By Dario Sabaghi -- al-monitor.com -- The blast at Beirut Port on Aug. 4, 2020, not only left more than 215 dead and 6,000 injured, but also changed the skyline of Lebanon's capital. For many Lebanese, the ruined grain silos are a memorial for the blast's victims and a testament to the negligence of their political establishment. The forensic investigation was halted for the fifth time in February 2022. No one has yet been held accountable almost two years after the explosion of 552 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. On April 14, 2022, the Lebanese government approved plans to demolish the grain silos.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makari told the local media that the government had appointed the Council for Development and Reconstruction to oversee the demolition process. He did not specify a time frame. Makari said that the government made the decision based on a report by Lebanon's Khatib and Alami Engineering Company, which warned that the silos might collapse within months and that it would be too expensive to repair them. Culture Minister Mohamed Mortada told Reuters the government had decided to demolish the silos and build new ones based on a "purely economic assessment" of Lebanon's food security needs, including wheat storage.

By Najia Houssari - arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon has once again voiced its concerns about Syrian refugees, stating that the country can no longer tolerate some of their actions. Lebanese Minister of Labor Mustafa Bayram said: “Lebanon is no longer able to play policeman for other countries.” Prime Minister Najib Mikati chaired a meeting of the ministerial committee in charge of discussing the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, during which Bayram said: “The Lebanese state is no longer able to handle this matter.” Bayram also stressed after the meeting that Lebanon is left alone, and the state cannot stand to cost. “We no longer have diesel boats to monitor the sea, and the UN and UNHCR must step up and bear their responsibilities. The Lebanese are queuing at banks and ATMs, while others receive direct aid in dollars. They share our water, electricity and resources while we do not get anything. Many institutions, international organizations and countries are concluding agreements with Lebanese NGOs and paying them in dollars without going through the state, and frankly, this uncontrolled situation is no longer acceptable,” he said.

Hector Hajjar, minister of social affairs, met Ayaki Ito, representative of the UNHCR office in Lebanon, and conveyed the Lebanese government’s official position regarding Syrian refugees. Hajjar’s office said he informed Ito that the Lebanese state is committed to the principle of not forcing refugees to return to their country of origin, but the situation is no longer tolerable and the state is no longer able to bear the cost of maintaining security in the refugee camps and the areas in which refugees have settled. Hajjar said: “The Lebanese state has always received less aid than the needs declared annually, despite the fact that 35 percent of the population is made up of displaced persons and refugees. According to reports, 82 percent of the Lebanese suffer from multidimensional poverty. The Lebanese state has incurred huge losses over the years, due to the displaced people benefiting from the state’s subsidies on basic commodities such as medicine, bread, and fuel, in addition to prison overcrowding and the resulting burdens, not to mention the security chaos and competition in the labor market.”

by reuters -- Leaving his office this week, the 80-year-old head of Lebanon’s election commission escorted journalists down eight flights of stairs, lighting the way with a mobile phone. As elsewhere in the country, severe power rationing meant the lift and lights were off - symptoms of an economic collapse that has pushed more than three quarters of the population into poverty. 

Less than three weeks before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, retired judge Nadim Abdelmalak is worried about what the crisis means for the fairness of the process. He said his team was understaffed to oversee voting properly, ballots could easily be bought and candidates with more means were at a huge advantage over those without. “These elections will have violations,” Abdelmalak told Reuters this week.

Lebanon’s financial meltdown has seen the lira lose 90 percent of its value since 2019 and people have been unable to access hard currency savings, hitting all sections of society. The elections will be the first opportunity since then for people to choose lawmakers, amid widespread disillusionment over political leaders and despair at what has happened to Lebanon. Some election observers are concerned that candidates would be able to secure votes by distributing food, fuel, or other basic needs that are now beyond the reach of many. “This is undoubtedly going to play a role. There are a lot of people who are going to sell their votes. These factors are going to hit the integrity and transparency of the elections,” said Abdelmalak.

وطنية - الفاتيكان - أوضح سفير لبنان لدى الكرسي الرسولي فريد الياس الخازن أن "زيارة قداسة البابا فرنسيس الى لبنان في حزيران المقبل تأتي تجسيدا لرغبة عبر عنها مرارا وفي غير مناسبة، وتلبية لدعوة وجهها إليه مجددا فخامة الرئيس العماد ميشال عون خلال زيارته الأخيرة الى الكرسي الرسولي".  

ولفت في حديث الى "الوكالة الوطنية للاعلام" الى انه "كان من المتوقع ان تتم الزيارة هذه السنة، كما أشار وزير خارجية الفاتيكان المطران بول ريتشارد كالغر خلال زيارته الاخيرة الى لبنان، لكن من دون تحديد موعدها". وقال: "لقد تم الإعلان عن زيارات الحبر الاعظم الخارجية في شهر تموز المقبل الى جنوب السودان وكندا وربما الكونغو. زيارة لبنان أرادها قداسته بعد الانتخابات النيابية المقررة في 15 ايار، وفي ذلك رسالة واضحة الى أنها غير متصلة بالشأن السياسي الداخلي، وتداركا لعدم توظيف الحدث في التجاذبات السياسية المعهودة."

وأشار الى أن "الزيارة تتم في ظروف في لبنان والمحيط الاقليمي تختلف عن تلك التي سادت عندما زار البابا القديس يوحنا بولس الثاني لبنان في 1997 وأعلن الارشاد الرسولي المنبثق عن السينودس الكنسي الخاص حول لبنان، وكذلك زيارة البابا بندكتوس السادس عشر في 2012 التي تم خلالها اعلان الارشاد الرسولي حول الشرق الاوسط. وقبل عقود، كانت زيارة خاطفة للبابا القديس بولس السادس في 1964 وهو في طريقه الى الهند، آتيا من القدس".