by alaraby.co.uk — Lebanese singer and former The Voice France contestant Hiba Tawaji is due to perform in Syria, an announcement that has angered Syrian fans, many unable to return to their homes in Assad-held areas due to threats to their safety. Tawaji – well known for her songs Solidaritè and La Bidaye Wala Nihaye – is due to perform at the Damascus Opera House on 9 and 10 March, officially named the Dar Al-Assad for Culture and Arts after Syria’s ruling family. It will be the first time the soprano has performed in Syria for 15 years, according to a tweet posted by the singer. Some have branded the upcoming show “shameful” as during the past decade Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has launched a brutal assault on opposition areas, killing at least 500,000 people, mostly civilians from regime shelling and bombing.

Tens of thousands of detainees – many of them pro-democracy protesters jailed at the start of the 2011 uprising – have disappeared in regime prisons, many feared dead from torture and disease. “Mazzeh prison is only 10 minutes away, I hope the cry of the Syrians tortured under the orders of the president who gave his name to the Opera will not cover your voice,” one Twitter user wrote. Other Syrians – many exiled from their home country – have struggled to understand why the singer agreed to perform in the capital, which is controlled by a regime widely condemned for sickening acts of violence against men, women and children. “Shame on you! Singing on a floor covered with hundred thousands innocent Syrian’s blood,” another user, Nadia, wrote. “Shame now has a voice,” another tweeter, Ammar, wrote. Some fans commenting on Tawaji’s Facebook post appeared excited about the event. “We’re waiting for you and love you so much,” one fan Rana Aoun wrote, as others showered the singer with well wishes and good luck messages. “May happiness return to Syria,” Facebook user Sandy Alroom commented.

بعد تفكيك شبكات التجسس، قوى الامن الداخلي تحبط عمليات ارهابية خطيرة، الف تحية لشعبة المعلومات. الدولة تحمي الجميع والدولة فقط !

by breitbart.com — “We cannot continue like this in Lebanon,” Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï said during his Sunday homily. The rulers “to whom are entrusted the future of the country, public money, the ports, the autonomous offices, and relations with other countries cannot continue to waste, block, and contribute to the collapse and emigration of the population.” “You cannot continue to destroy the country and impoverish its population despite the appeals launched by the whole world,” he declared, recalling that the pope himself has repeatedly made similar appeals.

The head of the Maronite Church pleaded for Lebanon to “exit from its political, economic, financial, vital and social collapse.” Officials “are sticking to their positions, destroying the country voluntarily or involuntarily and blocking the progress of the state and its institutions,” the cardinal said. “The time of hostility and divisions is over.” “The time of militias trying to bring us back to a page that has been turned is over,” he continued, in an implicit swipe at Hezbollah, which claimed to have launched a drone over Israel on Friday. “We are a united family, which has a role and a message in the East and we must know how to play this role again.”

By Nicholas Noe — Carnegie Endowment — Two and a half years after prolonged street protests brought down the Lebanese government and revealed the deep financial and political rot within it, Lebanon is finally set to hold parliamentary elections on May 15. There is growing doubt, however, about whether the longstanding political establishment – mainly comprised of government officials, legacy political parties and business elites – will allow the polls to proceed; enough powerful internal and external actors may yet see it in their interests to indefinitely postpone them. But even if a vote is held on time, the country on its current trajectory will likely experience one of its most chaotic, corrupt and illegitimate elections since its independence in 1943. This will ensure, among many other negative outcomes, that the ruling establishment which so many Lebanese blame for their country’s swift decline won’t meaningfully change, save for some internal reshufflings amongst “frenemies.”

There are at least four reasons for this state of affairs. First, Lebanon’s ruling establishment, aided and abetted over the decades by an impressively diverse group of countries, has, in the words of the World Bank, “deliberately” sunk the country into one of the three worst depressions in the modern era and still refuses to implement any reasonable policy responses. It is illogical, then, to assume that this same group will somehow allow for a peaceful transition through an election or a serious dilution of their iron grip on power.

by arabnews.com — LOS ANGELES: Over 100 million viewers saw Kholood Adel, the high-profile Saudi model who’s partnered with brands such as Google and Mitsubishi, as she acted opposite Hollywood star Larry David in a commercial during the Super Bowl. All eyes were on Adel, especially given the NFL end of season finale is famous for short-film quality advertisements. “Of course, I was scared at the beginning like to see big sets and cameras but everything is scary at the beginning,” she said. “Once you break this fear you’re gonna like be going.”

She hinted at several upcoming secret projects in the works that would expand her modeling career just like she did in 2020, when she was selected to join Grammy-winning songwriter Diane Warren in an ensemble anthem by MISSION, an international charity for women and children’s rights. “It’s an amazing thing to be part of this amazing project to raise awareness against violence and also it was a nice experience to work with Ms. Warren. “The rest are coming soon. I can’t really say what it is exactly,” she added.

by lbcgroup.tv — Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai met on Monday with Lebanese businessman Bahaa Hariri at his residence at the Maronite Institute in Rome. Discussions focused on the situation in Lebanon, mainly amid the current collapse, the absence of effective solutions and the widening political, economic and social crises. They both reiterated the importance of preserving the Lebanese constitution and resorting to it, as well as consequently the implementation of the Taef Agreement, and the holding of parliamentary elections on time in a democratic and free manner.

By Sami Moubayed — gulfnews — Last week, Lebanon’s government approved $18 million to hold nationwide parliamentary elections on 15 May 2022. It was only a fraction of the budget allocated for the last elections of 2018, which cost $54 million. Due to the economic collapse and steady financial meltdown, the state has very little money left at its disposal, meaning that independent candidates and political parties will have to bankroll their own campaigns, expecting little to nothing from Lebanese officialdom. This of course is music to the ears of wealth parties, like Hezbollah, Amal, and Bahaa Al Hariri, the brother of ex-Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri who is debuting in Lebanese politics next May through his election alliance Sawa Li Lubnan. Last January, Saad Al Hariri announced that he was not running for parliament, nor were any members of his Future Movement. He cited Iranian tutelage as a main reason for his withdrawal, but its an open secret in Beirut that he lacks the funds needed to bankroll a nationwide campaign for him and his supporters, having squandered his share of the Hariri family fortune since 2005. He said in publicly in a televised interview last summer: “I used to be a billionaire but no longer am.”

Bahaa Hariri, who replied Sunday to written questions sent to him by the AP from his base in London, suggested he would not work with Hezbollah. “I see Hezbollah as the failed past not the future of Lebanon. Terrorist organizations destroy countries they don’t build nations,” he said. “The people don’t need more bullets, they need bread, jobs, electricity, and a government that serves all the people.”

A leader-in-waiting

The same cannot be said for his elder brother Bahaa, however, who according to Forbes, was worth $2 billion in 2021. He is running on an anti-Hezbollah ticket, campaigning active in the streets of Beirut with billboards and door-to-door campaigns (including the delivery of heating fuel to families in need). Bahaa himself remains physically absent, speaking to voters through a screen. He has not lived in Lebanon and remains alien to grass roots voters, who identify strongly, however, with his family name and iconography of his father, the late Rafik Al Hariri. Bahaa has delegated his special envoy, Safi Kalo (a childhood friend from Sidon) to meet with potential voters and defectors from his brother’s party, or former employees or staffers who were dismissed without being paid by Saad Al Hariri. Kalo is Bahaa’s main candidate for the upcoming elections, contesting a parliamentary seat in Beirut. This month, he visited the Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Raii, and called for implementing UN resolutions with regard to Hezbollah arms.

Beirut (AFP) – Once the economy’s crown jewel, Lebanon’s banks are shutting branches and laying off employees in droves, resizing to the bleak reality of a crisis they are widely blamed for. Before the onset in 2019 of a financial collapse deemed one of the world’s worst since the 1850s by the World Bank, the small Mediterranean country had an oversized but prosperous banking sector. The capital Beirut was a booming regional financial hub, attracting savers keen to profit from high interest rates and banking secrecy laws. But more than two years into the crisis, the reputation of Lebanese lenders has been shredded. A dizzying currency collapse, coupled with banks imposing strict withdrawal limits and prohibiting transfers abroad, has left ordinary depositors watching on helplessly as their savings evaporate. And yet bankers stand accused of bypassing those exact same capital controls — stoking the crisis by helping the political elite squirrel billions of dollars overseas. Their trust destroyed, citizens now keep new income well away from the banks, which in turn are deprived of money they could lend. “The whole banking system today is made up of zombie banks,” said economic analyst Patrick Mardini. “They don’t work as banks anymore — they don’t give loans, they don’t take new deposits.”

‘Abandoned country’

As a result, the industry has been forced to scale back its operations. In 2019, Lebanon ranked second in the region for bank branches per 100,000 people, according to the World Bank, and held a total of around $150 billion in deposits. Deposits by Arab investors and Lebanese expatriates propelled the banking sector to peak at three times the value of national economic output. But more than 160 branches have closed since the end of 2018, leaving a total of 919 branches operating across the country, according to the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL). The number of employees has dropped by around 5,900, reducing the sector’s workforce to roughly 20,000 late last year. “Lebanon is an abandoned country,” ABL chief Salim Sfeir told AFP, referring to negligence by the nation’s authorities.

by english.aawsat.com — The Iran-backed Hezbollah party’s flying of a drone from Lebanon over to Israel this week was widely condemned by officials. The party said on Friday that it flew the aircraft over northern Israel, where it hovered for 40 minutes, crossing 70 kilometers before returning to Lebanon. The move triggered Israel’s air defenses and the scrambling of fighter jets. Its jets flew at low altitude over Beirut, terrifying the people who are still reeling from the 2020 port explosion. On Thursday, Israel said it had downed a drone that belonged to Hezbollah after it crossed into Israeli air space. Earlier this week, Hezbollah said it had started producing its own drones in Lebanon. Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt took to twitter to mock the state of affairs in Lebanon. He noted that the country fails to generate 24-hour electricity and yet Hezbollah has the technology to manufacture drones. “The recovery plan with the IMF is becoming clear. The senior advisors from the Lebanese team recommended adopting the Lebanese pound and investing it in national companies, such as Electricite du Liban [the state electricity company], the highest example of success,” he said mockingly. “I suggest that we invest the depositors’ money in the local production of drones, rockets or explosives because they bring better returns,” he added.

Other officials slammed Hezbollah for launching the drone and boasting that it was now producing the aircraft in Lebanon. Former President Michel Suleiman said: “Under the slogan ‘made in Lebanon’ and amid the failure to find hope, a dignified living and alternative energy, the crisis-hit nation can find prosperity in the production of drones, precision-guided missiles, captagon, perpetual garbage, taxes… and everything that takes us to the lowest of lows.” Lebanese Forces MP Imad Wakim tweeted an image of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with a play on words about drones, saying he was being controlled by Iran. Retired officer and opposition parliamentary elections candidate George Nader said: “The state has collapsed and there is a general sense of degradation and indifference.”

by english.aawsat.com — Acclaimed Lebanese singer Sammy Clark passed on Sunday after suffering heart problems. Clark, 73, was a singer, composer and musician, who set himself apart from his peers by singing in both Arabic and foreign languages. Born Sammy Hobeika on May 19, 1948, he started off his career by joining the military band. […]

By LEEN FOUAD — arabnews.com — LONDON: Lebanon’s health system is in a precarious state following wave upon wave of political and economic crisis. As the country reels from medical supply shortages, COVID-19 case surges and an exodus of skilled medical professionals, the urgency of the sector’s need for outside help is no longer a matter of debate. In most countries, it might seem reasonable to look to the government to implement reforms to rescue the health system from collapse. But in Lebanon, where it is arguably politics itself that is making the nation sick, the embattled state is unlikely to offer solutions. A new study led by King’s College London and the American University of Beirut suggests Lebanon’s health system is in decline thanks in large part to the same disastrous political decisions and systemic problems that led to the country’s 2019 economic collapse. The study, “How politics made a nation sick,” conducted by the Research for Health in Conflict–MENA project (R4HC-MENA), shows how a series of politically driven disasters has created a crisis state that is unprepared to deal with a deepening public-health emergency.

Dr. Adam Coutts, one of the R4HC-MENA project leads, describes the health situation in Lebanon as “a slow moving trainwreck, which sped up in the pre-pandemic period when the economy collapsed in 2019.” Ever since the end of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990, sectarianism, clientelism and corruption have dominated political life and driven the country into successive bouts of unrest and instability. Corruption, hyperinflation and the 2019 banking sector collapse have plunged Lebanon into the worst economic crisis in its modern history. The arrival of millions of refugees from neighboring Syria has only compounded the strain on its creaking infrastructure. About 19.5 percent of Lebanon’s population of 7 million are refugees from neighboring countries. Already living precariously in impoverished communities, few of them have the means or the connections to obtain vital medications at a time of scarcity.