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US sanctions Lebanese tourism company, Hezbollah members for ties to terrorism

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By Laura Kelly -- thehills.com -- The Biden administration on Tuesday issued sanctions against a Lebanese travel company and three businessmen for financially supporting Hezbollah, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sanctions designation was carried out “in solidarity with the Lebanese people, whose security and sovereignty remains threatened by Hizballah’s corrupt and destabilizing activities.” The sanctions target the business Dar Al Salam for Travel & Tourism and three of its founders, Adel Diab, Ali Mohamad Daoun, and Jihad Salem Alame.

The Treasury Department said all three men are members of Hezbollah and have “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of” Hezbollah. “With this action, Treasury is disrupting businessmen who raise and launder funds for Hizballah’s destabilizing activities while the Lebanese people face worsening economic and humanitarian crises,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. “Hizballah claims it supports the Lebanese people, but just like other corrupt actors in Lebanon that Treasury has designated, Hizballah continues to profit from insulated business ventures and backdoor political deals, amassing wealth that the Lebanese people never see.” The sanctions block any property or assets in the U.S. owned by the persons or the business and generally prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the blacklisted individuals or businesses. While Americans are generally blocked from engaging in transactions with the sanctioned individuals, any person who engages in specific transactions runs the risk of being sanctioned by the U.S.

شدد "لقاء الجمهورية" في بيان على "ضرورة عودة الحكومة إلى الانتاج وضرورة تسهيل مهمة رئيسها الهادفة إلى الحد من التدهور المالي

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وطنية - شدد "لقاء الجمهورية" في بيان على "ضرورة عودة الحكومة إلى الانتاج وضرورة تسهيل مهمة رئيسها الهادفة إلى الحد من التدهور المالي - الاقتصادي والسهر على إجراء التحضيرات اللازمة للانتخابات النيابية المقبلة، ما يحتِّم على جميع القوى تأمين المناخ السياسي المناسب لتحسين الاقتصاد وتحصين البلاد من تداعيات زج لبنان في فوهة بركان المحاور المتصارعة".

وحذر اللقاء من "التهاون العربي تجاه الاعتداء الايراني - الحوثي على دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة، بعد سلسلة من الهجومات المتكررة على المملكة العربية السعودية"، مجددا دعوته إلى "وقفة عربية لمواجهة أي مشروع تدميري يهدف إلى النيل من النجاحات الباهرة التي حققتها الإمارات وإلى عرقلة التقدم الملفت للمملكة العربية السعودية"، داعيا في الوقت عينه "جميع اللبنانيين إلى التضامن الدائم مع الأشقاء في دول الخليج العربي

Yemen’s Houthi Militia Claims Rare Military Strike on U.A.E.

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by nytimes.com -- Shuaib Almosawa, Vivian Yee and Isabella Kwai -- SANA, Yemen — The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen attacked the United Arab Emirates on Monday in an apparent drone strike that blew up several fuel tankers and killed three people, according to state-run Emirati media and Houthi officials. The Houthis, who have fought a yearslong war with a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the United Arab Emirates, said they used drones and missiles in the attack. The Emirati government said the Houthis were responsible and the foreign ministry condemned it as a “cowardly act to spread terrorism and chaos in the region,” but did not say what weapons were used in the attack. “We reiterate that those responsible for this unlawful targeting of our country will be held accountable,” the ministry statement said. The Houthis in Yemen frequently target neighboring Saudi Arabia with drone strikes, including one on Saudi oil facilities in 2019 that severely disrupted the country’s oil exports, and they have also claimed strikes on the U.A.E. several times, though the U.A.E. has consistently denied it.

A minor fire also broke out in the Abu Dhabi International Airport, raising the possibility that it, too, was the target of a drone strike. The police in Abu Dhabi said there were indications that “small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones” started two fires, one at the airport and the other leading to the explosion of the three petroleum gas tankers in an industrial district in southwestern Abu Dhabi near storage tanks for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. The attack came amid a recent escalation of tensions between the Houthis and the Saudi-led forces in Yemen that has shifted the war’s momentum after months of Houthi gains. The ongoing offensives have complicated international efforts to broker a cease-fire to end the war, which has caused what aid groups call the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster.

Report: Lebanese Cabinet to Meet Next Week after Three-Month Gap

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by reuters -- Lebanon's cabinet will hold its first meeting in three months on Jan. 24, a Lebanese television channel reported on Monday, after a gap in which the country's economic crisis has deepened and efforts to revive talks with the IMF have stalled. Economy Minister Amin Salam said work on the 2022 budget would be at the top of the agenda when ministers gather next week, Al Jadeed TV reported, after the Hezbollah party and Amal movement ended a boycott that had prevented cabinet sessions. The cabinet, formed in September, had promised to start work on resolving a deep economic crisis and on reviving talks with the International Monetary Fund. But it has not met since Oct. 12. The Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Amal had been boycotting the cabinet in a dispute over the conduct of an investigation into a huge explosion at Beirut port in 2020. They announced an end to the boycott on Saturday.

They have sought the removal of a judge who has been overseeing the blast probe. Lebanon's economy has been in crisis since 2019 when it finally collapsed under a mountain of debt. Its currency has been in tailspin, plunging to a new low last week, and swathes of the nation have been driven into poverty. Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said his government would seek to sign a preliminary agreement for an IMF support program in February. An IMF spokesperson told Reuters that virtual talks would be held with Lebanese authorities in the last week of January.

Lebanese Shiite scholar attacks Hezbollah leaders, denounces party’s policies

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By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: A Lebanese Shiite scholar has denounced Hezbollah, as well as its leader Hassan Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem, in a sermon published on his Facebook page and shared across social media. Sheikh Abdul Salam Dandach, from the Baalbek–Hermel region, said in the video: “Our resistance is different from theirs (Hezbollah’s). We are not the rulers of this land and we are not new parties that came to Lebanon. Our parents and ancestors are deeply rooted in this land.” The party is referred to as the “resistance” in Lebanon. He addressed Nasrallah, saying: “You resist using deception and encroachment. You live off your resistance, based on the bliss of the US dollar, whereas our resistance comes from hunger and poverty. You resist through surfeit and ingratitude. We resist your lies. We resist the illness and ignorance that you caused in the region. We resist the destruction and havoc that you created.”

Since the beginning of the economic and social crisis that has hit Lebanon, many in the Shiite community of Baalbek–Hermel have complained about the rampant insecurity that the region is witnessing due to the emergence of a de facto power that controls people's lives with its weapons and allows the formation of gangs involved in smuggling, kidnapping and extortion. An activist from the region, who did not reveal his identity, told Arab News: “Baalbek–Hermel doesn’t have any patron. The government has been neglecting it for years and Hezbollah tries to avoid it, turning its back on the complicated social and economic crises.” The Shiites in Baalbek–Hermel constitute 60 percent of the population, whereas the Sunnis and Christians represent 20 percent apiece. Fewer than 30 percent of the Shiites belong to political parties, mostly the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, whereas the rest belong to a clan.

Mixed fortunes for startups during the financial crisis in Lebanon

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By MAYSAA AJJAN -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s financial woes began with the protests in October 2019, when a series of peaceful sit-ins escalated and became a national revolution against the ruling class. Soon, there was a steep decline in the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar. The official rate is still 1,500 pounds to the dollar but the currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value and now trades at about 30,000. Meanwhile, Lebanese banks decided to withhold the savings of individuals and organizations, a decision that resulted in many residents losing their life savings and the closure of numerous organizations, family businesses and startups. “I lost $350,000 of my money because of the crisis,” Rana Chmaitelly, the founder of The Little Engineer, an educational startup for children, told Arab News. “I lost the product of my sweat, blood and tears — they took it all away. But I didn’t give up.”

In a stroke of good fortune amid the despair, toward the end of 2019 Chmaitelly was expecting a large transfer of money from a business partner. Having been denied access to the cash in her own bank account in Lebanon, her only solution was to swiftly establish an offshore, and later a freezone, company in the UAE, to which the money her partner owed her could be safely transferred. “That transfer to the UAE saved me and my team, or else we would now be owing a lot of money to our partners,” Chmaitelly said. Her story is not unique among Lebanese startups. The founders of Cherpa, another educational startup, which offers technology training courses to teenagers, also relocated in part to the UAE at the onset of the financial crisis. They were able to open a freezone company there and obtain residency. “Having our money withheld by banks was awful; there was a lot of frustration,” cofounder Bassel Jalaleddine, told Arab News. “I used to waste my time queuing up in banks all day just to get $300.” Online platforms Mint Basel Market, Kamkalima and Ounousa are just some of the other startups that relocated operations, at least partly, to the UAE.

President Michel Sleiman: استعادة سيادة الدولة وتحييد لبنان واستعادة ايران للاسلحة الصاروخية المنتشرة على الاراضي اللبنانية وتطبيق القرار ١٧٠١

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احد مبارك
مهما كانت الاسباب الكامنة وراء اعلان حزب الله وامل مشاركتهما في جلسات الحكومة ( لاجل اقرار الموازنة فقط! او دون شروط؟ ) فهو موقف مفيد وواجب.
اكان السبب هو فقدان نصاب الهيئة العامة لمحكمة التمييز ام الحاجة الى اقرار المساعدات الاجتماعية وبدل النقل للموظفين ام غير ذلك فهو موقف جيد. لكن من المؤكد انه ليس جائزة ترضية نتيجة البوادر الايجابية التي ترشح من اتفاق فيينا، ولانقبل ان يكون كذلك.
كان ينبغي العمل على ان يأتي انعكاس نجاح فيينا استعادة سيادة الدولة وتحييد لبنان واستعادة ايران للاسلحة الصاروخية المنتشرة على الاراضي اللبنانية وتطبيق القرار ١٧٠١ وكافة مندرجاته تمهيداً لاستكمال تطبيق الطائف.
للاسف "مرتا مهتمة بصراعات النفوذ الداخلية والمطلوب هو واحد "