March 18th, 20220DEARBORN - The Imam Sadr Foundation (ISF) USA held its 22nd annual event and fundraising gala at the Islamic Center of America on Saturday, March 12.
The gathering saw an immense show of support for the organization that has been doing critical social and humanitarian work for Lebanon’s most vulnerable populations for...
February 26th, 20220DEARBORN — The Lebanese artist of Armenian origin behind the painting of more than a dozen mosques and churches globally has returned to Dearborn to continue to share his work.
Born in 1973, Haroutioun “Harout” Isack Bastajian has always had a passion for art.
“I spent a lot of time in my childhood in the remote...
February 23rd, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces have foiled plans by militants linked to ISIS to carry out three suicide attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior minister said on Wednesday.
The plans for the attacks involved rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as well as suicide vests rigged with explosives that would have killed...
February 3rd, 20220Lebanese authorities said on Monday that the country's intelligence and security agencies dismantled 17 Israeli spy rings and made numerous arrests in connection with the network.
The spy network was embedded in various aspects of Lebanese society and collected data on politicians and NGOS, specifically targeting Palestinian...
January 24th, 20220BEIRUT - In a bombshell announcement, Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri said on Monday he was suspending his role in political life and would not run in a forthcoming parliamentary election.
The news comes as the country is tackling a dire financial crisis that has seen the country depend into social and...
January 11th, 20220BEIRUT — A Lebanese judge said on Tuesday she had imposed a travel ban on central bank governor Riad Salameh, who is at the center of investigations into alleged fraud and other misconduct launched after Lebanon was plunged into a deep financial crisis.
Salameh, who said he had no knowledge of the ban and denied any wrongdoing, is...
December 7th, 20210BEIRUT — The probe into last year's deadly Beirut port blast has been cleared to resume after being suspended for more than a month on legal claims against its lead investigator, Judge Tarek Bitar, a judicial source said.
A Beirut court rejected the last of the suits preventing Bitar from questioning top officials on...
November 30th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) have introduced the Lebanon TPS Act of 2021.
The proposed legislation seeks to grant Lebanese nationals...
November 25th, 20210BEIRUT — More than half of families in Lebanon had at least one child who skipped a meal by October amid a "dramatic deterioration of living conditions," the U.N.'s children's fund said in a report released on Tuesday.
Children have been hit hard by the country's deep economic crisis exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic,...
November 5th, 20210Lebanon is facing its worst rift yet with oil-rich Gulf Arab states, spurred by comments made by Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi before his official appointment about the Saudi-led campaign that has created a severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Thursday he had agreed with...
November 4th, 20210DEARBORN — As a followup to several requests to the Biden administration to provide temporary protective status (TPS) to Lebanese nationals in the U.S., U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of State this week.
"Almost every single day, I hear from neighbors in my district who are desperate to...
October 22nd, 20210The subject of decades-old sectarian strife has been rekindled in Lebanon, following a deadly shooting of protesters last Thursday.
The leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) dismissed accusations by Hezbollah that it has a militia and seeks civil war as the fallout of deadly violence, in which seven Shi’a Lebanese were shot...
October 14th, 20210BEIRUT — At least six Shi'as were shot dead in Beirut on Thursday, in an attack on protesters who were heading for a demonstration called by Hezbollah to demand the removal of the judge investigating the explosion that ripped through the city's port last year.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Shi'a Amal Movement, accused...
October 4th, 20210BEIRUT — The judge investigating Beirut's catastrophic port explosion survived attempts to have him removed from the inquiry when a court dismissed two complaints against him on Monday.
The investigation into the Aug. 4, 2020 explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, has made little headway amid a smear campaign...
September 23rd, 20210BEIRUT — Lebanon's state electricity company said on Thursday it risked a total blackout across the country by the end of September as its fuel oil reserves dwindle.
Lebanon, in the throes of one of the worst economic meltdowns of modern history, has been plagued by worsening fuel shortages for the past few months with most...
September 16th, 20210Hezbollah began bringing Iranian fuel into Lebanon via Syria on Thursday, a move the group says should ease a crippling energy crisis but which opponents say risks provoking U.S. sanctions.
Dozens of trucks carrying Iranian fuel oil entered northeastern Lebanon near the village of al-Ain, where Hezbollah's yellow flag fluttered from...
September 10th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanese leaders agreed a new government led by Sunni Muslim tycoon Najib Mikati on Friday after a year of feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a resumption of talks with the IMF.
The breakthrough followed a flurry of contacts with France, which has led efforts to...
September 9th, 20210BEIRUT — Ibrahim Jaber was laid off when the fast food restaurant where he worked as a chef in Beirut shut down. Unable to find another job, he had to take his daughter out of school to put food on the table at home.
He is one of many Lebanese who have found themselves facing staggering inflation just as their employers, also hit...
September 8th, 20210DEARBORN — As Lebanon's humanitarian crisis worsens, some lawmakers are seeking protection against removal for the Lebanese nationals in the U.S.
Last month, U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) spoke to The Arab American News about a letter they were circulating among colleagues in the House to urge...
September 4th, 20212DEARBORN — With voters approving the development of a Charter Revision Commission, community activist Hassan Abdallah wants to give back to the city that has always been home.
Abdallah’s father immigrated to Dearborn from Lebanon in the 1950’s in pursuit of the American dream and Abdallah is one of 11 children.
Being a...
September 1st, 20210BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi'a group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel.
Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982,...
August 27th, 20211A letter co-led by U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) is urging the Biden administration to allow Lebanese nationals an extension of their stay in the U.S. during Lebanon's dire economic crisis, by designating Lebanon for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS.
Support for the letter is growing in the...
August 26th, 20210DUBAI – Starting Thursday, Aug. 26 through Sept. 30, Emirates airline's economy class passengers traveling to Beirut from the U.S. and some other countries via Dubai will be eligible to carry an additional piece of luggage totaling 50 lbs.
The additional baggage allowance will help customers pack extra items to support family and...
August 19th, 20210A group of lawmakers wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, calling on U.S. support towards Lebanon’s deteriorating economic and political situation.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), co-chairs of the...
August 10th, 20210BEIRUT — On Tuesday, President Michel Aoun condemned criticism of Lebanon's Christian Maronite patriarch after he expressed opposition to the Iran-backed Shi'a group Hezbollah, warning that insults must be avoided to safeguard national unity.
Following a cross-border salvo between Israel and Hezbollah, Patriarch Bechara Boutros...
August 6th, 20210The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets towards Israeli forces on Friday, drawing fire from Israel into south Lebanon, in a third day of cross-border salvoes amid wider regional tensions with Iran.
Suggesting its attack was calibrated to avoid further escalation, Hezbollah said it had targeted open ground...
August 5th, 20210Israel’s defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his nation blamed on Tehran.
The comments by Benny Gantz come as Israel lobbies countries for action at the U.N. over last week’s attack on...
August 4th, 20210Lebanese, at home and around the world, commemorated one of the most tragic incidents in the county’s recent history on Wednesday, Aug 4.
A year since a powerful explosion at Beirut’s port ripped through its bustling downtown, causing widespread destruction, deaths and injuries, Lebanese are still left without concrete answers...
