by uk.news.yahoo.com — Forget packing clothes, perfume, sweets and the other usual gifts. As Lebanon experiences a severe shortage of medication, many Lebanese expats going home for summer vacation are packing their suitcases full of medicine for their families and friends. Lebanon is still in the throes of an economic crisis, marked by the extreme devaluation of the Lebanese pound, which has led to unrest and shortages of essential goods. With pharmaceutical importers in debt to suppliers abroad and unable to open new lines of credit from the Bank of Lebanon, drug imports have been halted for more than a month. In protest of the shortages, a pharmacist association organised a nationwide general strike for several days in early July. To help alleviate the strain on their families and friends, Lebanese expats returning home for the summer have packed their suitcases with out-of-stock goods: essential medicines, first-aid supplies and even sanitary pads, as shown in photos posted on social networks.

Paulina Queralt, a singer living in France, made a call on social media asking any Lebanese expats heading to Beirut to take along a suitcase of medicine she prepared for a relative who was hospitalised after an accident. “I’m ready to pay for an extra suitcase,” she wrote in this tweet. However, Beirut-based journalist Anaïs Renevier warned expats against sending expired medications to clinics in Lebanon, saying: “Here, medicines are not recycled. This will create additional pollution.” ‘I had to bring three months’ worth of diabetes medication for my mother’ Jessy El Murr lives in the United Arab Emirates and travelled to Lebanon on July 20. The past few weeks, videos showing protesters breaking into warehouses filled with boxes of medication have been circulating on social media. The video below, posted on YouTube on July 7, shows activists in a medication warehouse in Tripoli, in northern Lebanon. They said they discovered boxes of medications – blood pressure pills, anti-inflammatory drugs and fever and cough medicines – that were out of stock at pharmacies. ‘In Lebanon, everything is in short supply: I even sent baby diapers and pacifiers’ Rima Tarabay, a psychologist, has started a solidarity drive initiative from Paris.

by thenationalnews.com — Joyce Karam — The US is considering a broad set of options to respond to the unprecedented crisis in Lebanon, including sanctions on corrupt figures, sending cash and non-perishable aid to the Lebanese Army and directing humanitarian assistance to non-governmental organisations. In a joint statement released on Friday by the US Secretaries of State and Treasury, Antony Blinken and Janet Yellen, the Biden administration welcomed the EU’s adoption of a new sanctions regime. “As an increasing number of Lebanese suffer from the country’s worsening economic crisis, it is critical that Lebanese leaders heed their people’s repeated calls for an end to widespread corruption and government inaction and form a government that can initiate the reforms critical to address the country’s dire situation,” the joint statement read. “The United States looks forward to future co-operation with the EU in our shared efforts.”

On Friday, the EU announced it had adopted a framework for sanctions that would focus on corrupt figures and “persons and entities who are responsible for undermining democracy or the rule of law” in Lebanon. With Lebanon experiencing a power vacuum, rampant fuel and medicine shortages, and with the local currency in a free fall, President Joe Biden’s administration finds itself forced to think outside the box to manage the situation and prevent the country from becoming a failed state. The threat of sanctions, one Arab diplomatic source said, is aimed at both speeding up the government formation and showing a US-EU united front on the issue. This week, Lebanese business tycoon Najib Mikati became the third prime minister-designate to attempt to break the year-long paralysis in forming a government. US officials have dealt with Mr Mikati before, when he served as prime minister in 2005 and 2011, and are privately welcoming the pick. But publicly, the US is withholding judgment.

The Daily Star — BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound was little changed on the black market Thursday, trading at LL18,100 against the dollar, with all eyes on the latest push to form a new government quickly. Exchange dealers said they were buying the greenback for LL18,050 and selling it for LL18,150, compared to LL18,000-LL18,100 Wednesday. The national currency’s rose sharply earlier this week after former Prime Minister Najib Mikati was designated to form a new government charged with implementing reforms, restarting negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a rescue package and supervising next year’s parliamentary elections. Mikati has expressed his optimism that he could form his Cabinet in a short time. The local currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value since late 2019 as the country plunged into its worst financial and economic crisis in modern times, pushing more than half the population below the poverty line.

Lebanon’s Aoun and Mikati at odds over interior ministry in government formation talks

by nna-leb.gov.lb —

وطنية – الفاتيكان – أشاد سفير لبنان في الفاتيكان فريد الياس الخازن بمبادرة البابا فرنسيس في الأول من تموز الجاري، لجمع رؤساء الكنائس، الكاثوليكية والأرثوذكسية والإنجيلية. وقال في حديث الى “الوكالة الوطنية للاعلام” إن اللافت في هذا اللقاء كان “تلقف الفاتيكان المبادرة والإعداد له بأقصى سرعة، فضلا عن الاهتمام الخاص بالمدعوين الذين مكثوا مع الوفود المرافقة في مركز إقامة البابا في Santa Marta”.

أضاف: “لعل الأبرز في اللقاء حضور قداسة البابا فرنسيس الجلسات الثلاث التي تخللها مداخلة في كل منها ونقاش بين المشاركين، بإدارة السفير البابوي في لبنان، عكس التنوع في الآراء، بينما ظل البابا ومعاونوه الأربعة مستمعين. وفي الختام، كانت صلاة في بازيليك القديس بطرس معدة بإتقان بلغات الكنائس المشاركة، حضرها عدد كبير من السفراء المعتمدين لدى الكرسي الرسولي وكبار مسؤولي الفاتيكان، بالإضافة الى رجال دين لبنانيين وعلمانيين مقيمين في روما. أما الكلمة الختامية، التي تلاها البابا بالإيطالية وترجمت في كراس الى العربية والإنكليزية، فجاءت بمثابة بيان رسمي عن اللقاء وخارطة طريق لتوجهات الكرسي الرسولي. كان يمكن ألا يحضر البابا كل الجلسات، أي أن يكتفي بالمشاركة في الصلاة الختامية، إلا أن حضوره وتدوينه ملاحظات جاء تأكيدا على حرصه وقلقه على الأوضاع الشائكة في لبنان، ولاسيما معاناة الناس اليومية جراء الأزمات المتفاقمة”.

@AzziSejean

سجعان قزي

حبّذا لو يقولُ الرئيسُ عون ما قاله الرئيس الأميركي بايدن “إنّ إرسالَ إيران سلاحًا متطوِّرًا إلى حزب الله هو انتهاكٌ لسيادةِ لبنان وضربٌ لاستقراره”. وحبّذا لو يدعو الرئيسُ عون مجلسَ الأمنِ الدُوَليَّ إلى الانعقادِ في نيويورك لإنقاذ لبنان عوضَ ممارسةِ هوايةِ دعوةِ مجلسِ الأمنِ المركزيِّ دوريًّا إلى اجتماعاتٍ عقيمةٍ في بعبدا.

مع كلِّ الحَراكِ الدُوَليِّ المسَتجِدِّ حول لبنان، بما فيه الموقفُ الأميركيُّ المتقدِّم، لم تُبادِر، بعدُ، أيُّ دولةٍ صديقةٍ للبنان، ولا الأمينُ العامُّ للأممِ المتّحدة، إلى دعوةِ مجلسِ الأمنِ الدُوَلِّي إلى الانعقادِ في جلسةٍ خاصّةٍ حولَ لبنان. جميعُ الدولِ تَتبارى في النحيبِ على لبنان واسْتِفظاعِ وضعِه: منها مَن اعتَبرتْه على شفيرِ الإفلاسِ التامّ، ومنها مَن قدَّرَت اختفاءَه، ومنها مَن قارنتهُ بالصومال، ومنها مَن توقَّعت دخولَه في حربٍ أهليّةٍ جديدة، ومنها مَن تنبّأت بتقسيمِه، ومنها من ضَبَطتْهُ عبر جهازِ الـــ “جي پي إس” متَّجِهًا نحو جُهنَّم. أما البنكُ الدُوَلي فوصَفَ أزْمةَ لبنان بأنها “بين أكبرِ ثلاثِ أزَماتٍ على مستوى العالم منذ منتَصفِ القرنِ التاسع عشر”، إلخ…

By TAREK ALI AHMAD — arabnews.com — LONDON: The clock is ticking ever closer to a moment of reckoning. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was established to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, has run out of money and is due to permanently close at the end of July. In the midst of an unprecedented national economic crisis, authorities in Lebanon said they are no longer able to cover their 49 percent share of the tribunal’s $40 million-a-year operating costs. The remaining 51 percent is provided by 28 donors, including the US government and several European states. The STL announced its verdict almost a year ago. Despite repeated government appeals for financial assistance to help the STL fully fulfill its mandate, and impassioned defense of its achievements so far by experts in international criminal justice, donor nations appear content to allow it to adjourn for good.

At the time of its launch there was widespread support for the tribunal, as Lebanon reeled from one of its worst atrocities since the civil war. On Valentine’s Day 2005, a massive car bomb exploded outside St. Georges Hotel in Beirut. It killed Hariri and 21 other people, and left 269 wounded. The international community responded by issuing a number of UN Security Council resolutions and setting up an investigative commission to assist the Lebanese authorities in investigating the murder and other political crimes. Four years after the assassination, UN Security Council Resolution 1757 established the STL, based in Leidschendam in the Netherlands, kick-starting the task of seeking the truth and obtaining justice for the victims. The tribunal issued its judgment on Aug. 18 last year. It found Hezbollah member Salim Jamil Ayyash guilty of launching the attack, but acquitted three co-defendants. After long delays, attacks on investigators, intimidation of witnesses, and routine trouncing by the media, the STL’s verdict was greeted with an almighty shrug. Coming as it did close on the heels of the devastating August 4 Beirut port explosion, the decision was seen by many as proof that the process had failed because it “convicted only one person.”

by english.ahram.org.eg — In a meeting with the commander of the Lebanese army Joseph Aoun, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi expressed his appreciation for the role of the Lebanese Armed Forces in keeping the balance and stability in Lebanon, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. In the meeting on Wednesday with Aoun, who is currently […]

by nna-leb.gov.lb

ونوه سليمان ب”الدور المحوري الريادي للمؤسسة العسكرية التي تثبت في الاستحقاقات والمحطات كافة، جدارتها وقدرتها على كسب ثقة اللبنانيين في حين باتت ثقة الشعب شبه مفقودة بأكثرية مؤسسات الدولة”، داعيا “كل القوى السياسية إلى الوقوف خلف الجيش ليبسط سلطته الكاملة في الداخل وعلى الحدود”.

by Gareth Browne — thenationalnews.ae — The EU is pushing ahead to finalise a package of sanctions on Lebanon despite Monday’s nomination of Najib Mikati as prime minister-designate, European diplomats have told The National. Several officials told The National that, although they noted this week’s movement on forming a new Lebanese government, they were sceptical that Mr Mikati – a two-time former prime minister – can finalise an administration. Lebanon needs a new government that could introduce the reforms required to stave off a wave of sanctions on the country’s political class and unlock international financial support. “Nothing has changed until we see concrete reforms. Mikati’s nomination is a still long way from that,” one European diplomat in Beirut said. “It’s not a case of buying them time because the sanctions were never just about government formation – they were about blocking the reforms Lebanon desperately needs. “Until the reform happens, sanctions stay on the table.”

Brussels has been working on a package of sanctions to punish those blocking government formation and vital structural reforms in Lebanon for months. Germany and France have been leading the efforts. “I can say that the objective is to complete this by the end of the month,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said earlier this month. “I am not talking about the implementation of the regime, just the building of the regime according to sound legal basis.” The EU sanctions would include asset freezes and travel bans. One European diplomat said that Mr Mikati would need to make sure his government formation efforts do not drag on. “Mikati said himself he wants to be fast. He said he is not going to do the same as Saad Hariri. If in a few weeks nothing is done, then we will take that into account,” they said.