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Lebanese President Stresses Progress on Border Demarcation

Aoun meets with the new executive council of the Informatics and Technology Syndicate, at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday. (NNA)
Aoun meets with the new executive council of the Informatics and Technology Syndicate, at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday. (NNA)
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Lebanese President Stresses Progress on Border Demarcation

Aoun meets with the new executive council of the Informatics and Technology Syndicate, at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday. (NNA)
Aoun meets with the new executive council of the Informatics and Technology Syndicate, at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday. (NNA)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that he hoped his successor would complete the implementation of the anti-corruption process. He also noted that negotiations over the demarcation of the maritime border “have gone a long way,” pointing to technical details that are currently being studied “for the interest of Lebanon, its rights and sovereignty.”

The president’s remarks came during a meeting with the new executive council of the Informatics and Technology Syndicate, at the Baabda Palace.

“The completion of the demarcation of the southern maritime borders will enable Lebanon to launch oil and gas exploration in the specified fields within its exclusive economic zone, which will give the Lebanese economy a positive impetus,” Aoun stated.

He added: “The communications to complete the demarcation file have gone a long way… There are technical details that are currently being studied for the interest of Lebanon, its rights and sovereignty.”

US Mediator Amos Hochstein visited Beirut last week and met with senior Lebanese officials to listen to their viewpoint on some of the outstanding matters in the ongoing negotiations with Israel.

“I think we’re making good progress,” Hochstein said following his meeting with Aoun. “I’m very hopeful we can reach an agreement.”

The US envoy was expected to convey the Israeli response to Lebanese conditions for the maritime border Friday.

On a different note, Aoun told his visitors on Wednesday that the criminal financial audit of the Central Bank’s accounts was underway, adding that the first phase was set to be concluded by the end of September.

He also expressed hope that his successor would complete the implementation of projects launched under his tenure, in particular the process of combating corruption.

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Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
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Suspected US Strikes Overnight in Yemen Kill at Least 3 People

A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)
A Houthi security officer stands over the debris of a destroyed building reportedly hit by US airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen overnight into Thursday killed at least three people, while the death toll in an earlier attack rose to 13 dead, the Iran-backed Houthi group said. The group meanwhile aired footage they said showed the debris left after shooting down yet another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The 13 killed in strikes Tuesday night around Hodeida's al-Hawak district made it one of the deadliest single incidents in the ongoing American campaign, the Houthis said. Another 15 people were wounded. The group described the majority of those killed as women and children, without providing a breakdown.
The area is home to the city's airport, which the Houthis have used in the past to target shipping in the Red Sea.
Since its start, the intense campaign of US airstrikes targeting the group over the attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 100 people, according to casualty figures released Wednesday by the Houthis.
Footage aired by the group’s al-Masirah satellite news channel showed chaotic scenes of people carrying wounded to waiting ambulances and rescuers searching by the light of their mobile phones. The target appeared in the footage to be a home in a residential neighborhood, likely part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill Houthi leaders.
Early Thursday morning, the Houthis said airstrikes targeting the al-Sabeen District in the south of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, killed at least three people. The area is home to al-Sabeen Square and a major mosque that has been a gathering point for months for Houthi demonstrations against the war in the Gaza Strip. Other strikes hit the capital as well.
More airstrikes hit Kamaran Island in the Red Sea, the Houthis said.
The US military's Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15.
The American military also hasn't been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in the Oval Office on Monday during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that America was “not going to relent” in its campaign targeting the Houthis.
Oil shipments targeted as US drone reportedly shot down

On Wednesday, the State Department said the US “will not tolerate any country or commercial entity providing support to foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Houthis, including offloading ships and provisioning oil at Houthi-controlled ports.” That likely will further squeeze the group, who already have had problems in their territory with bad gasoline destroying vehicle engines.
The Houthis also aired footage of the burning wreckage of what they described as an MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down in Yemen's al-Jawaf governorate. One man poked at the debris with a stick as those gathered chanted the Houthis' slogan: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
Central Command said it was aware of the report of the shoot down, but declined to answer further.
The Houthis say they shoot down the drones with locally made missiles. The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.
Iran denies arming the Houthis, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi group despite a United Nations arms embargo.