by AFP – BISRI, Lebanon: Lebanon’s government says a dam planned for a valley near Beirut is vital to tackle chronic water shortages, but the location on a seismic fault line has raised fears among residents. “How can you build a dam in an earthquake zone? We don’t even have houses that are earthquake-proof,” said Amer Meshmushi, a resident of Bisri Valley, 35 kilometres south of Beirut. He grew up hearing about the last major earthquake on the Roum fault, in 1956, which killed 135 people and damaged thousands of houses including his family home in Basaba village. “My brother was still little, and they had to drag him out from under the rubble,” the 50-year-old recalled his parents telling him as a child.

Lebanon’s government and the World Bank say the Bisri dam is desperately needed to address water shortages afflicting greater Beirut’s 1.6 million residents. They insist the structure will be safe and say measures will be taken to mitigate seismic risks. But Meshmushi’s concerns are shared by local activists, including Raja Noujaim, head of the Association for the Protection of the Lebanese Heritage. “When we look at the region’s history and geography, we see that all of its valleys are the result of the fact that it is a seismic zone,” he told AFP. Activists say an earthquake could cause the dam to burst and that the structure and its reservoir would put pressure on the fault line and increase seismic activity. ‘Wiping out farmers’ The World Bank and Lebanon’s Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), a government agency that supervises major infrastructure projects, identified the valley as a prime location for a dam thanks to its abundant water, wide basin and proximity to Beirut.

In a report, the World Bank said a panel of four “internationally recognised experts” recruited by the CDR had reviewed safety studies, adding that the dam’s design was “consistent with international best practice”. The World Bank told AFP that tests showed the dam had “a resistance to shocks above the one provoked by the 1956 earthquake,” which measured a six on the Richter scale — similar to the strength of the quakes that devastated central Italy last year. Eli Mussali, the CDR engineer overseeing the project, said the dam could “withstand earthquakes up to eight on the Richter scale, which is a very high degree.” He also downplayed the possibility that the structure could provoke seismic activity, saying there was no evidence for such a phenomenon. And he noted the country’s largest dam, in the eastern region of Qaraoun, is situated atop the major Yammouneh fault line. “It is geologically normal for faults to run between mountains, where rivers run and dams are built,” he said.

  By Andrew Doran – newsweek.com -Al Qaa, Lebanon — On the morning of June 27, 2016, Yosef Farris awoke, like most in the Christian town of Qaa, around 4:10am to the sound of an explosion. A policeman, he rushed toward the town center. On the way, he heard a second explosion. Then a third. […]

by Paul Astih – Beirut – Government and parliamentary workshops are expected to be held in Lebanon after the Eid al-Fitr holiday in line with the outcome of the consultative meeting, which was held last week at the Baabda Palace, in parallel with the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections in May 2018. Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani is supervising several files which will be tackled in the coming ministerial meetings, including the activation of infrastructure projects, the electricity and the garbage file, as well as the 2018 budget. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Hasbani underlined the importance of holding cabinet sessions in various governorates, in order to boost cooperation between ministries on important infrastructure projects. “It is the first time in Lebanon that we see a comprehensive plan aimed at dealing with infrastructure issues,” he stated.

Hasbani noted in this regard that he has held a series of meetings with 1,100 municipalities across the country, with whom he set out a list of priority projects, adding that ministerial meetings in the different governorates would be held as of end of August or beginning of September. The cabinet, according to Hasbani, would extensively work on drafting an economic plan that would represent the basis of the 2018 budget, after the referral of this year’s budget for parliament’s approval. He added that the garbage crisis would be also be resolved during the upcoming ministerial meetings.

A consultative meeting chaired by President Michel Aoun on Thursday gathered heads of the political parties participating in the current government and adopted the plan of action for the cabinet’s economic and reform items. Participants in the meeting stressed the need for administrative decentralization, noting in a statement: “Lebanon, which is economically sound, needs to implement a comprehensive economic plan, which will generate the state budget, secure economic growth, create jobs and promote balanced development.”

by reuters –  HONG KONG/LONDON, June 26 (Fitch) The agreement on a new electoral law for Lebanon avoids a political crisis, but highlights the limitations of the country’s sectarian-based political system, Fitch Ratings says. Lebanon’s parliament approved the new law on 16 June 2017, following cabinet approval of a cross-party agreement to adopt proportional representation and reduce the number of electoral districts. Elections had been due by 20 June, but parliament will now be extended again while preparations are made for a vote under the new system in May 2018. Changing the electoral law to facilitate elections is another step towards improving political effectiveness, following the election of Michel Aoun as president last October after more than two years without a president, and the formation of a new government, drawn from across the political spectrum, in December. It has averted an impending political crisis, as Aoun had effectively set a 20 June deadline, and illustrates the ability of the main political factions in Lebanon to achieve compromises, albeit slowly and at the last minute. Maintaining this modest political momentum could further improve the prospects for policy making.

The current government has largely been occupied with electoral law discussions, but it has also reinvigorated the oil and gas licensing process and agreed on a 2017 Budget, although this has not yet been approved by parliament. But repeated delays in the political process – the 2018 elections will be the first since 2009 and the new budget is the first state budget approved by a cabinet for 12 years – illustrate the constraints of Lebanon’s sectarian political system, which have been made worse by the Syrian civil war. The new electoral law is unlikely to significantly change this system. Government formation after next year’s election may once again be a drawn-out process. High and persistent political and security risks are reflected in Lebanon’s low sovereign rating, affirmed at ‘B-‘/Stable in February 2017, alongside high public debt and anaemic economic growth. Political progress since November appears to have boosted the Lebanese diaspora’s confidence in the country’s economy.

Deposit growth was 8.2% yoy in April 2017, sufficient to fund government borrowing, which depends on the channelling of deposits and remittances via the financial system, and ensure moderate credit growth to the private sector. Foreign-exchange deposits were 11% higher than a year earlier, and gross foreign-exchange reserves were 7.6% higher, although they had declined from February and March levels. Deposit growth may have been boosted by Aoun’s election and the formation of a government, having dropped to less than 5% yoy for much of 1H16. However, reserves and deposits had also been boosted by a financial engineering operation by Banque du Liban (BdL), which sold eurobond holdings and foreign exchange-denominated certificates of deposit (CD), worth around USD13 billion to banks over several months last year. At the same time, BdL offered to discount at a premium equivalent amounts of Lebanese pound T-bills and CDs held by banks. The operation buoyed growth in non-resident deposits, as banks offered attractive conditions for foreign-exchange deposits to participate in BdL’s operation. The risk is that as the effect of this operation wanes, deposit growth will again come under pressure. Recent political developments can help sustain positive sentiment, but rising public debt, up 8.6% yoy in March 2017, means that Lebanon remains vulnerable to a recurrence of political paralysis that dents confidence and deposit and remittance flows. Tougher US sanctions against Hizbollah could also directly or indirectly affect foreign flows into Lebanon and its banking sector, although these have not yet been formally proposed as a bill.

by catholicherald.co.uk Christians in war-torn areas of the Middle East must never be far from priests and bishops in their country so they can feel God’s closeness in the midst of suffering, Pope Francis has said. “It is fundamental to always nourish the style of evangelical closeness: in the bishops, so they may live it […]

By María Ximena Rondón Aleppo, Syria, (CNA/EWTN News).- Christians who fled Aleppo because of the four year battle for the city are now returning, and in the face of such challenges as poverty, destruction, and a shortages of basic goods, they persevere with the help of the local Church. Fr. Ibrahim Alsabagh, a Franciscan priest […]

by Nazeer Rida – Asharq Al-Awsat

Beirut- Leader of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) deputy Walid Jumblatt was received warmly in Moscow on Friday, reflecting a great improvement in the relations between the two parties following Jumblatt’s harsh positions against the Syrian regime and its president Bashar al-Assad. The visit also revealed that Jumblatt was capable of restoring relations with Moscow, through the same Syria crisis door, as he reiterated his support for a political solution in Syria in which Moscow plays a role. Jumblatt’s trip to Russia coincided with the Russian efforts to revive the Syrian peace talks in Geneva and Moscow’s attempts to fortify a ceasefire deal and demarcate the borders of the deescalation zones that would involve Deraa, a Syrian province located near Suwayda, which includes a majority of Druze.

The PSP leader arrived Friday to Moscow where he separately met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. His meeting with Lavrov was rather political, while Jumblatt said his meeting with Bogdanov was of a “cordial nature.” The Druze leader had last met with the Russian foreign minister about two years ago, which explains that Jumblatt’s visit to Moscow this week has opened a new horizon of the relations between the two sides.

By Youssef Diab – english.aawsat.com

Beirut – Secretary-General of Lebanese Hezbollah Hasan Nasrallah made recent statements hinting towards opening borders for foreign fighters in case of new war with Israel. These statements were a blatant defiance for the Lebanese government risking transforming Lebanon into a war zone similar to the case of Syria. Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea condemned Nasrallah’s remarks reiterating that opening the Lebanese border is not up to anyone. “It is not up to anybody to open Lebanese borders, even the Lebanese Cabinet,” he said. Geagea questioned “if we want to defend our country in case of an Israeli aggression, do we open the border and recruit thousands of strangers as fighters, from unknown whereabouts, for them to occupy the country? “In case of an Israeli aggression against Lebanon, it is clearly logical for the Lebanese Army to face it aided with the other Lebanese armed forces and backed by the Lebanese people,” Geagea stated.

On Friday on the occasion of al-Quds Day, Nasrallah warned Israel against attacking Lebanon or Syria, saying “hundreds of thousands” of Arab and Muslim fighters would be ready to strike back. “I’m not saying countries would intervene directly, but it would open the door for hundreds of thousands of fighters from all around the Arab and Islamic world to participate in this fight, from Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,” Nasrallah said. Director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs (LISA) Sami Nader said that Iran is trying to expand its presence in response to the US-Russian agreement spoken about in Syria. He stated that since the Syrian crisis, Iran is trying to infiltrate into Golan Heights and enforce Israel into clashes. Nader stressed that violating UN Resolution 1701 will cost Lebanon highly, and that is why Hezbollah is trying to enforce a new plan against Israel over the Syrian border.

The Daily Star BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Sunday extended Eid al-Fitr greetings to Lebanon. “Every eid has joy, and joy carries hope,” Aoun said in a post on Twitter. “We ask God for a Eid al-Ftir that will give the Lebanese their hope…” The president also wished for security and peace. A statement from Aoun’s press […]

by english.aawsat.com – Lebanon’s Mustaqbal Movement, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, condemned on Saturday the latest speech of “Hezbollah” chief Hassan Nasrallah during which he attacked Saudi Arabia. The Movement stressed in a statement that the “Lebanese people will not allow Lebanon to remain an Iranian platform to target Saudi Arabia and Arab countries.” […]