by Makram Rabah -- thearabweekly.com/ -- In the first year of law school, students are taught that “a plaintiff will be unable to pursue legal remedy if it arises in connection with his own illegal act.” This legal doctrine, known as ex turpi causa non oritur actio, prevents someone from benefiting from wickedness and illegality, which Lebanon’s political elite have made fortunes from doing. This simple legal doctrine comes to mind when the Lebanese political elite try to justify the abysmal state of affairs and the economic collapse that they cheekily insist the Lebanese banking sector take full responsibility for. Ironically, this same banking sector has long been praised by the same political class as being the engine of Lebanon’s economy and a living testament to the myth of the country’s ingenuity and entrepreneurship — until it collapsed, that is.

The intention to scapegoat Lebanese banks is apparent from the rhetoric of the political elite, who always emphasise that banks have made millions of dollars and are thus compelled to give back to the country. In his latest televised speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah unleashed a new violent attack on the Lebanese banking sector with the intention or protecting small depositors, or so he claimed. Nasrallah’s sermon-style lectures have taken a clearly threatening tone. Most recently, he tacitly addressed bank owners themselves, saying: “How can we appeal to the humanity of these bank owners? I wish you [the public] can help me… figure how to address them.” “I do not want to open the many files [we have on] how they made their fortunes, although we might have to do so at a later time,” Nasrallah added.

Timour Azhari -- Al Jazeera -- BEIRUT, LEBANON - Lebanon's Central Bank on Friday said depositors with small dollar-denominated accounts would soon be able to withdraw - and withdraw in local currency - money that has been trapped in the Lebanese banking system for almost half a year. The cash will be disbursed at a market rate set daily on an online platform. A senior banking source told Al Jazeera that the platform is expected to be ready within a week to 10 days, at which point the new measures may go into effect. The decision was made public in a circular released by Lebanon's central bank. It will allow people with accounts containing $3,000 or less to withdraw their money in Lebanese pounds at the market rate, which is substantially higher than the official rate. The market rate on Friday stood at 2,800 Lebanese pounds to the United States dollar, compared to the official rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, according to a daily survey of exchange dealers across the country, published online.

Lebanon's currency has been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 Lebanese pounds for 23 years, but began depreciating on parallel markets last summer due to unsustainable financial policies that cracked under an acute dollar shortage. The dollar shortage was the result of a decade-long economic slump and a slowdown in remittances from Lebanon's large diaspora. Suffering from a dollar liquidity issue, banks imposed increasingly harsh capital controls in November. Depositors had only been allowed to withdraw a few hundred dollars per month from dollar-denominated accounts, forcing many to withdraw cash in Lebanese pounds at the official rate, which was substantially less than the market rate and thereby caused them to incur significant losses. The decision also allows people with accounts in local currency under five million Lebanese pounds ($3,330, at the official rate) to convert their money into dollars at the official rate and then withdraw it in Lebanese pounds at the higher parallel rate. For example, a depositor with three million Lebanese pounds in his or her account would be able to convert it to $2,000 and then convert it back to Lebanese pounds at the market rate of 2,800 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar, which would equal 5.6 million Lebanese pounds. This means the account holder will effectively double his money.

by middleeastmonitor.com -- In recent weeks, accusations have circulated that Hezbollah’s coronavirus response plan is a cover-up for a huge number of unreported COVID-19 cases in Lebanon. Indeed, the Lebanese government, at the Iranian-backed militia group’s urging, continued to allow commercial flights from Iran for more than three weeks after the first confirmed coronavirus case was reported in Beirut on 20 February. Despite the first case, and several subsequent ones originating from the Islamic Republic, which has the most coronavirus cases in the region. Though flights to and from Iran were officially banned from 11 March and Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport was shuttered to all but essential movements of cargo, UNIFIL and diplomatic missions from 18 March, on 21 March, a weekly scheduled Qatar Airways flight from Tehran to Beirut arrived as normal. Lebanese authorities claimed the flight carried cargo. Yet, the continuation of cross-border movement with the region’s worst infected nation, and the origin of Lebanon’s first cases, while nearby states, such as Jordan, took draconian measures to contain the disease, has stoked accusations of a cover-up.

A recent Guardian article noted that “parts of Lebanon and Iraq in particular are likely to be holding thousands more sufferers”, the report cites Lebanese officials who allege that Hezbollah has quarantined several southern towns and villages to hide the extent of the outbreak. A policy analysis from Hanin Ghaddar at the Washington Institute lends credence to this narrative and alleges that the militia group’s health plan is a recognition that it can no longer hide the extent of the coronavirus outbreak. Arguably, it is probable that Lebanon has thousands more cases of coronavirus than reported, but not that Hezbollah is hiding the extent of the outbreak. Official numbers the world over are skewed by a lack of testing, and government advice to corona-suggestive patients to stay home, despite symptoms, to avoid overwhelming healthcare services. These cases, and those that show no symptoms at all – a study in Iceland showed that half of coronavirus carriers show no symptoms – are not included in any official statistics, so it is not just Hezbollah or even Lebanon that is failing to reveal the real number of cases.

by arabnews.com — LONDON: Lebanese superstar Fairuz released a video on Friday of her praying in her home for humanity to be …