Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire

Lebanese Army Command announced the arrest of eight people as part of efforts to identify those who fired gunshots during last Sunday’s municipal elections in the North Lebanon and Akkar governorates. (Supplied)
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Updated 16 May 2025
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Lebanon’s parliament doubles penalty for celebratory gunfire

  • Law change follows injuries during municipal election events

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday approved an amendment to the law that aims to curb celebratory gunfire by doubling the penalties for those who fire shots into the air.

The new law imposes stricter penalties for individuals involved in actions that have led to numerous injuries and fatalities in recent years.

The action comes after Lebanese Army Command announced the arrest of eight people as part of efforts to identify those who fired gunshots during last Sunday’s municipal elections in the North Lebanon and Akkar governorates.

Army units, with support from a Directorate of Intelligence patrol, raided the homes of several suspects and seized weapons and ammunition they possessed.

The skies over the North and Akkar governorates were illuminated last Sunday night by gunfire, celebrating candidates’ victories in the municipal elections, where local families traditionally compete for seats on the city councils that govern their affairs.

The celebratory gunfire caused injury to a young man, Mohammed Jihad Khaled, from the town of Ain Al-Dahab in Akkar.

He is still fighting for his life after a bullet struck his head.

He remains in a coma after being moved to the intensive care unit of a hospital.

Journalist Nada Andraos was also injured by celebratory gunfire, as a bullet struck her leg after piercing the car she was in while covering the elections with her team from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International.

Andraos, who seemed stunned by the incident — especially since the bullet could have struck her head instead of her leg — commented on social media: “In Lebanon, a stray bullet represents the value of life.”

Victims’ families often file lawsuits in court and with security agencies against unidentified people.

Many offenders escape punishment, leading to repeated tragedies where celebratory gunfire accompanies even minor school achievements.

The law prohibiting the firing of firearms into the air specifies that if such actions lead to a person’s illness or incapacity that causes them to miss work for fewer than 10 days, the offender will face a prison sentence of nine months to three years, in addition to a fine ranging from 10 to 15 times the official minimum wage.

MP Wadah Al-Sadiq said that the amendment had increased the penalty duration.

Previously, the penalty ranged from six months to three years; now it begins at one year in prison and can go up to six years.

The final decision will be made by the judge who issues the ruling.

Information Minister Paul Morcos, an international human rights defender, welcomed the amendment.

It serves as an additional deterrent, moving toward prohibiting such practices and ensuring accountability for perpetrators, he said.

Lawyer Imad Al-Masri, who specializes in criminal cases, said: “Any individual who discharges firearms or fireworks in populated areas or in the presence of a crowd, regardless of whether their firearm is licensed, will face a prison sentence of six months to three years.

“Additionally, they will incur a fine ranging from eight to 15 times the official minimum wage.

“The weapon shall be confiscated in all cases, and the perpetrator shall be referred to the military court for trial.”

Al-Masri said that the military court imposes penalties on individuals who fire bullets into the air, ranging from fines to prison sentences of six months to two years.

A judicial source said that the military court has numerous cases related to firing into the air. These offenses are punishable by law and escalate from a misdemeanor to a felony if the shooting results in casualties.

Al-Masri said: “Increasing the penalty is a deterrent if it is accompanied by strict prior measures and the enforcement of immediate prosecution and, most importantly, changing social behavior regarding this dangerous practice.”

Riots continued for a second day in Roumieh Prison, Lebanon’s largest prison, coinciding with the parliamentary session.

Inmates are demanding the approval of a general amnesty law and a reduction in their imprisonment period.

Tensions ran high among both convicts and detainees, some of whom hung symbolic gallows inside their cells as a form of protest.

Lawyer Rabih Qais, the program manager at the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace and a longtime observer of prison affairs, said: “The law proposal submitted by several MPs addresses the issue of delayed trials for detainees.

“Many of these people have spent years in prison, even though the sentences they might receive if tried could be significantly shorter than the time they have already served.”

Qais said Lebanon “evaluates every decision through the lens of sectarian power-sharing.

“As a result, many of those advocating for amnesty are Islamists and individuals from the Baalbek-Hermel region, many of whom are facing in absentia arrest warrants related to clashes with security forces or drug-related offenses.

“This may explain why the draft amnesty law was sent to parliamentary committees. However, what is truly needed is justice for the oppressed.”


How many hostages are left in Gaza?

Updated 56 min 39 sec ago
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How many hostages are left in Gaza?

  • 50 hostages remain in captivity
  • PM Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran

Israel said Sunday that it has recovered the bodies of three more hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that ignited the ongoing 20-month war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military identified them as Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. All three were killed during the initial attack and their bodies were taken into Gaza. Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son’s remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan’s 23rd birthday.
The military did not provide details about the operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is committed to returning the remaining hostages even as it wages a new military campaign against Iran.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. More than 55,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Here are details on the hostages:
Total hostages captured on Oct. 7, 2023: 251
Hostages taken before the Oct. 7 attack: 4, including 2 who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015 and the bodies of 2 soldiers killed in the 2014 war
Hostages released in exchanges or other deals: 148, of whom 8 were dead
Bodies of hostages retrieved by Israeli forces: 49
Hostages rescued alive: 8
Hostages still in captivity: 50, of whom Israel believes 27 are dead. Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several more.
The hostages in captivity include four non-Israelis: 2 Thais and 1 Tanzanian who have been confirmed dead, and a Nepalese captive.


US, Israel crossed ‘big red line’, Iran FM says as heads to Moscow

Updated 28 min 3 sec ago
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US, Israel crossed ‘big red line’, Iran FM says as heads to Moscow

  • ‘Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security’
  • Iran’s top envoy says any demand to return to negotiations was ‘irrelevant’

ISTANBUL: The United States and Israel crossed a major red line in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday, saying he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

“They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran’s) nuclear facilities,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

He was speaking just hours after President Donald Trump said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days into an Israeli bombing campaign targeting its nuclear facilities.

“The most dangerous one happened only last night,” Araghchi said, while acknowledging he did not know the full extent of the damage done in the strikes, including one at the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

“I still do not have exact information about the level of damages, but I don’t think it matters... Last night’s attack was a grave crime,” he said.

“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression.”

Araghchi said he would head to Moscow on Sunday and hold talks with Putin on Monday morning.

“I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow,” he said.

After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war.”

But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was “irrelevant.”

“The world must not forget that it was the United States which — in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome — betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” he said.

“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”

Turkiye, which was hosting the weekend OIC summit, warned that the strikes risked escalating the Iran-Israel conflict to a global level that could have “catastrophic” consequences.

“The ongoing developments could cause the regional conflict to escalate to a global level. We do not want this catastrophic scenario to come to life,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.


Iran missile barrage hits three areas in Israel, 23 hurt

Updated 22 June 2025
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Iran missile barrage hits three areas in Israel, 23 hurt

  • Public broadcaster KAN 11 showed images of a devastated building surrounded by mounds of rubble

JERUSALEM: Three areas of Israel including coastal hub Tel Aviv were hit Sunday morning during waves of Iranian missile attacks, with at least 23 people injured, according to rescue services and police.

Several buildings were heavily damaged in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv, with holes torn in the facades of apartment blocks.

“Houses here were hit very, very badly,” Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai told reporters at the scene. “Fortunately, one of them was slated for demolition and reconstruction, so there were no residents inside.

“Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well. The damage is very, very extensive, but in terms of human life, we are okay.”

The Israeli police said in a statement that they had been deployed to at least two other impact sites, one in Haifa in the north and another in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv.

A public square in a residential area of Haifa was left strewn with rubble and surrounding shops and homes have been heavily damaged, AFP photos showed.

Eli Bin, the head of Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, told reporters that a total of 23 people had been wounded nationwide in the attacks, with “two in moderate condition and the rest lightly injured.”

Two waves of missiles were launched at Israel from around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), the Israeli military said.

Sirens rang across the country, with air defenses activated shortly afterwards, causing loud explosions heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Israeli police reported “the fall of weapon fragments” in a northern area encompassing the port of Haifa, where local authorities said emergency services were heading to an “accident site.”

Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, but at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nation-wide and 25 people have been killed since the war began with Iran on June 13, according to official figures.

Tel Aviv, the southern city of Beersheba and the northern port of Haifa have been the three areas most frequently targeted by Iran.

Israel’s sophisticated air defenses have intercepted more than 450 missiles along with around 1,000 drones, according to the latest figures from the Israeli military.


Additional US embassy staff left Iraq due to ‘regional tensions’: US official

Updated 22 June 2025
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Additional US embassy staff left Iraq due to ‘regional tensions’: US official

  • The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week
  • The embassy and the consulate remain operational

BAGHDAD: More personnel from the United States diplomatic mission departed Iraq over the weekend as part of ongoing efforts to reduce embassy staffing amid “regional tensions,” a US official said Sunday after Washington attacked Iranian nuclear sites.
“As part of our ongoing effort to streamline operations, additional personnel departed Iraq on June 21 and 22,” the US official told AFP.
The departures were a continuation of a process that started last week “out of an abundance of caution and due to heightened regional tensions,” he added.
The embassy and the consulate remain operational.
Earlier on Sunday, Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran as President Donald Trump announced US strikes on Iran’s main nuclear sites.
Iran had threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out.
Fears are growing in Iraq over a possible intervention by Iran-backed armed factions, who have threatened Washington’s interests in the region if it were to join Israel in its war against Iran.
Iraq, which has for years been navigating a delicate balancing act between Tehran and Washington, has long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.


Airlines keep avoiding Middle East airspace after US operation in Iran

Updated 22 June 2025
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Airlines keep avoiding Middle East airspace after US operation in Iran

  • Choose other routings such as north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia
  • New flight paths result in higher fuel and crew costs and longer flight times

Airlines continued to avoid large parts of the Middle East on Sunday after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, with traffic already skirting airspace in the region due to recent missile exchanges.

“Following US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, commercial traffic in the region is operating as it has since new airspace restrictions were put into place last week,” FlightRadar24 said on social media platform X.

Its website showed airlines were not flying in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel. They have chosen other routings such as north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, even if it results in higher fuel and crew costs and longer flight times.

READ: Trump tells Iran ‘peace or tragedy’ in special address after main nuclear sites bombed

Missile and drone barrages in an expanding number of conflict zones globally represent a high risk to airline traffic.

Since Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13, carriers have suspended flights to destinations in the affected countries, though there have been some evacuation flights from neighboring nations and some bringing stranded Israelis home.

Israel’s two largest carriers, El Al Israel Airlines and Arkia, said on Sunday they were suspending rescue flights that allowed people to return to Israel until further notice. El Al said it would also extend its cancelation of scheduled flights through June 27.

Israel’s airports authority said the country’s airspace was closed for all flights, but land crossings with Egypt and Jordan remained open.

Japan’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it had evacuated 21 people, including 16 Japanese nationals, from Iran overland to Azerbaijan. It said it was the second such evacuation since Thursday and that it would conduct further evacuations if necessary.

New Zealand’s government said on Sunday it would send a Hercules military transport plane to the Middle East on standby to evacuate New Zealanders from the region.

It said in a statement that government personnel and a C-130J Hercules aircraft would leave Auckland on Monday. The plane would take some days to reach the region, it said.

The government was also in talks with commercial airlines to assess how they may be able to assist, it added.