english.aawsat.com -- A Lebanese judge has ordered a protective freeze of some properties and company stakes of 14 individuals with links to some of Lebanon’s biggest banks, a move the lenders said could further isolate them from international financial networks. The asset freezes, listed in a judicial document seen by Reuters, are part of a legal complaint lodged by lawyers belonging to a civil society group on behalf of Lebanese depositors. Lebanon’s banks were once among the world’s more profitable lenders, funneling funds from a scattered diaspora into state coffers in return for high interest rates. But as Lebanon’s economic meltdown gathered pace and dollar remittaces dried up, the financial system was starved of funding.

The complaint accuses local banks, which have frozen customers out of their deposits and blocked them from transferring cash abroad since the crisis erupted in late 2019, of crimes including negligence and fraud. Lenders have denied any wrongdoing and have repeatedly said that customers’ deposits are safe. “The Lebanese banks, the majority of them, have taken over the deposits of their customers and then against the law lent these deposits to the government and to the central bank, which spent it on their international commitments and on salaries,” Hasan Bazy, one of the lawyers who brought the case forward, told Reuters, adding that more complaints would be forthcoming. “These banks and their managers have assets in companies and have real estate and we wanted these to be blocked so that they can be used as a guarantee for the money of depositors in case it can’t be retrieved.”

 بقلم سجعان قزي, وزير سابق, @AzziSejean 

,في ظروفٍ طبيعيّة، كنا رَحّبنا باعتذارِ الرئيسِ المكلَّف سعد الحريري، وقد مَضَت سبعةُ أشهر والحكومةُ لم تَتشَكَّل، فيما البلدُ ينهار. فكما لا يَحِقُّ وطنيًّا وأدبيًّا لرئيسِ الجُمهوريّة، أيِّ رئيسِ جُمهوريّة، أن يتأخّرَ أسابيعَ قبلَ بَدءِ الاستشاراتِ الملزِمةِ لاختيارِ رئيسٍ مكَلَّف، لا يَحِقُّ وطنيًّا وأدبيًّا أيضًا لرئيسٍ مكلَّف، أيِّ رئيسٍ مكلَّف، أن يَتأبّطَ التكليفَ ولا يُشكِّلَ حكومةً في مدّةٍ معقولة. البلدُ ليس مُلكَ "الطائف" والطوائف، ولا مُلكَ الرؤساءِ والصلاحيّات. لكنَّ عجزَ الرئيسِ الحريري ليس ناتجًا عن فشلٍ أحاديٍّ وعِناد، إنّما عن وجودِ مشروعٍ متكامِلٍ لدى المحورِ السوريِّ/الإيرانيِّ لوضعِ اليدِ على البلد. والسيطرةُ على الحكومةِ هي إحدى حلقاتِ هذا المشروعِ الانقلابيِّ الذي يَتناساه البعضُ أحيانًا.

By Kareem Chehayeb -- aljazeera.com -- -- Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hasan Diab says his government wants to introduce a cash card programme to offer struggling citizens a safety net for buying essential items after subsidies that drain the country’s foreign reserves are withdrawn. But he fears Parliament and Lebanon’s central bank will not throw their support behind the proposal. Lebanon subsidises fuels, medicines, wheat, and other basic food items that the central bank imports at the official exchange rate of 1,507 Lebanese pounds to $1 – an obsolete rate that has not changed despite the country’s deep economic crisis that ignited in October 2019. Meanwhile, at market exchange rates, the pound has lost some 85 percent of its value against the dollar.

In an interview on Monday with Al-Hurra, a US-based Arab satellite channel, Diab said subsidies cost the government $5bn a year, while cash cards would cost only $1.2bn – saving the state about $3bn annually. But he does not believe those compelling maths are enough to secure the support he needs from Parliament or the central bank to push through the plan. “We have faced opposition from day one for everything we have done,” Diab said during the Al-Hurra interview. “We cannot lift subsidies without agreeing on cash cards.” Diab is proposing to give cash cards loaded with United States dollars to about 750,000 vulnerable families after subsidies are lifted

. Those dollars would then be converted into Lebanese pounds when goods are bought. But key details of the plan are still unclear, such as the exchange rate that would apply to the cards, what exactly can be bought with them, or how families would be vetted to determine eligibility and benefit levels. A ministerial source told Al Jazeera that the cabinet had discussed Diab’s plan among other cash card programmes on Tuesday, including one that the caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme presented last December. Diab has reportedly proposed to lift all government subsidies, with the exception of medicine and wheat.

SIDON, Lebanon (CNS) — In the village of Maghdouché, overlooking the ancient Mediterranean coastal city of Sidon, a statue of the Blessed Mother holding the infant Jesus graces the hilltop. It is also the site where holy tradition says Mary waited for her Jesus while he was preaching in Sidon and Tyre, thus the name, “Our Lady of Mantara,” or “waiting.” After his preaching, Jesus would join his mother at the grotto. On the grounds of the shrine, the ancient grotto offers a peaceful oasis to pray. At its entrance, a statue of Mary, seated, welcomes visitors. A plaque behind her proclaims in French, Arabic and English: “I’m waiting for my children.” The grotto — or cave — was discovered in 1721 when a shepherd lost a small lamb in the sprawling fields. The shepherd found his lamb near the grotto. Inside the grotto, he found an icon representing the Blessed Mother on an ancient altar. “It is especially important that Jesus has visited this place,” Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elie Béchara Haddad of Sidon said. For this reason, he considers that Mantara is a Christological sanctuary, rather than a Marian sanctuary. “It is a very holy land. It is a real holy land,” he said.

From its summit nearly 700 feet above sea level, the edge of the hill beyond the grotto offers a view of Sidon and the Mediterranean coast. Pilgrims can gaze up and feel they are under the protection of Mary holding Jesus. A bronze statue, 26 feet high, sits atop a 92-foot tower. Beneath the tower is a small chapel, which is currently closed during the pandemic. Archbishop Haddad said that in many areas in this region of southern Lebanon, including around Maghdouché, evidence of ancient Roman roads can be found. Muslims and Christians alike visit the shrine and have attested to miracles received, although the miracles have not been verified. Miracles related to fertility problems and cancer cures are especially common, the archbishop said. It is not unusual to see a woman walking on her knees, approaching the sanctuary as an act of piety for a prayer request.