Lebanon’s Rai Call for Prosecuting the Corrupt

Rai during Sunday Mass. (NNA)
Rai during Sunday Mass. (NNA)
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Lebanon’s Rai Call for Prosecuting the Corrupt

Rai during Sunday Mass. (NNA)
Rai during Sunday Mass. (NNA)

Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai said it was unacceptable to undermine the independence of the judiciary, calling for “the trial of all the corrupt who squandered public money,” instead of holding one party “accountable for the practices that took place over the past 30 years.”

Speaking during the Sunday Mass sermon, Rai said: “It is not acceptable to allow practices that undermine constitutional institutions, and it is unacceptable to overthrow the independence and integrity of the judiciary.”

He also said it was unacceptable for judges to lose their impartiality.

He added: “We support holding all corrupt people accountable.”

In this regard, he called on politicians to “stop fabricating news… and harming the reputation of Lebanon, the Lebanese currency, the central bank, the army, and the judiciary.”

Furthermore, the patriarch stressed the importance of holding the parliamentary elections on time, saying: “Let the deputies remember that they are entrusted by the Lebanese and they are not entitled to renew their mandate without the permission of the people.”

The elections are set for May.

His remarks came following a decision by a Lebanese judge on Tuesday to issue a subpoena for central bank governor Riad Salameh after he failed to show up for interrogation sessions as part of her probe into alleged misconduct initiated after Lebanon’s 2019 financial meltdown.

Judge Ghada Aoun confirmed to Reuters that she issued the subpoena after Salameh missed three separate sessions and said she had circulated the order to security agencies.

Salameh had previously denied any wrongdoing and characterized investigations against him in Lebanon and abroad as politically motivated.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.