١٥ سنة مرت على بدء عملية انتشار الجيش في الجنوب التي انطلقت  صباح ١٧ آب ٢٠٠٦ بعد غياب قسري عن دوره الطبيعي في حماية الحدود والسيادة لمدة تفوق العقدين من الزمن. وحتى لا يعيد التاريخ نفسه وتفقد المؤسسة العسكرية هذا الدور الوطني مجدداً، يجب اقرار الاستراتيجية الدفاعية بهدف حصر  امتلاك السلاح وعناصر القوة العسكرية بيد […]

By Noemi Jabois Beirut, (EFE).- The recent worsening of the fuel crisis in Lebanon has the country’s hospitals on the ropes, given that they need fuel to supply electricity and are also facing a significant lack of medicines, medical supplies and liquidity that is threatening to cost many lives. Since Lebanon’s Central Bank announced last week the end of fuel subsidies, the already acute shortage has resulted in almost no available diesel fuel to operate electric generators at a time when public electricity service is all but non-existent. After a fuel storage facility blew up on Aug. 15 in the southern district of Akkar killing almost 30 people and injuring 79, the Lebanese Geitaoui-UMC Hospital in Beirut has received 15 of those patients, two of whom have been released and one who was transferred to Turkey by plane.

Naji J. Abi Rached, the medical director of the hospital, told EFE that among the 12 people who remain hospitalized after the blast are patients with burns on 80-100 percent of their bodies and for whom there is a “very high risk that they will not survive.” With its Burn Unit considered to be a “regional reference point,” the private hospital is fighting to deliver “costly” and “high-intensity” treatment that the patients need. Abi Rached estimated that the patients will undergo at least two months of “critical care” with “surgeries, daily monitoring, antibiotics, infusions, hydration, morphine and intubation” as part of their treatment. “The estimated cost per patient is $800 per day and the estimate of what the state will cover is about 1 million Lebanese pounds, which is only one-fifteenth the cost,” the cardiologist said, this in a country where $1 is equivalent to 20,000 pounds on the black market while the official exchange rate stands at 1,500 pounds per dollar.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Lebanese parliament will convene on Friday to discuss what to do about a fuel crisis that has brought much of the country to a halt and sparked deadly violence. Speaker Nabih Berri called the session to discuss “appropriate action” over crippling fuel shortages, a crunch point in a two-year financial meltdown that marks Lebanon’s worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. A rocket-propelled grenade was fired near a Beirut petrol station during a dispute over gasoline, a security source said. Gunmen opened fire on soldiers who had detained a man who tried to fill his car by force. The station caught fire. The steadily worsening fuel crisis has hit a low in the last week, with power blackouts forcing some hospitals, bakeries, and businesses to scale down or close.

A senior U.N. official said water supplies and essential health services were threatened, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. “A bad situation only stands to get worse unless an instant solution is found,” said Najat Rochdi, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon. Last week, the central bank announced it could no longer finance imports of gasoline and diesel at heavily discounted exchange rates, effectively ending a subsidy scheme which promises to increase prices sharply. Governor Riad Salameh has been at odds with the government over the move, as the government says it should have been done only after the provision of prepaid cash cards for the poor.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – By Tom Perry & Nafisa Eltahir — – President Michel Aoun said he hoped a new Lebanese government would be formed within the next couple days, as efforts to agree one were spurred on by a fuel crisis that has brought much of the country to a standstill and sparked warnings of anarchy. The steadily worsening fuel crisis has marked a crunch point in Lebanon’s two-year-long financial meltdown, with shortages of imported fuel forcing hospitals, bakeries and businesses to scale back or shut down in the last week or so. read more At least 28 people were killed over the weekend when a fuel tanker exploded as people desperate for gasoline scrambled to get a share. read more After meeting Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said it was still possible for a government to be formed in the next two days. The issues were being tackled one-by-one, he said, though he did not know how the last would be resolved.

Ahead of his meeting with Mikati, Aoun indicated a deal was close, saying “we are about to form a government”, specifying later it would be “within a couple days, God willing”. A senior political source told Reuters the government talks were evolving positively although some issues remained to be tackled, mainly the names of ministers. Explaining the impetus, the source added: “The whole situation is deteriorating, the whole system is collapsing.” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah, on Sunday urged the government to be formed in two or three days, saying this was the only way to prevent anarchy which had already begun. He also said Hezbollah would begin bringing diesel and gasoline from Iran with delivery dates to be announced soon.

ان جهنم التليل بالاضافة الى حوادث هذا الشهر الخطيرة، من خلدة الى تبادل الرسائل النارية مع العدو الى تعريض المواطن للاذلال، تكفي لتشكيل الحكومة غداً، اذا كان الامعان في الاساءة الى عدالة ٤ آب  بحجة الحصانات والى البطريرك لانه طالب بسيادة الدولة لم تف على نحو واف بالغرض الى اليوم

by reuters — ‘Nobody’s running the country’ said Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh complained on Saturday decrying the chaos and violence that are spreading right across the nation. At the American University of Beirut Medical Center, lack of electrical power risks putting 40 patients, including fifteen children, to death. The hospital is threatened with a forced shutdown as early as Monday because of shortages of fuel used to generate electricity. “This means that ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will cease to operate. Forty adult patients and fifteen children living on respirators will die immediately,” the hospital said. The lack of fuel is due to the inability of the central bank to continue to subsidise fuel imports.

In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Riad Salameh said the government could resolve the problem quickly by passing necessary legislation. He denied he had acted alone in declaring an end to the subsidies on Wednesday, and said it was widely known that the decision was coming. The worsening fuel crisis is part of Lebanon’s wider financial meltdown. Hospitals, bakeries and many businesses are scaling back operations or shutting down as fuel runs dry. Deadly violence has flared in fuel lines, protesters have blocked roads, and fuel tankers have been hijacked this week. The American University of Beirut Medical Center said it was threatened with a forced shutdown as early as Monday because of shortages of fuel used to generate electricity. “This means that ventilators and other lifesaving medical devices will cease to operate. Forty adult patients and fifteen children living on respirators will die immediately,” the hospital said.

A man with severe burn injuries sustained in the fuel tank explosion is carried on a stretcher from a helicopter after being transported for treatment at the severe burns unit of the Geitaoui hospital in Beirut yesterday. (AFP)

by reuters — At least 28 people were killed and 79 injured when a fuel tank exploded in northern Lebanon early yesterday, the health ministry said. Military and security sources said that the army had seized a fuel storage tank hidden by black marketeers and was handing out gasoline to residents when the explosion occurred. Lebanon is suffering from a severe fuel shortage, leading to long lines at gas stations and extended blackouts. Accounts varied as to what caused the explosion, from gunfire that hit a tank of gasoline to reports that it was caused by a person who ignited a lighter.

Protesters, already angry at the economic crisis in the country, put the blame squarely on Lebanon’s politicians as they demonstrated outside the prime minister’s residency and hurled rocks at the building. “Akkar was put on fire by its deputies in parliament,” protesters sprayed on the building, referring to one of Lebanon’s poorest areas, where the explosion occurred. Abdelrahman, whose face and body was covered in gauze as he laid in Tripoli’s al-Salam hospital, was one of those in line to get gasoline. “There were hundreds gathered there, right next to the tank, and God only knows what happened to them,” he said. Witnesses said about 200 people were nearby at the time of the explosion. Army and security forces personnel were among the casualties, sources said.

دائماً عكار تدفع ضريبة الدم والانهيار الاقتصادي. يسقط لها شهداء وضحايا في الجيش، في البارد، في جرود الضنية وعرسال، في التفجيرات الارهابية، في الكوارث، في الجنوب في مواجهة العدو وعلى مساحة الوطن، في المرفاء، في الجشع للمحروقات والاحتكار والتهريب والتقصير العام وفي الانماء غير المتوازن. فقط رحمة الله بهذه البقعة العزيزة من لينان واهلها الاحباء. […]

By NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s army on Saturday seized fuel from petrol pumps to curb hoarding amid crippling shortages. The country is grappling with a financial crisis and foreign currency reserves are fast depleting, while its national currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market. Traffic in Beirut and other places was low on Saturday, and security forces temporarily closed the northern Aboudiyeh Border Crossing with Syria because of a power generator malfunction. Dozens of institutions surprised their employees with a day of unplanned leave next Monday, while shops and institutions in Beirut’s center were informed they would not be supplied with electricity because of the lack of diesel.

Activists shared a video on social media showing a crowd in the town of Ali Al-Nahri, in the Bekaa Valley, protesting around Hussainia Mosque, where Hezbollah member and former minister Hussein Hajj Hassan was giving a speech. Eyewitnesses told Arab News that around 50 people objected to Hassan going up to the pulpit and speaking. “They called on him to get back, throwing insults at him and saying, ‘We are hungry.’” The MP had to leave the town, shortening his mosque speech, amid a heavy army deployment. Army intelligence on Saturday arrested four of the people who had objected to Hassan’s presence. But they were released due to popular pressure. People objecting to the arrests blocked the road between Ali Al-Nahri and the eastern village of Massa, which is a vital road for Hezbollah. This road helps the party access Syria’s Al-Shaara region, where its military posts are located. Protesters accused Hezbollah of using the town as “a road to smuggle diesel to Syria.”

Moreover, a village resident who was present during Friday’s incident faced arrest today by an unknown party. Hassan Makkhal shared his arrest from his home on Facebook. Makkhal is said to be a critic of the Hezbollah figure.

By courtney Mares — ncregister.com — BEIRUT, LEBANON — The leader of the Maronite Catholic Church received threats from Hezbollah supporters this week after calling for an end to missile launches from Lebanese territory. Bechara Boutros Cardinal Rai had called for peace, saying that Lebanon should remain neutral in regional conflicts in his Aug. 8 homily, two days after Hezbollah fired 19 rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political and militant group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. The group has strong alliances with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and with Iran in its conflicts with Sunni-majority Gulf states. Without mentioning Hezbollah by name, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch said that it was unacceptable for “a party to make decisions on war” without the quorum of two thirds required by the country’s constitution. “We call upon the Lebanese army … to prevent the launching of missiles from Lebanese territory, not for the sake of Israel’s safety, but rather for the safety of Lebanon,” Cardinal Rai said.

Supporters of Hezbollah responded by threatening the cardinal’s life with social media posts that pictured Cardinal Rai with a noose around his neck. In a Facebook post, a person from Beirut’s south suburbs wrote in Arabic: “You don’t think we know how to hang?“ and “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth…Initiator [Patriarch] shall bear the brunt of blame.” In Defence of Christians, a human rights organization that has sources on in Lebanon, told CNA that there have been people in the streets in predominantly Shiite areas calling Cardinal Rai a traitor and Zionist collaborator. Political leaders within Lebanon and abroad sent messages of solidarity to the Maronite patriarch after the public threats.