Author: Amushli

Global PV inverter manufacturer and energy storage solutions provider Sungrow will supply equipment including battery storage to eight solar microgrid projects in Lebanon. Sungrow has signed deals with undisclosed local partners for what will be the first utility-scale microgrids to be built in the Middle Eastern country, it said yesterday. Cumulatively, the projects add up to 12.4MW of PV generation capacity and 14MW/24.9MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) technology. Sungrow will provide both PV inverters and BESS, with the company’s integrated energy storage solutions including power conversion system (PCS) as well as the batteries. Due to come online in…

Representatives of Lebanese parties and national forces, factions, popular committees, leaders and religious leaders reaffirmed here their solidarity with the Palestinian people, on the fifth day of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. From the People’s Square in Chatila camp, the Palestinian Joint Action Committee in Beirut denounced the attacks and crimes of the Tel Aviv government in its persistent bombardment and incursions against the people of Gaza. The support activity began with a minute of silence for the martyrs of the Palestinian revolution and the Arab and Islamic nations; while highlighting the resistance and steadfastness of the people…

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the coalition’s far-right Religious Zionism party, issues a statement on the rising settler attacks in the West Bank after security chiefs denounced the violence as “nationalist terrorism.” “The IDF and security forces must act with much greater firmness against terror and rioting by Arabs,” he writes on Twitter. “We can’t accept a reality in which settlers feel like sitting ducks on the roads and around settlements every day and count their dead.” “But even in this complex situation taking the law into one’s own hands is bad, damaging and may lead to a loss…

The captivating music emanates from a humble room in a quiet suburb of Beirut. Music made uniquely “oriental” by its use of quarter notes, the sounds created by the musicians practicing inside are different from ones a Western ear would be used to. Well suited to stringed instruments such as the oud and violin, the melody is surprising to hear emanate from an organ and piano. With the mere roll of a dial, modern electronics can recreate the notes—but not without the skill testifying to the musicians’ talent. The quality draws in neighbors occasionally peering through the door. Boutros Wehbe,…

Iran has been on a diplomatic offensive this week, as its foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Oman where he met Omani officials on Wednesday, discussed the conflict in Yemen and the status of Iran’s nuclear talks with the West, according to Iranian regime media. Iran’s IRNA said he met with Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. He also discussed Yemen, Sudan and even mentioned “Palestine,” according to reports. Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with his Iraqi counterpart on Saturday, where he slammed the US and its role in the region. Through these moves, Iran is seeking to cement stronger ties with…

The war in Ukraine has left cash-strapped Lebanon scrambling for alternative sources of fuel and wheat. Saheer Ghazzaoui, a 24-year-old graphic designer, was already spending the majority of her income helping to provide for her family. But now, with fuel prices surging in Lebanon, and fears of wheat shortages as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the money she brings in each month is no longer enough. “We struggle to get gas, and we’re already paying so much for food, medicine, and tuition,” Ghazzaoui told Al Jazeera. “[Now] all our salaries are going just to the necessities, and sometimes it’s…

Deputy Foreign Minister Kostandin Kotzabashev said today during a press conference in Sofia that Bulgaria is ready to send humanitarian aid to Syria and is waiting for the green light from the European Union, specifically from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The mechanism is in continuous contact with representatives of the World Food Program in Beirut. Kotzabashev confirmed that the Spartan military transport aircraft that will carry the aid will leave Bulgaria once the EU approves the action. The cargo will be received by representatives of the World Food Program in Beirut and the Bulgarian embassy in the Lebanese capital.…

BEIRUT — The Lebanese army has arrested a suspect in the killing earlier this month of a U.N. peacekeeper from Ireland who died when his convoy was shot at in southern Lebanon, officials said Tuesday. The area of the Dec. 14 shooting attack, near the southern town of Al-Aqbiya, is a center of support for the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, which has denied any role in the killing. Hezbollah spokeswoman Rana Sahili said on Friday that the Lebanese army arrested the suspect “in cooperation with Hezbollah,” and that he wasn’t a member of the militant group. Two Lebanese security officials confirmed…