Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister, Nagib Mikati, welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, following her arrival in Beirut.
Giorgia Meloni and Nagib Mikati © Grand Serail
Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister, Nagib Mikati, welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Grand Serail on Wednesday, following her arrival in Beirut.
The Italian premier's agenda includes inspecting the Italian contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), stationed at the border between Lebanon and northern Israel, where exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have escalated in recent days.
Italian State Secretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari and Italy's Ambassador to Lebanon, Nicoletta Bombardieri, attended the meeting from the Italian side, along with Lebanon's outgoing Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib.
The discussions also focused on the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and illegal migrants in the Mediterranean region, as well as the necessity of unblocking the Lebanese presidential election after nearly a year and a half of vacancy since the end of Michel Aoun's term in late October 2022.
Israeli forces killed four people in southern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported, citing the health ministry, in two separate strikes that the Israeli military said targeted members of the Shi'ite Muslim armed group Hezbollah.
Kuwait has added eight Lebanese hospitals to its national sanctions list over alleged links to terrorism, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai. The hospitals are all located in areas where Hezbollah is influential: southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Lebanon holds one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East. Now, as the country sinks deeper into economic collapse, officials are quietly debating whether that stockpile could help stabilize a shattered financial system, a move that remains politically toxic and legally constrained.
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