Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) A river of stinking garbage bags snakes its way through the suburbs of Beirut, a surreal and unhygienic blight on Lebanon’s cosmopolitan capital.

This overflowing landfill, stretching for hundreds of meters through Jdeideh in the city’s suburbs, is the consequence of the city’s months-long garbage crisis — both a symbol and a byproduct of the country’s dysfunctional politics.

This used to be such a beautiful place, but look at it now. We can’t even walk by it," Jawanah, a local resident who didn’t want to give the rest of her name, told CNN.

Problems began when authorities shut the main landfill site for Beirut’s garbage in July, but failed to provide an alternative site for dumping refuse.

The trash started to mount up, choking the city’s streets and sparking violent protests that brought a deployment of the army.

Marwan Bishara

Lebanon is a diverse and industrious nation and that’s a cause for celebration. But the Lebanese are a divided people, and that is a major cause for trepidation.

Since its 14-year civil war ended with a peace accord signed in Saudi Arabia in November 1989, Lebanon has tried hard to maintain its plurality while at the same time "managing" its sectarian divisions.

But many Lebanese insist that they could only do so much against the regional odds; that their nation is a victim of conflicts instigated or manufactured by foreign powers that projected their differences on to this open and all-too-fragile nation.

They grumble about foreigners waging proxy wars on Lebanese soil. And there is some truth to that. Just as much truth as in the fact that they have been the local foot soldiers abetting, enacting and executing these wars and conflicts.

So much so that at times it’s not clear whether foreign powers exploited the Lebanese to advance their regional interests, or whether the Lebanese factions used foreign assistance to fight each other and expand their own narrow interests.

the national

daily star.com.lb

International correspondent banks and depositors will be the first to rejoice following an announcement by a financial watchdog that Lebanon is no longer under the surveillance, bankers said Monday. “Of course this is very good news for Lebanon and the banking sector. Our banks have shown commitment in complying with all international rules and requirements to combat money laundering and terrorism funding,” Markam Sader, the secretary general of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, told The Daily Star.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday warned its nationals against travel to Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates banned its citizens from traveling to the Arab country.

The Saudi foreign ministry issued a statement calling on “all citizens not to travel to Lebanon, for their safety, and asking citizens residing in Lebanon or visiting not to stay unless extremely necessary,” the official SPA news agency reported.

The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, also announced on Tuesday that it was banning its citizens from traveling to Lebanon and reducing its diplomatic mission there, according to state news agency WAM.

hoteliermiddleeast

Luxury Lebanese chocolate company Patchi has teamed up with Goldman Sachs and deNovo Corporate Advisors to prepare for a potential stake sale, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a deal expected to value the company at more than $500 million

The prospective sale would be the latest in the food sector in the Middle East by a family business aiming to support expansion plans and improve governance structures.

Investors have been keen to buy into the market as they target the potential of consumer brands buoyed by spending from the Middle East’s growing and increasingly affluent population.

Maya Moussa

Reuters

Beirut: Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi resigned on Sunday, blaming political rivals Hezbollah for the country’s political deadlock and protesting over the release on bail of a former minister sentenced for smuggling explosives from Syria.

Lebanon’s political crisis has left it without a president for 21 months with rival factions unable to agree on a candidate, and has paralysed state institutions, preventing the government from taking even basic decisions.

The release on bail of ex-information minister Michel Samaha last month after serving eight months of a 4 1/2 year jail sentence for smuggling explosives from neighbouring Syria and planning attacks drew anger and condemnation from Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s opponents in Lebanon.

by Armin Rosen

Friday was supposed to be an important deadline in Syria’s Civil War.

On February 11, the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), a group of countries with interests in the outcome of the Syria conflict that includes the US, and Russia, announced that a "cessation of hostilities" would begin within one week.

But the deadline to end the violence has now passed, making the "cessation" plan seems even more like a half-hearted attempt at imposing a peaceful solution that none of the major combatants in Syria seem to actually want.

As it was, the cessation announcement was meant to salvage some kind of resolution from flailing peace negotiations — talks that Syrian opposition groups want to make conditional upon Russia halting its airstrikes. 

By zeina karam, associated press

Lebanese politicians traded accusations Saturday over the decision by Saudi Arabia to halt deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting Lebanese security forces, adding to tensions in the deeply divided country, which is struggling with the fallout from neighboring Syria’s civil war.

The decision was announced by Saudi officials Friday in retaliation for Lebanon’s siding with Iran amid the Sunni kingdom’s spat with the Shiite power. The Gulf Cooperation Council backed the Saudi decision, raising concerns it could have repercussions for thousands of Lebanese living in Gulf countries.

The small Mediterranean country has a sectarian divide that reflects the wider regional split between Sunni and Shiite powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran, and has long been a battlefield where the region’s proxy wars play out. The Saudi announcement immediately prompted sharp accusations among Lebanon’s notoriously fractious party leaders.