By MENASource Paul Gadalla --- In his latest speech on August 15, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, declared that his country is already “amid the collapse.” And, indeed, he might very well be right. Lebanon has fully lifted fuel subsidies, plunging many homes into darkness as many of the country’s residents rely on diesel generators to power their homes. Hospitals are struggling to keep the lights on while flour mills cease operation, spurring fears of a bread shortage. Pharmacies can barely stock medicines while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. One would think that such a bleak situation would push Lebanese politicians into forming a technocratic government capable of at least passing some reforms to save the country from the brink of collapse. But therein lies the problem: any reforms would rob Lebanon’s sectarian oligarchs of their power. Thus, Lebanese politicians are allowing for Lebanon’s collapse while hoping for as much international aid as possible with as little strings attached.

Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, there have been large international conferences to help bail out the country from its chronic economic problems. After fifteen years of civil war and conflicts with Israel, this was done in the hopes of keeping Lebanon together, as no one wished to see the country become a regional arena of strife again. In a report published in February by the London School of Economics, it is estimated that the $170 billion in financial assistance given to Lebanon by its various supporters since the end of its fifteen-year civil war is greater than the amount of aid given to countries under the Marshall Plan (adjusted for inflation). Yet, thanks to corruption, much of this money was misspent or stolen, leaving Lebanon heavily indebted and still with poor infrastructure. Even money meant for Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has been misappropriated.

BEIRUT (AP) — Drenched in sweat, doctors check patients lying on stretchers in the reception area of Lebanon’s largest public hospital. Air conditioners are turned off, except in operating rooms and storage units, to save on fuel. Medics scramble to find alternatives to saline solutions after the hospital ran out. The shortages are overwhelming, the medical staff exhausted. And with a new surge in coronavirus cases, Lebanon’s hospitals are at a breaking point. The country’s health sector is a casualty of the multiple crises that have plunged Lebanon into a downward spiral — a financial and economic meltdown, compounded by a complete failure of the government, runaway corruption and a pandemic that isn’t going away. The collapse is all the more dramatic since only a few years ago, Lebanon was a leader in medical care in the Arab world. The region’s rich and famous came to this small Mideast nation of 6 million for everything, from major hospital procedures to plastic surgeries.

 THE NEW NORMAL

Ghaidaa al-Saddik, a second-year resident, had just returned from a week off after an exhausting year. Back on duty for a week, she has already intubated two critical patients in the emergency room, both in their 30s. She struggles to admit new patients, knowing how short on supplies the hospital is, scared to be blamed for mistakes and questioning if she is doing her best. Many patients are asked to bring their own medicines, such as steroids. Others are discharged too soon — often to homes where power outages last for days. “You feel like you are trapped,” said al-Saddik. The 28-year-old spends more nights in the staff dorms studying because at home, she has no electricity. She moved to an apartment closer to the hospital that she shares with two other people to save on rent and transportation. With the collapse of Lebanon’s currency amid the crisis, her salary has lost nearly 90% of its value. With fewer and fewer residents, she must now do the rounds for about 30 patients, instead of 10. Her mentor, a senior virologist, has left Lebanon — one of many in a brain drain of medical professionals. “I want to help my people,” she said. “But at the same time, what about me being a better doctor?” ___

RUNNING ON EMPTY

By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: The “Hermel meteorite” is continuing to generate controversy in Lebanon, becoming a top trend on several social media platforms. In Hermel, a town in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate 143 km from Beirut, a man claiming to be from NASA has reportedly discovered a 4,000-year-old meteorite worth billions of dollars. The Lebanese have reacted skeptically, with one beleaguered member of the public saying: “Amid the countless crises, all Lebanon was missing was a meteorite falling.” It has been claimed that “a geological engineer with US citizenship came to Lebanon about a year ago and headed to Hermel, which is 780 meters above sea level, with the help of a GPS and an interpreter.” Reports added that “he got to a specific geographical area located on a property owned by a person who was out of town so he asked the municipality to complete the official procedures so that he could return with others to search for a meteorite that fell there about 4,000 years ago.” The engineer allegedly explained that the meteorite “may be the largest to hit the Middle East, leaving a hole with a diameter of about 130 meters, and if it is extracted, it will have an important scientific value and science museums can be established at the site.”

Residents in Hermel said NASA “detected radioactive materials in one of the properties surrounding the site.” The mayor of Hermel, Sobhi Saqr, began searching for the property owner, Camille Nadim Murad, whose residence and address are unknown. In July, he published an announcement in the Official Gazette, informing him that work would be carried out “urgently for the public interest on property No. 2604.” He asked the person concerned to communicate with the municipality, stressing that the works would not change the property’s features or lower its value. The excavations, which began at the site without the permission of the property owner, sparked a controversy on social media. The mayor was accused of “fraud and greed and of working in secret at the property in the hope of making huge profits.” It was reported that “one gram of the meteorite is worth $4,000 to $8,000, and if the meteorite is found at a depth of 12 meters, its value will reach billions of dollars, while it is estimated to weigh 12 tons, according to preliminary studies by scientists.” No research center has followed up on the matter or visited the area.

by National News Agency — Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rahi urged officials to stop torturing and manipulating citizens’ feelings and put an end …