Showing posts with label Lebanon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lebanon. Show all posts

Friday, November 03, 2023

Al Jazeera English: Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah Gives Gaza Speech

Nov 3, 2023 | The Hezbollah chief says whoever wants to prevent a regional war, must quickly stop the war on the Gaza Strip. Nasrallah repeats that all options in the Lebanese front are open. He says that Hezbollah is ready for all possibilities.

Addressing the US deployment of warships in the region, Nasrallah says Hezbollah is not intimidated. As he continues to touch on familiar themes during his speech, the Hezbollah leader also says that further escalation on the Lebanese front is a real possibility.

He warns that such a development depends on Israeli actions in Gaza. Nasrallah continues, saying Hezbollah has been escalating its operations by the day and forcing Israel to keep its forces near the Lebanon border instead of Gaza or the occupied West Bank.



It appears that World War III has already begun! And it’s a holy war! Our politicians had better get with the story and repeal all those ridiculous laws passed in the name of political correctness, in the vain hope that Islam and the Christian, but increasingly secular, West can live in peace and harmony. In the long-run, these two diametrically-opposed world religions and ways of life cannot. Throughout history, Islam and Christianity have vied for pre-eminence and dominance. When two powerful forces collide, one is bound to win. We must ensure that we do. We in the West have some tough decisions ahead. The peaceful world we had come to know and love has been dealt a severe blow.

Some twenty plus years ago, I wrote a book referencing a "New Dark Age". It would appear that that new dark age has well and truly dawned. The forces of darkness have been trying hard to snuff out the light. We have reached a pivotal moment in the fight for supremacy. Benightedness is in battle with enlightened thought, and is trying very hard to triumph over it. Superstition is trying to triumph over and conquer science. Science must win! – © Mark Alexander

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Times Radio: Lebanon Cannot Stop Hezbollah Mobilising If Israel Do Not De-escalate | Lebanese Ambassador

Oct 19, 2023 | "Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese society. Of course, they have their modus operandi. But until now, they've been exerting self-restraint." The Lebanese ambassador to the UK will not say if Lebanon would stop Hezbollah from becoming involved in the Israel-Gaza Conflict.

Monday, October 16, 2023

Israel Will ‘Destroy’ Lebanon If War Spreads

THE TELEGRAPH: UK and US warn over escalation in Middle East crisis as jets bomb northern neighbour

Israeli jets have started bombing in Lebanon as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) warned it would “destroy” the country if Hizbollah entered the war.

The air raids came as the United States and the UK expressed fears that Israel’s war with Hamas could “escalate” into a conflict involving “the wider Middle East”.

The Israeli strikes were carried out after anti-tank rockets fired by Hizbollah killed one person in northern Israel in the most serious clashes outside of Gaza since the war began.

Tzachi Hanegbi, an Israeli national security adviser, warned the Iran-sponsored terrorist group not to start a war on a second front, threatening the “destruction of Lebanon” if it did.

Western nations have warned against any escalation in the conflict and have moved to try and prevent it spilling outwards, potentially drawing in Iran, with the US ordering a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region over the weekend. » | Roland Oliphant, Senior Foreign Correspondent, in Jerusalem | Sunday, October 15, 2023

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Israel Latest: 'All Hell Will Break Loose’ | Lord Richard Dannatt

Oct 10, 2023 | “This is a really critical moment in world history.” Whatever Israel does “will have huge consequences” and “all hell will break loose” if they provoke an attack from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, says Lord Richard Dannatt, former head of the British Army.

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Lebanon LGBTQ+ Activists Say Attacks Are Distraction from Country’s Problems

THE GUARDIAN: Community reports shift from uneasy tolerance to being scapegoated for socioeconomic crisis

An anti-LGBTQ+ protest in Beirut, Lebanon, this month. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA

When the Christian extremists of Soldiers of God menaced a bar in Beirut’s nightlife district during a drag show, their members had a chilling message for patrons: “We have warned you a hundred times … this is just the beginning.” The group, whose members sometimes carry weapons, have repeatedly threatened places associated with Lebanon’s LGBTQ+ community, accusing them of “promoting homosexuality” amid an increase in homophobic rhetoric from the country’s politicians.

Lebanon has long been considered a bastion of relative tolerance compared with other countries in the Middle East, with gay-friendly clubs, bars and civil society organisations existing in pockets of the capital.

Spaces of relative safety flourished despite growing pressure from conservative elements across Lebanese society. However, LGBTQ+ people say they have noticed a shift from an uneasy tolerance to being scapegoated for the country’s problems. » | Ruth Michaelson | Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Friday, July 21, 2023

Lebanon: Extreme Poverty, Corruption and Soaring Inflation | Middle East Documentary

Jul 20, 2023 | Long considered the Switzerland of the Middle East, Lebanon is now going through the worst economic crisis in its history. 80% of the population lives below the poverty line. In one year, food prices have jumped 500% due to galloping inflation.

For Riad, who runs a grocery store in the suburbs of Beirut, business has become hellish. Every morning, calculator in hand, he changes the labels of his products according to the day’s exchange rate. An operation all the more complex as his store is plunged into darkness, due to lack of electricity.

The Lebanese government no longer provides more than two hours of electricity per day in the country. It is impossible for the population to heat, light or use their refrigerator. Taking advantage of the situation, a network of private generators has emerged.

The Lebanese pound, the local currency, has lost 90% of its value. The only ones to get away with it are those who are paid in dollars. The greenback, which is exchanged for a fortune against the local currency, has given birth to a new privileged social class in the country. A salesman in an international pharmaceutical company, Joseph lives like a king in a ruined Lebanon. Thanks to his new purchasing power, he repaid his house loan in two months, instead of… twenty years!

In a bankrupt state, plagued by corruption, six out of ten Lebanese citizens now dream of leaving the country. In Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, Mohammed and his son left by sea to reach Germany. Although their trip was cut short off the Turkish coast, the young father is still ready to take all the risks to reach the European El Dorado.

(This documentary was first released in 2022.)


Saturday, July 15, 2023

Lebanon Wildfires: Firefighters Hampered by Government Budget Freeze

Jul 15, 2023 | Unusually high temperatures in Lebanon are being blamed for a surge in wildfires. Firefighters are struggling to cope because the government is almost bankrupt. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from Akkar, northern Lebanon.

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Germany Issues Arrest Warrant for Lebanese Central Bank Boss | DW News

May 24, 2023 | Germany has issued an arrest warrant for Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, on allegations of corruption including forgery, money laundering, and embezzlement. The 72-year-old is accused of misappropriating millions from Lebanon's central bank. This follows a similar warrant from France and an Interpol Red Notice after his no-show at a Paris court hearing. Despite these charges, Salameh denies all wrongdoing. DW spoke to Anne Kirstine Rønn from the London School of Economics’ Middle East Center.

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Lebanon Without Cedars | ARTE.tv Documentary

Apr 15, 2023 | The cedar forests in the mountains of Lebanon are both a symbol of the nation and an important natural environment. But the ancient forests are threatened by climate change as well as illegal logging, in a country that is experiencing and unprecedented crisis.

Lebanon Without Cedars | ARTE.tv Documentary
Available until the 06/02/2026


Monday, August 29, 2022

Lebanon: A Cultural Melting Pot - Mediterranean Journey | DW Documentary

Aug 14, 2022 Six million people live in the cultural melting pot that is Lebanon. Muslims and Christians coexist here, although not always without conflict. Journalist Jaafar Abdul Karim shows colleague Sineb El Masrar the nation where he grew up.

For our 10-part series, Sineb El Marar and Jaafar Abdul Karim toured 10 nations in two years. Some of these countries underwent political and economic upheaval during this period. One of these was Lebanon, the homeland of Jaafar Abdul Karim.

In the first episode of "Mediterranean Journey”, the presenter invites his colleague Sineb El Masrar to the Beirut studio where he records his program "Jaafar Talk". He takes Sineb along on a tour of the city. It is a place that still bears the scars of civil war: Christians against Palestinians, both of these groups against Arab nationalists and all of them against Israel. The journey continues to the north of the country to Tripoli, where Jaafar meets the activist Lea Baroudi, initiator of the reconciliation project "March”.

Jaafar spends the night at the eco-lodge "Beit Al Batroun", not far from Byblos. The small estate is a slice of heaven; a dream realized for owner Colette Kahil. Back in Beirut, Jaafar meets the journalist Joumana Haddad, who runs support groups addressing the societal taboo of homosexuality.

He also meets with Zeina Hawa from the initiative "Chain Effect". She and her fellow cyclists are campaigning to make the Lebanese capital better for bikes. Together with Sineb, Jaafar explores Beirut on two wheels. The next stop on his trip is the Beqaa Valley, where he meets Syrian refugee women making clothes for the fair-trade project "Master Peace”.


Thursday, August 04, 2022

Lebanon: An Economic Crisis and the Aftermath of the Beirut Port Explosion | DW Documentary

Aug 4, 2022 Lebanon is now going through the worst economic crisis in its history. 80 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. In one year, food prices have jumped 500 per cent due to galloping inflation.

Lebanon was long regarded as the Switzerland of the Middle East. But those days are gone. A series of crises have plunged the nation into the abyss. And its people are suffering.

For Riad, who runs a grocery store in the suburbs of Beirut, business has become hellish. Every morning, calculator in hand, he changes the labels of his products according to the day’s exchange rate. An operation made all the more complex by the fact that his store is plunged into darkness, due to a lack of electricity. The Lebanese government no longer provides more than two hours of electricity per day in the country. It is impossible for the population to heat, light or use their refrigerators. Taking advantage of the situation, a network of private generators has emerged.

The Lebanese pound, the local currency, has lost 90 per cent of its value. The only people unaffected are those paid in dollars. The greenback, which can be exchanged for a small fortune against the local currency, has created a new privileged social class in the country. A salesman in an international pharmaceutical company, Joseph lives like a king in a ruined Lebanon. Thanks to his new purchasing power, he repaid his mortgage in two months, instead of... twenty years!

In a bankrupt state, plagued by corruption, six out of ten Lebanese now dream of leaving the country. In Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, Mohammed and his son set out for Germany by sea. Even though the trip was cut short off the Turkish coast, the young father is still ready to take all possible risks to reach the European Eldorado.


Wednesday, June 01, 2022

Lebanon: A People in Crisis I ARTE.tv Documentary

May 30, 2022 • Undermined by the corruption of its leaders, Lebanon is going through one of the worst economic crises in its history. Since the collapse of the #banking system, Lebanese people have seen their living standards plunge. The local currency has lost up to 90% of its value, and #inflation is soaring. There are also shortages of fuel, electricity, and medicines. Some citizens even say Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a failed state. | Available until the 23/08/2022

Wednesday, January 05, 2022

Lebanon Enters the New Year in a Deepening Crisis - BBC News

Jan 2, 2022 • Lebanon has begun 2022 in a state of paralysis, with the cabinet having not met for two months, the value of currency plummeting, and the investigation into the deadly Beirut port blast in 2020 has stalled.

Elections are due this year but political arguments over the dates have led to fears they may not happen at all.


Saturday, October 09, 2021

All of Lebanon without Power due to Fuel Shortage | DW News

Oct 9, 2021 • Lebanon has been plunged into darkness, after its two largest power stations were shut down due to a prolonged fuel shortage. Officials say the outage will last several days. Many in the country rely on private generators, but diesel is in short supply. Neighboring Iran has pledged to send more fuel shipments. Lebanon has suffered several power cuts in recent months amid an economic crisis that has seen the value of its currency fall by 90 percent since 2019. The army has been deployed to stop bank runs in Beirut.


Related article here.

Lebanon Hit by Electricity Outage Expected to Last Several Days

THE GUARDIAN: Country’s two main power stations stop working due to fuel shortage plunging cities into darkness

Lebanon’s electricity grid collapsed on Saturday after its two main power plants ran out of fuel, plunging much of the crisis-ridden country into darkness for at least two days.

The nationwide blackout marks a new low for the crumbling state, which has struggled to source dollars to pay market rates for fuel in the wake of a profound financial collapse that has decimated the local currency and forced the economy to a halt.

“The Lebanese power network completely stopped working at noon today, and it is unlikely that it will work until next Monday, or for several days,” an official told the Reuters news agency. » | Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | Saturday, October 9, 2021

Saturday, September 04, 2021

Lebanon as We Once Knew It Is Gone

Electricity is a luxury many in Lebanon can’t afford. | Bryan Denton for the New York Times

OPINION : GUEST ESSAY

THE NEW YORK TIMES: BEIRUT — I never thought I would live to see the end of the world. But that is exactly what we are living today in Lebanon. The end of an entire way of life. I read the headlines about us, and they are a list of facts and numbers. The currency has lost over 90 percent of its value since 2019; 78 percent of the population is estimated to be living in poverty; there are severe shortages of fuel and diesel; society is on the verge of total implosion.

But what does all this mean? It means days entirely occupied with the scramble for basic necessities. A life reduced to the logistics of survival and a population that is physically, mentally and emotionally depleted.

I long for the simplest pleasures: gathering with family on Sundays for elaborate meals that are unaffordable now; driving down the coast to see a friend, instead of saving my gas for emergencies; going out for a drink in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael strip without counting how many of my old haunts have shut down. I never used to think twice about these things, but now it’s impossible to imagine indulging in any of these luxuries.

I begin my days in Beirut already exhausted. It doesn’t help that there’s a gas station around the corner from my house. Cars start lining up for fuel the night before, blocking traffic, and by 7 a.m. the sound of blaring horns and frustrated shouting from the street is fraying my nerves.

It is nearly impossible to sit down to work. My laptop battery lasts only so long anyway. In my neighborhood, government-provided power comes on for just an hour a day. The UPS battery that keeps the internet router working runs out of juice by noon. I’m behind on every deadline; I’ve written countless shamefaced emails of apology. What am I even supposed to say? “My country is falling apart and there’s not a single moment of my day that isn’t beholden to its collapse”? Nights are sleepless in the choking summer heat. Building generators operate for only four hours before going off around midnight to save diesel — if they are turned on at all. » | Lina Mounzer | Friday, September 3, 2021

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Lebanon: Why Is the Country in Crisis and What’s Happening? - BBC Newsnight

Jul 28, 2021 • As Lebanon grapples with a deepening economic crisis, fuel, medicine and food are becoming increasingly scarce. Why and what’s happening?

The country is now in a state of collapse - fuel shortages, power cuts, bare shelves and a plummeting currency. It is a financial crisis with deep roots in a fundamentally flawed political system.

Last year saw the mass resignation of the entire cabinet after the explosion at a port that killed more than two hundred. It was later discovered a storage facility had been holding dangerous chemicals that no one had bothered to move.

The BBC’s Jean Mackenzie reports from and asks how the country can get back to its previous life - booming with optimism, tourism, and confidence.


Sunday, July 25, 2021

The Observer View on the Unfolding Crisis in Lebanon

Demonstrators spray the shields of riot police during a protest by the families of the Beirut blast victims.Photograph: AFP/Getty

THE OBSERVER: A new failed state in the Middle East would spell chaos for us all

Amid so much trouble around the world, the crisis in Lebanon has received relatively little attention, especially from British politicians and media. This is a serious oversight. It’s not inconceivable Lebanon could soon become a “failed state” on a par with Libya or Yemen. That would be a disaster for its people, but also, as recent history shows, for the region, Europe and the UK.

The crisis has many aspects. The most pressing is the mounting human cost. The chronic devaluation of the Lebanese pound – it has lost about 90% of its value in the past 18 months – is taking a terrible toll on ordinary families. About 30% of Lebanese children go to bed hungry, the UN says. Most households are short of food. At least half the population has slipped into poverty.

Resulting hyperinflation, caused by adverse trading conditions during the pandemic but also by grossly irresponsible financial mismanagement by Lebanon’s politicians and bankers, means subsidies of essential foodstuffs, medicine and fuel no longer cover their true cost. People with deadly diseases such as diabetes or heart conditions cannot get the help they need. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, July 25, 2021

Related links here, here, here and here.

Billionaire tycoon named as Lebanese PM as economic crisis bites: Protesters wanted someone from outside the elite, but parliament went for Najib Miqati, who has led the country twice before »

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Who Is to Blame for Lebanon's Latest Political Setback? | Inside Story

July 16, 2021 – It's back to square one for Lebanon's deepening political crisis. The prime Minister-Designate has resigned again after failing to form a new government. And as Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun trade blame, the country sinks deeper into economic turmoil.

The currency has lost 95 percent of its value since 2019, pushing many Lebanese into poverty. International donors are frustrated at the lack of progress on reforms. So is there a political will to end Lebanon's political deadlock?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom | Guests: Rana Khoury - Political Activist; Bachar El-Halabi - MENA Geopolitical Analyst, ClipperData; Christophe Abi-Nassif - Middle East Institute.


Friday, July 16, 2021

Lebanon Crisis Escalates as Designated Prime Minister Hariri Resigns | DW News

Jul 16, 2021 • Lebanon’s PM-designate Hariri steps down as crisis deepens. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri says he will not be able to form a government as a bitter political rivalry continues to keep Lebanon without a government. The Middle Eastern country has been without a government since October. This period of political crisis has been accompanied by an unprecedented economic meltdown that has seen the free fall of the Lebanese currency, which has nosedived 90% since 2019 against the dollar. Poverty has skyrocketed and the country faces a dire shortage of medicines, fuel and electricity.