BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Lebanese President Michel Aoun has asked Russian ambassador Alexander Rudakov for satellite images from Aug. 4, 2020, when a huge explosion rocked Beirut’s port, according to a Lebanese presidency tweet on Friday. The blast killed more than 215 people, injured thousands and destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital. The lead investigator of […]

BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Friday ordered the Lebanese ambassador to the kingdom to leave the country within 48 hours and stopped all imports from Lebanon, a response to comments by a Lebanese minister who described the war in Yemen as Saudi “aggression.” Hours later, the Kingdom of Bahrain ordered the Lebanese ambassador to leave the country within two days for the same reason, Bahrain’s foreign ministry said. Lebanon’s prime minister and president discussed the Saudi decision and asked the country’s information minister to take the “appropriate decision,” an apparent call for him to resign in hopes it will ease the tension.

Saudi state media added in its report that the kingdom’s ambassador to Beirut was also asked to head back home. The report said that the move will not affect tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens and their families who live and work in the oil-rich kingdom. The Saudi decision to ban imports from Lebanon comes at a time when the small nation is in bad need for foreign currency as it passes through its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Since Lebanon’s economic meltdown began in late 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value, tens of thousands lost their jobs and now three quarters of its residents live in poverty. Regional economic powerhouse Saudi Arabia, one of the world largest oil producers and exporters, has been a major market for Lebanese products over the decades. The decision came days after a video circulated on social media in which Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi described the war in Yemen as aggression by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He added that the war in Yemen is “absurd” and must stop because he is opposed to wars between Arabs.

by AFP – The US Treasury slapped sanctions on prominent Lebanese tycoons Jihad al-Arab and Dany Khoury and lawmaker Jamil Sayyed for allegedly benefitting from corruption and adding to the breakdown of the rule of law in the country. The three “have each personally profited from the pervasive corruption and cronyism in Lebanon, enriching themselves at the expense of the Lebanese people and state institutions,” the US Treasury said. “While the Lebanese people face daily struggles to access basic public goods, including medicine, electricity, and food, during a historic and devastating economic crisis, members of the Lebanese political class and their cronies operate with impunity to enrich themselves and hide their wealth,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The Treasury said al-Arab has used close political connections and kickback payments to win important public contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in which he overbilled the government and, in an emergency deal to address Beirut’s 2016 garbage crisis, did not resolve the problem. The Treasury also said he won two government contracts worth $200 million after brokering a political deal in 2014 ahead of elections. Khoury, it said, used his ties to already-sanctioned politician Gibran Bassil to reap lucrative contracts “while failing to meaningfully fulfill the terms of those contracts.” “Khoury and his company have been accused of dumping toxic waste and refuse into the Mediterranean Sea, poisoning fisheries, and polluting Lebanon’s beaches, all while failing to remedy the garbage crisis,” it said.

طنية – الفاتيكان – اعتبر سفير لبنان لدى الكرسي الرسولي فريد الياس الخازن أن “لبنان في صلب اهتمامات البابا ودوائر الكرسي الرسولي”.

وقال في حديث إلى “الوكالة الوطنية للإعلام” بعد لقاءات قام بها في الفاتيكان مع كبار المسؤولين الذين يعتبرون بلد الأرز في سلم أولوياتهم: “الأحداث الأخيرة في 14 تشرين الأول تخص الواقع اللبناني بتفاصيله وظروفه في ظل أزمات اقتصادية ومالية غير مسبوقة. لكن بمعزل عن الأحداث، إن الفاتيكان غير قادر على القيام بدور حاسم لوضع حد لصدام غير مرتبط مباشرة بالأزمات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية التي يعانيها الشعب اللبناني”.

وإذ رأى أن “مسار تأليف الحكومة جاء بهدف إخراج البلاد من أوضاع خانقة أصابت الأفراد والجماعات في البيئات كافة، الطائفية والمناطقية والسياسية”، قال: “الكرسي الرسولي حريص بالدرجة الأولى على العدالة وحقوق الإنسان واحترام القانون، بمعزل عن المشهد السياسي المأزوم وتجاذبات الداخل لأي سبب كان. إنها مسائل مبدئية تلازم عمل الكرسي الرسولي في ورشة إصلاح أطلقها البابا فرنسيس في السنوات الأخيرة، وهي متواصلة بزخم لافت. الفاتيكان لا يوفر فرصة لمد يد العون الى لبنان في كافة المجالات. وكان ثمة ارتياح لتشكيل حكومة جديدة لمسته من كبار

@AzziSejean

ولِـمَ لَـم يُستَدْعَ سمير جعجع إلى الضاحيةِ الجَنوبيّةِ مباشَرةً من دونِ المرورِ في اليرزة؟ هناك المستَدعي الأصيلُ والمفوَّضُ الأصيلُ الذي يُعفي المفوَّضَ الوكيلَ من ارتكابِ جرمِ الخروجِ عن العدالة. هناك مكانُ احتجازِ الشرعيّةِ والدستورِ والعيشِ المشترَك. هناك تَرقُدُ الدولةُ اللبنانيّةُ الموحَّدة.

مذ كانت دولةُ لبنان، وأطرافٌ متعدِّدةُ الهُويّاتِ الطائفيّةِ والعقائديّةِ تَتداولُ مَهمّةَ تحميلِ المسيحيّين، وتحديدًا الموارنة، مسؤوليّةَ جميعِ الأحداثِ الـمَفصِليّةِ في هذه البلادِ المعقَّدةِ في هُويّتِها، والـمُحرَجةِ في وِحدتِها، والمتعثِّرةِ في تعايُشِها. أوّلُ “جريمةٍ” اتُّهِموا بها كانت إنشاءَهم سنةَ 1920 دولةَ “لبنانَ الكبير” مستقلَّةً عن سوريا التي لم تَكن بعدُ موجودةً. ومن يومِها تلاحَقت اتّهاماتُ المسيحيّين وصولًا إلى تحميلِ القوّاتِ اللبنانيّةِ مسؤوليّةَ أحداثِ 14 تشرين الأوّل الجاري. كفى، صار التذكيرُ بدورِ المسيحيّين ملزِمًا خصوصًا أنَّ أمامَ المحنِ يُفتَقدُ التضامنُ، ولا يبقى إلّا الشعبَ المقاوِم.

إبّانَ الانتدابِ الفرنسيِّ اتّـهَموا المسيحيّين باسْتِلطافِ الفرنسيّين، فتَفاجأوا بهم سنةَ 1943 يقودون والمسلمون معركةَ الاستقلالِ. سنةَ 1958 حَـمّلوا الرئيسَ كميل شمعون والشيخ بيار الجميّل مسؤوليّةَ “ثورة 1958” لأنّهما واجَها المدَّ الناصريَّ ومشروعَ ضمِّ لبنان إلى الوِحدةِ السوريّةِ/المصريّة. سنةَ 1975 رَمَوا المسؤوليّةَ على حزبِ الكتائب اللبنانيّةِ لأنّه تَصدّى لتوسّعِ الفِلسطينيّين عسكريًّا ومحاولةِ إقامتِهم دولةً بديلةً على أرضِ لبنان. طوالَ السبعيناتِ وَصَموا بشيرَ الجميل بنعوتٍ شتّى، ثم التَفَّتْ غالِبيّةُ اللبنانيّين حولَه ورفَعَتْهُ إلى مرتبةِ الرمزِ لحظةَ انتخابِه رئيسًا للجمهوريّةِ وبعدَ استشهادِه. سنةَ 1994 أَلْصَقوا تفجيرَ سيّدةِ النجاةِ في زوق مكايل بسمير جعجع فاعتُقلَ وسُجنَ وبُرِّئَ من هذه الجريمة.

شدد الرئيس العماد ميشال سليمان على ضرورة ترميم علاقة لبنان الرسمي بالدول العربية الصديقة، سيّما المملكة العربية السعودية التي تعاني ما تعانيه في مواجهة الارهاب.واعتبر سليمان خلال استقباله وزير العدل السابق اللواء أشرف ريفي انه من واجب الحكومة السهر على تأمين المصلحة اللبنانية العليا، التي تبدأ بتحسين علاقات لبنان الخارجية وتحييده عن صراعات المحاور، وهذا […]

by thenationalnews.com — Lebanon’s former prime minister, Hassan Diab, has filed a lawsuit challenging the state over his prosecution in connection with the Beirut port blast that killed over 200 people last year. The lawsuit comes a day before the former leader’s questioning session by Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator in the Beirut blast probe. Mr Bitar has charged Mr Diab along with four other ministers of criminal negligence in connection with the case. All five have snubbed Mr Bitar’s summons, arguing he had no constitutional authority to prosecute them.

The judge had issued a subpoena for Mr Diab and arrest warrants for two of the four indicted officials, including ex-finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc and the target of US sanctions. Mr Berri and his Shiite allies, Iran-backed Hezbollah, have accused Mr Bitar of politicising the case. Once notified of the lawsuit, Mr Bitar must pause his prosecution of Mr Diab until a ruling is issued by the Supreme Court, in line with the law. The Supreme Court also has yet to rule on two other requests to oust Mr Bitar due to concerns over his impartiality. Mr Diab said the judge had no authority to prosecute him, echoing arguments by Hezbollah and their allies who called for the trial of indicted officials take place before a special body comprising members of Parliament and judges.

by arabnews.com — RIYADH: Saudi Arabia summoned the Lebanese ambassador to the Kingdom on Wednesday over “offensive” comments made by Lebanon’s information minister. The foreign ministry expressed its disappointment at comments made by Lebanon’s Information Minister George Kordahi regarding the Arab coalition in Yemen. It said it was disappointed by the “insults contained in those […]

By Reuters — Lebanon’s top Christian cleric on Tuesday said the country’s three leading politicians agreed to a “solution” to political tensions and government paralysis tied to high-profile judicial investigations. “There is a constitutional and legal solution to the current crisis,” Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said during a news conference after a day spent shuttling between the prime minister, the parliament speaker and president. An official source said the solution involved prosecuting former ministers charged over the August 2020 Beirut port explosion at a special court made up of MPs and judges while allowing blast investigator Tarek Bitar to continue with the cases of lower-level officials. The special court, formed by a parliamentary vote, has never held any official to account. Bitar has sought to question top officials including former ministers affiliated with the Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement and the Marada Movement, both allies of Hezbollah, which has responded with a smear campaign accusing Bitar of politicising the probe. Rai had earlier said after a meeting with Berri that issues had to be resolved “because Lebanon is dying, the people are dying and the state is disintegrating.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not convened a Cabinet meeting since Oct. 12, pending a solution to the standoff that has paralysed government for over two weeks. The dispute spilt over into the Cabinet when ministers allied to those parties called for Bitar’s removal in a heated discussion during the last session. Rai also said he was “slightly upset” about the summoning of Lebanese Forces party leader Samir Geagea by army intelligence for a hearing over fatal clashes in Beirut’s Ain Al-Remmaneh neighbourhood this month. On Oct. 14, seven people, all followers of Hezbollah and Amal, were shot dead during a Beirut protest the parties organised against Bitar, the worst street violence in more than a decade. The parties said the seven were killed by supporters of the Christian Lebanese Forces party headed by Samir Geagea, who has backed the blast investigation. Geagea has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari told Lebanese religious figures on Tuesday that the Kingdom “cares for Lebanon’s security, stability, institutions and co-existence between Christians and Muslims.” The Saudi embassy’s media office said: “There is no legitimacy for the discourse of strife, nor for one that goes against Lebanon’s Arab identity.” This was the first Saudi statement since the bloody clashes in Tayouneh on Oct. 14.