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Lebanon\u2019s fourth and final phase of municipal elections began Saturday in the southern governorates, marking the country\u2019s first local elections since 2016, Anadolu Agency reported. The elections were postponed three times over nearly a decade due to political and security crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polling opened at 7 a.m. local time and will close at 7 p.m., with vote counting to follow, according to the Lebanese News Agency. The elections come amid ongoing Israeli attacks and ceasefire violations. Israeli warplanes and drones struck southern Lebanon on Friday, violating the ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attacks, calling them ill-timed ahead of the vote. Since November, nearly 3,000 Israeli violations have been reported, resulting in over 200 deaths and at least 500 injuries. The ceasefire, which ended months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, required Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26, but this deadline was extended after Israel refused full withdrawal and continues to maintain military outposts along the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lebanon\u2019s fourth and final phase of municipal elections began Saturday in the southern governorates, marking the country\u2019s first local elections since 2016, Anadolu Agency reported. The elections were postponed three times over nearly a decade due to political and security crises. Polling opened at 7 a.m. local time and will close at 7 p.m., with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":126681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[14605,9523],"class_list":["post-126680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lebanon","tag-israels-ceasefire-violations","tag-local-elections"],"yoast_head":"\n