Pope Francis has sent a donation of 250,000 euros ($295,488) in aid to the Church in Lebanon to help with recovery efforts after the devastating explosion which occurred in the capital city of Beirut earlier this week.

by AFP — Layal Abou Rahal and Tony Gamal-Gabriel — Lebanese protesters stormed several ministries Saturday in apparently planned raids after an explosion blamed on government negligence at Beirut port devastated the city and ignited unprecedented popular rage. The day started with funerals for some of the 158 people killed by Tuesday’s monster blast but turned to rage when the largest anti-government protest in months escalated. With security forces focused on a large gathering at the Martyrs’ Square protest hub, a group led by retired army officers snuck into the foreign ministry and declared the building a “headquarters of the revolution”. The stunt, which marked a new development in the strategy of a protest camp whose October 17 uprising had lost steam lately, was facilitated by the damage the port blast shockwave had inflicted to the building. But the takeover lasted barely three hours.

Large army reinforcements using rubber bullets and tear gas drove out the roughly 200 protesters, who only had time to chant celebratory slogans against the government and burn a portrait of President Michel Aoun. At one point, protesters had stormed or taken over four key official buildings. “We are officially at war with our government,” said activist Hayat Nazer, as tear gas filled the air in downtown Beirut. “This is war.” – ‘Lebanon is ours’ –

Separate groups of protesters also stormed the economy ministry, the Association of Banks in Lebanon and the energy ministry before being forced out by the army shortly afterwards. The latter is the focus of particular anger from the population, which has in recent months been subjected to worse than ever power cuts due to the de facto bankruptcy of the state. “They ruled Lebanon for 30 years, now Lebanon is ours,” said one protester speaking on live Lebanese television broadcasts. “We entered the energy ministry and we are here to stay. They will be surprised by our actions,” he said, referring to the ruling political class protesters want to remove.

by politico.com — ELISA BRAUN — PARIS — President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke over the phone Friday about working with other countries to send immediate aid to Lebanon, the White House and the Élysée said. The two leaders “expressed their deep sadness over the loss of life and devastation in Beirut,” according to White House spokesman Judd Deere. Advertisement Later Friday, Trump tweeted: “Had a lengthy discussion this morning with President Macron of France concerning numerous subjects, but in particular the catastrophic event which took place in Beirut, Lebanon… “..At 3pm this afternoon, spoke to President Aoun of Lebanon to inform him that 3 large aircraft are on the way, loaded up with Medical Supplies, Food and Water. Also, First Responders, Technicians, Doctors, and Nurses on the way… “…We will be having a conference call on Sunday with President Macron, leaders of Lebanon, and leaders from various other parts of the world. Everyone wants to help!”

by reliefweb.int — The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing more than $15 million in humanitarian assistance to aid the people of Lebanon following catastrophic explosions at the Port of Beirut. These funds bring the humanitarian aid provided by the American people in Lebanon since September 2019 to a total of $403 million. With the funds announced today, the United States is financing life-saving medical responses and providing humanitarian assistance to meet the immediate needs of families affected by this tragic disaster, including food aid for 50,000 people for three months. USAID has also requested the unique capabilities of the U.S. Department of Defense to transport emergency supplies to Lebanon, including enough medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to support up to 60,000 people for three months.

Joe Akiki cross in the rubble 

by washingtonpost.com — Miriam Berger — Joe Akiki, 23, called his mother Tuesday afternoon to tell her he was about to start a 24-hour shift at his job as an electrician at Beirut’s port. Three hours later, he shared to a group chat a video of a fire at the port. Then he went silent. Three days after massive explosions that leveled a section of Beirut on Tuesday, he was still missing. His distraught mother pleaded on Lebanese TV for his return. “I will keep on waiting because I know that Joe Akiki is strong, Joe Akiki is a hero,” she told MTV, a Lebanese broadcaster. “Joe Akiki has been through worse things and has been able, with the help of God, to overcome them.” She decried Lebanon’s politicians, saying their children would be home by now. Akiki had taken the job, she said, to pay off university fees. He had wanted to leave Lebanon, but she had told him to stay and “water the cedar trees” — the country’s symbol. Hours later, civil defense workers pulled Akiki’s body out of the rubble. On social media, tributes poured in for the port worker. He had watered the cedars, one user wrote, with his blood.

the sister of Nicole el Helou

The explosions left at least 154 people dead and thousands injured. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said they were caused by the ignition of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer and bombmaking ingredient, improperly stored since 2014. In Lebanon, already beset by the novel coronavirus pandemic, along with political and economic crises, many people are seething over the apparent negligence that allowed the material to remain in the center of the city. As bodies continue to be pulled from rubble and identified at morgues, the country grieves for and has begun to memorialize the departed. Victims of the blasts in Beirut, a city beloved for its cosmopolitanism, span nationalities There are the 10 firefighters who snapped a group photo before heading to extinguish the first of the flames at the port, only to be engulfed in the explosions that followed. The husband and wife killed while eating at a restaurant in the trendy Gemmayzeh neighborhood. The three young military service members at the port who never made it home. One of them was a father of two young children, according to local media.

There is the Armenian Lebanese nurse killed while on the job at Al Roum hospital, as the Armenian Foreign Ministry told local media. Bank employee Nicole al-Helou, whose sister draped herself over her coffin during a funeral Thursday in southern Lebanon. Across the country of about 5 million, some bereaved families are burying their loved ones. Others continue frantic searches for the missing. Some, as Akiki’s mother did, hold on to hope that their son or daughter will turn up alive, even as the chances dim. Adding to the trauma, residents have taken on much of the cleanup themselves, expecting little support for rebuilding from their cash-strapped and indebted government. “Today we are distraught and lost for words, but we are also angry and furious at the monsters responsible for this unfathomable madness!” wrote one grieving family member in a tribute on Facebook.

By Alexandra Moyen ROSEDALE — thetablet.org — — After a deadly blast in Beirut, Lebanon injured more than 5,000 and killed roughly 135, Christian Lebanese are likely to turn to St. Charbel for his miraculous healing. In a country where 60 percent of the population is Muslim and nearly thirty-five percent are Christian, most of whom are Maronite Catholics, St. Charbel is a powerful saint to pray to. The Shrine of St. Charbel in Annaya receives roughly four million visitors a year. Here, lies the remains of the renowned priest-monk and his artifacts and relics. Pilgrims can also visit a monastery within the shrine where the saint was known to live and work for roughly 20 years. Since 1950, when the monastery began to formally record miraculous healings, they have archived over 29,000 miracles. The miraculous Lebanese saint, revered by Christians and Muslims alike, was born Youssef Antoun Makhlouf on May 8, 1828, in Bekaa Kafra, North Lebanon where he was also baptized as a Catholic Maronite. Attracted from a young age to hermit life and saints became his first-year novitiate at Our Lady of Mayfouk Monastery in Mount Lebanon in 1851. After being ordained a priest in 1859, St. Charbel became a hermit in 1875 and entered the Hermitage of St. Peter and St. Paul in Annaya, Mount Lebanon where he died on December 24, 1898. The next day, he was buried at St. Maroun’s Monastery but his tomb was opened due to a bright and dazzling light coming out of the tomb. When opened on April 15, 1899, St. Charbel’s body was found to be intact and to be exuding blood-like moisture for the next 67 years.

by bloomberg.com — Dana Khraiche and Ania Nussbaum — As French President Emmanuel Macron walked through downtown Beirut to express solidarity with a nation reeling from its worst peacetime disaster, he was hailed as a savior. The images, broadcast live around the world, are bound to stir conversation back in France, where Macron is frequently under fire for being tone deaf and his popularity is only just recovering from Yellow Vests protests and controversial reform plans. Wearing a black tie to honor those killed by a devastating explosion at the country’s main port, the French leader visited Gemmayzeh, a popular residential and commercial street where centuries-old buildings suffered extensive damage. Throngs of men and women crowded round, begging him to help lift their country, a former French protectorate, out of its misery. At one point, Macron — wearing a mask in a nation experiencing a coronavirus surge — pushed aside a bodyguard to hug a woman. “Help us. Please help us, what are you going to do to help us,” shouted one man, as he wept.

A vast consignment of ammonium nitrate stored at the port ignited Tuesday in an explosion so powerful it left behind a trail of destruction that stretched for miles. At least 135 people were killed, thousands more wounded and 300,000 are now homeless. The damage is estimated at $5 billion, money Lebanon doesn’t have. Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit, Macron called for an international investigation to determine the causes of the blast. “We need an open, transparent international probe to make sure nothing remains hidden and no doubts linger,” he said. The French leader is trying to show solidarity with the Lebanese people without endorsing a political class that led the country into financial meltdown through decades of corrruption and mismanagement — customs authorities warned long ago against keeping such flammable material in the warehouse and the fury against the administration was palpable. “Please don’t give money to our corrupt government,” one woman yelled. Macron turned to her and replied, “Don’t worry about that.” Macron promised he’ll be organizing international aid while also pushing for political change. “I came this morning to help, and I will speak to all political factions to ask them for a new pact,” he said. He refused to rule out sanctions against the Lebanese government, though he emphasized that’s not a priority at this point. He said Lebanese banks need to come clean about their losses to release international loans that are critical to maintaining food supplies. A group of seven explosive experts are in the country to aid investigators in their probe into the blast. Medical aid and civil defense teams are in place. The French helicopter carrier `Le Tonerre’ will arrive next week with more supplies.

Macron’s welcome speaks volumes about the ruling elite of Lebanon that’s largely shied from such highly publicized walkabouts, and couldn’t be more different from how Macron’s been greeted in other former colonies on recent visits. It points up the French president’s ambition to position himself as a global leader in a region where Russia and the U.S. have held the balance of power in recent years and Turkey is flexing its muscles. When former Prime Minister Saad Hariri toured the downtown area to see the damage for himself, he met with a group of angry people cleaning up rubble and helping those in need. And Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm was met with shouts of “resign, resign, don’t you have dignity?” as she attempted to visit shattered homes. As residents followed her, she tried hiding in one of the damaged buildings before the army came to her rescue. Other officials, including President Michel Aoun, inspected only the port.

by Reuters — Lebanese authorities investigating a Beirut explosion that killed more than 150 people have taken the general manager of a port and 15 others into custody, sources say. State news agency NNA said 16 people were taken into custody, with a judicial source and local media saying Beirut Port general manager Hassan Koraytem was among them. The Prime Minister and presidency have said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years without safety measures at the port warehouse that blew up. Judge Fadi Akiki, a government representative at the military court, said authorities had questioned more than 18 port and customs officials and others involved in maintenance work at the warehouse, NNA reported. “Sixteen people have been taken into custody as part of the investigation,” NNA quoted Mr Akiki as saying. He said the investigation was continuing. Earlier, the central bank said it froze the accounts of seven people including Mr Koraytem and the head of Lebanese customs.

The directive, dated August 6, from the central bank special investigation commission for money laundering and terrorism fighting said the decision would be circulated to all banks and financial institutions in Lebanon, the public prosecutor in the appeals court and the head of the banking authority. It said the freeze and lifting of banking secrecy would apply to accounts directly or indirectly linked to Mr Koraytem, Lebanese customs director-general Badri Daher and five others, including present and former port and customs officials. State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered a travel ban on the same seven individuals, a judicial source and local media reported. Mr Koraytem and Mr Daher had both told Lebanese broadcasters on Wednesday that several letters had been sent over the years to the country’s judiciary requesting the removal of highly explosive material stored at the port, which blew up on Tuesday.

Anger mounts on the streets of Beirut.

by thenational.ae — The US government on Wednesday announced it sent an aid flight to the Lebanese people after the Beirut port explosion that killed at least 135 people. A US military aircraft is expected to arrive in Lebanon in the next 48 hours, carrying much-needed supplies for the humanitarian effort. The aid will be substantial and directed to Lebanese relief organisations, not the government, sources said. The death toll from the enormous explosion in Lebanon’s capital rose to 135 on Wednesday, as international rescuers began to arrive to help sift through the wreckage. Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into the disaster after 21 French citizens were injured, the Paris prosecutor said. Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud says more than 100 people are still missing, 300,000 are now homeless and nearly 50 per cent of Beirut is damaged.

by middleeasteye.net — Tuesday’s devastating explosion at Beirut’s port ravaged homes across the capital of Lebanon and destroyed much of the surrounding area. At least 100 people have been killed and 4,000 injured, with many more still unaccounted for. The blast has been blamed on explosive materials being stored at the port. Rescue teams have been searching through the rubble of ruined neighbourhoods for the missing. Online groups have been set up to find those who have gone missing in the aftermath of the blast. Hours after the explosion took place, an Instagram page called “Locate victims Beirut” was set up to share photos of missing people.

The page quickly garnered over 70,000 followers, many frantically providing information that could help or sending in images of loved ones who had not yet been found. The page was able to locate around 40 people, who were found undergoing surgery at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUMBC). The head of the Lebanese Red Cross told local broadcasters on Wednesday that more than 100 people had died following the blast at a warehouse in the city’s port. In a show of solidarity, many people also took to social media to offer rides to hospitals outside of Beirut, as hospitals became inundated with patients injured by glass and materials from buildings. Careem, a service App offering car and taxi rides operating in Lebanon, offered free rides to hospitals for those donating blood as the number of injuries spiked.

Our prayers with all of the Martyrs, the wounded civilians,  Red Cross , the Lebanese army and the Lebanese. We demand accountability at the highest levels. 

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) A massive explosion ripped through central Beirut on Tuesday, killing dozens of people, injuring thousands and blowing out windows in buildings across the city. The blast near Beirut’s port sent up a huge mushroom cloud-shaped shockwave, flipping cars and damaging distant buildings. It was felt as far as Cyprus, hundreds of miles away, and registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake in the Lebanese capital. Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, said that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers and bombs, had been stored for six years at a port warehouse without safety measures, “endangering the safety of citizens,” according to a statement.

Lebanon’s General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said the “highly explosive material” had been confiscated years earlier and stored in the warehouse, just minutes’ walk from Beirut’s shopping and nightlife districts. Initial reports blamed the explosion on a major fire at a warehouse for firecrackers near the port, according to Lebanese state news agency NNA. The death toll from the blast is likely to continue to climb as more bodies are pulled from the wreckage. At least 78 people are known to have died and a further 4,000 wounded, Hamad Hasan, the country’s health minister said, according to Reuters. “There are many people missing until now,” Hasan said. “People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones and it is difficult to search at night because there is no electricity. We are facing a real catastrophe and need time to assess the extent of damages.”

A red cloud hung over the city in the wake of the explosion, which took place just after 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), as firefighting teams rushed to the scene to try to put out the initial fire. Footage from the scene captured the injured staggering through streets in the capital, and ambulances, cars and military vehicles packed with the wounded. One resident said the scenes looked “like an apocalypse.” At least 10 firefighters are missing, according to the city’s governor Marwan Abboud, who said the scene reminded him of “Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” “In my life I haven’t seen destruction on this scale,” Abboud said. “This is a national catastrophe.” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at least one Australian was killed in the blast and the Australian Embassy building has been “significantly compromised.” The blast comes at a tense time in Lebanon. On Friday, a United Nations-backed panel is expected to issue a verdict on the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a move many fear will stoke sectarian tensions. The country is also in the midst of an economic meltdown, with ballooning unemployment, a tanking currency and poverty rates soaring above 50%.

Hospitals inundated Beirut’s hospitals Tuesday reflected the chaos in the city as doctors conducted triage on dozens of wounded people. Some had broken limbs, others had been showered with shards of glass. Some patients were unconscious. Emergency wards are inundated with the injured, while the Lebanese Red Cross implored the public on Twitter for blood donations to help the wounded. One of Beirut’s major hospitals, Hotel Dieu, received around 400 injured patients, an employee told CNN.

The Secretary-General of the Kataeb political Party, Nazar Najarian, died after being injured in the explosion, NNA reported. He was in his office when the explosion happened. The US Embassy in Beirut urged those in the area of the explosion to “stay indoors and wear masks if available” due to reports of toxic gases released from the blast. The explosion damaged buildings across the city, including the official residence of Lebanon’s president, the headquarters of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and CNN’s bureau in downtown Beirut. Homes as far as 10 kilometers away were damaged, according to witnesses, and even people on the distant island of Cyprus felt the blast, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). One Beirut resident who was several kilometers away from the site of the blast said her windows had been shattered by the explosion. “What I felt was that it was an earthquake,” Rania Masri told CNN. “The apartment shook horizontally and all of a sudden it felt like an explosion and the windows and doors burst open. The glass just broke. So many homes were damaged or destroyed.”

“You can see injured people all over the streets in Beirut, glass all over the place, cars are damaged, it is like an apocalypse,” said Bachar Ghattas, another resident. “It is very, very frightening what is happening right now, and people are freaking out. The emergency services are overwhelmed,” Ghattas told CNN. “Beirut port is totally destroyed.” The port is the primary entry point for most of Lebanon’s imports, CNN’s Wedeman said. The US response United States President Donald Trump offered sympathy and assistance to the people of Lebanon, referring to the incident as a “terrible attack.” Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack. Asked if he was confident if the explosion was an attack, the President said it “seems like” it was, based on what US military officials have told him. “This was a — seems to be according to them, they would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind,” he told reporters at the White House. But three US Defense Department officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication the explosion was an attack. The officials, who declined to be identified so they could speak freely, said they don’t know what the President is talking about. One official pointed out that if there were indications an attack of this scale had occurred, it would trigger automatic increases in force protection for US troops and assets in the region. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended condolences and said, “We are closely monitoring and stand ready to assist the people of Lebanon as they recover from this tragedy.” The United States Ambassador in Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, expressed “heartfelt sympathies” to the victims and their families after “having witnessed the horrific explosions at the Port,” she said in a statement shared on Twitter. “We mourn each loss from this terrible tragedy alongside the Lebanese people,” the US Ambassador added. World mourns Prime Minister Diab described the explosion as a “catastrophe” in his televised statement. He concluded by making “an emergency call to all those countries who love this country to stand by us and to help us heal our deep wounds.” World leaders have expressed their condolences amid the unfolding tragedy. Israel offered humanitarian medical assistance to Lebanon — a significant gesture as Lebanon is one of a small number of countries that Israel regards as an enemy state. There have been no diplomatic relations since a ceasefire signed between the two countries in 1949. A spokesman at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, not far from the border with Lebanon, told CNN that they had been contacted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and told to prepare for the possible arrival overnight of UN personnel wounded in the blast. The UK, Turkey, Qatar and Spain were also among the countries that offered their support to Lebanon. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called his Lebanese counterpart Charbel Wahbeh to say that”Jordanians stand in support with Lebanon and its Lebanese brothers and are ready to offer any help they need,” he said in a tweet. French President Emmanuel Macron said “rescue and aid” were on the way to Lebanon, while expressing solidarity with the “Lebanese people after the explosion that caused so many casualties and so much damage tonight in Beirut.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that his country was ready to help Lebanon “in any way necessary.” “My thoughts are with the people of #Lebanon and with the families of the victims of the tragic #BeirutBlast,” President of the European Council Charles Michel said in a tweet. “The EU stands ready to provide assistance and support.” Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah said the explosion will require the unity of all Lebanese to overcome the catastrophe. “We are putting all our capabilities in serving our honorable people and dear citizens as needed,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

CNN’s Schams Elwazer, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Tara John, Alessandria Masi, Nada AlTaher, Hamdi Alkhshali, Amir Tal, Andrew Carey, Jennifer Hansler and Paul Murphy contributed to this report. by cnbc.com — Natasha Turak —

Two large explosions rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut Tuesday evening local time, shattering windows in surrounding neighborhoods, destroying nearby buildings and wounding thousands of people. At least 50 people have been killed and more than 3,000 injured, Lebanese Health Minister Hassan Hamad told local media. Residents have posted graphic photos and videos to social media showing a mushroom-like cloud and enormous smoke plumes rising above the city from Beirut’s port area. While the first explosion appears to have come from a warehouse at the port, the cause of the blasts are not yet clear, and no one has claimed responsibility.

A second blast took place near the residence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. CNBC’s Hadley Gamble confirmed in a phone call with Hariri that he is unharmed. While it is unclear what was in the warehouses at the site of the explosion, Lebanon’s internal security chief was quoted by Reuters as saying that the area was housing “highly explosive material, not explosives.” Lebanese President Michel Aoun has called the country’s Supreme Defense Council for an emergency meeting, according to his official Twitter account. An Israeli government official told CNBC that “Israel had nothing to do with the incident.”

Witnesses told CNBC that the explosion had taken out all the windows in the surrounding area, and described numerous injured and bloodied people walking around “in a daze.” Local media footage showed people trapped underneath rubble. The Lebanese Red Cross said that hundreds of people have been rushed to hospitals, and tweeted an “urgent call for blood donations” at its transfusion centers across Lebanon. Beirut’s hospitals have been overwhelmed, with local reporters tweeting images of medical staff treating patients in a parking lot. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for the victims of the blast, and is working to establish its cause and ensure the safety of those at the site, a spokesperson for his office told CNBC.

by arabnews.com — BASSAM ZAAZAA — DUBAI: Amid a Cabinet-imposed lockdown to prevent the coronavirus spreading, Miss Lebanon 2015 Valerie Abou Chacra held her marriage party on Saturday despite wedding bans. Chacra, an actress, married Lebanese businessman Ziyad Ammar in an open-space wedding in Bkerke during which Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai led the nuptials. The ceremony was followed by a wedding gala held for family and friends — flouting the nationwide lockdown. Following a surge in coronavirus cases, the Cabinet decided on the lockdown with strict regulations imposed by the health and interior ministries, so Lebanese were taken aback when photos and videos of Chacra’s wedding party surfaced on social media.

People took to social media to criticize the former beauty queen whom they accused, along with her husband, of being socially irresponsible for violating the ban. Meanwhile, other social media figures and users praised the “fancy and stylish” wedding. Social media users censured the authorities for allowing Chacra to carry on with her wedding celebration. The weekend witnessed a flurry of media statements from different ministries about allowing some prescheduled wedding parties to go ahead within strict social distancing and protective measures. In a televised interview with LBCI, Health Minister Dr. Hamad Hassan said that he had granted permission to seven wedding functions. “We have to adapt and live the joys and sorrows, but with certain procedures,” he said. However, the minister warned that in the case of any breach of procedures, the Interior Ministry would reconsider the exception.

by english.aawsat.com — Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat Lebanon named the president’s diplomatic adviser as new foreign minister on Monday after Nassif Hitti quit the post, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. Foreign donors have made clear there will be no aid until Beirut makes changes to tackle state waste and corruption – roots of the crisis, which poses the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since a 1975-1990 civil war. “Given the absence of an effective will to achieve structural, comprehensive reform which our society and the international community have urged us to do, I have decided to resign,” Hitti said in a statement.

President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab accepted the resignation and appointed Charbel Wehbe, Aoun’s diplomatic adviser since 2017, as foreign minister, said two decrees read out by the cabinet’s secretary general. Wehbe, 67, is a former secretary general of the foreign ministry. Hitti, a former ambassador to the Arab League, was appointed in January when Diab’s cabinet took office with the support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies. “I took part in this government to work for one boss called Lebanon, then I found in my country multiple bosses and contradictory interests,” Hitti said. “If they do not come together in the interest of rescuing the Lebanese people, God forbid, the ship will sink with everyone on it.” He also had differences with Diab and was frustrated at being sidelined, sources close to the ministry told Reuters. Diab appeared to criticize France’s foreign minister for tying aid to reforms and a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when visiting Beirut last month.