Six makeshift bombs exploded in a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of west Beirut overnight, causing damage but no casualties, a security official said yesterday.
The blasts occurred in Corniche al-Mazraa, an area that was the scene of violent sectarian clashes in May, during fierce fighting between political rivals that killed 65 people and sent Lebanon to the brink of civil war.
Windows in shops and cars were shattered in the majority Sunni Muslim area, but no injuries were reported.
Two similar bombs were defused by the Lebanese army near a church in the village of Lassa, north of Beirut, the security official said.
Security concerns are running high in Lebanon ahead of national reconciliation talks between rival political leaders scheduled for today, following the killing of a pro-Syrian politician in a car bombing last Wednesday.
The national dialogue, being chaired by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, is expected to focus on the divisive issue of weapons held by the powerful Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.
Controversy over Hezbollah’s arsenal intensified after its fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006, sparking a deadly 34-day war that devastated Lebanon.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
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