By Trevor Filseth – nationalinterest.org — In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for the United States to help address Lebanon’s political and economic crisis and avert further unrest. “We write to express deep concern about Lebanon’s worsening economic and […]

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: The Lebanese Interior Ministry is planning to hold parliamentary elections on March 27, 2022, which is nearly six weeks before the end of the current parliament’s mandate. However, the final date for the elections has not been confirmed yet, which has added to the uncertainty many Lebanese people have felt toward their government — or lack of — for the past two years. Holding elections in March would shorten the legal deadlines required while potentially postponing the elections to April would conflict with Ramadan. “The political class is trying to flee from holding elections in the current circumstances,” election expert Walid Fakhr El-Din said. “The evidence is that we have entered the legal deadlines, yet the required dates have not yet been set. There is no time to amend the law, which, in practice, means the elections will be postponed.”

A similar run-out-the-clock scenario also played out in 2016, he said, which extended the parliament’s tenure. “There is whispering behind the scenes, among the political class, that the parliamentary elections may be postponed until after the presidential elections, which are scheduled for next October.” Observers of the electoral preparations also believe the ruling political class has no intention of including expatriates in the vote.

النظامُ يَخرجُ من المجتمعِ إلى الدستورِ وليس العكس. وإحدى مشاكلِ لبنان الدستوريّةِ هي أنّنا وَضعْنا دستورًا ثابتًا لنظامٍ قابلِ التأويل ولمجتمعٍ قيدَ التكوين. وجاء تَطوّرُ المجتمعِ صادِمًا مضمونَ الدستورِ، فانفَجر النظامُ اللبنانيُّ. ولأنّنا لم نُعالِجِ التباساتِ النظامِ انفَجَر لبنانُ أيضًا. رغم ذلك، لا يزال البعضُ يتعالى على الاعترافِ بالأمراضِ التاريخيّة، ويَتجاهَلُ الوقائعَ الجديدة. نَعيشُ في رفضِ لبنانَ القائمِ والخوفِ من لبنانَ القادم. مئةُ سنةٍ كافيةٌ لاختبارِ مكامنِ النجاحِ والفشل، والثقةِ والولاء. ربّما بَكَّرْنا في اللقاءِ وتَأخَّرنا في الطلاق. هذه هي الإشكاليّةُ التي تُعاني منها دولةُ لبنان فتَدفعُ ثمنَ الشَهواتِ القاتلة.

البعضُ يعيش كأنَّ دستورَيِّ “الطائف” وما قَبلَه هما الأمثل، في حين أنَّ دستورَ 1943، الذي ارتاحَ إليه المسيحّون، أزْعجَ السُنّة، ودستورَ “الطائف” الذي أغْبَطَ السُنّةَ أغاظَ الشيعةَ وغيرهَم، والاثْنين أحْنَقا الدروز، والنظامَ كَكُلٍّ أثارَ الأجيالَ الجديدةَ التائقةَ إلى العَلمَنة. هكذا، أصبَحنا شعبًا من دونِ دستورٍ ودستورًا من دون شعب. والنتيجةُ أنّنا نعيشُ اليومَ خارجَ الدستورِ والنظام، وانْقطَعت العلاقةُ بين الدولةِ والمجتمع، حتى مع الفئاتِ التي تؤيّدُ الدستورَ والنظامَ والدولة. الـمُعتَدون على الدولةِ ظلّوا أعداءَها، وحُماتُها صُدِموا بخيانتِها ذاتَها وإيّاهم. نحن اللبنانيّين “نَنتخبُ” رؤساءَ جمهوريّةٍ وحكوماتٍ ومجلسِ نوّابٍ ونوابًا ورؤساءَ بلديّاتٍ ومختارين، ولا نَنتخِبُ مرّةً “أيَّ لبنانَ نريد”.

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of Lebanese, including families of Beirut port explosion victims, rallied Wednesday in the capital to support the judge investigating the blast after he was forced to suspend his work. The suspension was triggered by a legal challenge submitted by a former Cabinet minister, who is a defendant in the case. A court must now rule on whether he should be removed or can continue the investigation. Several lawmakers and former officials charged in the case by Bitar have filed lawsuits against him, asking that he step down on grounds of violating the law or showing bias. More than a year after the blast that devastated the city and killed more than 200 people, there are no answers to what caused highly explosive materials stored in the port for years to ignite on Aug. 4, 2020, or why they had been stored there.

An investigation by rights groups and local media revealed that most of Lebanon’s senior leadership and security agencies knew of the nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate and did little to protect residents of Beirut against it. But over the past year, senior politicians have closed ranks in their efforts to block the probe. On Wednesday, the French government said it regrets the suspension of the investigation. “Lebanese justice must work transparently, sheltered from all political interference,” French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in Paris. “It is up to the Lebanese authorities to allow the probe to continue with all the necessary financial and human resources so it can shed light on what happened on Aug. 4 and meet the legitimate expectations of the Lebanese people.”

by arabnews.com — LONDON: New Lebanese Information Minister George Kordahi reiterated on Monday his desire to restrict press freedoms, saying the media cannot “assault the dignity of politicians.” During his meeting with a delegation from the Lebanese Press Editor’s Syndicate, Kordahi and head of the syndicate Joseph Al-Qusaifi continued the media law discussions that have […]

Beirut (AsiaNews) — Fady Noun — Lara Noun, 38, can’t believe it. Wife of a lawyer from Michmich (Jbeil) and mother of four, the young woman heads the communication department at the Ministry of Finance. She is still astonished by the extraordinary success of a procession that brought a group of people humiliated by politics, crushed by the high cost of living, to travel in prayer for some six hours and 16 kilometres between Jbeil and the Annaya monastery. She admits that the event began modestly last July with a Facebook post that went viral. As she put it, she candidly spoke her mind about Lebanon’s days of misfortune, noting that “the road between Jbeil and Annaya can be done without petrol, that the check-in at the monastery is free, and that the blessings that one could take home were also free.” Still, she would never have believed that what she imagined would become reality. In August, the wife of a Tripoli man touched by the grace of the intercession of Saint Charbel asked her by the phone when the “procession” she had announced would take place.

For Lara Noun, something got lost in the communication. She had used the term “massira”, which means “procession” in Arabic, as a figure of speech for a “journey of prayer” for Lebanon’s recovery. However, over a few days, a call for an exclusively “national, religious and unifying” procession between Jbeil and Annaya was launched on Facebook. “I didn’t sleep the night the appeal was posted,” Lara Noun says. “The phone rang non-stop. Support was pouring in. In the days that followed, with the agreement of Father Tannous Nehmé, the superior of the monastery of Annaya, and the municipality of Jbeil, a committee was set up to organise the procession: meeting points, transport, banners, candles, Lebanese flags, pictures of Saint Charbel, road logistics, media coverage, water stops. The date of 25 September was picked for the sake of convenience. “Everything fell into place as if by magic; no one owes me anything, I’m a very ordinary woman,” Lara Noun explains. She got support from all over Lebanon, as well as the diaspora: the United States, Australia, South Africa, Bahrain, Jordan, Spain, Sweden, etc.

By Gareth Browne — Mena.com — A man injured in the Beirut port explosion has succumbed to injuries 13 months after the explosion. Ibrahim Harb, 35, suffered serious head injuries after 2,500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded at the port in August last year, leaving him in a coma for three months. He then spent almost a year at a rehabilitation centre, drifting in and out of consciousness until his family moved him home last week. He was there for three days before dying on Monday night. Mr Harb was laid to rest in Beirut on Tuesday, in an emotional funeral. His death raised the number of people killed in the port explosion to at least 215.

“May God punish whoever was behind it. What else can we say?” his brother Mazen told AP. Mr Harb, an accountant, had been working at his office in downtown Beirut when the blast happened. He leaves behind a fiance. Ahmad Mroue, who runs the Lebanese NGO Maan, which works with victims of the blast, said that the death coming on the same day as the suspension of the port blast investigation only underlined the unwillingness of Lebanon’s political class to see justice served. “It’s really sad that we lost another person. Unfortunately, the politicians in this country count them only as numbers, they don’t look at them as human beings. They deserve justice,” he said. “What happened yesterday, just before Ibrahim died was really sad because again we see how politicians are treating the investigation and the judge – the main thing they are doing now is blocking justice.”

by arabnews.com — LONDON: Sawt Beirut International on Tuesday won the live streaming rights to broadcast the Lebanese Basketball Championship for the next three seasons. The live streaming rights were acquired by the platform for $468,000. “The primary agenda behind this step is to support sports in Lebanon, support clubs and athletes, and provide the […]

مجلس الأمن دعا لإصلاحات سريعة وانتخابات نزيهة… “للنأي بالنفس عن أيّ نزاعات خارجية”
رحّب أعضاء مجلس الأمن بتشكيل حكومة جديدة في لبنان برئاسة نجيب ميقاتي ومنحها الثقة “كخطوات أولى ضرورية نحو حلّ الأزمة”.

وأكّد الأعضاء مجدداً “دعمهم القويّ لاستقرار لبنان وأمنه وسلامة أراضيه وسيادته واستقلاله السياسي، بما يتّفق مع قرارات مجلس الأمن 1701 (2006) و1680 (2006) و1559 (2004) و2591 (2021)، كما قرارات المجلس الأخرى ذات الصلة وبيانات رئيس مجلس الأمن في شأن الوضع في لبنان”.

من جهة ثانية، حضّ أعضاء مجلس الأمن الحكومة اللبنانية الجديدة على “التنفيذ السريع والشفاف للإصلاحات التي باتت معلومة والضرورية والملموسة التي تكلّم عليها البيان الوزاري”، معتبرين أنّ “هذه الإصلاحات أساسية للاستجابة للاحتياجات الملحة والتطلّعات المشروعة للشعب اللبناني فيما يتعلّق بالتحديات الأمنية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية والإنسانية الملحّة التي تواجه البلاد”.

by arabnews.com — LONDON: Hours of queues at gas stations in Britain have left Lebanese in the country reeling from an unpleasant deja vu as the UK found itself suffering similar problems to the crisis-riddled Middle Eastern nation. Gas station pumps ran dry in major British cities on Monday and vendors rationed sales as a shortage of truckers strained supply chains to breaking point in the world’s fifth-largest economy. “Fuel shortage in Lebanon, people queuing to buy gas. Left Lebanon, came to the UK. Fuel shortage in the UK, people queuing to buy gas. AM I CURSED?” Tweeted Ibrahim Abdallah. A dire shortage of lorry drivers as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic recedes has sewn chaos throughout British supply chains in everything from food to fuel, raising the spectre of disruptions and price rises as Christmas looms. Lebanese who left their home to live or study in the UK cannot help but feel as if their problems are not too far behind, with the country going into its second month of fuel crisis. “Fuel shortages? Is this the UK or Lebanon?” wrote Amir.

Pumps across British cities were either closed or had signs saying fuel was unavailable on Monday, local media reported, with some limiting the amount of fuel each customer could buy. “Long fuel queues in London have led to road blocking…I’m sure they do it just for me so I wouldn’t miss Lebanon much while I’m away!” wrote MidEast Correspondent for BBC World Service Nafiseh Kohnavard. “On the weekend before my flight to Beirut: Fuel shortages causing queues at UK petrol stations, Bojo considering using army to supply petrol stations, 10 hour power outage in my building. Is the Universe training me for my stay in Lebanon?” Asked Yara.