August 2

• Three Grad rockets launched from an area called Al-Mwanse in Dhour Aramoun fall in the Baabda area with one landing near the Lebanese Army Command and Staff College in Rayhaniyi, one in the garden of the Fraihas’ villa located near the Presidential Palace and one in the vicinity of the Saudi ambassador’s residence in Yarze.
• President Michel Suleiman reiterates during his speech on the Lebanese Army’s 68th anniversary celebrated in Fayyadiyi that it is too difficult for legitimate and illegitimate weapons to coexist, especially when the latter is used beyond the Lebanese borders. He adds that he supports the establishment of a neutral government if the attempt to form a national unity government does not avail.
• Celebratory fireworks in Downtown, Beirut, in support of the Lebanese Army leave 6 wounded.
• Minister of National Defense Fayez Ghosn issues his decision extending the term of the Lebanese Army Commander by two years.
• Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Qabbani receives a Hezbollah delegation.
• A delegation of the Lebanese Army Command visits President Suleiman headed by General Jean Qahwaji who stresses his continuous commitment to protecting the country.
• Minister of Energy and Water reports the Qahwaji’s term extension was decided in 2011, urging authorities to cease welcoming Syrian refugees.
• Pro-March 14 Forces students launch an anti-Hezbollah petition entitled “If You Love the Army, Hand In Your Weapons!”

August 3

• Former PM Saad Hariri delivers a televised speech from KSA to the masses attending the Future Movement Iftar banquets across Lebanon stressing that he will not participate in a government of which Hezbollah makes part and that the main problem in Lebanon lies in the party’s weapons which diverted from resisting the enemy to slaughtering the Syrian people.
• Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah makes a rare public appearance on Al-Quds Day reiterating the importance of dialogue and the fidelity of the Shia’a of Ali Bin Abi Taleb to Jerusalem and Palestine.
• The rockets aimed at the vicinity of the Presidential Palace prompt public denunciation and MP Walid Jumblat underlines a link between the rockets and the President’s latest statement against the resistance.
• Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Franseen sets January 13, 2014 as a provisional date for the trial of Rafik Hariri’s killers.
• The Lebanese judiciary orders seizure of Pierre Daher’s personal properties in the frame of lawsuit filed by the Lebanese Forces against him.

August 5

• Egyptian national dies while preparing explosive devices in the town of Daraya. The explosion leaves another Egyptian and a Syrian injured and investigation reveals that up to 18 devices were ready to be set up in the same house where the incident occurred.
• President Michel Suleiman returns from his one-day trip to Iran where he attended the inauguration of the new Iranian President Sheikh Hassan Rouhani.
• Clashes break out between the Lebanese Army and gunmen from the Zeiter clan in the town of Sherwani in Baalbeck, ending with the death of two people who happened to be passing by.
• A wave of tit-for tat kidnappings flares up in the northern Beqa’a between the towns of Maqneh and Arsal and clashes erupt in the latter between Syrians and a number of residents.
• Residents of the town of Arida storm into a General Security center over the alleged killing of a defected member of the Syrian Army who was trying to cross into Lebanon.
• MP Bahiya Hariri holds an Iftar in BIEL in honor of the Lebanese Army stressing in her speech that “General Jean Qahwaji is now entrusted with what has been left of the Lebanese state.”
• The Liwaa Asifat al-Shamal issues a statement asserting that the Lebanese pilgrims held in Azaz shall not be freed before the release of all female prisoners detained in Damascus.
• Lebanese man arrested for sexual abuse charges after confessing to have raped over 10 minors.

August 6

• In his weekly statement to Al-Anbaa, MP Walid Jumblat stresses that the current political void and impasse may no longer continue, noting that the Palestinians should be given the freedom to decide their fate in response to Nasrallah’s speech.
• New video shows Salafist Sheikh Ahmad El-Assir urging his supporters to protest in demand of the release of Abra’s detainees and holding the Future Movement accountable for what happened to him.
• UK ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, tells As-Safir that blacklisting Hezbollah as a terrorist organization is not aimed against the Shia’a, stressing that he deplores the vindictive threats targeting the party.
• Sonia Frangieh, aunt of MP Suleiman Frangieh, slams Minister of Energy and Water, Joubran Bassil, revealing that while he is wallowing in riches today, his uncle was penniless with not even a car to drive. MP Suleiman Frangieh responds to his aunt’s controversial statements noting that she only speaks for herself and her views do not represent the opinion of the Marada Movement.

August 7

• Supporters of Sheikh Tarek Merhi hold protests in Tripoli against the court ruling which sentenced the Muslim scholar to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the 2008 attack that targeted the military in the Al-Tall neighborhood of Tripoli.
• Muslim scholars convene in Dar El-Ifta in Tripoli and issue a strongly worded statement urging the security forces to live up to their responsibility in order to save Tripoli from armed gangs.
• Lebanese Army Commander, General Jean Qahwaji, urges politicians to lift their hands off the army, stressing that the Command will practice stern control over the relationship of military officers with political leaderships.
• August 8
• Thursday announced first day of Eid Al-Fitr for the Sunni and Friday for the Shia’a.
• MP Walid Jumblat tells the Middle East News Agency that he supports the formation of a neutral technocrat government, advising Nasrallah to withdraw from Syria “because the countdown of the Syrian regime has begun.”
• The monthly statement issued by the Maronite bishops encourages the formation of a strong government capable of backing up the Lebanese Army.

August 12

• Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani holds Eid Al-Fitr prayers at the Mohamad Amin mosque. Contrary to the usual tradition, no official figures attend the sermon.
• The convoy of Arsal’s Mayor, Ali Houjeiry, comes under fire in the Beqa’a town of Labwi shortly after a hostage swap in Ras Baalbeck. Houjeiry sustains minor injuries while his companion dies in the ambush.
• General Michel Aoun pays a visit to the city of Zahle without meeting former MP Elie Skaff and brands the neutral government as a political venture that would wreak havoc on the country.
• Turkish diplomatic sources assert that the decision to withdraw Turkish troops from the UNIFIL next September had been taken since August 6 and is not linked to the abduction of Turkish pilots.
• The Lebanese Army Intelligence arrests Mohammad Saleh in the southern town of Ramiyeh on charges of involvement in the kidnapping of the two Turkish pilots. Families of the pilgrims held in Azaz threaten to escalate their measures if Saleh is not released.
• Former PM Saad Hariri attends Eid al-Fitr prayers along with Saudi King Abdullah in Mecca.
• Famer dies in the southern town of Halta due to the explosion of a cluster bomb left over from the July War of 2006.

August 13

• President Michel Suleiman moves to Beiteddine summer residence and delivers a speech upon arrival urging speedy cabinet formation and noting that the army-people-resistance formula is valid as long as it’s administered by the state.
• March 14 Forces call for the liberation of Rafik Hariri’s International Airport from the grip of weapons and the opening of other airports like the Rene Mouawad airport in Quleiat.
• The Amhaz and Jaafar clans issue a joint statement holding Arsal’s Mayor, Ali Houjeiry, responsible for the ambush he suffered in the town of Labwi following the death of four members of the two families in Wadi Rafeq in Arsal.

August 14

• Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmad Daoud Oglo, calls his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour and voices his concern over the repercussions of the kidnapping operation on the Lebanese-Turkish relations.
• General Michel Aoun tells OTV that although the relations with Hezbollah are no longer the same, the understanding still exists on the strategic level.
• Meeting believed to be the first of its kind between MP Elie Skaff and Lebanese Forces MP Joseph Saab Maalouf and LF coordinator in Zahle Michel Tannouri.
• STL spokesperson Martin Youssef stresses that the “thunderous truth” awaited by the Lebanese will be revealed in the findings of the investigation and that Lebanon will be subject to sanctions should it fail to pay its STL dues. Youssef denies this statement later stating that the STL is confident that Lebanon will adhere to its obligations.
• Parliament’s Public Works Committee holds a meeting at the airport in the presence of the Minister of Interior and Municipalities to discuss the security situation at the airport and its vicinity and demand the opening of the Quleiat airport.
• The Change and Reform Bloc insists that Lebanon should stop receiving Syrian refugees and coordinate with Syria to send them back home.
• Lebanese Security Forces foils a smuggling operation of 5 million Ketogan pills worth USD 50 million to USD 100 million from Syria into an Arab country through the Port of Beirut.
• Turkish power-generating vessel Orhan Bey docks in Jiyyeh.

August 15

• Following his meeting with President Suleiman, PM-designate Tamam Salam rules out speedy formation of government.
• Turkish Deputy Chief of Intelligence Abdul Rahman Baljak arrives in Lebanon to discuss the kidnapping of the two Turkish pilots and meets the Minister of Interior and Municipalities and the Internal Security Forces Director General.
• Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reveals to Al-Mayadeen television that his party was responsible for detonating the bombs that targeted the Israeli troops who crossed into the town of Laboubneh. Nasrallah accuses the Seniora government of conspiring against the resistance during the July War and renews his denunciation of the kidnapping of civilians, including the two Turkish pilots.
• The Intelligence Branch summons members of the families of the Lebanese held in Azaz for investigation over their links to the kidnapping of the Turkish pilots.
• The Jamaa Islamiya protesters rally in front of the Egyptian embassy in support of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
• March 14 General Secretariat is concerned over the potential declaration of Rafik Hariri International Airport as unsafe.
• Regional Head of the Baath Party and former minister Fayez Shokr denies having said that “Mecca will be razed to the ground”, arguing that his interview on the OTV television channel was misinterpreted.
• MP Mohammad Raad announces that the Baabda declaration was nipped in the bud.

August 17

• 25 killed and 250 injured in the explosion that rocked the Ruwais area of the Southern Suburb.
• During a ceremony held in Aita Shaab to commemorate the victory of the July War, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech stressing that Hezbollah will wage an all-out war on takfiris targeting Lebanon and will go as far as engaging in the fighting in Syria to ward off their threats.
• The Higher Defense council convenes in Baabda and takes decisions to fight terrorist crimes.
• An unknown group called “Aisha, Mother of the Believers Brigade” claims responsibility for the Ruwais explosion.

August 19

• The General Security Forces seize a car loaded with explosives in Haret Neemeh and arrests the suspects.
• The Progressive Socialist Party cancels its scheduled ceremony in commemoration of the Mountain martyrs, replacing it with a speech delivered by PSP Secretary General, Sharif Fayyad on behalf of Walid Jumblat, whereby he slams some of the local newspapers, in covert reference to Al-Akhbar, which cited earlier that Chouf and Aley are no match to Al-Qusayr.
• General Security publishes photos of suspected terrorists, Mohammad Qassem al-Ahmad and Saad Mohammad Bahri.
• Speaker Nabih Berri returns from his vacation in Italy and renews calls for a parliamentary session amid news suggesting that the March 14 Forces will continue their boycott.
• Minister Wael Bou Faour and Taymour Jumblat return from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after having met Prince Bandar Bin sultan.
• Salafist Sheikh Ahmad El-Assir lashes out at Hezbollah in an audio recording, accusing Nasrallah of waging war against the Sunni under the pretense of fighting takfiris. El-Assir adds that the Ruwais explosion is the outcome of Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria.
• General Michel Aoun receives a Hezbollah delegation in Rabiyeh.
• Ruwais’ final death toll rises to 25, of whom 4 are Syrians. Investigations determine the explosion was not a suicide attack.
• Second round of secondary official exams kicks off, with the absence rates reaching as high as 50% in some centers. 11250 students sit for the exams across all four branches.

August 21

• Prosecutor Judge Claude Karam files a lawsuit against 13 people in the case of abduction of the Turkish pilots.
• Parliament fails to convene due to lack of quorum and Speaker Nabih Berri adjourns the session until September 23.
• Sheikh Assem Arifi, a staunch supporter of El-Assir, arrested for fighting against the Lebanese Army during Abra’s incidents.
• The Future Parliamentary Bloc raps the militia-like measures taken by Hezbollah in the Southern Suburb, noting that Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria is a real introduction to dialogue.

August 22

• In an honorary ceremony held for army officers, the Lebanese Army Commander reiterates that the army will wage a war against terrorism across all Lebanon, stressing that no sect is favored over the other and that the army has been pursuing the networks planting car bombs for months now.
• MPs convey Speaker Nabih Berri’s fear from turning Lebanon into a new Iraq.
• An Amal Movement delegation visits General Michel Aoun in Rabiyeh and hands him an invitation to attend the annual rally held to commemorate the disappearance of Imam Mussa Sadr and MP Ali Bezzi reiterates the mutual respect exchanged between Berri and Aoun.
• President Michel Suleiman heads for Nice on vacation.
• Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui asserts that he has not concealed the telecoms data and that he signs 320 applications monthly to receive such data.
• PM-designate Tamam Salam leaves for Greece on vacation.

August 23

• Lebanon fires 4 Katyusha rockets from the Hosh-Rashidiyi area near Tyre into Israel. Israeli authorities say the rockets landed in unpopulated areas and initial assessments suggest that global Jihad elements in Lebanon, not Hezbollah, are behind the attack. Israeli air force retaliates by targeting a terror site in Wadi Naameh.
• Masked man opens fire in Tripoli killing 3 people, one of which is a Hezbollah supporter while the other two happened to be passing by at the time of shooting.
• The Lebanese Army dismantles a bomb in the town of Maaraki near Tyre.
• The Loyalty to Resistance Bloc announces following its meeting that a regional intelligence apparatus is responsible for the Ruwais explosion.
• Lebanese Army Intelligence seizes truck loaded with gas protective masks in Hasbaya on its way to Syria.

August 24

• Two car bombs explode outside Salafist mosques of Taqwa and Salam in Tripoli following Friday prayers killing 45 people and wounding 500, most of the victims were rushed to hospital with 150 having serious injuries. Former ISF Chief Ashraf Rifi, whose residence is near the Salam Mosque sustains minor injuries.
• Gunmen take to the streets of Tripoli at night and set up checkpoints to search drivers and their cars.
• Hezbollah deplores the anarchy raging in Tripoli and urges the use of reason rather than violence.
• Actimg PM Najib Mikati announces Saturday as an official mourning day.
• Muslim Scholars’ Committee hold the Baath regime responsible for Tripoli’s explosions and Sunni Sheikh Dai Al-Islam Al-Shahhal asks Nasrallah “Did the takfiris blow themselves up in Tripoli?”
• Security forces prohibit Sheikh Ahmad El-Assir’s supporters from staging a protest in Saida.

August 26

• President Michel Suleiman addresses the Lebanese urging solidarity, speedy formation of a unanimous government and return to unconditional dialogue, far from regional and foreign interests.
• Acting PM Najib Mikati chairs a security meeting at his residence in Tripoli to discuss the latest incidents and goes later to visit the explosion scene.
• Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Al-Rai arrives at the Rashid Karami International Fair to extend condolences over the death of the victims in the explosions, stressing that the Lebanese should be heedful of the looming risks.
• Sunni Sheikh Dai Al-Islam Al-Shahhal urges people to start taking their own security measures in Tripoli.
• MP Bahiya Hariri arrives in Tripoli in solidarity with its residents.
• The Amal Movement postpones the celebration it has scheduled to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and substitutes it with a televised speech by Speaker Nabih Berri.

August 27

• President Michel Suleiman chairs a meeting for the Higher Defense Council in Baabda which concludes with agreement to provide Lebanon’s security bodies with equipment needed to better preserve stability after a series of bomb attacks.
• Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani arrives in Tripoli to check the scenes of explosions, then moves to the Southern Suburb to do the same.
• The Higher Shia’a Council receives condolences over the martyrs who fell in Tripoli and the Southern Suburb. Patriarch Al-Rai attends and urges politicians to take patriotic initiatives.
• Sheikh Salem Rafei receives acting PM Najib Mikati at his residence in Koura.
• A Future Movement delegation arrives in Tripoli to extend condolences over the death of victims and former PM Fouad Seniora and urges Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria.
• Minister of Information Walid Daouk requests Lebanon’s Senior Media Authority to issue a warning against Marcel Ghanem for igniting provocation and tensions and prompting sedition and destabilization in the country following the obnoxious photos of charred bodies displayed during Kalam el-Nass talk show.
• Second round of Brevet examinations kicks off, with the absence rates reaching as high as 44%.

August 28

• A Muslim-Christian meeting in Dar el-Fatwa urges measures to protect religious shrines from offenders.
• Lebanese Army arrests terrorist organization suspected of launching the rockets into Baabda a few weeks earlier. The arrested include Syrians who allegedly bought the rockets from Bourj el-Barajneh.
• Sheikh Ahmad el-Assir blames Tripoli’s twin explosions on Hezbollah in an audio recording and warns that the next car bomb would target Christian areas.
• The ISF circulates photographs of a suspect in Tripoli’s attack in front of Al-Taqwa Mosque.
• General Michel Aoun criticizes the security forces for being out of sync.

August 29

• Speaker Nabih Berri highlights the urgent need for an immediate national unity government following Wednesday’s parliamentary meeting.
• Lebanon’s Senior Media Authority calls on TV channels to stop hosting clairvoyants on their talk shows.
• President Michel Suleiman urges the return to the dissociation policy stipulated by the Baabda declaration during the ministerial meeting held to discuss the repercussions of potential military action against Syria.

August 30

• Government Commissioner to Military Court, Judge Sakr Sakr, arrests Sheikh Hashem Minkara on charges of concealing critical information regarding Tripoli’s twin explosions.
• Newly-appointed US Ambassador David Hale arrives in Lebanon and issues a statement expressing his delight to be back in a country where he served for 25 years.
• LBC broadcasts a video of the abducted Turkish pilots wherein they urge rapid solution for the issue of the Azaz abductees.
• MP Walid Jumblat receives the Free Patriotic Movement coordinator at his residence in Clemenceau.
• Cypriot and French airlines cancel their night flights to Lebanon for two months.
• The Beirut Municipality decides to install surveillance cameras on the streets in order to prevent murders and car bombs. It also grants each of the municipalities of Haret Hreik, Tripoli and Mina a monetary assistance of LBP 150 million.

September 1

• In his televised speech from Ain El-Tine, Speaker Nabih Berri calls for a 5-day dialogue aimed at resolving the Lebanese crisis and forming a new government.