By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: The dollar exchange rate on Lebanon’s black market was expected to continue its fall in the wake of measures announced by central bank Gov. Riad Salameh on Friday, a senior banker told Arab News. The banker expects the exchange rate to drop further until it is almost equal […]

  General Abbas Ibrahim By nbc news — Abigail Williams, Dan De Luce and Mustafa Kassem —The head of Lebanon’s main intelligence service General Abbas Ibrahim met with Biden administration officials in Washington this week to discuss reviving negotiations with the Syrian government in a bid to secure the release of journalist and former marine […]

  by naharnet — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday scheduled a Tuesday parliamentary session for the election of a new speaker, deputy speaker and the members of the Parliament Bureau, the National News Agency said. The session will be held at 11am at parliament’s building in Beirut’s Nejmeh Square, NNA added. Berri, 84, has […]

By EPHREM KOSSAIFY — arabnews.com — NEW YORK: The UN Security Council on Wednesday welcomed the fact that parliamentary elections in Lebanon went ahead as planned on May 15, “despite challenging circumstances,” but called for the swift formation of a new, inclusive government and the “urgent implementation” of previously outlined economic reforms. In a joint statement, council members said that the reforms should include the adoption of “an appropriate” national budget for 2022 that will enable the speedy implementation of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund “to respond to the demands of the Lebanese population.” The country’s economy has been mired since August 2019 in a crippling crisis, during which the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value and more than three-quarters of the population have fallen into poverty.

Last month, Lebanon and the IMF had reached an agreement on a plan that could unlock about $3 billion of international funding over several years. However, the deal is subject to approval by the management and executive board of the IMF, and hinges on Lebanese authorities implementing a host of economic reforms, including the restructuring of the country’s collapsed banking sector, improved transparency, and unifying the multiple exchange rates that apply to the nation’s spiraling currency.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s currency hit a new low Tuesday as deep divisions within the newly elected parliament raised concerns that political paralysis could further exacerbate one of the worst economic meltdowns in history. The legislature elected May 15 showed no clear majority for any group and a fragmented and polarized parliament divided between pro- and anti-Hezbollah lawmakers. The sides will likely find it difficult to work together to form a new government and enact desperately needed reforms. Among those elected to the 128-member parliament were 13 independents. They took part in the protest movement against Lebanon’s entrenched political class blamed for the crisis rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement. This sets up a potential clash in parliament between the two camps, raising concerns of a protracted deadlock to form a new Cabinet desperately needed to resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout program.

On Tuesday afternoon, the dollar was selling at 34,000 pounds on the black market, surpassing the 33,000 pounds to the dollar recorded in January. The Lebanese currency was pegged at 1,500 pounds to the dollar for 22 years until the crisis erupted in in October 2019. Since then, more than 80% of the population has been plunge into poverty, suffering acute shortages in electricity, medicine and other necessities as central bank reserves dry up. The crisis has also triggered the biggest wave of emigration since the 1975-90 civil war. On Friday, Lebanon’s outgoing government approved a recovery plan for pulling the Mideast nation out of its economic meltdown. The development came during the Cabinet’s last official meeting before it becomes a caretaker government following the elections. The plan is a key IMF demand.

By Joyce Karam — thenationalnews.com — The head of Lebanon’s main intelligence agency has held talks with senior US officials in Washington to discuss resuming negotiations with Syria on the release of American hostages, including Austin Tice. Maj Gen Abbas Ibrahim, who heads Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security, was flown to Washington on a private flight organised by the US government. He met with senior White House, State Department and intelligence officials in his first visit since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021. In an exclusive interview with The National on Tuesday, he said the release of Tice, a freelance journalist and former marine who disappeared while reporting in 2012, was a top item at talks.

Lebanon fosters unique role in freeing Western hostages “We discussed Mr Tice’s file and we agree that it has to make progress, but we have to see first how we can bridge the gap, how to bring the views closer between Washington and Damascus,” Maj Gen Ibrahim said. Maj Gen Ibrahim leads Lebanon’s most powerful security service after the military and has a reputation as a savvy negotiator who has helped to secure the release of US residents and citizens such as Sam Goodwin, a tourist who had been held in Syria, and Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese businessman with US permanent residency who was released from Iranian custody in 2019. He also successfully mediated the release of Canadian tourist Kristian Lee Baxter in 2019 after he was detained in December 2018 by Syrian authorities while on holiday. There is now the possibility that negotiations will pick up from where they left off at the end of former president Donald Trump’s term in November 2020. “We came very close during Mr Trump,” Maj Gen Ibrahim said.

By Scott Peterson — csmonitor.com — With a Lebanese flag draped over her shoulders, and optimism for political change filling her heart, Nisrine Hammoud joined hundreds of thousands of her fellow citizens on the streets during Lebanon’s “October Revolution” in 2019. “We feel like we are alive again,” she told the Monitor late one night at Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square back then, as protesters demanded the toppling of a political class renowned for corruption, and a total uprooting of the entrenched sectarian system that was leading to state collapse. An election was the “only chance” to make such change, Ms. Hammoud said. “It’s up to us. It’s up to the people to decide if they are going to go back to their old ways, or we are going to go forward.”

WHY WE WROTE THIS

Changing an entrenched system requires energy. While some in Lebanon voted last week to break with the past, most still voted for sectarian parties, an indication of fear and fatigue. That election finally came May 15, but with mixed results for activists like Ms. Hammoud. Pro-change candidates won a dozen or more of the 128 seats in Parliament, and Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies lost their majority, dropping from 71 to 58 seats. The result outstripped modest predictions for anti-establishment candidates, and so was lauded as a “breakthrough” by some Lebanese media. But it also showed the challenges of changing the country’s baked-in sectarian system at a time when people are worn down by the demands of survival. Indeed, popular disgruntlement has grown even more widespread following the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, and the further disintegration of the economy and services that has now left more than 70% of Lebanese living below the poverty line.

MP Farid Haykal el Khazen confirmed on Monday to LBCI that he is not an ally of Hezbollah and will remain independent within the National Bloc alliance, adding that when it comes to situations on the national level, he is committed to the constants of Patriarch Rai. He supports all of the arms to be […]

by Dr AmiraDr Amira Abo el-Fetouh — middleeastmonitor — The whole world has watched the parliamentary elections in Lebanon, as if they are taking place in their countries due to the nature of Lebanon and its important strategic location, adjacent to Israel, as well as the presence of Hezbollah, one of Iran’s most important arms in the region, given its overwhelming influence in Lebanon. This has made Lebanon into a State within a State, with Iran as the de facto ruler, holding the keys and the wheel of the government. This is in addition to the armed militia it possesses in the country, armed with missiles, weapons, military equipment and fighters, amounting to over 100,000 according to Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, who added that Iran pays them their pension, food, drink, treatment and housing; everything is provided by Iran. This is what caused the Lebanese people to say that Iran occupies Lebanon and that it needs to be liberated and gain independence from Iran. The Lebanese words are not coming out of nowhere, or merely words for the sake of words; it comes from their anger at Hezbollah’s infiltration of all parts of Lebanon. They were even backed by one of the Iranian political officials in Iran, who said, “Iran occupies four Arab capitals, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.” Hezbollah had previously stormed and occupied Beirut and Al-Jabal in the events of 7 May, 2008, with what was known as the “black shirts”.

Herein lies the importance of the recent parliamentary elections, which some considered a key stage in Lebanon, especially as they came amid a severe economic crisis, bank bankruptcy, loss of Lebanese deposits, increase in inflation rates, massive poverty and a significant decline in its national currency, which lost about 90 per cent of its value, causing the Lebanese people to become frustrated and refrain from participating in the elections and voting. The people have grown tired and disgusted with the ruling clique, which will be brought back in the elections. This is because the sect leaders do not change or step down until they die, and then their children inherit their seats, and they are recycled. This is why the participation rate in these elections was much lower this year, compared to the past elections in 2018, even amongst the Shia sect, despite Nasrallah and Berri urging their Shia supporters to participate in large numbers and tempting them with money.

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities on Monday began removing concrete barriers around the country’s parliament building after the election of former protesters as MPs. The security measures had been put in place at the outbreak of massive anti-government protests in 2019. They are to be relaxed following the election of a dozen reformist newcomers to the 128-member legislature, including some who had taken part in the protest movement. Some of the new MPs had called for the restrictions to be eased before they attended the first session of the new parliament. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi attended the start of the work yesterday afternoon. The clearing will be completed before the next parliament session is held, a statement from House Speaker Nabih Berri’s office said.

The move comes after the election of 15 MPs from the Forces of Change group, which was demonstrating in the streets around parliament, in addition to a number of independent MPs. Beirut MP Ibrahim Mneimneh, from the Forces of Change, said: “There is no need for the barriers placed around the people’s house because it is for the people. They are needless barriers.” He said that the measures decided by Berri were the result of the traditional ruling forces realizing “the decline of their popularity, so they decided to respond to the popular demands.”

MP Waddah Sadiq, a former protester, said the fences around parliament are a separation wall. “Today, parliament represents the people who demand change, so they decided to ease the procedures,” Sadiq sad. Sadiq said that the economic and living crises “are increasing, and people may turn to a state of rejection again. We need the pressure to address them.” He said that the previous government did not take any effective handling measures. The plan approved by the government included neither recovery nor economy, said the MP. “Therefore, we are entering a difficult phase and we will be on the side of the people.”