By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Violence has seeped into daily Lebanese life due to the country’s severe economic crisis and a breakdown in official security, with fights and even shootings at gas stations. Lebanon is experiencing an economic crisis that is likely to rank as one of the world’s three worst in more than 150 years, according to the World Bank. There are shortages of essential items such as fuel and medicine, while bread has become more expensive after the Syndicate of Bakery Owners raised prices now that government subsidies on sugar and yeast have ended. People are queuing for hours at gas stations, and fistfights turn into shootings as people clash over who gets to fill their tank first. People are taking their own lives or destroying their sources of income in desperation.

A 25-year-old man named Mathew “found dead”  (currently under investigation) in his apartment in the Keserwan area, while a man in Baalbek tried to commit suicide in his shop because of the debts he had accumulated. Another person set fire to his bean cart in a Beirut street after receiving an order to remove it. The cart was his sole livelihood. Living conditions have deteriorated considerably amid a political deadlock over the formation of a new government. There is a dispute between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun about who should be in the new administration and what roles they should have, among other issues. Hariri was named to form a new government last October but has yet to succeed. The government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned days after a massive blast in Beirut on Aug. 4 that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. One activist turned his aim at the country’s authorities, tweeting: “You have turned Lebanon into a jungle and put people at the mercy of thugs at gas stations. You have humiliated people in every detail of their lives. We place the scenes of shootings at gas stations in God’s hands because we have no one in Lebanon to complain to. They are all responsible without exception.”

*وكان إنتخاب العماد ميشال سليمان تاريخاً مفصلياً بين حقبة الإحتلال والتحرّر، وتميّز عهده بالبحبوحة وتدفقت الأموال الخليجية إلى لبنان قبل أن ينقلب “حزب الله” على حكومة الرئيس سعد الحريري، ونجح في إبرام “إعلان بعبدا” الذي كان يهدف إلى تحييد لبنان عن الحرب السورية، لكن “حزب الله” لم يحترمه ما دفعه إلى الإنتفاضة على سلوكه في […]

by Doreen Abi Raad | Catholic News Service — Pope Francis’ meeting with Lebanon’s Christian religious leaders will “at least give a sign of hope” to the beleaguered country, said the Vatican nuncio to Lebanon. “The situation is becoming more dramatic,” Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, the nuncio, or papal ambassador to Lebanon, told Catholic News Service in mid-June. The July 1 summit at the Vatican will gather Lebanon’s Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant church leaders for “a day of reflection on the troubling situation in the country and to pray together for the gift of peace and stability,” Pope Francis said in announcing the summit. Pope Francis repeatedly has expressed his concern about Lebanon, particularly since the August 2020 Beirut port blasts. The nuncio said Pope Francis is “extremely sensitive” to the “mosaic makeup of Lebanon,” which has “always been a meeting place of different communities, different cultures, religiously affiliated groups.” About 35% of Lebanese citizens are Christian.

The nuncio stressed that, in Lebanon, “there is real religious freedom and freedom of expression, and at the same time sharing of responsibility.” The Lebanese system reserves the presidential office to a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of the house to a Shiite Muslim. Archbishop Spiteri pointed out that St. John Paul II had said: “Lebanon is more than a country. It is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West.” Currently, however, Lebanon is crumbling under a multitude of socioeconomic, financial and political crises. Its currency has lost 90% of its value in the past 20 months. The economic crisis — labeled by the World Bank as one of the world’s worst since the 1850s — has pushed more than half the population into poverty. The country has been without a fully functioning government for 10 months, since officials stepped down after the Beirut port explosion. Political leaders have failed to agree on a new Cabinet needed to implement reforms required to unlock desperately needed foreign aid. Reserves of the central bank have reached a critical threshold, causing fuel, electricity and medicine shortages.

By NAJIA HOUSSARI – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Demonstrators blocked a highway connecting Lebanon and Syria on Monday with burned tires and metal bars, protesting a decision aimed at curbing smuggling into Syria. Gasoline smugglers blocked the Masnaa crossing after security forces moved to prevent them from driving through the legitimate crossing. Amid worsening living conditions in Lebanon, some are filling up their cars with goods and fuel and traveling into Syria through the Masnaa crossing to sell them on the other side at double the price. “The process involves paying bribes to pass into Syrian territory, so when the Lebanese side decided to prevent smuggling, the smugglers protested,” said a security source. Customs authorities in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region announced they will strictly enforce permit requirements for vehicles going into Syria to limit fuel smuggling. Protesters on the international highway demanded the process be applied to everyone crossing into Syria or be scrapped.

The Lebanese are still queuing for hours at gas stations to get subsidized gasoline, with a 20-liter canister of gasoline being sold for 44,000 Lebanese pounds ($29). On the black market, the price is between 70,000 to 100,000 Lebanese pounds. The shocking costs have led to citizens waiting at gas stations getting into fights. One person was wounded from a fistfight that turned into a shooting in front of a station in Tripoli on Monday. The minister of energy in the caretaker government, Raymond Ghajar, said a few days ago: “The real price of a canister is about 200,000 Lebanese pounds, while the Lebanese now pay about 40,000 Lebanese pounds.” His remarks came amid indications that the substance will no longer be subsidized “at a certain point.”

By Aya Iskandarani – .thenationalnews.com — Lebanon’s military interrogated a prominent student activist on Monday after he took part in a university protest, a move rights defenders say is a worrying attempt to stifle dissent. Karim Safieddine, a student leader from the Mada Network, a political youth group that has gained momentum in the aftermath of the October protests, said he was summoned by military police for allegedly throwing rocks at security forces during a protest against tuition fee hikes at the American University of Beirut last December. He denies allegations of violence and said on Twitter that he “did not touch one stone”. “This is an attempt to intimidate us,” Mr Safieddine told The National after his interrogation. “Authorities are sending us a political message because our student grassroots movement is becoming more widespread.” Activists and human rights defenders said Mr Safieddine’s interrogation was part of a wider clampdown on individuals who were active in the mass anti-government protest movement of late 2019. An army representative declined to comment on the issue.

More than a million Lebanese took to the streets in October 2019 to demand the downfall of the ruling elite, widely accused of corruption and fomenting one of the worst financial crises in the country’s history. Inspired by this movement, the protests at AUB drew students from all sects, a rarity in a country where people’s politics fall along sectarian lines. They also inspired other universities to mobilise. About 50 supporters of Mr Safieddine gathered outside the military police station where he was interrogated. They held banners that read “state oppression does not scare us, the student movement lives on” and chanted “the military is stifling protesters”. Protester Farah El Baba, 25, said Mr Safieddine’s interrogation was meant to dissuade other young people from speaking out and mobilising. “They picked one of the most vocal activists in order to scare others,” she said.

By Timour Azhari BEIRUT (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – At least $250 million in U.N. humanitarian aid intended for refugees and poor communities in Lebanon has been lost to banks selling the local currency at highly unfavourable rates, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation has found. The losses – described in an internal United Nations document as “staggering” and confirmed by multiple sources – come as Lebanon grapples with its worst ever economic crisis, with more than half the population living under the poverty line, according to the World Bank. They stem from a plunge in the value of the Lebanese pound since the economy began to collapse in late 2019, sending prices soaring and forcing many Lebanese into poverty. The unfavourable exchange rates offered by Lebanese banks have hit Syrian and Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese particularly hard as they are able to buy far less with the cash handouts they receive from the U.N.

Pre-crisis, refugees and poor Lebanese received a monthly payout of $27, equal to about 40,500 Lebanese pounds, from the World Food Programme (WFP). That has now risen to about 100,000 Lebanese pounds per person, but its real value is a fraction of what it was before – about $7 at the current rate. “The buying power used to be very good, we could get an acceptable food basket,” said Abu Ahmad Saybaa, a Syrian refugee who runs a Facebook page that highlights the challenges faced by refugees in Lebanon. “But now (the handouts) can’t get us more than a gallon of cooking oil. There’s a huge difference in purchasing power,” said the father of five, who has lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon’s rugged northeast since 2014. “It’s weighing on all of our health – mental and physical.”

by AFP — BEIRUT: The head of Lebanon’s powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah on Sunday congratulated ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi on winning Iran’s presidential election, describing him as a “shield” against Israel and other “aggressors.” Raisi, a former judiciary chief, won nearly 62 percent of the vote in Friday’s election on turnout of 48.8 percent, after […]

كتب سمير عطالله الاربعاء الماضي: https://www.annahar.com/arabic/authors/15062021092352216 يردد غاسلو الأيدي ان الأزمة عمرها ثلاثون عاماً. وقد يكون في ذلك شيء من الصحة. لكن لماذا انتظرت الليرة 30 عاماً كي تنهار، والعتم 30 عاماً كي يعمم، والزبالة 30 عاماً كي تعوم، والخبز 30 عاماً كي يصبح وزيره راوول نعمة، والبنزين 30 عاماً كي يذلّ الناس طابوراً خلف […]

by arabnews.com — Najia Houssari — BEIRUT: Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, has criticized Lebanese officials and conveyed a “severe” message for “not forming the government after nine months of the resignation of Hassan Diab’s government and nomination of Saad Hariri as prime minister-designate.” Borrell, who is also vice president of the European Commission, said that “the Lebanese crisis is not related to surrounding conditions, nor to war in Syria, but to the political class, which bears responsibility.” The European official’s statement came after his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Saturday at the Presidential Palace. It was the first of a set of meetings that will include the speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab. Before Borrell’s arrival to Beirut, news spread that the EU intends to impose sanctions on Lebanese officials responsible for obstructing the formation of the government. The news was based on a proposal by France, which launched an initiative last September to quickly form a rescue government to stop financial collapse in the country. However, the initiative faced significant obstacles.

Borrell stressed that the “crisis in Lebanon is locally made, and its impact is huge on the Lebanese people, for unemployment rose to 40 percent, and more than 50 percent of the Lebanese live below the poverty line. These are dramatic figures, and the Lebanese presidents and leaders should bear responsibility and form the government without delay, in addition to implementing the necessary reforms.” The European official said that “only an immediate agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will save Lebanon from a financial collapse, and there is no time to waste.” He addressed politicians, saying: “You are on the verge of a full financial collapse.”

  الاتحاد الاوروبي يطالب لبنان مشكوراً باجراء اصلاحات، الاصلاح الاول والرئيس هو حصر السلاح بيد الجيش وتحييد لبنان … والبقية تتبع