by aljazeera.com — Gulf Arab states are looking to mend a standoff with Lebanon, Kuwait’s foreign minister said during a visit, the first by a senior Gulf official since the spat erupted last year. “This visit is one of various international efforts to restore trust with Lebanon,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah said on Saturday after talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the start of a two-day trip. “We are now taking steps towards building trust … which doesn’t happen overnight,” he told reporters, calling on Lebanese authorities to take “practical and concrete measures” that could bolster ties. The minister said his visit was also to show solidarity with the Lebanese people, and that the move had been coordinated with other Gulf countries.

In October, Saudi Arabia and its allies suspended diplomatic ties with Lebanon after the airing of comments by the then Information Minister Georges Kordahi criticising a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Beirut and also asked Beirut’s charge d’affaires to leave the emirate. Lebanon “should avoid interfering in the internal affairs of Arab states generally, but especially in Gulf internal affairs, and it should not be a launching pad for verbal or actual attacks” if it hopes to improve ties, Sheikh Ahmed said. The Kuwaiti official said he handed Mikati and his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bouhabib the demands and “now the brothers in Lebanon should study them and know how to deal with these matters and move ahead”. He refused to elaborate on what the demands are.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, By Dalal Saoud – upi.com — (UPI) — Lebanon’s financial collapse, which has pushed large segments of the population into poverty, has also seen growing anger against the powerful Hezbollah, with more voices openly blaming it for the ongoing crisis and for its allegiance to Iran. Hezbollah’s attempts to distinguish itself from the ruling corrupt political class, counting on its reputation as a resistance group that forced the withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces from south Lebanon in 2000 and battled the Islamic State in Syria, are no longer convincing to many, even to once loyal supporters. The group’s growing dominance in internal politics, engagement in regional wars and in thwarting the 2019 popular uprising is tarnishing its image as the nation’s defender, critics say. With a freezing winter, a continued 22-hour-a-day power cut, lack of diesel fuel and medicines coupled with exorbitant food prices, priorities are shifting to feeding the family, keeping warm, securing medical treatment or simply making ends meet.

U.S. sanctions 3 Lebanese businessmen, tourism company for aiding Hezbollah The poverty rate has nearly doubled — from 42% in 2019 to 82% in 2021, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Over two years, the national currency has lost 90% of its value while the country witnesses a dramatic collapse in basic services, an unemployment surge and closure of businesses. Not spared from the hardship, complaints within Hezbollah’s own community are not hidden anymore. “More and more people are expressing their discontent openly,” said a Shiite woman, in her 60s from the Baalbeck region, a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon with the highest number of the group’s fighters killed in the Syria war. “They live day by day and are busy securing the basic things, like bread and diesel fuel.”

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Just four people have submitted their candidacies for Lebanon’s parliamentary elections planned for May since the nomination process opened on Jan. 10. The next house of representatives will elect a new president in October, five months after the parliamentary elections. Some 250,000 Lebanese expats have registered abroad to vote in the upcoming elections to choose 128 MPs. Only one-third of them registered for the previous elections, reflecting enthusiasm for change. Zeina Helou, an expert in local affairs, told Arab News that those who submitted their candidacies belonged to the opposition. Helou said there was a delay in the process because opposition figures had been questioning the possibility of parliamentary elections going ahead. There were further delays due to the electoral law requiring candidates to join electoral lists to qualify as a contestant.

The parliamentary elections are expected to be heated as the Lebanese people are motivated for political upheaval in a system accused of corruption. Candidates are also required to deposit LBP30 million ($19,800), which is far higher than the LBP8 million deposit for previous parliamentary elections. Helou said that things might take shape when registration of the candidates’ lists begins, with the deadline set between Mar. 16 and April 4. Amid the low candidacy numbers, the ruling political forces were still studying the possibility of maintaining their electoral allies, with several alliances broken up as a result of the political crisis.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh

Beirut (AFP) – A Lebanese judicial delegation will meet French authorities in Paris next week to discuss investigations into Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh, a judicial source said on Thursday. Salameh is among the top Lebanese officials widely blamed for the country’s unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is of a scale usually associated with wars. He is the target of a series of judicial investigations in Lebanon, Switzerland and France on suspicion of fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment, among other allegations. Salameh has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Next week, Jean Tannous, the Lebanese prosecutor leading a local probe into Salameh, and Raja Hamoush, another Lebanese judge, will meet with French authorities, the judicial source told AFP. The visit “will focus on cooperation and exchange of information between the two sides regarding suspicions around Salameh and some of his close associates with regards to… money laundering, illicit enrichment,” among other crimes, the judicial source added, without specifying the exact date of the meeting. France had opened a probe into Salameh’s personal wealth in May 2021 following a similar move by Switzerland.

ما لم تَحدُث انتفاضةٌ شعبيّةٌ نوعيّةٌ قبلَ الانتخاباتِ النيابيّةِ في أيّارَ المقبل تُوقِدُ شُعلةَ التغيير، قد يَختارُ معظمُ الشعبِ اللبنانيِّ نوّابَه من بينِ مرشَّحي قوى المنظومةِ السياسيّةِ التقليديّة. ليس هذا التوقّعُ بشيرَ تغيير. لم يَعُد الصِراعُ بين الانتفاضةِ الشعبيّةِ والمنظومَةِ السياسيّةِ التقليديّةِ بِقدْرِ ما صار بين أهلِ المنظومةِ أنفسِهم، وبين دعاةِ التغييرِ أنفسِهم. تَهمّشَت نسبيًّا القوى الجديدةُ التي تَعتبرُ نفسَها قوى التغييرِ، واغْتربَ بعضُها في ولاءاتِه على غرارِ التقليديّين. والرياحُ العاتيةُ لا تَرحَمُ الأغصانَ الطريّةَ المبعثَرة.

وإذا كان التنافسُ بين قِوى المنظومةِ التقليديّةِ عاملًا يُساعدُها لتَتقاسَمَ في ما بينَها نتائجَ الانتخاباتِ النيابيّةِ، فالانقساماتُ بين القِوى الجديدةِ عاملُ ضُعفٍ يُعطِّلُ انطلاقَها السياسيَّ والانتخابيَّ ويَحرِمُها الكتلَ الشعبيّةَ الناخبَةَ التي تؤمِّنُ الحاصِلَ والصوتَ التفضيليّ. قانونُ الانتخاباتِ الحاليُّ، بحدِّ ذاتِه، ضِدُّ مصلحةِ الوجوهِ الجديدةِ شِبهِ المجهولة. هذا قانونُ أصحابِ القواعدِ الثابتةِ والخدَماتِ المتوارَثةِ والثرَواتِ الطائلة. وإذا كانت أكثريّةُ دعاةِ التغييرِ تَفتقِرُ إلى القواعدِ الشعبيّةِ الثابتةِ والخدَمات، فبعضُها يَسْتجِرُّ إمداداتٍ ماليّةً تفوقُ أحيانًا قُدُراتِ بعضِ القوى التقليديّة…

by thenationalnews.com — Michael Young — Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun’s efforts to salvage what remains of his calamitous mandate are having less and less of an impact on the political situation in Lebanon. Mr Aoun’s failed call for a national dialogue in the past two weeks was the latest indication that his political rivals are seeking to run the clock out on his presidency. Mr Aoun’s term will end later this year, while parliamentary elections are scheduled for May. Since his return to Lebanon in 2005 from France, where he lived in exile for 14 years, Mr Aoun, aided by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, has been a destabilising force in post-war Lebanese politics, at least for the politicians who had ruled the country until then. This is not to suggest that Mr Aoun was better than his rivals – he and Mr Bassil’s greatest ambition was to become part of the cartel in power, even as they claimed to stand against its pervasive corruption.

Few took their anti-corruption line seriously, as Mr Bassil is regarded by many Lebanese as being at the centre of illicit activities. However, Mr Aoun’s and Mr Bassil’s alliance with Hezbollah gave them leverage, and in 2016, the party’s support for Mr Aoun’s presidential bid was the primary factor leading to his election, after a two-year political vacuum it had imposed to force all major parties to back him. Once in office, Mr Aoun failed to become a unifier. On the contrary, he gave Mr Bassil latitude to engage in lucrative patronage activities and impose his preferences on the political class. This soon alienated the then prime minister, Saad Hariri, as well as the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, leaving Mr Aoun and Mr Bassil relatively isolated, though they still enjoyed Hezbollah’s backing.

Lebanese man Abdullah Al-Saii was arrested Tuesday for taking people hostage and threatening to blow up a bank up as he attempted to withdraw his $50,000, began a hunger strike on Wednesday. (Social Media/Twitter)

By BASSAM ZAAZAA – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: A Lebanese man arrested for taking people hostage and threatening to blow up a bank up as he attempted to withdraw $50,000 of his own money began a hunger strike on Wednesday. Abdullah Al-Saii was armed with a gun, grenade and bottles of benzene when he entered a branch of the Bank of Beirut and Arab Countries in Jeb Jannine in Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, on Tuesday. He said that staff at the bank had refused his previous requests to withdraw his savings, blaming the economic and banking crisis in the country An Internal Security Forces official told Arab News that Al-Saii held more than 10 of the bank’s staff and customers hostage for several hours, demanding he be allowed to withdraw the money. He said he would blow up the branch if his demands were not met.

The building was cordoned off and the standoff was resolved following negotiations, the official added. “He surrendered himself after the bank gave the money to his wife and nobody was hurt,” said the ISF official. He added that Al-Saii began a hunger strike early on Wednesday afternoon after the attorney general’s office in Bekaa ordered the confiscation of the money. Mustafa Kammouneh, the mayor of Jeb Jannine, told Arab News that Al-Saii, a father of two, had lived abroad for most of his life and, like most depositors during the financial crisis in the country, has been denied access to his life savings. “What he did was totally understandable, especially given he needs money to support his family,” said the mayor. It was “totally expected and normal,” he added, considering the circumstances citizens have been enduring for the past two years. Al-Saii is from the village of Kefraya. It is believed that his wife disappeared with the $50,000 shortly after prosecutors ordered the money be confiscated, said Kammouneh, adding that the couple’s children are being cared for by their grandparents. When asked whether the wife, who is not Lebanese, had left the country, the mayor said only that he was sure she was no longer the village. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

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.

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”. […]

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.