BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Lebanon’s new government won a vote of confidence on Monday for a policy programme that aims to remedy a devastating economic crisis, despite the parliamentary session being delayed when the lights went off due to power shortages. The programme drawn up by Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government promises to revive talks with the International Monetary Fund and initiate reforms that donors want to see before they will unlock badly needed foreign assistance. When the session finally began, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri urged Mikati to keep his remarks short because of the power cuts, part of a nation-wide energy crisis which has crippled normal life as hard currency reserves have run out. “From the heart of the suffering of Beirut … our cabinet was born to light a candle in this hopeless darkness,” Mikati said, as he read out the programme. read more “Let’s not bother you and read it all out, let’s save time because of the electricity issue,” Berri, head of the Shi’ite Amal movement, told the Sunni Muslim prime minister. Nevertheless, the session lasted for more than seven hours.

Lebanon is stuck in a deep depression, with fuel shortages leading to few if any hours of state-generated power and leaving people largely dependent on privately-run generators. The cabinet won the vote with a majority of 85 over 15. “We will start with the IMF this is not a choice it is something we have to go through,” he said in a speech, before votes were taken. To unlock aid and turn around the economy, his government must succeed where numerous forerunners have failed in delivering politically difficult reforms, including measures to address corruption and waste.

يلتبس على اللبنانيين موضوع النفط الايراني المستورد بين التصريح الايراني ان تجار من لبنان اشتروه وبين الشكر الموجه لحكومة الجمهورية الاسلامية من حزب الله ….المطلوب من الحكومة التدقيق اذا كان هبة او مقابل ثمن … من حق المواطن ان يعلم

By Ben Turner – livescience.com — Archaeologists digging near a Middle Eastern castle have unearthed two mass graves containing the grisly remains of Christian soldiers vanquished during the medieval Crusades — and some of them could have even been personally buried by a king. The chipped and charred bones of at least 25 young men and teenage boys were found inside the dry moat of the ruins of St. Louis Castle in Sidon, Lebanon. Radiocarbon dating suggests they were among the many Europeans who, between the 11th and the 13th centuries, were spurred by priests and rulers to take up arms in a doomed effort to reconquer the Holy Land. Much like many who came to fight and plunder before them, the soldiers’ long and arduous journeys ended with their deaths — all as a result of wounds they received in battle. But despite the widespread casualties, mass graves from this bloody period of history are incredibly difficult to find. “When we found so many weapon injuries on the bones as we excavated them, I knew we had made a special discovery,” Richard Mikulski, an archeologist at Bournemouth University in the U.K., who excavated and analyzed the remains, said in a statement.

The archaeologists analyzed DNA alongside naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the men’s teeth to confirm that some were born in Europe, and an analysis of different versions, or isotopes, of carbon in their bones suggests that they died sometime during the 13th century. Crusaders first captured St. Louis Castle just after the First Crusade in 1110. The invaders held onto Sidon, a key strategic port, for more than a century, but historical records show that the castle fell after it was attacked and destroyed twice — at first partially by the Mamluks in 1253 and later by the Mongols in 1260.

The researchers said it is “highly likely” that the soldiers perished during one of these battles, and by brutal means: The bones all bear stab and slice wounds from swords and axes, as well as evidence of blunt-force trauma. The soldiers had more wounds on their backs than on their fronts, suggesting that many were attacked from behind, possibly as they fled during a rout, and the distribution of these blows implies that their attackers charged them down on horseback. A number of the men’s remains also have blade wounds to the back of their necks — a sign that they may have been captured alive before being beheaded. “One individual sustained so many wounds (a minimum of 12 injuries involving a minimum of 16 skeletal elements) that it may represent an incident of overkill, where considerably more violent blows were applied than was actually required to overcome or kill them,” the researchers wrote in their study.

By Hanan Hamdan — almonitor.com — BEIRUT — A convoy of 80 trucks, each carrying 50,000 liters (roughly 13,210 gallons) of Iranian fuel, entered the Bekaa Valley region in eastern Lebanon from Syria on Sept. 16, Hezbollah media official in the Bekaa Valley Ahmed Raya told Al-Monitor. “The first Iranian tanker that docked in Syria and is being transported to Lebanon holds about 50 million liters of fuel, requiring about 1,000 tankers to be transported to Lebanon. This will be done over the course of seven days, when the second ship will have arrived after taking the same unloading and transporting route,” he said. “As soon as the tankers arrived [in Lebanon], Al-Amana fuel company launched preparations to begin distributing diesel within two days to all Lebanese regions, according to the mechanism announced by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah,” Raya said.

At the Ashura commemoration Aug. 19, Nasrallah had announced that an Iranian ship loaded with fuel was set to sail from Iran as the country faces a worsening fuel crisis. In a televised speech Sept. 13, Nasrallah announced the arrival of the first Iranian oil ship, destined for Lebanon, to Baniyas port in Syria on Sept. 12, to be followed by three other ships. He said that the cargo was unloaded in Syria so as not to embarrass the Lebanese state and that the Syrian leadership welcomed the ship, stored its cargo in Baniyas and secured a number of tankers to transport it to Lebanon. Asked about the details of the cargo, Raya said, “It will not be distributed to a specific category of Lebanese. The first part will be donated to government hospitals, retirement homes, orphanages, special needs centers, water institutions, poor municipalities, the Civil Defense and the Lebanese Red Cross.”

by english.alaraby.co.uk — Lebanese authorities seized 20 tons of ammonium nitrate in an eastern region overnight on Saturday, local media reported. The ammonium nitrate was seized in a police raid from a warehouse used for the sale of agricultural fertilisers in the city of Baalbek, belonging to someone whose full name was not identified, the […]

By Becky Anderson, Zeena Saifi and Mostafa Salem, CNN — New Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged Lebanon’s people to put their trust in his government as he seeks “quick fixes” to help his economically shattered country. In his first interview with an international media outlet since forming a government a week ago, Mikati acknowledged that some Lebanese would struggle to put their faith in him and his government after so many politicians have failed them in the past. But, he told CNN, it is “time to have a government” to take decisions and end the country’s political vacuum, before elections that are planned for next May. “I’m doing the quick, the quick fixes that (need) to be done immediately, especially energy, health, education, work and transparency, and show the Lebanese that there is a governance. There is a transparency. That’s what we are trying to do. And hopefully it will take,” he said. He did not clarify how he would carry out these fixes. Mikati, a billionaire who served previously as caretaker prime minister in 2005 and 2011, heads a cabinet that will preside over an economic depression which the World Bank considers one of the world’s worst since the mid-19th century. And while there are new faces in the government, many have been handpicked by the same political establishment and groups blamed for the corruption that led to the country’s economic breakdown.

One of the most urgent economic issues facing the new government is the country’s expensive subsidies program. The Lebanese government increased oil prices by more than 37% on Friday, as the country continues removing subsidies on imports in an attempt to attract international monetary aid. The decision is expected to increase prices for the Lebanese people, who are already struggling with soaring poverty levels. But according to Mikati, some 74% of more than $10 billion dollars in subsidies was “misused by traders, by corrupt people” in Lebanon over the past year — and the program is unsustainable. “The subsidies are almost lifted because we don’t have any more cash or reserves to subsidize oil or other commodities,” Mikati told CNN. “We are going to keep the subsidies on medicine, but subsidies on other commodities will be lifted.” It is important to end the subsidies to start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the international community, Mikati said. Lebanon’s Central Bank issued a statement last month saying that the fuel subsidies were being exploited by businesses. Around $800 million was paid in import subsidies in July alone, yet fuel shortages were still rampant.

by foreignpolicy.com — Anchal Vohra — Lebanon’s unprecedented economic crisis, which has plunged the country into darkness and ushered 78 percent of the population into poverty, has no shortage of authors. The country’s political elite and its sectarian factions have been more occupied with infighting over their traditional privileges than addressing the country’s problems. On Sept. 10, after more than a year of waiting, the country received a new, ostensibly independent, government, under Prime Minister Najib Mikati. But there is little indication it will has the will or ability to pass necessary political or economic reforms. As the country’s economy continues to crash, the hopes of many Lebanese citizens are increasingly invested with the United States. Only Washington, so the prevailing thinking goes, has the power to arrange for an economic lifeline while forcing the political changes Lebanon needs—and the democratic principle to ensure that such changes are truly democratic, by disempowering sectarian political actors and their regional sponsors alike. Unfortunately for Lebanon, the United States has no active plan to rescue the country—nor is there any indication that one is in the works.

Until now, the United States has only offered ad hoc support, doing the minimum to keep the country from utter collapse. Instead, it has outsourced the Lebanon file to France. Over the last year, France took a lead in trying to resolve the crises in its former colony, and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the country several times after the August 2020 Beirut port blast to push for a new social contract between the Lebanese state and the people. The French plan, however, naively banked on the same political elite that benefited from the country’s sect-based power-sharing plan to reform that same system. There was no stick, no threat of repercussions to encourage a very stubborn—and allegedly highly corrupt—ruling class to change its behavior.

As disillusionment with the French set in, many analysts said France simply did not have the kind of influence the United States does to coerce a haughty and unrepentant political elite into action. But they are disheartened at America’s apparent lack of interest. “Lebanon is not the Biden administration’s priority,” said Sami Nader, a Lebanese political analyst. “Israel’s security is on top of their agenda, reviving the deal with Iran is on top of their agenda, but Lebanon is not.” Nader reminisced about a time when Lebanon was a priority for Washington: “During George W. Bush’s time, mid-2000s, Lebanon topped Washington’s agenda, because he saw the first success of his democracy agenda policy in Lebanon, and we saw a lot of hope and support at all levels. Not anymore.”

ان تشكيل الحكومة وانجاز البيان الوزاري ادى الى هبوط سعر الدولار بالنسبة لليرة اللبنانية وهذا امر جيد يسمح للمواطن بالتقاط انفاسه ويحدّ من التضخم والامل ان يستمربالتراجع الى الادنى. ولكن وقف الانهيار الاقتصادي لا يبدأ الا بعودة عجلة النمو الاقتصادي وارتفاع معدل هذا النمو، ما يتطلب تصويب السياسة العامة الداخلية والخارجية واستعادة سيادة الدولة على […]

by arabnews.com — BEIRUT: The judge leading the investigation into the August 2020 Beirut Port blast issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for the former public works and transportation minister Youssef Fenianos, after Fenianos failed to appear for questioning. Judge Tarek Bitar has also subpoenaed former Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who was the premier at the time of the port blast, and has demanded that parliament lift the immunity of three MPs — Nohad Machnouk, Ghazi Zeaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil — in addition to a number of security officials he is keen to question. Diab stepped down as caretaker prime minister and left the country when Prime Minister Najib Mikati took office earlier this month. Social media was abuzz with the news of Diab’s departure, with many speculating that he would not return for his scheduled questioning on September 20. Diab reportedly travelled to the US to visit his children, whom he had not seen for two years, before receiving Bitar’s subpoena, which was issued on August 26. A judicial source said that the discriminatory Attorney General, Judge Ghassan al-Khoury — the judicial public prosecutor in the investigation, referred the subpoena against Diab to the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces for implementation.

Bitar issued another subpoena against Diab on Sept. 14, this time including the address of his residence in Beirut. If Diab fails to return before Monday morning, then the judge would have the right to issue a warrant for his arrest. In response to the arrest warrant for Fenianos, who is affiliated with the Marada movement but is not currently an MP and therefore does not have immunity, the head of the Marada movement, Suleiman Frangieh, tweeted: “We reiterate that we stand by Fenianos, who has the right to defend himself.” Bitar is facing pressure from all sides of the political spectrum. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah accused the judge of “playing a political game.” Bitar’s predecessor in the case, Judge Fadi Sawan, was relieved of his duties as a result of political pressure when two of the former ministers he had charged with negligence for the disaster had their request for his removal from his post granted by a court. Many see the subpoena against Diab as a measure of how seriously the new government is taking the investigation. If Diab is allowed to continue to evade questioning from Bitar, and if the newly formed government’s parliament refuses to lift ex-ministers’ immunity, then there seems little hope of justice for the victims of the blast and their families.

by english.aawsat.com — The European Union should still consider imposing sanctions on Lebanese politicians who block the progress of the new government, the EU’s parliament said on Thursday, calling Lebanon’s crisis a man-made disaster. This week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that, while Lebanon’s economic model was broken, the moment for sanctions had passed because politicians formed a government on Sept. 10. Taking note of Lebanon’s formation of a government after more than a year of political deadlock, the European Parliament in Strasbourg issued a resolution saying EU governments cannot yet release pressure on the country. The parliament voted 575 in favor, 71 against and with 39 abstentions, Reuters reported.

The parliament “deeply urges Lebanese leaders to keep their promises and be a functional government”, the parliament’s resolution, which is non-binding, said of Lebanon’s new cabinet that has vowed to tackle one of the world’s worst economic meltdowns in history. EU lawmakers warned: “the introduction of targeted sanctions for obstructing or undermining the democratic political process remains an option.” The EU agreed in June to prepare travel bans and asset freezes for Lebanese politicians accused of corruption and obstructing efforts to form a government, financial mismanagement and human rights abuses.