Diplomatic Cross

   First parliamentary elections since 9years introduced electoral law with proportional representation. Monitring Desk- Lebanon is awaiting official results of the country's first parliamentary elections in almost a decade, a poll that saw a significantly lower turnout than previous general elections.  Of the 3.8 million registered voters, 49.2 percent cast their ballots in Sunday's poll, the interior ministry said, down from 54 percent in the last election in 2009. The final results are expected to be announced in a news conference later on Monday.  However, according to unofficial preliminary results cited by politicians and Lebanese media, Hezbollah and its political allies won more than half the seats. If confirmed by the final count, this result would boost Hezbollah politically, with parties and individuals aligned with the heavily armed group securing a simple majority in parliament. Sunday's vote saw 583 candidates, including a...

- The Lebanese Shi‘ite group Hezbollah has declared victory in the Syrian war while Russia said government forces had driven militants from much of the country where President Bashar al-Assad’s rule seemed in danger two years ago. The comments from two Syrian government allies mark the most confident assessments yet of Assad’s position in the war, though significant parts of the country remain outside the government’s control. Russia’s assertion that the army had won back 85 percent of Syria was dismissed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said the government held 48 percent of Syria. On Tuesday, Russia’s defense minister met with Assad in Damascus to discuss joint military efforts and the fight against Islamic State. The government’s most recent advances have recovered swathes of territory in eastern Syria from Islamic State, which is being targeted in the same region by U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab militias. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose gro...