By Nader Durgham – Washington Post — BEIRUT — Shopping for grapes at Beirut’s wholesale market to resell from her produce cart, an exhausted Rawaa Ghosn described how another layer of her increasingly tenuous life was peeled away after she had to give up the use of her mobile phone in the face of skyrocketing rates. “I am worried something might happen to me in the street,” the 66-year-old said, adding that she suffers from cancer, heart disease and diabetes. “I would usually call my children or anyone. Now, I cannot recharge my phone account.” It’s just one more symptom of Lebanon’s unfolding economic crisis that the United Nations said last year had plunged 82 percent of the country into poverty. Amid some of the worst inflation in the world, the value of the Lebanese pound has plummeted by 90 percent. A man took hostages at a bank in Lebanon. People came to support him.

When the Ministry of Telecommunications decided on July 1 to bring fees in line with the rising cost of operations, the price of mobile phone service quintupled while internet broadband fees more than doubled. The caretaker minister of telecommunications, Johnny Corm, defended the spike, saying it is necessary to keep the sector afloat amid the country’s economic collapse. But it also meant that the rest of the population, whose real wages have nosedived with the currency, can’t afford their phones, which are used for a variety of essential tasks, including accessing the internet, checking when electricity is available and ordering from the pharmacy or grocery store. Of course, phone use also depends on whether there is even service. Last week, employees at the country’s two mobile phone companies, Touch and Alfa, went on strike over wages. On Wednesday, they were joined by employees of the main telecommunications provider, Ogero. The result has been disruptions in internet and cellular communications across the country, even completely shutting it down in some places.

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

العِراقُ يناجي لبنانَ ويَدعوه إِلى اقتفاءِ أثَرِه. لكنَّ العراقَ لم يَتوحدّ بإكليلِ غارٍ ولم يَتقسَّم بغصنِ زيتون. مرَّت عليه العقائدُ كخيلٍ تَعدو في الباديةِ تُخلّفُ غُبارًا ولا تَحسُم المعارك. لكنَّ لبنانَ ينتظرُ ما سيؤول صراعُ بغداد مع طهران ليَستَشرفَ تطوراتِه الآتيةَ في الأشهرِ القليلةِ الآتية. إيرانُ التي ظنَّت أنّها على مشارفِ انتصارِ ڤيينا، تفاجأت بمعركةِ بغداد. وإيرانيّو لبنان الّذين ظنّوا أنّهم على مشارفِ انتصارِ انتخاباتِ رئاسةِ الجُمهورية وانتصارٍ في مفاوضاتِ الطاقةِ مع إسرائيل، تفاجأوا أيضًا بتسويفٍ إسرائيلي قد يؤدي إلى امتحانٍ عسكريٍّ ما. الشرقُ والغربُ على أبوابِ بلدينا بالواسطة. ورئيسُ الجمهوريّةِ اللبنانيّةِ ستَنتخِبُه أحداثُ العراق أو لن يُنتخَب.

بين لبنان والعراق علاقةٌ سببيّةٌ منذ عقود. تَتشابه حينًا وتَتناقضُ أحيانًا. واللبنانيّون يُصبحون أمامَ حتميّةِ المواجهةِ، بل المقاومةِ، إذا حاولت إيران تنصيبَ رئيسٍ من مِحورِها. آنئذٍ، يَفقِدُ الحوارُ، الذي نؤمن به، جدواه. فما قيمةُ حوارٍ مع جماعةٍ أو دولةٍ مُصمِّمةٍ على قتالِك واحتلالِك من جهةٍ، وتَحتقِرُ ذكاءَك وتُوهمُكَ بشَغفِها بالحواِر لتُطْبِقَ خِلسةً عليك من جهةِ أخرى. إنَ انتخابَ رئيسٍ من خارجِ هُويّةِ لبنانَ السياديّةِ هو فعلٌ باطِلٌ يَستكملُ الانقلابَ الجاري ويُساوي الفراغَ الوطنيّ. والمسيحيّون ليسوا مستعدّين لتوزيعِ رئاسةِ الجُمهوريّة إعاشةً كلَّ ستِّ سنواتٍ على هذا أو ذاك. ألم تَنصَّ مُقدِّمةُ دستورِ الطائف على أنْ “لا شرعيّةَ لأيِّ سلطةٍ تُناقض ميثاقَ العيشِ المشترَك؟” فأيُّ شرعيّةٍ بدون رئيسٍ؟ وأيُّ عيشٍ مشترَكٍ بدون الطائفةِ التي أسّسَت العيشَ المشترَك؟

By Michael Young — thenationalnews.com — On Thursday, Lebanon will enter the two-month constitutional period during which parliament must elect a successor to President Michel Aoun. Revealingly, Hezbollah has adopted a different attitude than the one six years ago, when it had provoked a debilitating two-year presidential vacuum as leverage to bring Mr Aoun to office. As a number of observers have remarked, Hezbollah cannot look back on its support for an Aoun presidency as a success. While this did allow the party to reinforce its alliance with a major Christian partner, strengthening Hezbollah’s leverage in the political system, it also exposed the party to the repercussions of Mr Aoun’s falling popularity. Rightly or wrongly, many Lebanese associate the economic collapse that began in 2019 with the President, even if there is plenty of blame to spread around the country’s corrupt political class.

With economic pain reaching deep into the Shiite community, Hezbollah appears to be more careful in its presidential calculations today. To an extent, conditions have also imposed this. The outcome of the parliamentary election in May led to a legislature in which none of the country’s major political alignments has a majority, making for what is often a hung parliament. Only on rare occasions can Hezbollah impose a majority, as when it compelled its reluctant Aounist allies to help ensure the re-election of Nabih Berri as Speaker. Rather than naming a presidential candidate, Hezbollah appears to be waiting and seeing if a consensus emerges around a given figure. The problem is that two of its Maronite Christian allies are competing for the presidency – Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of Mr Aoun and head of the Free Patriotic Movement, and Suleiman Franjieh, the grandson of a former president. However, both men face major problems – Mr Bassil is under US sanctions, while Mr Franjieh provokes little enthusiasm outside a small portion of his own community. Hezbollah has faced challenges that showed antagonism towards it was growing in potentially dangerous ways

by thenationalnews.com — James Mottram — issam Charaf was only 9 during the 1982 Lebanon War. “The Israelis came in,” he tells The National over Zoom. “And the next day we’re having a walk in the woods, and I found something on the ground. I put it in my hand, and somebody told me: ‘Throw the … thing!’” He did, but that didn’t stop this grenade from exploding, leaving him badly injured and in hospital for three months. “It was a near-death experience.” Nor was it the only such injury this journalist-turned-filmmaker has endured. The port explosion in Beirut on August 4, 2020, left him with 70 stitches in his back. “There’s hardly any place left [on my body] for a third accident,” he says, sighing. And yet Charaf, 49, has vividly ploughed these ghastly experiences into his second feature, Dirty Difficult Dangerous, which opens the Venice Days strand of the prestigious Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Set in Beirut, this curious blend of romance, social commentary and science fiction follows two people in love: a Syrian refugee named Ahmed (Ziad Jallad) and Mehdia (Clara Couturet), an Ethiopian working as a housemaid for an elderly couple. When we first see Ahmed roaming the streets, he’s trying to sell scrap metal. Gradually, we see his scars and shrapnel emerging from his body, something Charaf knows from personal experience. Scripting the film, he began to see Ahmed’s situation as a metaphor for the trauma Lebanese people have faced over the years. “People are going crazy. And they don’t like anyone. So I thought this film could be [about] a kind of crazy situation where nobody loves no one.” The phrase “nobody loves no one” was even a potential title for the film, one he felt rang true. “The Lebanese don’t like the immigrants, the Syrians don’t like the Ethiopians, and vice versa,” he says, speaking about Lebanon’s demographic tensions.

By David Sadler — globeecho.com — Well-informed Lebanese sources denied all information that spoke of the imminent release of Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and stressed that “this misleading information coincides with the anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr and his two companions, to pressure the Lebanese authorities to release Gaddafi, the son who is arrested in Lebanon.” Since 2015″.

The sources admitted that “negotiations were launched months ago between Hannibal’s lawyer and the follow-up committee on the al-Sadr case, but they reached a dead end.” She revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese side ” pledged to release Gaddafi the son, in exchange for providing accurate information about the fate of al-Sadr and his two companions and reaching them, but Hannibal insisted that only Abd al-Salam Jalloud knows al-Sadr’s fate, and that his father Muammar al-Qathafi did not meet the imam and that the latter And his two companions left Libya for Rome and disappeared there.” The sources asserted that “Hannibal is not only accused of concealing information, but is accused of being responsible for the fate of al-Sadr and his two companions.”

by saudigazette.com.sa — Saudi Gazette report BEIRUT — Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has revealed that Saudi Arabia filed an official diplomatic letter to the Lebanese foreign ministry to arrest and extradite a Saudi man who threatened the Kingdom’s embassy in Beirut last week. The Saudi ambassador called upon the competent Lebanese authorities to […]

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: The Kingdom rejects attempts to use Islam as a shield for political purposes fueling hatred, extremism, and terrorism, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Monday. His remarks followed his meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian. Derian was one of the most prominent figures of national unity in Lebanon and the Kingdom was keen on respecting all Islamic and Christian figures and positions as they were entrusted with the unity, Arabism, and coexistence of Lebanon, he added. He also said the Kingdom supported promoting unity and rapprochement between the Lebanese. His visit to Dar Al-Fatwa coincided with criticism of a statement from Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, during his visit to Derian last week. Amani described him as “the mufti of Sunnis” instead of his official title “the grand mufti of Lebanon.” According to a Dar Al-Fatwa source, it is the first time a diplomat has made such a mistake.

The faux pas came amid a time of high political tension in Lebanon between Hezbollah and its allies and those calling for Lebanon’s sovereignty and the exit of Iran. Political figures condemned the ambassador’s mistake, saying he had reduced Derian’s role “and his speech is meant to cause strife.” According to Lebanese laws, the grand mufti is the direct president of all Muslim scholars and the supreme reference for Islamic endowments. He performs all the powers granted to him under the laws and Islamic regulations. He also meets all local muftis across Lebanon to look into the religious and social conditions of Muslims in their regions and provide scholars with the necessary instructions.

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB — BEIRUT (AP) — The granddaughter of a former Lebanese president Monday announced her bid for the cash-strapped country’s upcoming presidential elections on a platform critical of the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah. The country’s political woes are compounded by its crippling economic crisis, which the World Bank says is one of the […]

By Katy Gillett — thenationalnews.com — Lebanese dance troupe Mayyas captured the world’s attention when they wowed the America’s Got Talent judges during the auditions phase. Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara — a judge on the show alongside Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel — was so stunned she pressed her golden buzzer, giving them a fast track to the live shows. Each judge has one golden buzzer to use in the series. The crew, founded in Beirut by Nadim Cherfan, is now set to perform during the semifinals on September 6, and ahead of their appearance, a campaign has been created to support them.

The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International, better known as LBCI, has launched Kermalak Ya Lebnen — For You Lebanon, a campaign from inside America aimed at Lebanese and Arab expatriates living in the US who are eligible to vote for acts performing on the show. With this, the LBCI has created a variety of promotional adverts that are being shared on television, YouTube and via social media platforms. In the clips, the women that form the group introduce themselves and show off some of their moves. LBCI hopes the campaign will increase Mayyas’s chances of winning, a triumph that will serve “as a message of hope and faith in Lebanon rising again”, according to a statement. Voting is only open to people aged 13 and above living in the US, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, via the America’s Got Talent app and website. Voters will also be able to participate in the Final Wildcard Save, which allows viewers, in real-time, to save one of the acts in danger of being eliminated during the live broadcast of the results show on September 7. This “saving period” will last for about five minutes from the time the start of saving is announced, around 7pm Central Time. Only one vote per email address is allowed during this time.

Abu Dhabi, By Adam Pourahmadi — cnn.com — – Hezbollah capped off the 40th anniversary of its founding on Monday with large-scale celebrations on a stage in southern Beirut that featured holograms of fighters killed in battle, and videos showing off the group’s historic confrontation with Israel. An interpretive dance, depicting how the group freed prisoners from ISIS in Syria, was a notable addition. Over the years, the Lebanese Shiite group has tried to rebrand itself from a paramilitary organization backed by Iran to a serious political and regional player. Forty years on, Hezbollah is militarily more powerful than ever, but also more globally isolated than it has ever been. Many countries including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany as well as Gulf Arab states and the Arab League, have labeled the entire group a terrorist organization, while the European Union and France consider only Hezbollah’s military wing as such. Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s leader, is considered a specially designated global terrorist by the United States and subject to American sanctions as a result.

The movement first emerged in 1982 as a response to Israel’s invasion of Beirut during Lebanon’s bloody civil war. The Israelis met their objective of expelling Palestinian fighters from the country, but catalyzed a more formidable enemy in Hezbollah as a result. Iran’s new regime found the group to be an apt ally, both because of their shared Shiite ideology and because of Hezbollah’s position in the heart of the Arab world. It began providing the group with funding and training soon after it emerged. Since then, Hezbollah has expanded and flexed its military might. In 2000, Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon after a protracted conflict with the group there. In 2006, it held its ground in a war against Israel when Israel sought to disarm it. During Syria’s civil war, it successfully intervened on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad and helped bolster his defenses after the dictator violently quashed a popular uprising.

The group’s political influence appeared to be on a relentless rise, despite a domestic bid — backed by Saudi Arabia — to curb its power that was rapidly extending beyond Lebanon. Opinions at home are divided, where 52% of Lebanese do not believe that Hezbollah promotes the country’s stability, according to a 2021 Zogby poll, while the rest believe it still does. The sectarian breakdowns are starker. Eighty percent of Shia have confidence that Hezbollah benefits Lebanon’s stability, as do majorities of Druze (64%) and Christians (56%); while no Sunni respondents expressed such sentiment, according to the poll.