by dohanews.co -- Qatar’s Embassy in Beirut has announced that all Lebanese nationals will be granted a free visa upon arrival at Hamad International Airport, for a period of 30 days. This is subject to an additional 30 days, within 180 days of issuance, the embassy said in a statement on Twitter. All travellers most be in possession of a passport valid for at least six months, a confirmed return ticket and confirmation of a hotel reservation in Qatar for the duration of their visit. Travellers must also be full vaccinated with a vaccine recognised by Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health, with the last dose administered at least 14 days before arrival. A negative PCR test result within 72 hours of arrival is compulsory, and all passengers must register on the Ehteraz platform to obtain approval from the Ministry of Public Health at least 12 hours before travel.

Passengers who have not received two doses of the vaccine 14 days before arrival will not be permitted to enter. Vaccines approved in Qatar include Pfizer / Biontech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covishield (AstraZeneca), and Johnson & Johnson. Qatar accommodates around 35,000 Lebanese nationals in the country. Speaking to Doha News, Lebanon’s ambassador to Qatar, Farah Berri, said that “the State of Qatar has always been the first to provide moral, financial, humanitarian and political support to Lebanon.” “The Lebanese Embassy in Doha is proud to say that Qatar has become a second home to many Lebanese,” Berri added. The new decision will allow Lebanese families to reunite in Qatar as Lebanon faces a multitude of financial, economic, and political challenges that have prevented many Lebanese expats from visiting this summer.

المكوّناتُ اللبنانيّةُ ترفضُ المسَّ بلبنانَ الكبير، وإذا أحدٌ نَفَضَ عنه الغُبارَ اتَّهمَته

بالتقسيم. لكنَّ تصرفاتِ هذه المكوّنات، بالمقابل، جَعلت لبنانَ رَمادًا حتى بات غيرَ قابلٍ

للوِحدةِ ولا للتقسيم. السلامُ فيه موقِفُ لحظة، والحربُ موعدٌ رابِض. الأخطرُ من أن يكونَ

لبنانُ جُزءًا من قوميّةٍ أخْرى، هو أن يكونَ جُزءًا من مشروعٍ آخَر. لم تَحصُل حروبٌ

قوميّةٌ في العالمِ العربيّ، لكنَّ صِراعَ المشاريعِ فَجَّر حروبًا مُستدامَة. التعصُّبُ الدينيُّ أقوى

من الشعورِ القوميّ، والجَهالةُ أقوى من الاثنين. الصراعُ الحقيقيُّ في الشرقِ ليس بين

في الثاني من ايلول ٢٠٠٧ سقطت منظمة فتح الاسلام التي سيطرت على مخيم نهر البارد وتم اقتلاعها من جذورها وسقط معها مشروع …

by AP -- Driving back to base after firing rockets towards Israeli positions from a border area last month, a group of Hezbollah fighters was accosted by angry villagers who smashed their vehicles' windshields and briefly held up the convoy. It was a rare incident of defiance that suggested many in Lebanon will not tolerate provocations by the powerful group that risk triggering a new war with Israel. As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese are more openly criticising Iran-backed Hezbollah. They blame the group – with the ruling class – for the numerous, devastating crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel. “Hezbollah is facing its most consequential challenge in maintaining control over the Lebanese system and what is called the ‘protective environment of the resistance’ against Israel,” said Joe Macaron, a Middle East analyst in Washington. The incident along the border and other confrontations – including a deadly shooting at the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter and rare indirect criticism by the country’s top Christian religious leader – leave the group on the defensive.

The anger has spread in recent months, even in Hezbollah strongholds where many have protested against electricity cuts and fuel shortages as well as the currency crash that has plunged more than half the country's six million people into penury. In its strongholds, predominantly inhabited by Shiite Muslims, it is not uncommon now for people to speak out against the group. They note that Hezbollah is paying salaries in US dollars at a time when most Lebanese get paid in Lebanese currency, which in almost two years has lost more than 90 per cent of its value. Protests and scuffles have broken out at gas stations around Lebanon and in some Hezbollah strongholds. In rare shows of defiance, groups of protesters closed key roads in those areas south of Beirut and in southern Lebanon. In recent speeches, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared angry, blaming the shortages on what he describes as an undeclared western siege. The chaos in Lebanon, he said, is being instigated from a “black room” inside the US embassy.