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Beirut, Bekaa finalizing preparations for Sunday’s Municipal, Mayoral Vote
The third round of the municipal and mayoral elections in Lebanon will be in the capital Beirut as well as Bekaa as voters will start casting their ballots in the early morning (7 p.m.) of Sunday, May 18, 2025.
In addition to the local aspect of the elections, the political choices of the voters will be displayed clearly in Beirut as well the various districts of Bekaa. Lebanon is witnessing a critical political situation caused by the Israeli aggression and the US-backed economic siege; consequently, the public choices will have their say.
In Beirut, a municipal council composed of 24 members in addition to 108 mayor will be elected by around 500 thousand voters recorded by the interior ministry. Six lists are registered to be in the vote competition.In Bekaa, the electoral silence kicked off along with the handling of the ballot boxes to the officers heading the polling stations. Hundreds of thousands of voters are going to cast their ballots at hundreds of stations in the various Bekaa districts.
Bekaa Governor Bachir Khodr affirmed, in an interview with Al-Manar reporter, readiness for the elections, underlining law enforcement in all the related vote measures.On May 4 and 11, Lebanon witnessed the first two rounds of the municipal and mayoral elections in Mount Lebanon and the North.
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Yemenia is back in the air
The arrival of the first Yemenia Airlines flight to Sanaa Airport after its destruction by Zionist raids 11-19-1446 AH 05-17-2025 AD
Al Masirah video 
In a message of steadfastness and defiance against aggression, Sana’a Airport resumes normal operations at full operational capacity – Al Manar Arabic report. -
Zionist airstrikes on S Lebanon, kill one, destroy pre-fabricated rooms, and a cement factory
At least one person has been killed in an attack by a Zionist unmanned aerial vehicle in the southern part of Lebanon, marking a new violation of a shaky ceasefire agreement with the Arab nation.
PressTV reportZionist phosphorous shelling targets Markaba, South Lebanon and a drone dropped a stun grenade over a fisherman in Ras al-Naqoura, South Lebanon.
Zionist drone dropped a second stun grenade on Naqoura, South Lebanon.
A civilian injured after his car was targeted on Abu al-Aswad road, South Lebanon. Al Akhbar One person killed in the Zionist airstrike targeting a vehicle in Tyre district, South Lebanon.
Lebanese Health MinistryZionist forces targeted a prefabricated room and a previously hit sanitary supplies warehouse in Aita al-Shaab, South Lebanon, at dawn today. Al Akhbar Zionist colony strike targets a prefabricated room attached to a truck in Dhahira, South Lebanon.
With today’s airstrikes, Zionist forces have now targeted all prefabricated rooms in the border towns of the western sector, South Lebanon.
Zionist strike targets a stone factory and a prefabricated room in Yaroun, South Lebanon, early morning. Al Akhbar Fires broke out in the olive groves on the outskirts of Markaba, South Lebanon, after the Israeli occupation forces fired phosphorus shells. Al Akhbar Zionist drone drops a third sound bomb today on the area of Ras al-Naqoura, South Lebanon.
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After starvation blockade, US-BACKED terror colony moves on to the next stage of Gaza extermination
120 martyrs and new massacres in Gaza as the occupation begins the “Gideon’s Wagons” operation – Al Manar Arabic report. Zionist colony says it has launched first stages of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots,’ moves to seize territory.
The Zionist military spokesperson has announced that occupation forces in Gaza have begun the “first moves” of Operation Gideon’s Chariots over the past 24 hours. They have mobilized to occupy territory and expand their assault in an effort to achieve their purported war goals. This comes as Zionist has killed hundreds of Palestinians in the past 48 hours.The moment Zionist warplanes launched violent airstrikes on the Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood in Jabalia camp, north of the Gaza Strip. Zionist says first stages of Operation Gideon’s Chariots which is aimed at occupying territory has begun Israel Launches ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ Offensive to Seize Gaza Territory – Al Masirah report.
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UNIFIL & Zionist colony attacks on Southerners
Zionist shelling targets the entrance of Adaysseh near Taybeh, South Lebanon, amid intense area-wide combing operations.
UNIFIL soldiers fired warning shots into the air to disperse residents of Jmayjimah, South Lebanon, who confronted their patrol after it entered private property.
The Jmaijmeh Municipality reported that several residents were injured by tear gas canisters fired by a UNIFIL patrol after locals asked them to withdraw. The incident occurred as the patrol entered private property in the village’s rugged area for the second time without Lebanese Army escort.
Way out of line – UNIFIL! Residents Confront UNIFIL Units Attempting to Break into Private Properties in Jmaijmeh Town, South Lebanon – Al Manar report.
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Following a 14-year boycott, World Bank resumes operations in Syria after Saudi, Qatari debt payments, and US sanctions lift
This is how the Big Boys bully in the school ground and in geopolitics.
Less than 6 months after the ousting of Al Assad,
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have paid off Syria’s outstanding debts of about 15.5 million dollars to the World Bank, allowing the resumption of operations after a 14-year pause. The World Bank highlighted that Syria is on a path to recovery, with its first project aimed at improving electricity services.
This development follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement of lifting long-standing sanctions on Syria during his visit to Riyadh. The move signals a significant shift in international policy toward Syria.
Syrian Transitional President Ahmad Al-Shar’aa praised the decision, calling it historic and courageous. He emphasized that Syria will no longer be a site for foreign influence struggles and praised the unity and sacrifices of the Syrian people, which have influenced global opinion.
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Zionist colony attack targets Hodeidah port (Al-Masirah)
Yemeni Health Ministry: One martyr and nine injured following Zionist attacks on the ports of Al-Salif and Hodeidah.
Zionist warplanes bombed the ports of Hodeidah and Salif in Yemen around an hour ago.
A Zionist security official told Yedioth Ahronoth that 20 Zionist aircraft attacked Yemeni ports to ‘impose a naval blockade on them.’
Zionisr War Minister Katz
“We will assassinate Abdul Malik al-Houthi just as we did with Deif and the two Sinwars in Gaza, Nasrallah in Beirut, and Haniyeh in Tehran.”Footage captures the aftermath of the Zionist attack on Yemen’s Al-Salif port in Hudaydah. -
UAE pledges $1.4tn investment in US as Trump ends West Asia tour
Washington and Abu Dhabi also finalized a deal that will allow the UAE to import hundreds of thousands of AI chips from NVIDIAThe UAE announced on 15 May that it plans to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over a period of 10 years, which came during US President Donald Trump’s visit to the country.
“The UAE’s plan to invest $1.4 trillion in the United States over the next 10 years is a testament to the strength of our strategic relationship,” said UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ).
MbZ added that Abu Dhabi is “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” telling Trump, “Your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”
“And all I can say is thank you very much. We will work very hard to deserve it,” Trump told MbZ. “I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better.”
During the visit, Trump also announced several deals with the UAE worth over $200 billion, including a $14.5 billion agreement between Boeing, GE Aeropsace, and Etihad Airways, according to a statement by the White House.
The US and UAE have also finalized an agreement that will allow Abu Dhabi to import hundreds of thousands of chips produced by NVIDIA, for the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.
“It’s a very big contract,” Trump said at a US–UAE Business Council breakfast on Friday.
The UAE visit marks the final stop of the US President’s Gulf tour, which also includes visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The visits included an agreement for Qatar Airways to buy over 200 Boeing jets and a $600 billion pledge from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US, as well as a $142 billion US weapons sale to the kingdom.
The White House referred to the weapons deal as “the largest defense sales agreement in history.”
“I shook more hands, more than any human being is capable of doing,” Trump said on Air Force One after his trip to Saudi Arabia, mocking former US president Joe Biden for getting “a fist bump” from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS).
The Gulf tour coincided with ongoing nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran.
Trump said on 15 May during his visit to Qatar that Tehran and Washington were “getting close” to reaching a nuclear agreement and that a military attack on Iran’s atomic energy program is likely avoidable.The Cradle Media report
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New Zionist strikes kill over 120 in Gaza amid Trump’s tour of region
Thursday has been another bloody day for Gaza residents as the Zionist military pressed ahead with its unrelenting attacks across the blockaded territory.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on his controversial scheme to displace Palestinians from their homeland.
Palestinian rescuers reported Israeli strikes across the besieged region had killed at least 103 people, the majority of them children and women, since early morning Thursday.
The fatalities came after airstrikes and shelling targeted several areas across the besieged territory, including the cities of Beit Lahia, Khan Younis and Jabalia.
The latest fatalities include Palestinian journalist Hassan Samour and his family. This brings 216 the number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023.
Residents and witnesses reported “intense Zionist shelling all night.”
“Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents,” Amir Selha, a 43-year-old Palestinian from north Gaza, was quoted as saying.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed this week in intensified Israeli airstrikes.This comes as Trump is on the last leg of a trip to some Arab states of the Persian Gulf region. He has mainly skirted the issue of the war in Gaza in his public remarks during the trip, but made comments to reporters after a roundtable with business leaders in Qatar.
“Gaza has been a territory of death and destruction for many years,” Trump said. “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good — make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone.”
Trump described aerial images of the widespread destruction from Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.“There’s practically no building standing. It’s not like you’re trying to save something,” he said.
Israel’s far-right ruling coalition, led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has embraced Trump’s proposals on Gaza to displace Palestinians permanently outside the territory and turn it into a seaside real-estate development.
Trump’s remarks about Gaza came on the same day the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in the war surpassed 53,000 people — a third of them children.
All Arab states have rejected the plan, and the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has called it ethnic cleansing.
Israel also carried out the latest strikes on the day Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when around 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes by armed Zionist militias to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
With most of the 2.3 million people in Gaza internally displaced, some residents of the besieged strip say suffering is greater now than at the time of the Nakba.
“What we are experiencing now is even worse than the Nakba of 1948,” said Ahmed Hamad, a Palestinian in Gaza City who has been displaced multiple times.
Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming a brutal military campaign on March 18 after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire collapsed.
Meanwhile, a US-backed humanitarian organization will start work in Gaza by the end of May under an aid distribution plan.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli authorities.It said it had asked Israel to secure distribution points in northern Gaza, and that Israel had agreed.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Gisha, an Israeli NGO, said the aid plan in the besieged Gaza Strip “is designed to bring about the forced displacement of the population.”
“The plan is the next step in a string of moves aimed at consolidating control over the Strip and strangling the population and anyone trying to provide them relief,” Gisha said.
International aid agencies have already warned that Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, including the US-backed proposal, will only add to the suffering in the devastated Palestinian territory.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18.
It said the overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, 2023, stands at 53,010.
Separately, in the occupied West Bank, raids were ongoing and roads were blocked on Thursday after Israeli forces killed four Palestinians across the region.
Israel launched an intensified offensive against the occupied West Bank on January 21, claiming that it was targeting resistance fighters of the Jenin Battalion.
The regime has ramped up its West Bank violence since October 7, 2023, when it launched its genocide in Gaza. Since then, Israeli forces and settlers have killed about 1000 Palestinians in the occupied territory.PressTV report
A sad scene of three children, brothers, who were martyred in the Zionist enemy’s bombing of their home in Jabalia camp, north of Gaza, yesterday. The Zionist colony is heavily bombing Beit Lahia and Jabalia in preparation for a large-scale ground invasion (“Gideon’s Chariots”), following a bloody Thursday where 130 martyrs ascended across the Gaza Strip. (Media from Thursday afternoon) RNN -
Indian Navy is said to have forced Rohingya refugees into sea
Indian naval forces have abandoned Muslim Rohingya refugees in the sea and told them to return to Myanmar by swimming.
The Rohingya refugees were forced off an Indian navy vessel into the Andaman Sea.
Andrews, an independent expert mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the matter, said he was “deeply concerned by what appears to be a blatant disregard for the lives and safety of those who require international protection.”
Last week, Indian authorities in New Delhi reportedly rounded up several Rohingya refugees. They flew them to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they were transferred to an Indian naval ship, according to Andrews.
“After the boat crossed the Andaman Sea, the refugees were reportedly given life jackets, forced into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar.”
Andrews said that forcing Rohingya refugees into the sea is an “unconscionable” action carried out by the Indian naval forces.
“The idea that Rohingya refugees have been cast into the sea from naval vessels is nothing short of outrageous,” he said.
Andrews said he was seeking further information and testimony regarding these developments and “implore the Indian government to provide a full accounting of what happened”.
“Such cruel actions would be an affront to human decency and represent a serious violation of the principle of non-refoulement,” he said.
“The government of India must immediately and unequivocally repudiate unconscionable acts against Rohingya refugees, stop all deportations to Myanmar and ensure that those responsible for these blatant violations of India’s international obligations are held responsible.”
Andrews said Rohingya Muslims “face the threat of violence, persecution and other grave human rights violations in Myanmar”.
For decades, Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya have been heavily persecuted by the Myanmar military.
Myanmar’s military forces launched a genocidal campaign against the Muslim Rohingya that started in 2017 during the rule of the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was supported by the West.
Muslims were killed, raped, tortured, or arrested by the junta forces, according to the UN, which has described the community in the western state of Rakhine as the most persecuted minority in the world.
Since then, Myanmar’s military has been accused of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and other minority groups in the country.
Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring countries, mainly Bangladesh.
About a million Rohingya who fled the genocidal campaign live in a string of squalid camps and makeshift settlements across Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, less than 400km south of the capital city, Dhaka.PressTV report
This undated image purportedly shows a Rohingya refugee mother and her child in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. (Photo by UNHCR)
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