By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Struggling to cope with soaring living costs and low wages, desperate Syrian refugees and workers are abandoning Lebanon and turning to a new migration route into Europe, via Belarus, with many risking their lives and family savings in the process. An illegal Syrian worker who arrived in Beirut four years ago and lives with his 20-year-old sister in the capital told Arab News that “working in Lebanon no longer makes sense.” “I work all day long delivering goods to be paid 50,000 Lebanese pounds (equivalent to $2.50 on the black market),” Ahmed said. “That is not nearly enough because of the rising costs.” In the past two months alone, more than 16,000 undocumented migrants are believed to have entered the EU from Belarus after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko responded to Brussels-imposed sanctions by saying he will no longer stop asylum-seekers from crossing into neighboring Poland.

Belarus has been accused of offering migrants tourist visas and helping them across its border — a move that appears to have made the previous migrant route through Turkey and on to the Greek islands a thing of the past. Arab and foreign airlines arranging trips to Belarus through Lebanon have seen demand surge since September, while Syrians have been queuing outside the General Directorate of Public Security’s offices in Beirut for hours to have their passports returned or to pay residency fees. Lebanese citizens can obtain a visa for Belarus once they arrive at Minsk airport. However, Syrians, Iraqis and Palestinians are required to get a tourist visa in advance. Ahmed told Arab News that he found a video on TikTok of Syrians talking about their trip to Belarus, then Poland and finally to Germany, and claiming that the journey is less risky than traveling by sea. “I am now getting my documents ready to leave before the end of October, because things will not get easier after that because of the conditions in winter,” he said.

lb.usembassy.gov — On October 22, Ambassador Dorothy C. Shea attended the inauguration of the Pop-Up Spaces program in Saida. This one year-long …

ان تقريب موعد الانتخابات هو امر دستوري ١٠٠/١٠٠،  في حين ان وضع المجلس الحالي هو مخالف للدستور لانه لم يتم انتخاب بدلاء …

by middleeasteye.net -- Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party, has been summoned for questioning over deadly violence that erupted at a protest last week, a judicial official said on Thursday. Fadi Akiki, a representative of the military court, had "instructed the army intelligence to summon Geagea and take his statement based on information provided by arrested LF members", the official said. Seven people were killed last week when a gun battle erupted as protesters from the Hezbollah and Amal groups were on their way to demonstrate against the lead investigator of the Beirut port blast, Tarek Bitar. The majority of those killed were members of Hezbollah and Amal, who accused the LF of being responsible for sniper fire against the protesters that ignited street clashes, charges Geagea rejects.

Twenty-six people were arrested after the violence in the heart of the Lebanese capital, most of them LF members, the official said on Thursday. Geagea has denied responsibility for the deaths, saying that residents of Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ain al-Remmaneh had "defended" themselves against "Hezbollah militiamen who tried to enter their homes". On Thursday, Geagea told Lebanon's MTV channel that he was not informed of any request to hear his statement on last week's violence and added that his group does not have any armed fighters. "I am ready to appear before the judge, on one condition: that Hassan Nasrallah does it before me," he said. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday launched a scathing attack against the LF leader, saying that his movement had 100,000 armed fighters at its disposal, and warned it against sparking any "civil war". He has been in hiding since the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.