Beirut (AFP) A coalition of Lebanese civil society groups and parties called Tuesday for a unified electoral bloc to try to defeat traditional leaders in 2022 polls. The joint appeal by 16 groups, including the National Bloc, Beirut Madinati and Mintishreen, marks the most concerted effort yet towards forming an opposition umbrella to take on […]

This is an opinion article may not necessarily represent khazen.org views 

by nationalinterest.org — Maya Carlin — The bloody civil conflict that swept Lebanon on this day in 1975 resulted in more than 150,000 fatalities and 300,000 injuries. Tens of thousands of people currently remain displaced within Lebanon. Although the regional and international context that contributed to the civil conflict is different today, Lebanon again is in crisis. The power vacuum that allowed Hezbollah to seize control in Lebanon is starting to reappear. As economic devastation, corruption, political turmoil, and civil unrest continue to keep Beirut on the brink of collapse, the country is at risk of Tehran’s expanding footprint. Prior to the civil war, Lebanon was a functioning multi-sectarian country, with Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims making up the majority of the population. The mid-twentieth century brought regional shifts which altered the fabric of Beirut. The establishment of Israel, the surge of Pan-Arabism, and the arrival of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) were crucial factors that helped catalyze the conflict that would consume Beirut for fifteen years.

The PLO-supported Lebanese National Movement (LNM) arose during the early years of the war. This pan-Arabist front was comprised of Sunni Muslims and Arab nationalists. In opposition, the Phalanges Christian democratic political party contained the Maronite population. Although tensions between the two groups escalated in the mid to late twentieth century, two key events directly triggered the onset of the war. On April 13, 1975, a gunman opened fire on a church in a Christian suburb in Eastern Lebanon, killing four people. The Phalangists claimed the perpetrator was an LNM guerilla. Hours later, a Phalangist gunman ambushed a bus carrying mostly Palestinian passengers, killing twenty-seven on board. As retaliations continued to unfold, PLO guerilla fighters were able to expand their armed struggle against Israel. The group’s expulsion from the Hashemite Kingdom in 1970 and arrival in Lebanon gave them a tactical advantage to attack the Jewish State from the border. Israel responded to their assaults from the border by invading southern Lebanon twice, in 1978 and 1982.

  نَلِجُ عَتَبَةَ شهر النور والعبادة الصادقة، هذا العام، بالتزامن مع “١٣ نيسان”، علّ ألم  هذه الذكرى وشؤمها يتبدّد ببركة رمضان وصيام الصائمين ودعاءاتهم، فنَعْتبِرُ منها ولا تُعاد، فنسير بهدى هذا الشهر الفضيل إلى فطرٍ سعيدٍ وإلى فرجٍ من ضيق ووباء، وإلى الخير للبناننا والعَزاء للمفجوعين والشفاء والصحّة للبشر أجمعين. أقرَن ربّ العالمين، حلول رمَضان […]

  By Dale Gavlak – voanews.com — – The International Monetary Fund says Lebanon won’t pull itself out of its economic crisis until a new government is formed to start long-stalled reforms. But Lebanese analysts say they are being held hostage by a corrupt political class and need outside help to break the logjam to create conditions that bring the country back from the brink. One suggestion is to set up a temporary United Nations trusteeship council for Lebanon to get the country back on its feet. By defaulting on its $1.2 billion Eurobond debt last year, Lebanon’s currency crashed and its economy shrank by 25 percent. Jihad Azour, head of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East department told Reuters that addressing Lebanon’s dire economic crisis now “requires a comprehensive approach” with multiple financial and governance reforms. He warned that “in (the) absence of a new government that can lead this transformation, it’s very difficult to expect that the situation will in itself improve.”

But Professor Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University told VOA that the Lebanese people are caught in a vice between the political warlords and the de-facto power, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. “The rest of the world has pretty much taken the position: Form a government, start implementing reforms and then we’re going to help,” Malik said. “That’s like telling the fox, ‘We’re going to put you in charge of the chicken coop and once you take care of the chickens, we’ll come and help.’ These people will not implement any reforms that will in any way diminish their theft, power and control. Second is, ‘You, Lebanese have to deal with Hezbollah on your own.’ That’s like telling the hostage with a gun to his head: ‘You have to free yourself from your captor and then we’ll come and help you.’ That never happens in a hostage situation either.” Economist Toufic Gaspard, a former senior advisor to the Lebanese finance minister and to the IMF said he doesn’t see the resumption of economic growth for Lebanon without financial and fiscal cleanup. “Therein lies the problem because the political system is one of sharing of spoils, not increasing the spoils. So, when there would be fiscal or financial reform, whatever it is, they are going to come up against the problem of this political system that the authorities are more interested in sharing the spoils than anything else,” Gaspard said.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Monday approved a draft decree expanding the country’s claims in a dispute with Israel over their maritime border that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area. Hassan Diab signed off on the document after both the minister of public works and the minister of defense earlier agreed to it. The amendment would add around 1,400 square km (540 square miles) to the exclusive economic zone claimed by Lebanon in its original submission to the United Nations. The draft decree relating to the amendment of the initial decree 6433 of 2011 has now been referred to the presidency for approval ahead of a request to the United Nations for a formal claim to register the new coordinates for the maritime zone.

Negotiations between old foes Lebanon and Israel were launched in October to try to resolve the dispute, yet the talks, a culmination of three years of diplomacy by the United States, have since stalled. “I expect it (the decree) will be signed as everyone, the minister of defence and the prime minister and the president, are concerned about this,” minister of public works Michel Najjar told a news conference earlier on Monday. Israel already pumps gas from huge offshore fields but Lebanon has yet to find commercial gas reserves in its own waters. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Lebanon’s latest move would derail the talks rather than help work towards a common solution. “Unilateral Lebanese measures will, of course, be answered with parallel measures by Israel,” he said in a statement.Lebanon, in the throes of a deep financial meltdown that is threatening its stability, is desperate for cash as it faces the worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. “We will not give up any inch of our homeland or a drop of its waters or an inch of its dignity,” Najjar said.

  برحيل العلامة السيد محمد حسن الأمين يخسر لبنان قامة وطنية عُرفت بنقاوة فكرها وانفتاحها تعازينا لعائلته الكريمة ولكل من عرفه ونهل من فكره المتنور

By DAVID ROMANO AND NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews.com — MISSOURI, USA/ BEIRUT: Syria has signed a four-year oil and gas exploration deal with a Russian company in Mediterranean waters that Lebanon claims as its own. The two blocks to be explored under the new contract overlap with Lebanese maritime areas for energy exploration along the country’s northern border. Yet Lebanese outrage has been conspicuous by its absence. Now imagine a time, not so long ago, when the shoe was on the other foot. Lebanon demarcated its maritime borders in 2011 and, three years later, offered tenders for oil and gas companies for Block No.1 in the north. Justifiably or not, Syria responded by not recognizing the Lebanese demarcation and lodging a protest. The striking contrast between the two reactions, separated by seven years, was not lost on the Lebanese opposition. “Where do the official Lebanese authorities stand on this issue?” asked Rola Tabsh, an MP from the Future Movement bloc, when Syria announced the contract last month. “What is this suspicious coma? We waited for the violation from the south, from the enemy (Israel), but it came from the north, from a brotherly country.”

Similar concern was voiced by Richard Kouyoumjian, former minister and serving member of the Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc, who said: “The government and the relevant ministries are required to have a sovereign position and clear clarification.” He called for the “resumption of demarcation negotiations in the south, an end to Syrian complicity and plundering of our money and oil wealth.” In the south, Israel’s demarcation line conflicts with the Lebanese one, which has led to protracted indirect negotiations sponsored by the UN and mediated by the US. The Lebanese-Israeli dispute and negotiations have been ongoing for more than 10 years now. Hezbollah, being a pro-Iranian Shiite militia and political party, did not appear in favor of even indirect negotiations with Israel over the issue, but grudgingly acceded to them. A resolution to the maritime border dispute with Israel remains crucial to Lebanon’s ability to attract oil and gas companies to its waters.

حرية التعبير مقدسة ولكن الاعتداء على حرمة المنزل  والملكية الفردية غير جائز كل التقدير للفنان اسعد رشدان

PARIS (Reuters) – French container shipping group CMA CGM is pursuing a plan to rebuild Beirut’s port within three years, despite political deadlock in Lebanon that has prevented decisions on the port since a blast last August, a company executive said. A chemical explosion at the port killed 200 people and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, deepening […]

كما الدولار ، يقفل كل اسبوع على رزمة مشاكل ليُفتتح الذي يليه بتجاذبات جديدة و يمضي الاقتصاد في الانهيار والشباب يهاجر  حاملاً معه كفاءاته. المطلوب العودة فوراً الى الحوار في اي شكل من الاشكال انطلاقاً مما وصلت اليه هيئة الحوار الوطني والنظر في الصيغة العملية لتحييد لبنان  ومناقشة جدول زمني قصير الامد للتخلّي عن السلاح […]