by KHALED ABOU ZAHR -- arabnews -- French President Emmanuel Macron’s follow-up visit to Lebanon last week created a backlash from those who, like me, oppose Hezbollah and the Iranian influence in the region. The declarations made by French diplomatic teams giving legitimacy to this group were a mistake and, for some, a betrayal. The reason is simple: We see this group in its current form as a danger to the future of Lebanon; something that contributes to the erosion of the sovereignty of the country. Likewise, Iran plays a nefarious and expansionist role throughout the Middle East. Like me, many French people of Lebanese origin hope and dream of a free Lebanon that is close to France and prospers despite the situation in the Middle East. We hope that President Macron understands this.

Macron’s visit to Lebanon was followed by a visit to Iraq, and we owed it to him to listen to his message there. Indeed, during his visit to Iraq, Macron clearly opposed any interference in the country’s affairs, insisting on France’s support for the sovereignty of the Iraqi state. Iraq, with its new Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, may have the capacity to rebalance its relations with its Iranian neighbor, even though the task will be difficult. French and American efforts seem to be aimed in this direction. The same principle applies in Lebanon, but perhaps no Lebanese person or political group is able to bring about this change today. On the other hand, we must also listen to Macron’s message about the Mediterranean because it is a message of prosperity and stability. Speaking of the principle of “Pax Mediterranea,” he clearly opposes Turkish imperialist action and its methods of intimidation, which all Mediterranean countries refuse. This is again a more complete vision to which Lebanon subscribes and which can be positive for this country. Some Sunni Lebanese groups seem to be calling on Turkey to intervene to oppose Hezbollah, but this would be a mistake that could plunge the country into even more conflict.

by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Young people fleeing Lebanon in flimsy boats and heading for Cyprus are adding to the refugee crisis in the eastern Mediterranean. Four vessels appeared off the eastern and southern coast of Cyprus in the past two days carrying 123 Lebanese and Syrian migrants, island police said on Sunday. Some have been allowed into Cyprus, but at least 20 migrants are adrift off the southeastern tip in a boat witha faulty engine. Three women and nine children were earlier taken off the boat and transferred to a Cypriot hospital as a precaution. More than 30 people on a boat that police intercepted on Saturday about 20km off the southern coast have boarded another vessel that Cypriot authorities chartered to take them back to Lebanon. Cyprus and Lebanon have an agreement to stop migrant boats from reaching the island.

More than 50 migrants from Lebanon were taken to a reception center on Saturday after their boat reached a rocky beach along the island’s eastern coastline inside the UN controlled buffer zone separating the main part of Cyprus from the unrecognized breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. UN peacekeepers transferred the 35 men, five women and 11 children to Cypriot custody. A court on Sunday ordered that four men remain in custody on suspicion that they were the boat’s crew. Another 20 Syrian migrants were taken to a reception center after being picked up on Sunday morning near the buffer zone 15km west of the capital, Nicosia. Cypriot Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said there would be an urgent meeting on Monday to assess the situation. The island’s migrant reception center was reaching its limits amid concerns over adherence to health protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19, he said. Lebanon hosts 1 million Syrian refugees and 250,000 Palestinian refugees. People smuggling has increased in the past few years, especially targeting young Lebanese disillusioned by the collapsing economy.

by Reuters -- BEIRUT — Lebanon's top Christian cleric said on Sunday a new government must deliver urgent economic and other reforms in the national interest, rather than returning to past corrupt ways that have plunged the Middle Eastern nation into an economic crisis. Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, leader of the Maronite church, has an influential role as religious leader of the biggest Christian community in Lebanon, where political power is divided between its main Christian, Muslim and Druze sects. Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib, a Sunni Muslim, is in talks to swiftly form a cabinet by mid September, under pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron. Picking ministers in the past has taken months of haggling. Macron has led international efforts to fix the country of about six million people that has been crushed by debt and which is reeling from a huge Aug. 4 port blast that shattered Beirut, exacerbating Lebanon's deepest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.

BEIRUT (AP) -- By SARAH EL DEEB -- — A month after Beirut’s devastating explosion, Ghassan Toubaji still sits under a gaping hole in his ceiling — he can look up through the dangling plaster, wires and metal struts and the broken brick roof and see a bit of sky. The 74-year-old survived the Aug. 4 blast with bruises, but his fall from its impact worsened his heart and blood circulation diseases. Between that and Lebanon’s crumbled economy, he can’t go back to work. He used the last of the dollars his wife had been hoarding — a precious commodity as the local currency’s value evaporates — to fix the windows shattered by the explosion.

Teams of volunteers, a symbol of the help-each-other spirit that’s grown up from the failures of Lebanon’s corrupt political class, came by his apartment and assessed the damage. They put plastic on the windows and promised glass for free eventually. Four weeks later they hadn’t come back. With a sweet patient smile, he said he appreciated how well meaning the young volunteers were. But he couldn’t wait — with humidity reaching 80% some days and the summer sun directed all day into his apartment, he had to do something. “Our house is hot as hell,” he said, sitting in baggy shorts and a tank top as he watched the news in the room with the hole overhead.

Lebanese families are still struggling with rebuilding in the wake of the massive explosion centered at Beirut’s port. Many, already unable to make ends meet because of the country’s economic meltdown, now can’t bear costs of making homes livable. Frustration is high, with the state almost nowhere to be seen and promised international help slow in coming. With winter and the rainy season only weeks away, aid groups are concerned they may not have time or resources for the mammoth job of repairing and rebuilding. Around 200,000 housing units, approximately 40,000 buildings, were damaged in the blast, 3,000 of them so severely they are currently uninhabitable, according to U.N. estimates.