By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Riots left more than two dozen people injured in Tripoli on Friday, including 10 soldiers, as tensions continued to rise in Lebanon. “The situation seems to be getting worse, and things are about to escalate because we are facing a difficult political and social fate,” said Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun as he inspected army units deployed to the Bekaa Valley. Meanwhile the international community continued to call for progress in the country’s stalled political process. France, the EU and the US have urged Lebanese politicians to form a new government as a matter of urgency, and an international conference is being planned to support the efforts. “All concerned parties need to work with urgency to put in place a government that’s able to implement reforms immediately,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday night in a message posted on Twitter.

The Arab League said its secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and his UN counterpart, Antonio Guterres, had agreed during a meeting in New York that the situation in Lebanon is going from “bad to worse.” The former said he hoped that “the international community will succeed in helping the Lebanese overcome the crisis.” As he inspected his forces on Friday, Aoun told them: “Our responsibility is great at this stage. We are required to preserve the security and stability of the homeland and prevent chaos.”

BACKGROUND The Arab League said its secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and his UN counterpart, Antonio Guterres, had agreed during a meeting in New York that the situation in Lebanon is going from “bad to worse.” He said he considers the military to be “the only institution that is still active,” and added: “The army is the deterrent to chaos. I know that you will not allow anyone to invade our land, and you will not allow these circumstances to make you lose your sense of belonging to your homeland, your identity and your land. “What we are experiencing today is a temporary crisis and it will pass.” Private companies and institutions allowed employees to leave work early on Friday so that they could get home before roads were blocked. Angry crowds took to the streets for a second consecutive day to protest against fuel shortages and the continuing steep rise in the dollar exchange rate on the black market. Demonstrations had broken out across the country on Thursday, immediately after Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced his resignation after nine months of failed wrangling with President Michel Aoun over the formation of a new government.

by aljaridanews.com --

من الصعب التفتيش عن منزل رئيس الجمورية السابق العماد ميشال سليمان ليس لأنه منزل بحد ذاته بل لأنه يشكل شقة عادية يعيش فيها مع عقيلته السيدة وفاء في الطابق الثاني من مبنى حيث يترافق مع جيرانه ، أما الصعب على الفهم ذلك القصر الذي قيل أنه بناه أثناء ولايته … لا قصر ولا من يحزنون وفق المشاهدة مع فريق موقع “الجريدة نيوز” الذي أيضا كانت له ملاحظاته على الموضوع نفسه والاكاذيب التي حيكت : شقة عادية لها مدخل كباقي شقق السكن مع مصعد يؤدي ساكنيه كل الى منزله .

وبغض النظر عن “وظائف” الكذب التي إعتمدها البعض بحق الرجل الذي يستقبل زواره من سياسيين وشخصيات ووفود ويترأس لقاء الجمهورية في زاوية من المنزل ، وليس من الصعوبة بمكان إجراء موعد مع فخامة الرئيس الأسبق إنما يكفي الاتصال بمرافقه الذي لم يتركه منذ عشرات السنين ويحصل على ما يريد ، في داخل المنزل ثمة مفاجأة ثانية حيث الأثاث أقل من عادي وتتوزع كنبة كبيرة ومكتب ، وذهب عن بال فريق الموقع أنه كان وفق حشريته يريد مشاهدة الثريات الثمينة وكيف شكلها ، وهل هي ذهبية وبلورية … كل هذا لم يحصل ولم يكن .

by naharnet -- Resigned Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday blamed President Michel Aoun for the failure to form a new government, as he announced that he would not nominate a successor for the PM post. “I nominated myself to form a government according to the French initiative, which means a government of specialists, and today I apologized for not being able to form ‘Michel Aoun’s government,’” Hariri said in a live interview on al-Jadeed TV, only a few hours after he announced his resignation as PM-designate. “I resigned in 2019 because I wanted a government of specialists and had I formed ‘Michel Aoun's government’ I would not have been able to rescue the country,” Hariri added. “There is camp that has decided to torture the country and take us to hell and all the obstacles that I faced were created by this camp,” the ex-PM went on to say, referring to Aoun and his party.

Noting that he quit the formation mission because Aoun “did not want to form a government,” Hariri added that “when the President decides the date of the consultations,” he would talk to his allies and “decide what to do.” Hitting out at Aoun, the ex-PM said: “Because Saad Hariri is Sunni and patriotic, he is prohibited from naming ministers and only President Aoun has the right to nominate!”

By Emma Graham & Hadley Gamble -- cnbc.com -- Lebanon’s armed forces need an immediate $100 million to cover its soldiers’ basic needs, a general told CNBC, as a currency crisis pushes their salaries below the poverty line. His comments come as the country’s military tries to avoid collapse. “Without the morale and the motivation of our soldiers, it’s going to impact negatively the mission,” Brig. Gen. Youssef Haddad told CNBC. “If the army collapses, Lebanon will be lost.” He said that by September, the army will be in a “critical condition.” The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) pay the equivalent of $84 dollars per month to enlisted soldiers based on the exchange rate of 15,500 Lebanese pounds per U.S. dollar. With the currency now approaching 20,000 LBP to the dollar on the black market, that salary now places the average soldier below the poverty line. Haddad said each soldier needs “an additional bonus to help him cover his basic needs on a monthly basis for 12 months” — which should total around $90 million to $100 million, he said.