Central bank governor Riad Salameh

Beirut (AFP) – A Lebanese judicial delegation will meet French authorities in Paris next week to discuss investigations into Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh, a judicial source said on Thursday. Salameh is among the top Lebanese officials widely blamed for the country’s unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is of a scale usually associated with wars. He is the target of a series of judicial investigations in Lebanon, Switzerland and France on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment, among other allegations. Salameh has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Next week, Jean Tannous, the Lebanese prosecutor leading a local probe into Salameh, and Raja Hamoush, another Lebanese judge, will meet with French authorities, the judicial source told AFP. The visit “will focus on cooperation and exchange of information between the two sides regarding suspicions around Salameh and some of his close associates with regards to… money laundering, illicit enrichment,” among other crimes, the judicial source added, without specifying the exact date of the meeting. France had opened a probe into Salameh’s personal wealth in May 2021 following a similar move by Switzerland.

ما لم تَحدُث انتفاضةٌ شعبيّةٌ نوعيّةٌ قبلَ الانتخاباتِ النيابيّةِ في أيّارَ المقبل تُوقِدُ شُعلةَ التغيير، قد يَختارُ معظمُ الشعبِ اللبنانيِّ نوّابَه من بينِ مرشَّحي قوى المنظومةِ السياسيّةِ التقليديّة. ليس هذا التوقّعُ بشيرَ تغيير. لم يَعُد الصِراعُ بين الانتفاضةِ الشعبيّةِ والمنظومَةِ السياسيّةِ التقليديّةِ بِقدْرِ ما صار بين أهلِ المنظومةِ أنفسِهم، وبين دعاةِ التغييرِ أنفسِهم. تَهمّشَت نسبيًّا القوى الجديدةُ التي تَعتبرُ نفسَها قوى التغييرِ، واغْتربَ بعضُها في ولاءاتِه على غرارِ التقليديّين. والرياحُ العاتيةُ لا تَرحَمُ الأغصانَ الطريّةَ المبعثَرة.

وإذا كان التنافسُ بين قِوى المنظومةِ التقليديّةِ عاملًا يُساعدُها لتَتقاسَمَ في ما بينَها نتائجَ الانتخاباتِ النيابيّةِ، فالانقساماتُ بين القِوى الجديدةِ عاملُ ضُعفٍ يُعطِّلُ انطلاقَها السياسيَّ والانتخابيَّ ويَحرِمُها الكتلَ الشعبيّةَ الناخبَةَ التي تؤمِّنُ الحاصِلَ والصوتَ التفضيليّ. قانونُ الانتخاباتِ الحاليُّ، بحدِّ ذاتِه، ضِدُّ مصلحةِ الوجوهِ الجديدةِ شِبهِ المجهولة. هذا قانونُ أصحابِ القواعدِ الثابتةِ والخدَماتِ المتوارَثةِ والثرَواتِ الطائلة. وإذا كانت أكثريّةُ دعاةِ التغييرِ تَفتقِرُ إلى القواعدِ الشعبيّةِ الثابتةِ والخدَمات، فبعضُها يَسْتجِرُّ إمداداتٍ ماليّةً تفوقُ أحيانًا قُدُراتِ بعضِ القوى التقليديّة…

by thenationalnews.com — Michael Young — Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun’s efforts to salvage what remains of his calamitous mandate are having less and less of an impact on the political situation in Lebanon. Mr Aoun’s failed call for a national dialogue in the past two weeks was the latest indication that his political rivals are seeking to run the clock out on his presidency. Mr Aoun’s term will end later this year, while parliamentary elections are scheduled for May. Since his return to Lebanon in 2005 from France, where he lived in exile for 14 years, Mr Aoun, aided by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, has been a destabilising force in post-war Lebanese politics, at least for the politicians who had ruled the country until then. This is not to suggest that Mr Aoun was better than his rivals – he and Mr Bassil’s greatest ambition was to become part of the cartel in power, even as they claimed to stand against its pervasive corruption.

Few took their anti-corruption line seriously, as Mr Bassil is regarded by many Lebanese as being at the centre of illicit activities. However, Mr Aoun’s and Mr Bassil’s alliance with Hezbollah gave them leverage, and in 2016, the party’s support for Mr Aoun’s presidential bid was the primary factor leading to his election, after a two-year political vacuum it had imposed to force all major parties to back him. Once in office, Mr Aoun failed to become a unifier. On the contrary, he gave Mr Bassil latitude to engage in lucrative patronage activities and impose his preferences on the political class. This soon alienated the then prime minister, Saad Hariri, as well as the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, leaving Mr Aoun and Mr Bassil relatively isolated, though they still enjoyed Hezbollah’s backing.

Lebanese man Abdullah Al-Saii was arrested Tuesday for taking people hostage and threatening to blow up a bank up as he attempted to withdraw his $50,000, began a hunger strike on Wednesday. (Social Media/Twitter)

By BASSAM ZAAZAA – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: A Lebanese man arrested for taking people hostage and threatening to blow up a bank up as he attempted to withdraw $50,000 of his own money began a hunger strike on Wednesday. Abdullah Al-Saii was armed with a gun, grenade and bottles of benzene when he entered a branch of the Bank of Beirut and Arab Countries in Jeb Jannine in Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, on Tuesday. He said that staff at the bank had refused his previous requests to withdraw his savings, blaming the economic and banking crisis in the country An Internal Security Forces official told Arab News that Al-Saii held more than 10 of the bank’s staff and customers hostage for several hours, demanding he be allowed to withdraw the money. He said he would blow up the branch if his demands were not met.

The building was cordoned off and the standoff was resolved following negotiations, the official added. “He surrendered himself after the bank gave the money to his wife and nobody was hurt,” said the ISF official. He added that Al-Saii began a hunger strike early on Wednesday afternoon after the attorney general’s office in Bekaa ordered the confiscation of the money. Mustafa Kammouneh, the mayor of Jeb Jannine, told Arab News that Al-Saii, a father of two, had lived abroad for most of his life and, like most depositors during the financial crisis in the country, has been denied access to his life savings. “What he did was totally understandable, especially given he needs money to support his family,” said the mayor. It was “totally expected and normal,” he added, considering the circumstances citizens have been enduring for the past two years. Al-Saii is from the village of Kefraya. It is believed that his wife disappeared with the $50,000 shortly after prosecutors ordered the money be confiscated, said Kammouneh, adding that the couple’s children are being cared for by their grandparents. When asked whether the wife, who is not Lebanese, had left the country, the mayor said only that he was sure she was no longer the village. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

By Laura Kelly — thehills.com — The Biden administration on Tuesday issued sanctions against a Lebanese travel company and three businessmen for financially supporting Hezbollah, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions designation was carried out “in solidarity with the Lebanese people, whose security and sovereignty remains threatened by Hizballah’s corrupt and destabilizing activities.” The sanctions target the business Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism and three of its founders, Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun, and Jihad Salem Alame.

The Treasury Department said all three men are members of Hezbollah and have “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of” Hezbollah. “With this action, Treasury is disrupting businessmen who raise and launder funds for Hizballah’s destabilizing activities while the Lebanese people face worsening economic and humanitarian crises,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. “Hizballah claims it supports the Lebanese people, but just like other corrupt actors in Lebanon that Treasury has designated, Hizballah continues to profit from insulated business ventures and backdoor political deals, amassing wealth that the Lebanese people never see.” The sanctions block any property or assets in the U.S. owned by the persons or the business and generally prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the blacklisted individuals or businesses. While Americans are generally blocked from engaging in transactions with the sanctioned individuals, any person who engages in specific transactions runs the risk of being sanctioned by the U.S.

وطنية – شدد “لقاء الجمهورية” في بيان على “ضرورة عودة الحكومة إلى الانتاج وضرورة تسهيل مهمة رئيسها الهادفة إلى الحد من التدهور المالي – الاقتصادي والسهر على إجراء التحضيرات اللازمة للانتخابات النيابية المقبلة، ما يحتِّم على جميع القوى تأمين المناخ السياسي المناسب لتحسين الاقتصاد وتحصين البلاد من تداعيات زج لبنان في فوهة بركان المحاور المتصارعة”. […]

by nytimes.com — Shuaib Almosawa, Vivian Yee and Isabella Kwai   — SANA, Yemen — The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen attacked the United Arab Emirates on Monday in an apparent drone strike that blew up several fuel tankers and killed three people, according to state-run Emirati media and Houthi officials. The Houthis, who have fought a yearslong war with a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the United Arab Emirates, said they used drones and missiles in the attack. The Emirati government said the Houthis were responsible and the foreign ministry condemned it as a “cowardly act to spread terrorism and chaos in the region,” but did not say what weapons were used in the attack. “We reiterate that those responsible for this unlawful targeting of our country will be held accountable,” the ministry statement said. The Houthis in Yemen frequently target neighboring Saudi Arabia with drone strikes, including one on Saudi oil facilities in 2019 that severely disrupted the country’s oil exports, and they have also claimed strikes on the U.A.E. several times, though the U.A.E. has consistently denied it.

A minor fire also broke out in the Abu Dhabi International Airport, raising the possibility that it, too, was the target of a drone strike. The police in Abu Dhabi said there were indications that “small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones” started two fires, one at the airport and the other leading to the explosion of the three petroleum gas tankers in an industrial district in southwestern Abu Dhabi near storage tanks for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. The attack came amid a recent escalation of tensions between the Houthis and the Saudi-led forces in Yemen that has shifted the war’s momentum after months of Houthi gains. The ongoing offensives have complicated international efforts to broker a cease-fire to end the war, which has caused what aid groups call the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster.

  by reuters — Lebanon’s cabinet will hold its first meeting in three months on Jan. 24, a Lebanese television channel reported on Monday, after a gap in which the country’s economic crisis has deepened and efforts to revive talks with the IMF have stalled. Economy Minister Amin Salam said work on the 2022 budget […]

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: A Lebanese Shiite scholar has denounced Hezbollah, as well as its leader Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a sermon published on his Facebook page and shared across social media. Sheikh Abdul Salam Dandach, from the Baalbek–Hermel region, said in the video: “Our resistance is different from theirs (Hezbollah’s). We are not the rulers of this land and we are not new parties that came to Lebanon. Our parents and ancestors are deeply rooted in this land.” The party is referred to as the “resistance” in Lebanon. He addressed Nasrallah, saying: “You resist using deception and encroachment. You live off your resistance, based on the bliss of the US dollar, whereas our resistance comes from hunger and poverty. You resist through surfeit and ingratitude. We resist your lies. We resist the illness and ignorance that you caused in the region. We resist the destruction and havoc that you created.”

Since the beginning of the economic and social crisis that has hit Lebanon, many in the Shiite community of Baalbek–Hermel have complained about the rampant insecurity that the region is witnessing due to the emergence of a de facto power that controls people’s lives with its weapons and allows the formation of gangs involved in smuggling, kidnapping and extortion. An activist from the region, who did not reveal his identity, told Arab News: “Baalbek–Hermel doesn’t have any patron. The government has been neglecting it for years and Hezbollah tries to avoid it, turning its back on the complicated social and economic crises.” The Shiites in Baalbek–Hermel constitute 60 percent of the population, whereas the Sunnis and Christians represent 20 percent apiece. Fewer than 30 percent of the Shiites belong to political parties, mostly the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, whereas the rest belong to a clan.

By MAYSAA AJJAN — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s financial woes began with the protests in October 2019, when a series of peaceful sit-ins escalated and became a national revolution against the ruling class. Soon, there was a steep decline in the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar. The official rate is still 1,500 pounds to the dollar but the currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value and now trades at about 30,000. Meanwhile, Lebanese banks decided to withhold the savings of individuals and organizations, a decision that resulted in many residents losing their life savings and the closure of numerous organizations, family businesses and startups. “I lost $350,000 of my money because of the crisis,” Rana Chmaitelly, the founder of The Little Engineer, an educational startup for children, told Arab News. “I lost the product of my sweat, blood and tears — they took it all away. But I didn’t give up.”

In a stroke of good fortune amid the despair, toward the end of 2019 Chmaitelly was expecting a large transfer of money from a business partner. Having been denied access to the cash in her own bank account in Lebanon, her only solution was to swiftly establish an offshore, and later a freezone, company in the UAE, to which the money her partner owed her could be safely transferred. “That transfer to the UAE saved me and my team, or else we would now be owing a lot of money to our partners,” Chmaitelly said. Her story is not unique among Lebanese startups. The founders of Cherpa, another educational startup, which offers technology training courses to teenagers, also relocated in part to the UAE at the onset of the financial crisis. They were able to open a freezone company there and obtain residency. “Having our money withheld by banks was awful; there was a lot of frustration,” cofounder Bassel Jalaleddine, told Arab News. “I used to waste my time queuing up in banks all day just to get $300.” Online platforms Mint Basel Market, Kamkalima and Ounousa are just some of the other startups that relocated operations, at least partly, to the UAE.