Strike calls as Lebanese troops reopen roads

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by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI --BEIRUT: Lebanese troops on Wednesday reopened scores of roads closed by protesters across the country in the six past days amid anger at government inaction over the deteriorating economy. Road closures slowed the national vaccination plan, stopped trucks transporting oxygen to hospitals across Lebanon, and resulted in the two deaths of two men when their car hit a truck blocking a highway. Troops and security forces stepped in on Wednesday to prevent protesters in Hay Al-Sellom, a densely populated neighborhood in the south Beirut Dahye suburbs, from blocking roads with burning tires. The army said that “as a result of the tragic accidents and violations that took place and in order to preserve the safety of citizens, army units this morning began to open closed roads.”

On Monday night, a car struck a truck blocking a highway north of Lebanon, killing both occupants instantly. Protests also slowed the national vaccination rollout, which is still in its first phase, targeting the elderly and medical staff. Fewer than 4,500 people had received the first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday, according to the health ministry, as access to vaccination centers was blocked. Sharaf Abou Sharaf, head of the doctors’ syndicate, warned of “a rise in COVID-19 cases in the coming days since precautionary measures are not being fully followed.” Access of oxygen supplies to hospitals, filled with coronavirus patients, was also hit by the protests. Firas Abiad, director of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, complained about an alarming decrease in oxygen reserves due to the closed roads. “Without oxygen, we will be losing lives,” he said. Abiad also predicted a rise in the number of cases, saying: “Tough times are ahead.”

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Lebanon’s collapse piles strain on army, economy

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by Reuters/Beirut - Discontent is brewing in the ranks of Lebanon’s security forces over a currency crash wiping out most of the value of their salaries as unrest and crime surge. In unusually outspoken comments, army chief General Joseph Aoun said his warnings that the pressure on soldiers’ earnings and morale could lead to an “implosion” had fallen on deaf ears. Lebanon’s pound has crashed 85% since late 2019 in a financial meltdown that poses the biggest threat to stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. “Soldiers are going hungry like the people,” he said on Monday, berating politicians without naming names. “Do they want the army or not? Do you want the army to stay on its feet or not? ... They don’t care.” The basic monthly salary of a soldier or policeman, which used to amount to around $800, is worth under $120 today. Budget cuts pushed the military to cut meat from its meals last year.

In what was seen as a sign of the times, the French embassy donated food parcels last month to the Lebanese army, which has long been backed by Western nations. Some officials caution that security forces will struggle to contain unrest. More than half the population is now poor, with wages slashed across the board, prices soaring and no state rescue plan in sight. That was even before the currency hit a record low last week after months of political paralysis. The military, its commander and the caretaker interior minister have denied recent local media reports that economic hardship spurred a rise in forces abandoning duty. Still, three security sources told Reuters a buildup of pressure on lower-ranking servicemen has fuelled concerns of desertions. One member of the security forces, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he wanted to leave after many years because it had become hard to pay rent. He said he knew three others who had deserted, which is punishable by law, and worried commanders would reject his request for a discharge.

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Lebanese block roads in protest

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BEIRUT: Lebanese protesters blocked key roads with burning barricades Monday in rage at the country’s political paralysis and deep economic crisis, after its currency hit record lows on the black market. The country is in the grips of its worst economic crisis in decades, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. Prices have soared and more than half of the population is living below the poverty line, but the divided political class has for more than six months been unable to form a cabinet. Black smoke billowed up from overturned rubbish dumpsters and tyres set ablaze by protesters at various entrances to Beirut from early morning as part of a mobilisation they dubbed a “day of rage”.

“We’ve closed off all the roads today to tell everyone: It’s over, we have nothing left to lose,” said Pascale Nohra, a protester blocking the northern road into Beirut. “We’ve even lost our dignity.” She said it was time to revive the mass cross-sectarian protests of late 2019 against an entrenched political class, that has dominated the country since the 1975-1990 civil war. “We want everybody to show solidarity,” said the former real estate worker. “We need to return to the streets and revive our revolution.” Similar protests were held Monday in the northern port city of Tripoli. Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 80 percent of its value since the autumn of 2019, plunging to an all-time low of nearly 11,000 pounds to the greenback. In a country that imports most of its food, state subsidies have until now helped to partially stem the inflation.

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun ordered the army and security forces to clear the roads but was set back by the army chief’s warning that soldiers would not be eager to exert the call -- as they have been suffering from the country’s political stalemate just as its citizens, news agency Reuters reported. “The officer also is suffering and is hungry, to the officials I say, where are you going? What are you waiting for? What are you planning to do?” army chief General Joseph Aoun said in a statement, urging politicians to find long term solutions to lift Lebanon from its ongoing financial crisis.

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Lebanese judiciary pursues currency speculators amid protests

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by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities have ordered a crackdown on illicit foreign currency speculation as protests continue in Beirut. The Attorney General Judge Ghassan Oweidat directed the Lebanese security services, including the Military Intelligence, the Internal Security Forces, the General Security, the State Security and the customs officials, to pursue money-changers who tamper with the national currency and are involved in illicit foreign currency speculation. This move, not the first of its kind, is an attempt to dampen the widespread indignation that has continued for six days and intensified in street protests on Saturday and Sunday, which broke out after the dollar exchange rate hit 11,000 Lebanese pounds.

The protesters set up road blocks with rocks and burning tires on all major streets in Beirut and on the highways linking the regions. The Lebanese army reopened the blocked roads. Hundreds of people protested on Sunday night on motorcycles, roaming near the suburbs inhabited by a majority of Christians, which prompted the mobilization of security forces. A clash took place in Choueifat between the protesters and a driver who drove through a blocked road, injuring seven protesters. The security forces arrested him. The protests have moved from one area to the next without any visible leadership. During the weekend, they went into areas that were not usually affected by protests, including the southern suburbs, the southern road, which Hezbollah deems forbidden to be blocked, and the city of Hermel in northern Bekaa, where people staged a sit-in and burned tires to protest over the poor living conditions.

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Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Diab threatens to ‘refrain’ from exercising his duties

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by arabnews.com -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Saturday threatened “to refrain” from exercising his duties in protest at politicians’ failure to form a new government. The country’s lawmakers have failed to agree on a new administration since the last one resigned after the devastating Aug. 4 port explosion in Beirut. There has also been a sharp increase in tension between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, as well as a currency collapse to contend with. Angry protesters took to the streets in various regions after the dollar exchange rate on the black market jumped to LBP10,450, directing their anger at banks and supermarkets. Diab, addressing the Lebanese in a televised speech, asked why people should “pay the price for political ambitions and maneuvers,” and warned that the country had “reached the brink of explosion” after the currency’s collapse. “Is it required to dissolve the state after it has become the weakest link?” he asked. “The current crisis is likely to worsen, and the scene of the race for milk in the supermarket should be an incentive for transcendence and forming a government. The situation may force me to refrain (from exercising caretaker duties) and I may resort to it, although it contradicts my convictions. Who can deal with the next dangerous repercussions and more suffering of people?”

Analysts feared that Diab’s retreat may lead to a further collapse of the Lebanese pound, with lawyer and former minister Rachid Derbas explaining what could happen. next. “Refraining means (the) complete paralysis of the caretaker government’s work,” he told Arab News. “The late Prime Minister Rashid Karami had previously refrained. But I think that Diab’s move is in response to the pressures exerted on him by the ruling authority to hold Cabinet sessions in violation of the constitution because they do not want to form a new government now.” He added that if Diab decided to refrain there would be more pressure on Aoun and the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil, who were “obstructing” the formation of the government. “But I believe that Aoun and Bassil will not back down from imposing their conditions for the formation. Portraying the dispute as between Hariri and Aoun is absurd. Hariri will not give the ‘blocking third’ to Aoun or the FPM, as he is not ready to be another Hassan Diab.” He also forecast the trouble that lay ahead if Hariri walked away from forming a government. “This means that the exchange rate of the dollar will reach LBP20,000.”

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Pope Francis in Iraq: A Joyful Beginning to an Historic Visit

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By John Cookson -- catholicherald.co.uk -- — Baghdad — Pope Francis ended the first day of his historic trip to Iraq with hymn singing, clapping and white and yellow flowered-garland handed by well wishers shouting: “Long Live the Pope (Viva il papa! In Italian, localised in “Viva La Papa!)” as he entered the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. The joyous welcome came as he arrived to pray at Syriac Catholic cathedral in Baghdad’s Karrada district, the scene of one of the worst Al Qaeda atrocities in 2010, when suicide bombers gunned down members of the congregation and priests in an attack that left 58 people dead. Iraqi commandos stormed the church and bullets are still lodged in the sacristy. Forty-eight of the dead were Catholic, and senior Vatican officials are mulling their beatification as martyrs in the first step to possible sainthood. Survivors of the atrocity were among those who greeted Pope Francis, who referred to the church as having been “hallowed by the blood of our brothers and sisters who here paid the ultimate price of their fidelity to the Lord and His Church.”

Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said this week the Pope had come to Iraq as an: “act of love” and it was clear from the faces of the faithful that they adored him, although they were few in number inside the church due to social distancing restrictions. Earlier the Pope touched down in Baghdad to a red carpet welcome and a greeting from Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustapha Al-Khadimi, who escorted Francis to his armour-plated limousine. The pair walked down more red carpet flanked by dancers performing and musicians playing. The Pope clearly enjoyed the moment and clapped to the beat although he was visibly limping from a recent flare up of sciatica which seemed worsen during the day. But if he was in pain he didn’t show it. After a twenty-minute drive to Baghdad’s secure Green Zone, the Pope arrived for a more formal ceremony at the Presidential Palace – a building with a chequered pedigree: It was built for Saddam around 30 years ago, but has been bombed by US Cruise missile strikes and rebuilt at least twice, although a casual observer today would not have known by looking at it.

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