Beirut (AFP) – In many countries, public libraries are considered a dying relic amid the shift to digital, but in Lebanon they are getting a new lease of life as its economy flatlines. Every Friday afternoon, Munira Khalifa takes her son Elia to a public library in Beirut for a weekly storytelling event -- one of the last affordable pleasures as a crashing local currency has rendered books something of a luxury. "We had reached a point where we couldn't find anywhere to take Elia because of the coronavirus pandemic and our difficult financial situation," Khalifa said. She is just one of hundreds of parents who are hitting the shelves at three public libraries in Beirut in the heat of the unprecedented financial crisis.

The libraries are managed by the Assabil non-governmental group, which was founded in 1997 to promote free access to books and culture. At one of them in the neighbourhood of Bachoura, the mother and son were the first to arrive ahead of a reading. The library offered them some relief, Khalifa said, adding: "It is safe, comfortable and close to home." "Financially, it helps us cut on costs for transportation and new books, which have become more expensive," she told AFP. Throughout the reading, laughter abounded as a storyteller acted out a book using puppets.

Lebanese Foreign Minister: Habib By Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English — Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and …

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

الدويلاتُ السابقةُ التي نَشأت أثناءَ مرحلةِ الحربِ اللبنانيّة بين السبعيناتِ والتسعيناتِ كانت تنتظرُ عودةَ الدولةِ اللبنانيّةِ إثرَ "اتفاقِ الطائف" لتعودَ إليها. أما دويلةُ حزبِ الله اليوم فتَنتظرُ سقوطَ الدولةِ اللبنانيّة لتَحُلَّ مكانَها. وفيما نطالبُ الدولةَ أن تَضعَ حدًّا للسلاحِ غيرِ الشرعي ـــ ولو من بابِ التمنّي ـــ تلجأُ الدولةُ إلى وسائلَ غيرِ شرعيّةٍ لتُنفِّذَ نزواتِها وتسهِّلَ سيطرةَ حزبِ الله. حتى الدولةُ لم تَعد دولةً في لبنان. معابرُ التَسلُّلِ إلى الدولةِ سائبةٌ أكثرَ من المعابرِ الحدوديّة. فَقدَت السلطةُ شرعيّتَها. ومَن يَفقِدُ شرعيّتَه لا يعودُ يرى شيئًا غيرَ شرعيٍّ. بِـتنا نَعيشُ بين الدولةِ الـمُسيَّرةِ ودويلةِ المسيَّرات.

الاستنتاجُ الأوّل: عبثيّةُ مطالبةِ سلطةِ هذه الدولةِ بحلِّ دويلةِ حزبِ الله طالما هي جُزءٌ لا يَتجزّأُ منها. والاستنتاجُ الآخَر: ضرورةُ تغييرِ السلطةِ لنبنيَ دولةً جديدةً لا تَتنازلُ عن شرعيّتها وتُنفِّذُ الدستورَ والقوانين مهما كان الثمنُ لأنَّ أيَّ ثمنٍ يَبقى أرخصَ مـمّا نَدفعُه الآن. في هذا السياق، لماذا تَتحاشى الدولةُ التزامَ القراراتِ الدُوليّةِ لاسيما القراران 1559 و1701 خَشيةَ الاشتباكِ مع حزبِ الله، ولا يَتحاشى حزبُ الله انتهاكَ الدستورِ اللبنانيِّ والقراراتِ الدُوليّةِ وتعريضَ لبنانَ لخطرٍ عسكريٍّ خَشيةَ الاشتباكِ مع الدولة؟ الجواب: الحزبُ لا يَعتبرُها والدولةُ تخافُه.

علاوةً على الدولةِ بكلِّ مؤسّساتِها المدنيّةِ والعسكريّةِ، جميعُ الأطرافِ اللبنانيّين تحاشَوا حزبَ الله وتَساهلوا معه واكتفَوا بمواقفَ إعلاميّةٍ عابرةٍ رفعِ عتَبٍ أمامَ جماهيرهم. اسْتخلَصَ الحزبُ أنْ لا أحدَ يَجرؤ على التصدّي له مهما فعل، فاطْمأنَّ على وضعِه وتمادى في ممارساتِه حتّى تجاوزَ حدودَ الأدبِ في التَفَــوُّه بكلمات كــــ"التَكْنيسِ والترحيلِ والتخوينِ"... صحيحٌ أنْ لا أحدَ يَبحثُ عن صِدامٍ مع حزبِ الله، لكن إذا تخطّى حدودَه مثلما فَعلَ في عين الرمانة فسيَجدُ الردَّ الملائِم. فالعينُ سهرانة والرُمّانةُ ملآنة.

Interior Minister Mawlawi

Beirut (AFP) – Lebanon has thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to carry out three suicide bombings targeting Shiite religious compounds in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior ministry said Wednesday. "A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks using explosive belts" and other munitions, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told a press conference. "Three separate targets were to be hit at the same time," the ministry said, in an operation Mawlawi said would have caused significant loss of life. Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) said the instructions for the bomb plot came from an IS operative based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, who is in touch with fellow Sunni extremists in Syria. The instructions were passed to an undercover agent recruited by the ISF to infiltrate IS networks in Lebanon.

On February 7, the agent was instructed to prepare attacks on a Shiite religious compound in the Al-Laylaki neighbourhood, the Imam al-Kazem compound in Haret Hreik and the Al-Nasser religious centre in Beirut's Ouzai suburb, the ISF said. He was given three explosive vests and other weapons to conduct the attacks on February 16, the ISF added. Security forces have since identified four suspected militants residing in the Ain al-Hilweh camp who are believed to have been involved in the bomb plot. Mawlawi said two suspects had been arrested, although he did not specify whether they were among the four identified in Ain al-Hilweh. The camp outside the main southern city of Sidon is the largest Palestinian settlement in Lebanon. It has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and other fugitives. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinian factions.