fare systems — now trundle through the city’s chaos, offering a welcome glimpse of efficiency. Whether they can truly deliver long-term impact, however, remains uncertain.

Cars crowd a road during a traffic jam in Beirut on October 14, 2024. (AFP)

For decades, Lebanon’s public transportation system has been an informal patchwork dominated by private minibuses and shared taxis. Now, the government is attempting to reassert control through a partnership with a private company aimed at modernizing the daily commute.

The new fleet operates on 11 routes, primarily across Greater Beirut, but also extending to parts of northern, southern and eastern Lebanon. A private logistics firm, Ahdab Commuting and Trading Co., manages day-to-day operations under a public-private partnership model.

FASTFACTS

• France donated 50 of the buses currently in use across Greater Beirut and beyond.

• A network of private vans and minibuses run fixed routes without schedules or stops.

• The 2024 Israel-Hezbollah conflict damaged Lebanon’s transport infrastructure.

While the initiative shows promise, commuters are aware of its limitations.

“Overall, you’ll mostly notice the impact of public transit inside the major cities, but even there, the system still heavily relies on taxis,” Mohammed Ali Diab, a Beirut-based journalist, told Arab News.

Beirut’s new buses aim to ease pressure on a public transit system long dominated by private minibuses and shared taxis, left. (Supplied & AFP file)

“Most taxis operate on a shared-ride basis unless a passenger specifically requests a private ride.”

Passengers typically say “service” to request a shared taxi, paying a flat fare — usually around 200,000 Lebanese pounds, or $2 — while the driver continues picking up others along the same route.

Passengers sit in a public transportation bus in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

“In Beirut, there are also vans, but their routes are limited and fixed,” Diab added. “They don’t operate citywide.”

These vans and buses, he noted, are primarily used by working-class commuters and students, largely due to their affordability.

We took a risk during a difficult time and invested in a project that’s close to our hearts … We’re hopeful it will succeed, says Aoni Ahdab, CEO, Ahdab Commuting and Trading Co.

Beyond Beirut, shared taxis and buses connect major cities such as Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon. But in rural and mountainous regions, Diab said, residents still depend on private cars.

That dependence is becoming increasingly unviable. The World Bank’s Beirut office recently warned that Lebanon’s “reliance on private vehicles is increasingly unsustainable,” particularly amid rising poverty rates and vehicle-operation costs.

A public bus awaits passengers at a bus stop in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon is reeling from one of the world’s worst economic crises since 1850, according to the World Bank. Since 2019, currency collapse and high inflation have wiped out savings, shrunk incomes and pushed millions of people into poverty.

A 2024 World Bank report revealed that poverty has more than tripled over the past decade, now affecting 44 percent of the population. A separate study by Walid Marrouch, an economics professor at the Lebanese American University, found that at least 60 percent of citizens live below the poverty line.

A picture taken from Dbayeh north of Beirut on June 7, 2019, shows the skyline of the Lebanese capital covered in smog at sunset. (AFP)

Against this economic backdrop, the government’s partnership with ACTC represents a promising policy shift.

In 2023, the company won a competitive bid launched by the Ministry of Public Works to operate the bus system under specific contractual conditions. As part of the deal, ACTC contributes 10 percent of its revenues to the ministry.

Passengers sit in a public transportation bus in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

Despite the financial risks, ACTC leaders believe in the project’s potential. “We took a risk during a difficult time and invested in a project that’s close to our hearts — one we believe adds real value to the country,” Aoni Ahdab, the ACTC CEO, told Lebanese media. “We’re hopeful it will succeed.”

The service officially launched in July 2024, despite regional instability and periodic hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah that temporarily disrupted routes. Israel’s escalation of attacks from September through late November did not halt the project.

The driver helps a passenger to validate her ticket at a public transportation bus in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

The 2024 conflict caused heavy damage to Lebanon’s transport infrastructure. The World Bank estimates $1 billion is needed for infrastructure sectors, including transport, within an $11 billion national recovery plan.

Much of the new fleet’s foundation was laid earlier. In 2022, France donated 50 buses to Lebanon, with more expected. Meanwhile, the Railway and Public Transport Authority refurbished 45 vehicles locally, raising the operational fleet to 95 — a modest but tangible effort to ease the transportation burden.

A public bus drives at a street in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

Although the ACTC contract did not mandate fleet upgrades, the company voluntarily refurbished and standardized the buses, repainting them in navy blue for easy identification and installing safety and tracking technologies.

To test viability, a pilot phase launched in April. Buses operated from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to assess travel times, stop durations and operational needs. The goal was to ensure departures every 25 minutes.

Passengers sit in a public transportation bus in Beirut on May 28, 2025. (AFP)

Pricing was designed to be accessible. Fares vary by distance: 70,000 Lebanese pounds within Beirut, 100,000 to Baabda, and 150,000 to Tripoli, according to local passengers.

Riders can purchase single-use tickets or opt for rechargeable cards. For now, those without cards can still pay drivers directly and receive a scannable paper ticket.

As Beirut confronts long-standing infrastructure challenges, this initiative is viewed as cautious progress. Yet its success will depend on earning public trust and expanding service sustainably.

Initial data is encouraging. Ziad Nasr, head of Lebanon’s public transport authority, told AFP last month that daily ridership has risen to around 4,500 passengers, up from just a few hundred at launch.

Authorities hope to expand service further, including routes to Beirut’s airport, but additional buses and international support will be needed.

However, the rollout has not been smooth. Resistance from private transport operators, who view the initiative as a threat to their livelihoods, has been fierce.

According to local media, several buses were vandalized and drivers, especially on the Adlieh–Hadath University Campus route, faced threats and harassment toward the end of 2024. The Ministry of Public Works and security forces intervened to keep services running.

These tensions are symptomatic of deeper, long-standing issues. Lebanon’s public transport sector has suffered for decades from weak oversight, overlapping private interests, chronic underfunding, and lack of strategic planning — all of which have repeatedly hindered reform efforts.

The roots of dysfunction stretch back to the civil war of 1975–1990, which devastated infrastructure and governance. In the years that followed, a car-dependent culture took hold. Even before the 2019 economic collapse, Lebanon was already struggling with failing power grids, unsafe roads and limited water access.

Beyond reducing congestion and improving mobility, public transportation could also play a key role in environmental reform — an often overlooked priority in Lebanon. A World Bank climate and development report noted that the transport sector is the country’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, second only to the energy sector.

Indeed, in cities like Beirut, poor air quality is a growing concern. Frequent traffic jams and widespread use of diesel-powered generators — especially during routine blackouts — have worsened pollution and related health risks.

On the upside, there are signs of innovation. In Zahle, east of Beirut, four hybrid buses are already operating, Nabil Mneimne of the UN Development Program told AFP in June.

More progress is expected this year. Lebanon’s first fully electric buses, powered by a solar charging system, are set to launch between Beirut and the northern city of Jbeil.

A longer-term roadmap for reform has also been laid out. A 2022 World Bank report on improving public transport in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq outlined key recommendations. These included unifying bus operators, creating a fund to buy back public licenses, implementing intelligent transport systems, and developing a national road safety strategy.

The report also urged the government to adopt “quick-win” solutions to improve the user experience — such as reliable schedules, journey-planning apps, real-time tracking, and updated data to enable effective planning.

Together, these steps could help Lebanon transform its transportation landscape — if the political will and public support can be sustained.

 


Oman hire Carlos Queiroz as coach in push for World Cup qualification

Updated 15 July 2025
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Oman hire Carlos Queiroz as coach in push for World Cup qualification

  • The veteran Portuguese tactician led Iran into the 2014 and 2018 World Cups
  • The 72-year-old Queiroz has also coached Real Madrid, Portugal, Egypt, Colombia and Qatar

MUSCAT: Oman hired Carlos Queiroz as their national-team coach Tuesday ahead of autumn games that will determine if the country advances to the World Cup for the first time.

The veteran Portuguese tactician led Iran into the 2014 and 2018 World Cups and will take over with immediate effect.

Oman and five other countries — Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar — have reached the fourth round of qualifying. From groups of three, the two winners will qualify for the 2026 World Cup next summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The fourth-round draw will be on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The matches are in October. After those, there’s one additional round — the second-place finishers square off in November for a spot in a playoff tournament.

“This comes as part of efforts to improve the team’s performances for upcoming games,” the Oman Football Association said in a statement.

Queiroz replaces Rashid Jaber, who led Oman to a fourth-place finish in the third round to keep qualification hopes alive.

The 72-year-old Queiroz has also coached Real Madrid, Portugal, Egypt, Colombia and Qatar.
Queiroz was fired as Qatar coach in December 2023 after 11 games in charge.


Letter to the Editor: In response to Dr. Dania Khatib’s column (July 10, 2025)

Updated 1 min 17 sec ago
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Letter to the Editor: In response to Dr. Dania Khatib’s column (July 10, 2025)

Ukraine stands for freedom of speech and independent media. However, it is with a bitter regret that we noted the recent publication of an op-ed by Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib, who suggested to the public several observations which we believe are inaccurate and risk misleading readers on fundamental issues. The publication itself and a range of narratives outlined therein require a response from the Ukrainian side.

Ukraine profoundly appreciates our rich and consistently growing partnership with Saudi Arabia in line with the Kingdom’s unwavering commitment, in particular, to international law, its rules and fundamental principles.

In this context, it would be relevant to make several points thus dispelling Dr. Dania Khatib’s publication through the prism of our bilateral partnership with undisputable facts to set the record straight.

First of all, the Russian military aggression against Ukraine in no way can be considered as a legitimate deterrence. We believe that invading an independent state, partly occupying sovereign territories, killing peaceful civilians and destroying domestic economies represent a blatant and outrageous violation of the UN Charter’s provisions and international law, which all the UN member states are obliged to respect.

It would be appropriate to recall all the UN resolutions having been adopted since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and in the period 2022-2024. None of the 140 countries that unanimously deplored Russian violations ever talked of this so-called “deterrence.”

Secondly, it is vital for me to firmly reject the notion that Ukraine is “destroyed” or on the verge of collapse, as well as the allegation that a sovereign state being subject to external pressures as a weaker part of the war leading to a hypothetical surrender.

Despite the struggles posed against Ukraine, our state remains steadfast in its pursuit of a prosperous future. To demonstrate our resilience, it is useful to remember the crystal clear figures of our economic partnership with the Kingdom during the time of the full-scale aggression. When bilateral trade turnover grows by 17 percent, this speaks for itself not of a country being destroyed but a determined nation committed to resist.

We have a joint ambition to develop partnership into the future, which is codified in the joint statement issued after the official visit of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the Kingdom in March 2025.

The reinvigoration of the Ukrainian-Saudi Joint Business Council of chambers of commerce and industry, as well as dynamic high-level exchanges between Ukrainian and Saudi companies, demonstrate the high pace of our cooperation. Moreover, we have retained our responsibility as a key food security guarantor in the world by widely supplying wheat and corn to the countries affected.

All these facts do not describe the country in ruin. On the contrary, Ukraine is simultaneously implementing national priority interests and sympathetically meeting the dire needs of struggling countries.

Far from the term “destroyed,” Ukraine refused to fall a victim of Russian aggression but displayed incredible tenacity to defend its people and land.

The final point is around criticism of weak and unreliable West. We want to make it clear: Ukraine stands against aggression with consistent support of our strategic partner the United States and the broad international coalition of the West. Their political support, economic and security assistance empowered Ukraine to withstand all brutalities of the war. The unity we have seen — politically, economically and militarily — is unprecedented and cannot be underestimated.

Ukraine is confident in the West and grateful to all who extend us a hand of help in time of a challenge. Similarly, the humanitarian assistance of the Kingdom plays a pivotal role in protecting our civilians from the consequences of the Russian invasion.

The bottom line is that, with all due respect, a contributing columnist may attempt to offer her fresh look on a complex set of issues; however, one principle must persist to be imperative: rock-solid facts, in my opinion, should not be misinterpreted and distorted in a way that undermines the foundations of international law, sovereign state vital national interests and much valuable partnerships across the globe that Ukraine treasures so much.

Anatolii Petrenko
Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia


Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 93 Palestinians, including several families, health officials say

Updated 15 July 2025
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Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 93 Palestinians, including several families, health officials say

  • Strike in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa district Monday evening kills 19 members of same family
  • Gaza’s Health Ministry says bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes overnight and into Tuesday killed more than 90 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including dozens of women and children, health officials said.
One strike in the northern Shati refugee camp killed a 68-year-old Hamas member of the Palestinian legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa district on Monday evening and killed 19 members of the family living inside, according to Shifa Hospital. The dead included eight women and six children. A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a daily report Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, along with 278 wounded. It did not specify the total number of women and children among the dead.
The Hamas politician killed in a strike early Tuesday, Mohammed Faraj Al-Ghoul, was a member of the bloc of representatives from the group that won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last election held among Palestinians, in 2006.
Hamas won a majority in the vote, but relations with the main Fatah faction that had long led the Palestinian Authority unraveled and ended with Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The legislative council has not formally convened since.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas. But daily, it hits homes and shelters where people are living without warning or explanation of the target.
The latest attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.
Israel has killed more than 58,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 139,000 others in its retaliation campaign since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Just over half the dead are women and children, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, is led by medical professionals. Its count, based on daily reports from hospitals, is considered by the United Nations and other experts to be the most reliable.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its attack 20 month ago, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, and the militants are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.
Israel’s air and ground campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven some 90 percent of the population from their homes. Aid groups say they have struggled to bring in food and other assistance because of Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order, and experts have warned of famine.