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A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 08- 09/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 53th Day

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A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 08- 09/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 53th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
December 09/2019


Tites For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Mufti Tells Khatib There’s Sunni Consensus on Naming Hariri
Main Lebanon PM candidate withdraws from consideration
Lebanon’s Khatib sees consensus on Hariri as prime minister again
Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Lebanese Women March in Beirut against Sexual Harassment
Abdallah Chatila, Lebanese-Born, Donor of Hitler Items Welcomed in Israel
Man Sets Himself Alight at Riad al-Solh Protest
Tripoli’s Civil Movement declares general strike, blocking of roads tomorrow
Taymour Jumblatt announces Democratic Gathering’s boycott of tomorrow’s parliamentary consultations
Sidon’s Elia Square turns into a meeting place to help the needy
Rahi officiates over Mass service in Bkirki
Bishop Alwan: The Church does not protect anyone
Lebanon’s Hariri re-emerges as PM candidate as Khatib withdraws

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
/حزب الله مصر على استنساخ الحكومة التبعية والإفساد المستقيلة
Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019

The Iranian armed Lebanese terrorist proxy, “The Party Of God”, Hezbollah, is the actual ruler of Lebanon, and it fully controls the country’s decision making process, as well as all the officials including the president, House Speaker and the cabinet.
At the present time, and as a result of an Iranian recent orchestrated parliamentary elections, and an electoral non-constitutional law that was tailored and imposed by intimation and force, Hezbollah enjoys a majority in both the parliament and the Cabinet.
The mass public peaceful Lebanese revolution that has been going on for the past 52 days has forced the cabinet to resign.
But the Occupier, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters, are still defiant and insist to maintain the pre revolution status quo.
Since the Cabinet’s resignation, Hezbollah has been stubbornly refusing to respond to any of the revolution’s just demands, and is insisting to maintain its irony Iranian grip on the country.
Hezbollah’s leadership in both Beirut and Tehran are evilly challenging the Lebanese peaceful revolution, and through terrorism and intimidation are adamant to replicate the corrupted-puppet resigned government in a bid to maintain their occupational status.
Apparently Hezbollah’s leadership has solely formed a new puppet government that is a mere replicate of the resigned one. But it is not yet official announced.
All that is left before its official announcement is a Lebanese Muslim Sunni politician that is willing to head it, as a facade cover no more no less.
Three Muslim Sunnis are competing for the post, Caretaker PM, Saad Al Hariri, Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and the businessman Samir Al Khatieb.
The PM’s name will be known tomorrow (Monday) through the folkloric president’s consultations with the 128 Members of the Lebanese Parliament.
But the real outcome is not clear due to the fact that many Lebanese well informed analysts strongly believe that the covert-Hariri Bassil business partnership is still very sold with the Hezbollah’s blessings which means that Hariri is still the one that Aoun, Bassil, Hezbollah and Berri prefer. They know him very well because he has been serving their interests, as well the Iranian agenda.
It is worth mentioning that 74 MP’s are all in Hezbollah’s leadership pocket and under its tip, and accordingly they will blindly vote in accordance to its orders “Faraman”.
In summary Hezbollah has belligerently refused to respond to all the demands of the revolution, and definitely will by force try to hold on to the ongoing status of its occupation.
Meanwhile the mass peaceful revolution is expected to go on in spite of all the oppression that its activists are facing, while all kinds of economical hardships that the country is facing are getting worse.
In conclusion, Lebanon needs a flood of divine intervention, and the floods of water on the roads to wash the ungodly leaders out.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
NNA/December 08/2019
Beirut’s Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop Elias Aoudeh presided over a memorial Mass service at St. George’s Cathedral in downtown Beirut this morning, marking the fourteenth commemoration of the martyrdom of Gibran Tueni and his two companions.
In his homily, Aoudeh paid tribute to the memory of Martyr Tueini, recalling the true essence of his words that still reflect on our present times. “To believe that the true word does not die, but resonates stronger, listen to what Gibran said many years ago, as if to describe the present situation in our beloved country, which was distorted by the hand of corruption, betrayal and repression,” he said.
“What remains of the truth, service, humility, deliberation, transparency, justice, openness, democracy and freedom, what is left of it in our country?” questioned Aoudeh, criticizing the current rulers for adopting the ways of “totalitarian regimes with their one-party system.”
“How long are we to continue paying the price for internal and external polarizations? How long are we to continue wasting opportunities? How long will the people remain captive to the policy of an extremist party?” Aoudeh went on to question. “This country is ruled by a person you all know and by a group that governs us with arms!” he exclaimed. The Archbishop considered that for a citizen’s identity to be preserved, the country must be preserved. “Today, unfortunately, Lebanon pays the price of the mistakes committed by a corrupt and bankrupt political class,” he said, adding, “Had it not been for the people who held on to their identity, Lebanon would have been lost a long time ago.”
“The Lebanese people have demonstrated their ability to preserve the country and identity after the many struggles it has gone through…We must learn to belong to the homeland and a new political class must be created,” he emphasized.
Bishop Aoudeh hailed the Lebanese youth’s uprising under the country’s national flag, and slogans of achieving social justice, anti-corruption, accountability, liberation of the judiciary from political interference, and forming a min-government of specialists with integrity and competence. “Are these mere fictitious demands, or are they the simplest things required to build a state?” he wondered. “The Lebanese people take pride in being a peaceful people, whose weapons are unity, faith, honesty and truth, especially their steadfastness in the face of conspiracies and attempts to sow discord and despair in souls,” the Bishop maintained. “Birth, my dear ones, is preceded by a painful labor, and the birth of a new Lebanon is approaching,” he said. “It is a question of will, above all, the will to sacrifice, the will to abandon selfishness and personal interests, the will to open up to the other and extend the hand of dialogue and the determination to reach for what unites rather than highlight the differences,” stressed Aoudeh. “Our country is in conflict and is waiting for a heroic act to save it,” he underscored.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude on Sunday decried that Lebanon is being ruled by one “person” and an “armed group.” “Today, this country is being ruled by a person you all know, and no one is saying a word, and it is being ruled by a group hiding behind arms,” Aude said in a sermon marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of the journalist Gebran Tueni. “What has scared officials and is still scaring them is the voice of right and truth, the voice of the hungry and suffering people, the voice of everyone who cherishes the country,” Aude added.
“The ruling authority has been sentenced to death while the people and their country will only find resurrection and victory. The birth of a new Lebanon is nearing,” the metropolitan went on to say. Commenting on the protests that have been sweeping the country since October 17, Aude said the Lebanese who are on the streets are “sacrificing a lot for the sake of a future whose fathers and grandfathers had waited but did not get.”

Mufti Tells Khatib There’s Sunni Consensus on Naming Hariri
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan on Sunday told premiership candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni “consensus” on naming caretaker PM Saad Hariri to lead the new government. The Mufti is “among the supporters of PM Saad Hariri, who is exerting efforts to advance Lebanon, and he supports his Arab and international role in this regard,” Khatib said in a statement from Dar al-Fatwa after meeting Daryan. “I learned from His Eminence that as a result of the meetings, consultations and contacts with the sons of the (Sunni) Muslim community, consensus has been reached on naming PM Saad Hariri to lead the new government,” Khatib added. “Accordingly, I will head to the Center House to meet with PM Saad Hariri and inform him of this, because he was the one who named me to form a new government, and I thank him for his precious confidence,” Khatib went on to say. As Khatib’s meeting with Hariri got underway later in the day, MTV reported that Hariri will meet with the political aides of Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in “the coming hours.” Speaking after his meeting with Hariri, Khatib said: “When my name was mentioned to be appointed Prime minister-designate, I listened to the wishes of many friends and political leaders. This is an occasion to extend my thanks to President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and the leaders who gave me their trust.” “It was natural to conduct a series of contacts with the concerned political parties. These contacts took place over a period of two weeks during which I was subjected to an unfair campaign by some biased people,” he lamented. He added: “After my latest meeting today with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, I came to meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who had named me and supported me. I informed him of the position of the Mufti, which I announced from Dar al-Fatwa.” Khatib concluded: “Thus, I apologize with a very clear conscience for not being able to continue the journey to which I have been nominated, asking God Almighty to protect Lebanon from all evil and to enlighten the consciences and minds of the Lebanese and political leaders to overcome the crisis and reach the shore of safety. I renew my thanks to Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who overwhelmed me with his affection and trust, and who will remain for me a role model in loyalty, patriotism and wise leadership.”The developments come on the eve of binding parliamentary consultations to pick a new premier. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days. Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Main Lebanon PM candidate withdraws from consideration
Associated Press/December 08/2019
Khatib, a prominent contractor, announced his decision after meeting with Hariri. Hariri had said he backed Khatib for the post.
BEIRUT: A possible candidate for prime minister of Lebanon said Sunday he is withdrawing from consideration for the post, prolonging the country’s political crisis. Samir Khatib’s announcement came hours before he was expected to be named as the official candidate for the post following consultations between the president and major parliamentary blocs. Khatib’s statement also comes shortly after his visit to the country’s top Sunni religious authority, who told him the community supports resigned former prime minister Saad Hariri for the job. Hariri resigned Oct. 29 amid nationwide protests in which demonstrators accused the political elite of corruption and mismanagement. The protesters had rejected Khatib as a candidate. At the time, Hariri said he reached a “dead end” with his political rivals over forming an emergency government to deal with the country’s crumbling economy. Lebanon’s national unity government was headed by Hariri, a Sunni Muslim backed by the West, but was dominated by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and its allies, including the party of President Michel Aoun. Khatib, a prominent contractor, announced his decision after meeting with Hariri. Hariri had said he backed Khatib for the post. Under Lebanon’s sectarian-based political system, the prime minister comes from the Sunni Muslim community, while the president is chosen from the Maronite Christian community. The parliament speaker is chosen from the ranks of Shiite Muslims.

Lebanon’s Khatib sees consensus on Hariri as prime minister again
Emily Judd, Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 8 December 2019
Lebanese businessman Samir Khatib arrived on Sunday to Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s residence in Beirut to inform him of his withdrawal for candidacy, according to an Al Arabiya correspondent. Khatib said on Sunday there was a consensus for nominating Saad Hariri as prime minister again to form a new government, speaking after a meeting with Lebanon’s top Sunni Muslim religious leader Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian. The statement spelt the end of Khatib’s candidacy for the post which is reserved for a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
Hariri, now running a caretaker government, quit as prime minister on October 29, prompted by protests against the ruling elite. “Positions come and go, but the dignity and safety of the country is more important,” Hariri said at the time. Consensus emerged last week around Khatib as the new premier, with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the leading Shia Muslim in the state, saying he would nominate Khatib. “I was originally going to nominate Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri or the person he backs to form the government, and given that he supports Engineer Samir Khatib, I will nominate … Samir Khatib,” Berri told al-Joumhouria newspaper. Hariri was first elected to Lebanon’s Parliament in a 2005 landslide victory, following the assassination of his father, then-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, in a Beirut car bombing. Following in his father’s footsteps, Hariri headed the Future Movement party and was named prime minister in June 2009. He exited the position when his unity government collapsed in 2011, but was named prime minister again in December 2016. The Saudi-born Lebanese businessman is a telecom mogul, whose net worth in 2013 was estimated at $1.9 billion by Forbes.- With Reuters

Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Naharnet/December 08/2019
The Presidency on Sunday postponed the binding parliamentary consultations for naming a new PM from Monday, Dec. 9 to Monday, Dec. 16, after Dar al-Fatwa told the candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni consensus on re-nominating Saad Hariri for the post. “In light of the developments, at the desire and request of most parliamentary blocs, and to allow for further consultations and contacts, President (Michel) Aoun has decided to postpone the binding parliamentary consultations previously scheduled for tomorrow to Monday, December 16,” the Presidency said in a statement. Aoun had held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Hariri after Khatib announced the withdrawal of his nomination earlier in the day. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days. Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Lebanese Women March in Beirut against Sexual Harassment
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 08/2019
Scores of women marched through the streets of Beirut on Saturday to protest sexual harassment and bullying and demanding rights including the passing of citizenship to children of Lebanese women married to foreigners. The march started outside the American University of Beirut, west of the capital, and ended in a downtown square that has been witnessing daily protests for more than seven weeks. Nationwide demonstrations in Lebanon broke out Oct. 17 against proposed taxes on WhatsApp calls turned into a condemnation of the country’s political elite, who have run the country since the 1975-90 civil war. The government resigned in late October, meeting a key demand of the protesters. “We want to send a message against sexual harassment. They say that the revolution is a woman, therefore, if there is a revolution, women must be part of it,” said protester Berna Dao. “Women are being raped, their right is being usurped, and they are not able to pass their citizenship.”Activists have been campaigning for years so that parliament drafts a law that allows Lebanese women married to foreigners pass their citizenship to their husbands and children. Earlier this year, Raya al-Hassan became the first woman in the Arab world to take the post of interior minister. The outgoing Cabinet has four women ministers, the highest in the country in decades.

Abdallah Chatila, Lebanese-Born, Donor of Hitler Items Welcomed in Israel
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday hosted a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul who purchased Nazi memorabilia at a German auction and is donating the items to Israel. Rivlin called Abdallah Chatila’s gesture an “act of grace.”Chatila, a Lebanese Christian who has lived in Switzerland for decades, paid some 600,000 euros ($660,000) for the items at the Munich auction last month, intending to destroy them after reading of Jewish groups’ objections to the sale. Shortly before the auction, however, he decided it would be better to donate them to a Jewish organization. Among the items he bought were Adolf Hitler’s top hat, a silver-plated edition of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and a typewriter used by the dictator’s secretary. The items are to be donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Chatila said he initially bought the items for personal reasons. “He is the personification of evil — evil for everyone, not evil for the Jews, evil for the Christians, evil for humanity,” he said. “And that’s why it was important for me to buy those artifacts.”But Chatila decided that he “had no right to decide” what to do with these artifacts, so he reached out to Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, a nonprofit fundraising body that assists Israeli and Jewish causes. It then decided to pass the items on to Yad Vashem because of its existing collection of Nazi artifacts. “Usually Yad Vashem doesn’t support trade. We do not believe in trade of artifacts that come from the Nazi party or other parts,” said Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem. “We like that it should be in the hands of museums or public collectors and not in private hands.”
At a press conference held at Rivlin’s residence, Chatila said his donation has been criticized by some in his homeland. Israel and Lebanon have never signed a peace agreement, and relations remain hostile. “I got a few messages saying that I was a traitor, saying that I helped the enemy. And also some messages of people warning me not to go back to Lebanon,” he said. “It’s easy for me as I don’t go to Lebanon. I don’t have a problem with it.” But Chatila said his parents still travel to Lebanon, making the backlash difficult for his family. Rivlin thanked Chatila for his act and donation “of great importance at this time” when Holocaust denial and neo-Nazism are on the rise. He also noted that the artifacts would help preserve the Holocaust legacy for future generations who will not be able to meet or hear from the dwindling population of aging survivors. “What you did was seemingly so simple, but this act of grace shows the whole world how to fight the glorification of hatred and incitement against other people. It was a truly human act,” Rivlin said. The items are still at the German auction house, and it was not immediately known when they would be transferred to Yad Vashem.
Chatila was born in Beirut into a family of Christian jewelers and moved to Switzerland at the age of two. Now among Switzerland’s richest 300 people, he supports charities and causes, including many relating to Lebanon and Syrian refugees. Rabbi Mehachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association, said Chatila’s surprise act had raised attention to such auctions. He said it was a powerful statement against racism and xenophobia, especially coming from a non-Jew of Lebanese origin. “There is no question that a message that comes from you is 10 times, or 100 times stronger than a message that comes from us,” Margolin told Chatila.

Man Sets Himself Alight at Riad al-Solh Protest
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 08/2019
A man in Lebanon tried to self-immolate during a protest in Beirut on Saturday, the Lebanese Red Cross said, before protesters extinguished the flames. Protesters in Riad al-Solh Square smothered the flames with jackets and blankets, an AFP photographer said. The man, who did not lose consciousness, was evacuated in a Red Cross ambulance. “A man set fire to himself, a Lebanese Red Cross team intervened,” the organization wrote on Twitter. The official NNA news agency reported that a man in his forties had doused himself in petrol before setting himself alight. Media reports said he did not have money to buy medicine. Lebanon is going through a dire economic and financial crisis amid political paralysis and an ongoing protest movement. On Saturday, dozens gathered in the central Riad al-Solh Square for another demonstration against the country’s ruling elite. Protests began on October 17, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Lebanese demanding an end to corruption and incompetent leadership. Lebanon’s financial situation, already precarious before the protests, has deteriorated markedly since. In recent weeks, thousands of people have lost their jobs or had their salaries slashed.
Several cases of suicide have been reported in recent days, with financial difficulties believed to be a motivating factor. In February, a Lebanese man died from severe burns after setting himself on fire at his daughter’s school over a fee dispute with the management. The World Bank has warned of an impending recession that may see the proportion of people living in poverty climb from a third to half the population. Unemployment, already above 30 per cent for young people, would also increase, it has said. Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked Arab and Western allies for financial help on Friday.
An $11 billion (10 billion euro) aid package pledged at a conference dubbed CEDRE in Paris in April 2018 has not been unlocked by donors for lack of reform.

Tripoli’s Civil Movement declares general strike, blocking of roads tomorrow
NNA/December 08/2019
Tripoli’s popular movement organizers announced through loudspeakers in Abdel Hamid Karami’s “Al-Nour Square” this evening, that tomorrow will be a general strike day in the city, and the main and subsidiary roads will be cut off starting 4:00am, NNA correspondent in Tripoli reported.

Taymour Jumblatt announces Democratic Gathering’s boycott of tomorrow’s parliamentary consultations
NNA/December 08/2019
“Democratic Gathering” Chief, MP Taymour Jumblatt, tweeted Sunday saying: “Following the breach of the Constitution and violating the principles adopted in forming governments, namely through suspicious side consultations which denote a real setback that contradicts these principles and fails to respect institutions and their role, the Democratic Gathering will refrain from partaking in the parliamentary consultations scheduled for tomorrow.”

Sidon’s Elia Square turns into a meeting place to help the needy

NNA/December 08/2019
The “Square of Elia” in Sidon has turned into a meeting place for humanitarian initiatives organized by the city’s civil movement, within the framework of helping and supporting citizens especially those who have lost the ability to secure the least livelihood means in light of the difficult economic crisis.
In this context, the organizers, joined by several young men and women, worked to distribute food portions to those in need throughout the day, in addition to setting up a fully-equipped “open-air kitchen” on stage to secure food supplies to a number of needy families.

Rahi officiates over Mass service in Bkirki
NNA/December 08/2019
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, likened the people’s revolution to “torrential rain,” calling on the political class to not disdain the civil movements and the youth revolution that wants to build a new civilized Lebanon. “There is no stronger force than the people!” he stressed.
The Prelate also advised the officials “not to ignore the demands of the people so that they do not block the roads, and not to bear the responsibility for destroying Lebanon before the international community.”On the other hand, the Patriarch called for mutual respect for the prerogatives of the judiciary and ecclesiastical justice in the case of “Mission de Vie.”

Bishop Alwan: The Church does not protect anyone
NNA/December 08/2019
Maronite Patriarchal Vicar, Bishop Hanna Alwan, held a press conference on Sunday, dwelling on the issue of the two detained nuns. Alwan underlined the importance of the judiciary which determines, according to him, the itinerary and security of the state. He deemed that when justice is honest and non-politicized, the state will be in a good position, while the corruption of justice corrupts society. Calling for the independence of the judiciary, Bishop Alwan said the church does not protect anyone, but insists on the integrity and independence of the judiciary. He, thus, called for expanding the investigation to unveil the “unfeared truth” in the aforementioned case. With regards to sexual harassment, he recalled that it has not been tolerated by any pope, adding, “At the Council of Patriarchs, we have published a law on this issue to punish the perpetrators, and we do not cover or tolerate this matter, and we have commissioned a church committee to investigate.”

Lebanon’s Hariri re-emerges as PM candidate as Khatib withdraws
Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, Saad Hariri, has re-emerged as a candidate for prime minister as businessman Samir Khatib withdrew his candidacy to lead a government that must tackle an acute economic crisis. President Michel Aoun responded by postponing until December 16 consultations with lawmakers that had been expected to result in Khatib being named prime minister on Monday. The delay was requested by most parties in parliament, the presidency said on Sunday. Hariri quit as prime minister on October 29, prompted by mass protests against an entire political class blamed for state corruption and steering Lebanon into the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Under the country’s power sharing system, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim. Hariri has continued to govern in a caretaker capacity until a new prime minister is named. After Hariri quit, talks to agree a new cabinet became mired in divisions between Hariri, who is aligned with Western and Gulf Arab states, and adversaries including the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah. Last month Hariri officially withdrew his candidacy to be prime minister. A consensus on Khatib appeared to form last week among the main parties, including Hariri. But Khatib failed to win enough backing from the Sunni Muslim establishment for the position. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, Lebanon’s most senior Sunni cleric, told Khatib during a meeting on Sunday that he backed Hariri, Khatib said after the meeting. “I learnt … that as a result of meetings and consultations and contacts with the sons of the (Sunni) Islamic sect, agreement was reached on nominating Saad al-Hariri to form the coming government,” Khatib said.
There was no immediate statement from Hariri.
‘Hariri is no exception’
Protesters gathered outside parliament after the announcement for scheduled rallies to protest the way the government is being formed and the delays in choosing a candidate amid the downward spiral of the economy. They were quick to denounce Hariri’s possible return as a contender for the job. “We want an independent head of government,” said Layal Siblani, one of hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament. “Hariri is no exception. He is one of the pillars of this authority, he and his family … They should not portray him as our savior because he has good international contacts.”Siblani also protested the role of the religious authority in naming or supporting a candidate. “The head of the government is for all people. We should all know that and that there is no room for religious authorities to interfere.”Security forces prevented the protesters from marching to Hariri’s office, tightening roadblocks and scuffling with some who tried to push their way out of a cordon. Heavy rains didn’t stop dozens of protesters from reaching the outside of Hariri’s office chanting: “You will not come back, Hariri,” and “Revolution.” In recent days, in his role as caretaker prime minister, Hariri appealed to friendly foreign states to help Lebanon secure credit lines for essential imports as the country grapples with a hard currency shortage. He has said he would return as prime minister only if he could lead a technocratic government of specialist ministers which he believes would satisfy protesters and be best placed to deal with the economic crisis and attract foreign aid. But this demand has been rejected by groups including Hezbollah and its ally Aoun, a Maronite Christian, who say the government must include politicians.

Titles For The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet/Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019
Leading figures agree to new Hariri government/Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 08/2019
Megaphone: The voice of Lebanon’s uprising/Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
5 Quick Takeaways from the Lebanese Revolt, Others/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Lebanon and the Monster of Bankruptcy/Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Time Is Running Out/Interview With Former Minister Nasser al-Saidi/Michael Young/Carnegie/December 08/2019

The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
 حزب الله مصر على استنساخ الحكومة التبعية والإفساد المستقيلة
Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019

 
The Iranian armed Lebanese terrorist proxy, “The Party Of God”, Hezbollah, is the actual ruler of Lebanon, and it fully controls the country’s decision making process, as well as all the officials including the president, House Speaker and the cabinet.
 At the present time, and as a result of an Iranian recent orchestrated parliamentary elections, and an electoral non-constitutional law that was tailored and imposed by intimation and force, Hezbollah enjoys a majority in both the parliament and the Cabinet.
 The mass public peaceful Lebanese revolution that has been going on for the past 52 days has forced the cabinet to resign.
 But the Occupier, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters, are still defiant and insist to maintain the pre revolution status quo.
 Since the Cabinet’s resignation, Hezbollah has been stubbornly refusing to respond to any of the revolution’s just demands, and is insisting to maintain its irony Iranian grip on the country.
 Hezbollah’s leadership in both Beirut and Tehran are evilly challenging the Lebanese peaceful revolution, and through terrorism and intimidation are adamant to replicate the corrupted-puppet resigned government in a bid to maintain their occupational status.
 Apparently Hezbollah’s leadership has solely formed a new puppet government that is a mere replicate of the resigned one. But it is not yet official announced.
 All that is left before its official announcement is a Lebanese Muslim Sunni politician that is willing to head it, as a facade cover no more no less.
 Three Muslim Sunnis are competing for the post, Caretaker PM, Saad Al Hariri, Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and the businessman Samir Al Khatieb.
 The PM’s name will be known tomorrow (Monday) through the folkloric president’s consultations with the 128 Members of the Lebanese Parliament.
 But the real outcome is not clear due to the fact that many Lebanese well informed analysts strongly believe that the covert-Hariri Bassil business partnership is still very sold with the Hezbollah’s blessings which means that Hariri is still the one that Aoun, Bassil, Hezbollah and Berri prefer. They know him very well because he has been serving their interests, as well the Iranian agenda.
 It is worth mentioning that 74 MP’s are all in Hezbollah’s leadership pocket and under its tip, and accordingly they will blindly vote in accordance to its orders “Faraman”.
 In summary Hezbollah has belligerently refused to respond to all the demands of the revolution, and definitely will by force try to hold on to the ongoing status of its occupation.
 Meanwhile the mass peaceful revolution is expected to go on in spite of all the oppression that its activists are facing, while all kinds of economical hardships that the country is facing are getting worse.
 In conclusion, Lebanon needs a flood of divine intervention, and the floods of water on the roads to wash the ungodly leaders out.
 Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard.

Leading figures agree to new Hariri government
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 08/2019
BEIRUT: Samir Khatib, after meeting with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan on Sunday, 24 hours before the planned start of binding parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister, will stand aside to allow Saad Hariri to form a government in Lebanon. Khatib had previously been recommended by Hariri, the former prime minister currently serving as caretaker, to succeed him. Lebanese security forces implemented strict security measures on Sunday, to ensure that the roads to the Baabda Palace were secure for the 128 members of Parliament, who will name the next prime minister. Last night the process was postponed for a week. Public affairs expert and activist Zeina El-Helou told Arab News: “The parties participating in the protests movement have decided through their coordination bodies that they will not block roads on Monday. Instead, they will allow for the parliamentary consultations to take place because, for 41 days, this has been our demand after Hariri’s government resigns.
“But if others proceed to block roads, know that they are affiliated with political parties that do not support the political settlement that will take place.”The civil movement continued in Beirut over the weekend, as activists rejected Khatib as a possible prime minister as “an extension of the ruling political power.”El-Helou said: “The parties in power did not take into consideration the people’s confidence crisis toward this government, nor have they considered the economic crisis or people’s demands. “We reject Hariri’s return to head the government because of his history in this role, and we refuse to have the crisis portrayed as a Sunni sect crisis.”MPs from the blocs that had agreed to name Khatib prime minister retracted the statement that this was final, especially the bloc affiliated with President Michel Aoun, the largest grouping in Parliament. Mario Aoun, member of the Strong Lebanon bloc, said: “The bloc has not yet made a final decision, but it is likely that Khatib will be named if Hariri does not retract his stance that he is the most powerful in his sect and because we are committed to national unity.”He did not rule out “a political surprise on the day of the consultations.”Hezbollah and its allies accused Hariri — without naming him — of “acting with obstinacy and selfishness in an attempt to evade duties.” MP Hassan Fadlallah of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc said: “There are those who think the boat will sink, so they try to jump off it to save themselves, or they see that the country is collapsing, so they want others to bear the consequences while they watch from outside the national responsibility.”The head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, said that the only solution to the political impasse was to form a government based on the principles of the Taif Agreement and the constitution. “We do not want to be part of a government that has toppled all the constitutional foundations,” he said.

Megaphone: The voice of Lebanon’s uprising
Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 08/2019
Volunteers at the activist media platform say their goal is to push boundaries of acceptable discourse in Lebanon.
Beirut, Lebanon – Tarek Keblaoui has barely left the streets since Lebanon’s uprising began. He has experienced its twists and turns, from the initial explosion of unity more than 50 days ago, through subsequent episodes of violence and growing economic uncertainty.
It has not been easy for the 26-year-old freelance videographer, who films for Megaphone, an independent media platform that has grown to become the voice of the youth-driven protest movement. “I’ve been beaten, I’ve been teargassed, I’ve gone on very little sleep,” Keblaoui said, but he has never thought of leaving. “If this whole thing goes south? If there’s more violence? I’d buy a bigger zoom lens for the camera,” he added with a laugh. Like many Lebanese people, Keblaoui had waited for years to experience something like the cross-sectarian uprising that has swept Lebanon since October 17, bringing down a government in the process. Protesters want a new government of independent experts to be appointed to steward the country through its worst economic crisis in a generation, which they blame on policies adopted by former militia leaders and businessmen who have ruled Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war. The demonstrators also want early elections to be held based on a new, non-sectarian electoral law. But the country’s political elites, deeply entrenched, have so far held on to power. They have used media organisations under their sway to try and steer the narrative of the uprising, while supporters of some parties, mainly Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement, have attacked protesters across the country in what appeared to be organised mobilisations.In this climate, working for an independent, anti-sectarian organisation like Megaphone can feel intimidating. “There’s always a fear that one day we’ll get the wrong kind of fame with the wrong kind of people, who might decide to take measures against us,” Keblaoui said. “But despite these fears, there’s a duty to keep going.”
‘Push the boundaries’
Founded in 2017, Megaphone has recently gained popularity for its critical take on news and its breakdowns of politicians speeches during the uprising. While the majority of its output consists of videos, it also publishes text opinion pieces in Arabic and daily news wraps in English and Arabic.
Before the uprising, Megaphone would post one or two videos a month, each of which received between tens of thousands and 200,000 views, but over the weeks-long protest movement, it has published scores of videos which have cumulatively been watched millions of times.
The platform has also published dozens of no-holds-barred opinion pieces, penned by leading Lebanese progressive thinkers, featuring topics ranging from how the uprising has countered patriarchy in the country, to dissections of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah’s psyche. A recent piece, titled “Cutting off the king’s head”, began with the line: “For those who do not know this: The ultimate goal of any revolution is to behead the king.”
It is rare to find that kind of outspoken coverage on traditional media in Lebanon, largely owned and funded by politicians and businessmen.
“The predominant structures in the media industry in Lebanon are more or less extensions of the current political establishment,” Rabie Barakat, a lecturer in media studies at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. “One way to circumvent these structures is to create platforms like Megaphone.”Megaphone is funded entirely with grants from foundations and programmes outside Lebanon, which according to Barakat, “makes sense, because we don’t have an industry in Lebanon capable of creating platforms that can sustain themselves”. The platform’s funders include the European Endowment for Democracy, Canal France International and Denmark-based International Media Support. Funders have no influence over Megaphone’s editorial policy, according to Jamal Saleh, the group’s creative director. Activists and journalists in Lebanon have been interrogated and, in some cases, sentenced to jail terms for critique far less cutting than that published by Megaphone. The platform’s volunteers say it is their goal to push the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable discourse in the country.
“We’ve been very critical from the beginning,” Saleh told Al Jazeera. “The revolution has definitely given us a more fertile ground and more support, and we feel that, but we never compromise on our editorial line.”
Between activism and journalism
Saleh spoke from the group’s nondescript Beirut office, the exact location of which is kept under wraps for security reasons. Similarly, all those who work with Megaphone keep a low profile online. The same cannot be said for their presence in the streets. Many have led chants throughout the current uprising, and at protests in the years before. Most of the Megaphone’s core group are in their mid to late 20s and met at the university. They participated in the large anti-corruption protests in Beirut in 2015, a precursor to the current uprising. “Almost everyone who works for us has held a Megaphone at some point, hence the name,” 27-year-old Saleh said. “We have all been involved in activism,” she added, noting that she does not see that as an issue for an organisation that also publishes news. “We have what I’d say is our straight news content in the daily news items, which aim to be more or less objective. But our progressive views are clear and I think that’s why people come to us.” Barakat said that the platform clearly has an “activist or a motivational side” that aims to drive the uprising in Lebanon. “I don’t think it’s ethically problematic by any means. I just think it’s good to distinguish between journalism and activism on a case-by-case basis.” Saleh said the group saw a large gap in what traditional media in the country was offering to a mostly-young part of the population who became increasingly opposed to the sectarian parties that have ruled the country since the civil war ended in 1990.
Amplifying regular voices
Megaphone’s style is slick and snappy – intentionally geared towards a generation who get their news on social media. Open up Instagram, Facebook and – to a lesser extent – Twitter in Lebanon today and you are bound to see posts of their daily news wraps, or links to their latest video, uploaded late at night by a tireless team of volunteers, although two people have recently been given salaried positions. The platform is also constantly evolving. Recently, it has been posting short, unedited, single-shot videos under the title “a snapshot from the street”, which amplify the voices of regular people taking part in the protests.
“This idea came from me arriving at Megaphone on the second night [of protests] after being teargassed and showing them this insanely cinematic footage,” Keblaoui recalled. Unfiltered and unedited, the videos show scenes like people chanting feminist slogans, an impassioned speech by an older man to young protesters about why the uprising is a “revolution”, and, from early on, security forces teargassing protesters. Saleh says 18-hour days have become the norm, and she had only seen her parents once in the first 30 days of the uprising.”Everyone here has given it their everything,” she said. “But it’s very fulfilling getting out this content that we all really believe in.”

5 Quick Takeaways from the Lebanese Revolt, Others
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
1- In 1989, central and eastern Europe witnessed several uprisings that spelled the end of the Soviet Union: The people rose up in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. These protests were peaceful and derived inspiration from the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution. The uprisings were led by the people, not a party and a party leader. They did not destroy democratic and constitutional life. On the contrary, they established it out of nothing. They did not lead to civil war, but allowed them to contain the earthquake that was the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia. They also allowed them to take in the unification of Germany. These are the most ideal revolutions.
That same period, however, witnessed the conflict over who inherits the Soviet empire. Thus, we witnessed the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnya. In both these cases, religion and sectarianism came to play and produced civil discord.
2- The “Arab Spring” revolts fall somewhere in between the above two examples: They started off peaceful, but the oppression of the ruling regimes pushed them towards the latter example. Tunisia remains the role exception.
The Lebanese revolution is a mix of the above two examples. It also derives examples from recent uprisings over poor socio-economic conditions that were witnessed in France, Chile, Iraq and Iran. The protesters are predominantly demanding improved social and economic conditions. The Lebanese people are also posing a question of identity, similar to what is taking place in Hong Kong and Catalonia.
3- Despite various contradictions, the Lebanese people have managed to mark major accomplishments that are at the core of their new revolutionary identity: First, they set aside sectarianism, even if for a small degree, from public life. Sectarianism looms large over Lebanon through cronyism and division of political shares. It would be futile to introduce any economic reform and provide job opportunities without shedding off some of this sectarianism. It would also be futile to attempt to save democracy and develop it while the country remains entrenched in sectarianism.
Second, the protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful. Let us take a step back and admire how youths, who have been deprived of their most basic rights, have managed to keep their protests peaceful. This peacefulness strikes at the core of a regime that has deprived them of life’s basic needs. This peacefulness is also a reflection of the restraint of the people and the best reply to de facto forces’ warnings and intimidation that the protests could spiral into violence.
4- The same relation that exists between sectarianism and violence also exists between the non-sectarianism and non-violence: It is true that the authority’s deliberate failure to meet the protesters’ demands have led some people to suicide. This total disregard to the pleas of the people could have easily pushed some of them towards violence. However, this is not how the Lebanese revolution works. Turning to violence in Lebanon is the easiest way to bring back sectarianism and lift the morale of its corrupt leaders. Civil divisions will eliminate social demands and the goals of the revolution once violence rears its ugly head.
5- The revolutions in central Europe may not have been possible without the collapse of the Soviet Union: The collapse provided fertile ground for change. This does not apply to Lebanon because Iran, despite its economic crisis and own protests, is still fully functional along with its allies and proxies. Iran and its allies are working on bringing about the Yugoslavia and Chechnya scenarios. This counter-revolution will only make the main uprisings more committed to their peaceful path.

Lebanon and the Monster of Bankruptcy
Rajeh Khoury/Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2019
Last Wednesday, President Michel Aoun announced that parliamentary consultations would take place on Monday, thereby deferring them for five more days, 34 days after the government resigned, and 47 days after the revolution began. This happened after the end of the third meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, the latter representing the Shiite duo that has been insisting for two weeks on rejecting the proposed name of Samir Khatib for Prime Minister. All of this took place before Dany Abu Haidar, a Lebanese citizen, who took his own life because of poverty and inability to support his family, was buried.
What will have changed between last Wednesday and this Monday?
Nothing at the level of the regime and the government formation facing an economic crisis that has ushered a stage of bankruptcy and collapse. There is no clear path for either the appointment of Samir Khatib nor for the return of Saad Hariri after the political settlement that led to Michel Aoun’s presidential election collapsed. The uprising, which rejects a non-technocratic government and the inclusion of the same politicians who bankrupted the country, adds to this.
So, where can we go from here?
It is not enough to talk about an economic path that leads to panic, if not to hell, after the capital control measures taken that limited cash withdrawals from banks to USD300 per week and prevented transfers overseas, and after the valid fears of ‘haircuts’ on deposits.
It is not enough to talk about a political path that leads to more complications, especially after the bickering between Aoun and the former PMs who have repeatedly accused him of disregarding the constitution and trying to return to a time before the Taef Agreement. These accusations were launched after the President had been appointing ministers before choosing their PM. In response to popular demands to abide by the constitution, it was stated that “The President is using his constitutional rights by binding the consultations to a designation of a PM and the formation of a new government to prevent the country from descending into a prolonged vacuum.”
The dispute around this continued after the alliance between Aoun and the Shite duo, upon Hariri’s insistence on the formation of a technocratic government to meet the demands of the uprising, attempted to convince Hariri to commit political suicide. They pushed him to support Mohammad Safadi’s candidacy, then Samir Khatib, announce his support in a written statement, get the approval of the Mufti, the former PMs, and to take part in this government.
After Hariri rejected the temptations and pressures to head a techno-political government which would maintain Hezbollah’s dominance in political decision-making in the executive authority, it became clear that the alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo, i.e., Hezbollah and Amal Movement, insist on having him for several reasons. First, he is economically useful, as he can work on reactivating the CEDRE Conference aid. Second, he is a local and regional Sunni power, which is important, especially during these difficult times when Hezbollah is subjected to severe foreign pressure, sanctions, and is classified as a terrorist organization by the US. Third, his approval of a techno-political government would help Hezbollah overcome the uprising and quell the protests it has produced from Tyre and Nabatieh to Baalbeck. This is especially important as it is happening in parallel with violent disturbances in Iran and Iraq; in the latter, the protesters set fire to the Iranian Consulate three times in Najaf while chanting, “Iran out out” despite the violent repression that they faced.
Before Aoun announced Monday as the date for the parliamentary consultations, the exchanges between him and the former PMs were heated. In a statement released by former PMs Fouad Siniora, Tammam Salam, and Najib Miqati, they said, “We are alarmed by the serious violation of the Taef Agreement in its letter and spirit, and we are alarmed by the assault on the parliamentary authority to designate a PM through binding parliamentary consultations conducted by the President and the assault on the authority of the designated PM by naming what is being called a possible PM.”
Aoun responded with a statement that repeated what he has been saying for the last month. He claims the consultations that he is doing are not a violation of the constitution and the Taef accord. He accused the former PMs of not realizing the negative consequences of accelerating consultations on the country’s general situation and national unity.
All of this comes after Hariri’s statement last week, where he explicitly accused Aoun of chronically denying the gravity of the situation the country is in. That is in terms of the popular uprising and its legitimate demands to form a technocratic government, the crippling economic crisis that has put the country on the brink of collapse, and the attempts to accuse him of discarding candidates for premiership other than him. In light of these irresponsible practices, he responded to Aoun’s famous slogan that he clung to and kept the country in presidential vacuum for two and a half years “either me or no one” with the slogan “Not me, but someone else”!
The uprising has been heightened after the number of suicides due to poverty has increased. It has rejected Samir Khatib’s candidacy raising the slogan “All of them means all of them”, which is being chanted now in Iraq.
This implies the necessity of overthrowing the entire corrupt political elite. The regime and the Shiite duo have presented a new slogan in opposition, “All of us means all of us in government.” This is related to what Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad had announced about there being no alternative to a national unity government, i.e., duplicating the current cabinet, other than remaining under a caretaker government for a very long time. This means rejecting all of the uprising’s demands and maintaining the regime which rebels accuse of being corrupt and plundering public funds, at a time where Lebanon has entered real bankruptcy and the threat of complete collapse.
Last Thursday, Siniora commented on Samir Khatib’s candidacy, saying “This man’s character and his ethics are one thing, but his suitability for this exceptional stage is something else.” When asked whether he would possibly name him in the consultations, he answered, “It is only possible to predict what a reasonable person would do, as for others, that is something else.” This implies that whoever is reasonable will not name Khatib.
This leads to a very confusing question:
What crisis will birth a government? Will it emerge out of a resolution of the dispute between the Sunni politicians and the alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo? Or will come after the revolution is quashed so that a techno-political government is formed despite the widespread outrage stemming from the series of suicides that have taken place recently, such as George Zreik burning himself alive for not being able to pay his daughter’s school fees, Naji Fliti hanging himself for not being able to buy a LBP1,000 thyme manoushe for his daughter, Dany Abou Haidar taking his own life last Wednesday for not being able to support his family, and a fourth citizen committing suicide on Thursday after another citizen tried to burn himself alive in Akkar because of financial pressure?
The upcoming dates assigned for consultations are the last hope for Hariri’s approval. Still, it appears that the parliamentary alliance between Aoun and the Shiite duo, which includes 42 MPs, will be maintained until the end of the consultations in order to guarantee that Aoun remains in charge and push for a government that serves the interests of that alliance. But what do we do with the revolution and the rebels? How do we confront the monster of bankruptcy in a country where citizens take their own lives because they are unable to buy a manoushe? How do we confront it in a country where people rush to withdraw USD300 while TV channels compete to uncover scandals of theft and plunder, a country whose debt has reached USD100 billion while the amount that has been looted by politicians, stored in offshore European banks, exceeds USD320 billion?

Time Is Running Out/Interview With Former Minister Nasser al-Saidi
Michael Young/Carnegie/December 08/2019
In an interview, former minister Nasser al-Saidi explains why Lebanon’s financial revival will be a massive undertaking.
Nasser al-Saidi is a Lebanese economist who served as first vice governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank in 1993–2002 and as minister of economy and trade in 1998–2000. He was chief economist and strategist of the Dubai International Financial Center, and acts as an advisor to governments, central banks, and regulators in the region. He is currently the founder and president of Nasser Saidi & Associates. Diwan interviewed Saidi in early December to get his views on the financial crisis that Lebanon is facing today, and to ask him what steps are needed to install financial stability in the country. The monumental task ahead is why Saidi said that any new government willing to grapple with Lebanon’s financial problems would effectively face a politically suicidal undertaking.
Michael Young: You’ve described the way Lebanon has been raising money in recent decades as a “Ponzi scheme.” Can you elaborate on what you meant?
Nasser al-Saidi: A Ponzi scheme develops when promised returns on investments are paid to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. How did this happen in Lebanon? Successive governments have been fiscally reckless, with an average budget deficit of 8.5 percent of GDP since 2010. The high levels of government borrowing along with high interest rates led to a “crowding out” of the private sector and a sharp decline in investment and domestic credit to the private sector. This resulted in dismal economic growth and now a recession.
In tandem, the Central Bank raised U.S. dollar interest rates to attract deposits of the Lebanese diaspora and foreign investors to help finance Lebanon’s twin deficits—the persistent current account deficits and the budget deficits. Higher interest rates raised the overall cost of government borrowing and led to a “crowding out” of the public sector: Government deficits were increasingly financed by the Central Bank. In turn, banks preferred to deposit at the Central Bank rather than risk lending to the private sector or the government, earning rates on U.S. dollar deposits exceeding international rates by 600 to 700 basis points. They were paid 8 percent and more, while international rates were 1 percent.
By 2016, the flow of remittances and capital inflows that served to finance Lebanon’s twin fiscal and current account deficits started declining. The Central Bank attempted to shore up its international reserves and preserve an overvalued exchange rate by increased borrowing from the banks through so-called “financial engineering” schemes and swap operations. It also engaged in a massive bailout of domestic banks—in excess of $5 billion—that had suffered large losses on their foreign operations in Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.
While in the United States and Europe such bailouts after the 2007–2009 global financial crisis were undertaken by governments as part of their fiscal operations in return for equity and through the imposition of conditions, no such conditionality was imposed by Lebanon’s Central Bank. Financial engineering, swaps, and other quasi-fiscal operations led to a ballooning of its balance sheet, from 182 percent of GDP in 2015 to 280 percent by October 2019, the highest ratio in the world. The growth in Central Bank assets—largely Lebanese government bonds and T-bills—was financed by more bank borrowing at high interest rates and led to a growing liquidity crunch for the private sector.
The bottom line is that the Central Bank was financing government budget deficits and monetizing the public debt through bank borrowing, earning less on its “assets” than it was promising and paying the banks. Increasingly, it was paying high returns on deposits from fresh money from domestic banks and international borrowing.
MY: Lebanon has imposed de facto capital controls. Is the message here that the decisionmakers favor protecting the banking sector over economic growth? And if so, does Lebanon have other choices given the pain that would ensue if the banking sector were to collapse?
NS: The de facto, informal capital, payments, and exchange controls imposed by the banks, with the implicit consent of the Central Bank, are intended to control capital flight, given the growing loss of confidence in the sustainability of government finances and the ability of the banking system to continue financing government deficits. But the self-declared bank holidays only brought on panic by depositors and investors. Indeed, the measures were self-defeating: Capital and foreign exchange controls, along with payment restrictions, while temporarily protecting the banks and the international reserves of the Central Bank, have generated a downward spiral in trade and economic activity and will result in an increase in non-performing loans, directly hurting banks.
In addition, the imposition of controls is left to the arbitrary discretion of the banks, which has generated heightened uncertainty concerning transactions and payments, and has led to a drying up of capital inflows and remittances, weakening the net foreign asset position of the banking system. International country evidence shows that while capital controls can be effective as part of a policy toolkit, they are not a substitute for the well-structured macroeconomic, fiscal, financial, and monetary reform program that Lebanon needs.
MY: Today there is a liquidity crunch, which has dire consequences for a country very heavily reliant on imported goods. Given that the Central Bank appears to have much lower reserves than initially announced, does Lebanon have any other choice than to go to the international community for such liquidity?
NS: Given the large level of sovereign and Central Bank debt—a total of LL150,183 billion, of which LL82,249 billion is Central Bank debt as of the second quarter of 2019—and the direct exposure of the banking system, with 70 percent of bank assets being in government and Central Bank paper, Lebanon will need to turn to the international community. The promised CEDRE Conference commitments made by a group of donors and investors in April 2018 will have to be renegotiated and recast into a multilateral economic stabilization and liquidity fund. This fund will be subjected to conditionality relating to fiscal, sectoral (electricity, water, transport, and other), structural, and financial reforms.
MY: Can the banking sector survive the current shock?
NS: The banking sector, including the Central Bank, is at the core of the required macroeconomic and financial adjustment program, given that it holds an overwhelming share of public debt. Public debt (including Central Bank debt) will have to be reprofiled and restructured. For example, a domestic Lebanese pound debt reprofiling would repackage debt maturing over 2020–2023 into new debt at substantially lower rates, maturing over the next five to ten years. Similarly, foreign currency debt can also be restructured and repackaged into longer maturities, benefiting from a guarantee of the CEDRE participants, which would drastically lower interest rates. The suggested debt reprofiling and restructuring operations would result in substantially lower debt service costs from the current 10 percent of GDP and would create fiscal space during the adjustment period.
There will have to be a bail-in by the banks and their shareholders, accompanied by a consolidation and restructuring of the banking system. In turn, the extensive bail-in means that a large recapitalization and equity injection will be required to restore banking system soundness and monetary stability.
MY: Where do you see Lebanon going in the coming months? What dynamics will be in play?
NS: Absent the formation of a confidence rebuilding and credible new government and rapid policy reform measures, the current outlook is a deepening recession, growing unemployment, with a sharp fall in consumption, investment, and trade. It will also come with a continued depreciation of the Lebanese pound on the parallel market, resulting in rapidly accelerating inflation and a decline in real wages, along with a sharply growing budget deficit due to falling revenues. As a result, financial pressures on the banking system will increase, with a scenario of increasing ad hoc controls on economic activity and payments, and market distortions.
MY: What would you do at this stage to prevent the worst from happening? Can you outline a realistic step-by-step process the government and the banking sector can adopt to emerge from the financial mess they’ve created.
NS: Time is running out. A new government needs to be formed, dominated by non-partisan, independent, competent “technocratic” ministers known for their integrity, endowed with extraordinary decisionmaking powers, and willing to sacrifice their political future, given the difficult policy decisions required. Effectively, this would be a “hara-kiri government.” The government should, within weeks, prepare and start implementing a comprehensive macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary reform program with a clear policy road map including the implementation of structural reforms. While the policy road map should include deep structural reforms—for example pension system reform—these can be sequenced, but need not be implemented immediately.
The immediate priority is to address the interlinked currency, banking, fiscal, and financial crises. For the adjustment program to be credible, public finances must be put on a sustainable path through dramatic and sustained fiscal adjustment to reduce debt and the budget deficit—requiring a massive primary surplus of 6 percent of GDP, excluding interest payments. The state must also resize the public sector and restructure the financial system through a reprofiling and restructuring of public debt, including Central Bank debt. Lebanon will need to call on the international community to support its adjustment program through a reconfigured, recast CEDRE program. As part of the program, the Central Bank’s reserves will need to be supported by bilateral Central Bank swap lines. External multilateral funding worth some $20–25 billion (35–45 percent of GDP) will also be required.
These painful measures require a broad and strong political commitment. The choice is between market-imposed, disorderly, and painful adjustments, meaning a hard landing, or self-imposed reforms that are credible and sustainable. However, nothing indicates the ruling political class and policymakers are ready for these difficult choices. Nor is there political courage and capacity for reform.

 

The post A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 08- 09/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 53th Day appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.


نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 09 كانون الأول/2019

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نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 09 كانون الأول/2019

اضغط هنا لقراءة نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة المفصلة، اللبنانية والعربية ليوم 09 كانون الأول/2019

ارشيف نشرات أخبار موقعنا اليومية/عربية وانكليزية منذ العام 2006/اضغط هنا لدخول صفحة الأرشيف

عناوين أقسام نشرة المنسقية باللغة العربية
الزوادة الإيمانية لليوم
تعليقات الياس بجاني وخلفياتها
الأخبار اللبنانية
المتفرقات اللبنانية
الأخبار الإقليمية والدولية
المقالات والتعليقات والتحاليل السياسية الشاملة
المؤتمرات والندوات والبيانات والمقابلات والمناسبات الخاصة والردود وغيره

The post نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 09 كانون الأول/2019 appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

Detailed LCCC English News Bulletin For December 09/2019

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Detailed LCCC English News Bulletin For December 09/2019

Click Here to read the whole and detailed LCCC English News Bulletin for December 09/2019

Click Here to enter the LCCC  Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Titles Of The LCCC English News Bulletin
Bible Quotations For today
Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News 
Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports And News
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources

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Elias Bejjani/My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon/ المطران الياس عودة شهد للبنان وللحق وسمى الأشياء بأسمائها

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My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
المطران الياس عودة شهد للبنان وللحق وسمى الأشياء بأسمائها

Lebanon’s Orthodox great Bishop of Beirut, Msgr Elias Audi has overtly, patriotically, and faithfully witnessed for the truth and for our beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.

In his yesterday’s Homely he called things as they are, and named those forces who occupy Lebanon, as well as those Lebanese puppet officials who instead of serving Lebanon’s interests are siding with the terrorist Hezbollah, the occupier of Lebanon, and serving the Iranian agenda of occupation, expansionism and terrorism.

All those officials, politicians, clergymen and journalist who criticized Audi’s courageous homely are either Iranian mouthpieces, or mere Iranian mercenaries.

Accordingly all their Dhimmitude replies of criticism are valueless.

And yes as Bishop Audi stated, Hezbollah occupies Lebanon, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is the actual ruler of the country, and yes the Lebanese officials are mere puppets.

Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard

Below are excerpts from Bishop Elias Audi’s homely.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
NNA/December 08/2019
Beirut’s Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop Elias Audi presided over a memorial Mass service at St. George’s Cathedral in downtown Beirut this morning, marking the fourteenth commemoration of the martyrdom of Gibran Tueni and his two companions.
In his homily, Audi paid tribute to the memory of Martyr Tueini, recalling the true essence of his words that still reflect on our present times. “To believe that the true word does not die, but resonates stronger, listen to what Gibran said many years ago, as if to describe the present situation in our beloved country, which was distorted by the hand of corruption, betrayal and repression,” he said.
“What remains of the truth, service, humility, deliberation, transparency, justice, openness, democracy and freedom, what is left of it in our country?” questioned Audi, criticizing the current rulers for adopting the ways of “totalitarian regimes with their one-party system.”
“How long are we to continue paying the price for internal and external polarizations? How long are we to continue wasting opportunities? How long will the people remain captive to the policy of an extremist party?” Audi went on to question. “This country is ruled by a person you all know and by a group that governs us with arms!” he exclaimed. The Archbishop considered that for a citizen’s identity to be preserved, the country must be preserved. “Today, unfortunately, Lebanon pays the price of the mistakes committed by a corrupt and bankrupt political class,” he said, adding, “Had it not been for the people who held on to their identity, Lebanon would have been lost a long time ago.”
“The Lebanese people have demonstrated their ability to preserve the country and identity after the many struggles it has gone through…We must learn to belong to the homeland and a new political class must be created,” he emphasized.
Bishop Audi hailed the Lebanese youth’s uprising under the country’s national flag, and slogans of achieving social justice, anti-corruption, accountability, liberation of the judiciary from political interference, and forming a min-government of specialists with integrity and competence. “Are these mere fictitious demands, or are they the simplest things required to build a state?” he wondered. “The Lebanese people take pride in being a peaceful people, whose weapons are unity, faith, honesty and truth, especially their steadfastness in the face of conspiracies and attempts to sow discord and despair in souls,” the Bishop maintained. “Birth, my dear ones, is preceded by a painful labour, and the birth of a new Lebanon is approaching,” he said. “It is a question of will, above all, the will to sacrifice, the will to abandon selfishness and personal interests, the will to open up to the other and extend the hand of dialogue and the determination to reach for what unites rather than highlight the differences,” stressed Audi. “Our country is in conflict and is waiting for a heroic act to save it,” he underscored.

Bishop Elias Audi: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi on Sunday decried that Lebanon is being ruled by one “person” and an “armed group.” “Today, this country is being ruled by a person you all know, and no one is saying a word, and it is being ruled by a group hiding behind arms,” Audi said in a sermon marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of the journalist Gebran Tueni. “What has scared officials and is still scaring them is the voice of right and truth, the voice of the hungry and suffering people, the voice of everyone who cherishes the country,” Aude added.“The ruling authority has been sentenced to death while the people and their country will only find resurrection and victory. The birth of a new Lebanon is nearing,” the metropolitan went on to say. Commenting on the protests that have been sweeping the country since October 17, Aude said the Lebanese who are on the streets are “sacrificing a lot for the sake of a future whose fathers and grandfathers had waited but did not get.”

*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentatorEmail phoenicia@hotmail.com media.lccc@gmail.com
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بالإِيْمَانِ قَهَرُوا المَمَالِك، وعَمِلُوا البِرّ، ونَالُوا الوُعُود، وسَدُّوا أَفْوَاهَ الأُسُود/With faith they conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions

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بالإِيْمَانِ قَهَرُوا المَمَالِك، وعَمِلُوا البِرّ، ونَالُوا الوُعُود، وسَدُّوا أَفْوَاهَ الأُسُود، وأَخْمَدُوا قُوَّةَ النَّار
الرسالة إلى العبرانيّين11/م31حتى40/:”يا إخوَتِي، مَاذَا أَقُولُ بَعْد؟ فَإِنَّ الوَقْتَ يَضِيقُ بِي وأَنَا أُخْبِرُ عَن جِدْعُونَ وبَارَاقَ وشَمشُونَ ويَفْتَاحَ ودَاودَ وصَمُوئِيلَ والأَنْبِياء، الَّذِينَ بالإِيْمَانِ قَهَرُوا المَمَالِك، وعَمِلُوا البِرّ، ونَالُوا الوُعُود، وسَدُّوا أَفْوَاهَ الأُسُود، وأَخْمَدُوا قُوَّةَ النَّار، ونَجَوا مِن حَدِّ السَّيْف، ونَالُوا مِنَ الضُّعْفِ قُوَّة، وصَارُوا أَشِدَّاءَ في القِتَال، وهَزَمُوا عَسَاكِرَ الغُرَبَاء، وٱسْتَرَدَّتْ نِسَاءٌ أَمْواتَهُنَّ بِالقِيَامَة. وآخَرُونَ عُذِّبُوا بِتَوتِيرِ الأَعْضَاءِ والضَّرْب، ورَفَضُوا النَّجَاة، لِكَي يَحْصَلُوا على قِيَامَةٍ أَفْضَل. وآخَرُونَ ذاقُوا الهُزْءَ والجَلْد، وأَيْضًا القُيُودَ والسِّجْن. ورُجِمُوا، ونُشِرُوا، ومَاتُوا بِحَدِّ السَّيْف، وهَامُوا على وُجُوهِهِم لابِسِينَ جُلُودَ الغَنَمِ والمَاعِز، وهُم مُحْتَاجُونَ ومُضَايَقُونَ ومُذَلَّلُون، تَائِهُونَ في البَرارِي والجِبَالِ والمَغَاوِرِ وشُقُوقِ الأَرْض، هُمُ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَكُنِ العَالَمُ مُسْتَحِقًّا لَهُم. فأُولئِكَ جَمِيعُهُم، وقَد شُهِدَ لَهُم بِالإِيْمَان، لَمْ يَنَالُوا الوَعْد؛ لأَنَّ اللهَ سَبَقَ فأَعَدَّ لنَا مَا هُوَ أَفْضَل، لِئَلاَّ يُجْعَلُوا كَامِلِينَ بِدُونِنَا!”

With faith they conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword
Hebrews 11/31-40/:”By faith the walls of Jericho fell after being encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace. What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what was righteous, obtained the promises; they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle, and turned back foreign invaders. Women received back their dead through resurrection. Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point; they went about in skins of sheep or goats, needy, afflicted, tormented. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and on mountains, in caves and in crevices in the earth. Yet all these, though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised. God had foreseen something better for us, so that without us they should not be made perfect.”

 هكذَا يَكُونُ فَرَحٌ في السَّمَاءِ بِخَاطِئٍ وَاحِدٍ يَتُوب، أَكْثَرَ مِنْ تِسْعَةٍ وَتِسْعِينَ بَارًّا، لا يَحْتَاجُونَ إِلى تَوْبَة
إنجيل القدّيس لوقا15/من03حتى07/:”قالَ الربُّ يَسوعُ هذَا المَثَل:«أَيُّ رَجُلٍ مِنْكُم، لَهُ مِئَةُ خَرُوف، فَأَضَاعَ وَاحِدًا مِنْهَا، لا يَتْرُكُ التِّسْعَةَ وَالتِّسْعِينَ في البَرِّيَّةِ وَيَذْهَبُ وَرَاءَ الضَّائِعِ حَتَّى يَجِدَهُ؟ فَإِذَا وَجَدَهُ حَمَلَهُ عَلَى كَتِفَيْهِ فَرِحًا. وَيَعُودُ إِلى البَيْتِ فَيَدْعُو الأَصْدِقَاءَ وَالجِيرَان، وَيَقُولُ لَهُم: إِفْرَحُوا مَعِي، لأَنِّي وَجَدْتُ خَرُوفِيَ الضَّائِع! أَقُولُ لَكُم: هكذَا يَكُونُ فَرَحٌ في السَّمَاءِ بِخَاطِئٍ وَاحِدٍ يَتُوب، أَكْثَرَ مِنْ تِسْعَةٍ وَتِسْعِينَ بَارًّا، لا يَحْتَاجُونَ إِلى تَوْبَة”!

I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15/03-07/:”Jesus told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.”

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جيرازلم بوست: تقارير عن منع طائرات حربية روسية سلاح الجوي الإسرائيلي من استهداف شحنات أسلحة متطورة إيرانية وصلت إلى سوريا/Jerusalem Post: Russian Su-35 jets scrambled to stop Israel over Syria – reports

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Russian Su-35 jets scrambled to stop Israel over Syria – reports
جيرازلم بوست: تقارير عن منع طائرات حربية روسية سلاح الجوي الإسرائيلي من استهداف شحنات أسلحة متطورة إيرانية وصلت إلى سوريا
Jerusalem Post/December 09/2019

The reports claim that “Israeli fighters had to flee from the Russian Su-35” and at the same time that “Iran delivered unknown air defense systems to Syria.”
Iranian and Russian media reported that Russian Su-35s were scrambled from Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria to intercept an alleged Israeli attack near T-4 earlier this month. The report, first put online in a blog at Avia and then picked up by the website Almasdar News and then Tasnim News in Iran claimed that the Su-35s sought to intercept Israeli planes over Syria.
The reports claim that “Israeli fighters had to flee from the Russian Su-35” and at the same time that “Iran delivered unknown air defense systems to Syria.” The incident occurred over T-4 or Tiyas base east of Homs in Syria. The base is a well-known transit point for Iranian weapons and has Russian personnel at it. Israel has been accused of striking the area in the past. In May 2018 Ynet said that Israel had carried out an airstrike to destroy an Iranian 3rd Khordad Air Defense system at T-4. Syria claimed more airstrikes hit the area in June and July of this year and September last year.
The reports at the Avia website follow other reports at the same site that often write sensational accounts about alleged Israeli actions in Syria. For instance the same site reported on December 8 that “Israel is preparing new strikes on Syria.” Al-Masdar News reported that the Iranian Bavar-373 air defense was deployed to the area. Both reports appeared to rely on a Twitter account named @Syrian_MC for their information. That account indicated that Russia had scrambled its jets and that the “incident” ended on December 6.
The National Interest reported that Su-35s had been scrambled in August and “forced Israeli aircraft out of Syrian airspace,” and the website DefenseWorld made a similar claim in September. Other defense websites have argued the SU-35 is a capable fighter, deployed to Syria in small numbers after it became operational in 2014. Russia’s TASS said in 2018 the fighter is “battle tested in Syrian skies.” It is a 4th Generation “plus” fighter that is super maneuverable and can fly up to 2,500 kilometers an hour. That’s a bit faster than an F-16.
Iran’s Tasnim media appeared to celebrate the claim that Russia had “pursued” Israeli aircraft and “forced” them to leave. The story emerged at the same time as reports that satellite images had shown a cargo plane land at T-4 and unload munitions that could be used in a “revenge attack” by Iran against Israel, according to Israel HaYom. Those images were from November 21, a day after the airstrikes Israel says it carried out against Iranian IRGC targets in Syria. “A large cargo trailer on the runway of the Iran operated T-4 base located in Homs district,” was shown. “Israel reportedly refrained from targeting the T-4 base due to its division into three areas controlled by Russian, Iranian and Syrian army, raising challenges that would require precise coordination with Moscow on top of the base’s more formidable security arsenal that include the S-300 anti-aircraft system.” Russia provided S-300s to Syria in October 2018 after a Syrian S-200 shot down a Russian plane during an Israeli airstrike in Latakia. The incident caused a momentary crises with Russia at the time.
Syrian air defense is known for shooting its S-200s wildly, one time shooting a missile that hit Cyprus by mistake in July 2019, and in 2017 firing a missile that had to be downed by an Arrow air defense system over Jordan, according to the BBC.
Russia released information on November 21 accusing Israel of four days of attacks in Syria in November, including the November 20 raids and an airstrike at Albukamal and two near Damascus on November 12 and November 19. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is meeting his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov today to discuss various issues, including Syria. Pompeo met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Portugal last week and Oman’s foreign minister on November 26. When Netanyahu met Pompeo on December 5 he said that Israel was actively countering Iranian aggression. Pompeo expressed support for Israel’s countering of Iran in August and October. On December 5 the New York Times reported Iran is transferring short range ballistic missiles to Iraq that threaten Israel. Airstrikes Saturday near Albukamal killed five pro-Iranian fighters.

Report: Russian fighter jets thwarted Israeli attack in Syria
Yoav Zitun,Itay Blumenthal,Daniel Salami|/Ynetnews/December 09/2019
According to Russian military aviation blog, IAF airstrike was planned for last Saturday and targeted advanced weapons shipment, which included high-tech defense systems, from Iran to secret T-4 airbase
Two Russian Su-35 fighter jets on Saturday thwarted an Israeli airstrike on the T-4 airbase in southern Syria, causing the Israeli craft to return to base, the Russian military aviation blog AVIA.PRO reported on Monday. The blog also reported that the Israeli attack had been planned against an advanced weapons shipment from Iran to the airbase, which included advanced air defense systems. As of now, the location of these air defense systems is unknown. However, since most of the airstrikes attributed to Israel have taken place on the outskirts of Damascus (in the area of its international airport) or on the Syria-Iran border, the report said, it is undeniable that the Iranian-made system is now located within those two areas. The report further stated that the system might have middle- to long-distance aerial capabilities.
The report comes in light of an additional shipment Sunday en route from Tehran to T-4. A day earlier, an Iranian Boeing 747 used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps also arrived in Damascus from Tehran.
In the past, a similar aircraft, which is currently under repair, has transferred fighting equipment to Iran’s Lebanon-based proxy Hezbollah.
Israel has reportedly on several occasions attacked these shipments after they arrived in Syria. According to foreign sources, the T-4 airbase stores Iranian-made parts for drones and is used as a transit point for weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. In recent times, the Iranians have increased their shipments and presence in the area, with a rise in the number of various militant groups in the area, from about 30,000 militiamen to 40,000 militiamen over the last year. Some of these militias are operated by the Al-Quds wing of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and have launched in the past several rockets towards Israel.

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Why Russia Wants Lebanon/By: Grigory Melamedov/Middle East Quarterly/دراسة مطولة تشرح الأسباب التي من أجلها يريد الروس لبنان

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The post Why Russia Wants Lebanon/By: Grigory Melamedov/Middle East Quarterly/دراسة مطولة تشرح الأسباب التي من أجلها يريد الروس لبنان appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

منير الربيع: المطران الياس عودة يرفع عصا الانتفاضة بوجه السلطة والوصاية

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المطران الياس عودة يرفع عصا الانتفاضة بوجه السلطة و”الوصاية”
منير الربيع/المدن/10 كانون الأول/2019

سريعاً ما تناغم المنتفضون اللبنانيون مع كلام المطران الياس عودة، المؤيد لهم ولمطالبهم.

كان عودة أول من أطلق موقفاً مؤيداً للثورة اللبنانية. وعلى الرغم من ترداد المطالبة بعدم تدخل رجال الدين في العمل السياسي، إلا أن المواطنين دوماً بحاجة إلى أي دعم معنوي لخياراتهم شكاويهم، تماماً كما تلجأ القوى السياسية إلى الاحتماء خلف طوائفها ومرجعياتها الطائفية. وبما أن المنتفضين لا يتمتعون بأي “غطاء سياسي”، مثّل موقف عودة نصيراً لهم في الظروف الحالية. موقفه في بكركي، الذي قال فيه إن هناك امتهاناً لكرامة الناس، ويفضل الفراغ على الواقع المعاش في لبنان، كان متقدماً جداً في دعم خيارات اللبنانيين، بعيداً عن الحسابات السياسية والطائفية.

وجع الناس أولاً
في قداس ذكرى استشهاد جبران تويني، أطلق عودة موقفاً بعيد المدى في السياسة إذ قال: “لبنان اليوم محكومة من شخص، كلكم تعلمونه وهو يعلم ما لا تعلمون ويحتمي بسلاح مجموعة تدعمه”. وأطلق عودة مواقف أخرى في العظة ذاتها، تلاقي مطالب الناس وتدعو للاستجابة لها. لكن موقفه حول حكم لبنان من شخص واحد يعتمد على السلاح، استدعى الكثير من الردود المهاجمة لمطران بيروت وتوابعها للروم الأرثوذكس.
وحسب ما تؤكد المصادر، فإن عودة قصد بكلامه الوزير جبران باسيل، المحتمي بمجموعة لديها سلاح، وسجل اعتراضاً على هذه “الجماعة” (حزب الله) وأسبابها في دعمه، وتوفير ما يريده، ليتمكن من التعطيل وربط مصير البلد بشخصه.

ينقل عن عودة إنه إذا ما خير بين الاستقرار ووجع الناس، يختار وجع الناس. ويرى أن هناك شخصاً واحداً هو الذي يؤخر الحلول. شخص يتحدث في المنتديات الدولية، وكأن شيئاً لم يحدث في لبنان، ومستعد لتدمير البلاد والعباد في سبيل مصالحه الشخصية. ولو لم يكن مدعوماً من هذه الجهة المسلحة لما تمكّن من القيام بما قام به. وتشير المعلومات، إلى أن عودة لم يهدف إلى سجال مع حزب الله، على الرغم من أن موقفه من الحزب معروف.

امتحانات في قبرص!
كما تشير مصادر متابعة إلى أن لا إشكالية بين عودة ورئيس الجمهورية. لا بل هو حريص على موقع الرئاسة ويقدره. لكن الأهم بالنسبة لعودة هو أن تكون الرئاسة في سبيل الناس وخدمتهم، وعدم حماية المحاصصات والصفقات، التي تضرّ الناس واقتصادهم، والكف عن سياسة الشرذمة والتفرقة والتعصب. هذا، على الرغم من أن العلاقة التاريخية بينه وبين رئيس الجمهورية ميشال عون لم تكن جيدة.

إذ هناك روايات كثيرة عن حساسية تلك العلاقة، منها: في العام 1989، عندما كان ميشال عون رئيس حكومة عسكرية، زار عودة قصر بعبدا طالباً من عون التهدئة ووقف المعارك، كي يتمكن الطلاب من إجراء امتحاناتهم، فأجابه عون أنه ليس مسؤولاً عما يجري، وبالإمكان “إرسال الطلاب إلى قبرص لتقديم امتحاناتهم هناك”. ما شكل صدمة للمطران عودة.

دور النظام السوري
بالتأكيد ثمة أمور عديدة دفعت بعودة إلى هذا التصريح الجريء، تتجاوز الساحة اللبنانية. فهو منذ فترة طويلة يتعرض لحصار وتطويق من قبل بعض المطارنة والبطاركة الموالين للنظام السوري. وقد اتُهم من قبلهم بأنه يسعى إلى الانشقاق عن الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية، وهو يعارض بوضوح توجهات البطريرك يوحنا اليازجي الموالي للنظام السوري.

منذ فترة، يُتهم عودة بأنه يسعى إلى فصل كنيسة لبنان عن كنيسة سوريا، على غرار ما حدث في أوكرانيا. لكنه نفى الأمر بشكل قاطع. مع ذلك، لا تخفي المصادر أنه منذ انتخاب يازجي بطريركاً لكنيسة أنطاكيا، حتى بدأ عودة في مواجهة منطق “سورنة” الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية. إذ أن البطريرك اليازجي عمل على عزل وتطويق العديد من رؤساء أديرة لبنانيين وتعيين سوريين مكانهم. وجميعهم موالون للنظام السوري. ويقال إنه عندما تم تعيين مطران جديد لجبل لبنان، كانت الغاية أن يكون مطراناً سورياً.

لكن مطارنة لبنانيون انتفضوا وحذروا من خطورة هذه الخطوة. أي أن يتم استقدام مطران من الجنسية السورية إلى أكبر مطرانية أرثوذكسية، هي مطرانية جبل لبنان.

والهدف من “السورنة” يعود إلى مساعي النظام السوري بما ينسجم مع التوجه السياسي والكنسي الروسي، لتطويق المطران عودة وتأمين أكبر عدد من المطارنة الموالين لدمشق، ليتمكنوا من عزله أو انتخاب بديل منه، في سيناريو مشابه تماماً لما تعرض له البطريرك الماروني الراحل نصر الله صفير. فلدى الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية، المطران على مطرانيته أشبه بالملك، ولا يمكن للبطريرك أن يقيله. ولمطران بيروت الذي ينتخب من المجمع الأرثوذكسي المقدس، رمزية كبيرة خصوصاً أنه يتحدث باسم كل الأرثوذكس في لبنان.

في الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية، هناك بطاركة حسب مناطق كبرى: القدس، موسكو، انطاكيا، وغيرها. هذه البطريركيات يتبع لها مطارنة، فبطريركية إنطاكيا ومركزها الشام، يتبع لها مطارنة لبنان وسوريا وجزء من تركيا. وبالتالي، فليتم تعيين مطران جديد، يجتمع المجمع المقدس الذي يضم البطريرك والمطارنة لانتخابه.

ومع واقع تعيين مطارنة سوريين موالين للنظام، يدورون جميعهم في فلك البطريرك، فهذا يمكنهم من انتخاب المطران الذي يريدونه. أي سيكون حكماً موالياً للنظام السوري.

المطران عودة يعارض ذلك، ويحاول المواجهة. ولذلك اتُهم بأنه يسعى إلى فصل كنيسة بيروت عن كنيسة انطاكيا، قطعاً لتأثير بطريركية سوريا على الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية في لبنان.

الصلب والشجاع
يتمتع عودة بقيمة فكرية ومكانة روحية لدى الرعايا الأرثوذكس وعموم اللبنانيين. هو من محافظة الشمال. وعندما تم انتخابه مطراناً على بيروت، لم يكن مقبولاً أن يكون المطران على بيروت من خارجها، فلم يلق قبولاً حينها. لكن تم احتضانه وتوقيره فيما بعد، بسبب مسيرته الإنمائية. فازدهرت في أيامه الخدمات الاجتماعية المقدمة، وتطورت القطاعات التابعة لكنيسته. وكانت له مواقف صلبة وشجاعة أيام الوصاية السورية على لبنان.

كما أنه يُعتبر من أكبر المحافظين على الإرث الأرثوذكسي. وهو تلميذ الراهب بوروفيريوس، الذي أصبح قديساً في الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية. ويُعتبر عودة بمثابة إبنه الروحي ويسترشد به، ما يجعله مقبولاً على نطاق واسع في الأوساط الأرثوذكسية.

وإذا ما افتقد اللبنانيون إلى صوت وكلمات البطريرك صفير، فها هم يسمعون المضمون عينه بصوت المطران عودة وعقله. وهم بالتأكيد يحتاجون وجدانياً إلى أصوات مماثلة، لطالما كانت تتعالى أيام الحروب وما تلاها.

The post منير الربيع: المطران الياس عودة يرفع عصا الانتفاضة بوجه السلطة والوصاية appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.


علي الأمين/اللبنانيون أمام فرصة وطنية ودولية: حان وقت التغيير

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اللبنانيون أمام فرصة وطنية ودولية: حان وقت التغيير
علي الأمين/العرب/10 كانون الأول/2019

حان وقت السياسة، وهو تحدّ يفرض نفسه على الحراك الذي بات مجبرا على الانتقال إلى مرحلة جديدة من المواجهة، تستفيد من زخم الشارع وحيويته وضغط الأزمات، ومن الرغبة الدولية في مساعدة لبنان.

إصرار على تغيير قواعد اللعبة السياسية.
بعد مرور خمسين يوما على انتفاضة 17 أكتوبر، أطلقت بعض مجموعات الحراك الشعبي في لبنان مبادرة “المقاومة السلمية”. وتضمّن البيان الأول دعوة لإطلاق دينامية التغيير عبر الانتقال من دائرة المطالب المعيشية والاقتصادية التي يرفعها الحراك الشعبي، إلى دائرة التغيير السياسي، وهي دعوة تحمل عنوان “حان وقت السياسة”، انطلاقا من أن رفض السلطة الاستجابة للمطالب المحقة للمحتجين، جعل من الواجب الذهاب نحو تغيير قواعد اللعبة السياسية، التي تتحصن بها السلطة اللبنانية.

إذ ليس خافيا أنه وبعد مرور أكثر من خمسين يوما على الانتفاضة، تتمسك السلطة بخيار إعادة إنتاج قواعد السلطة ذاتها، أي منع إحداث أي تغيير حقيقي في قواعد اللعبة السياسية المغلقة على نخبة سياسية وطائفية تعيد إنتاج نفسها منذ أكثر من ربع قرن، وهي التي أوصلت إدارتها للشأن العام ومؤسسات الدولة، إلى أزمة اقتصادية ومالية، وعاثت في الدولة فسادا لم يعد محتملا من قبل اللبنانيين، وأدى إلى عجز في تلبية الدولة لأدنى احتياجات الشعب، وهذا ما عبّرت عنه رسائل رئيس الحكومة المستقيل سعد الحريري، إلى قادة الدول الغربية والعربية، حين استنجد بهم لمساعدة لبنان على تأمين اعتمادات مالية لتوفير متطلبات الأمن الغذائي للبنانيين. وهي أزمة كما بات معروفا ناشئة من تراجع السيولة المالية بالعملة الصعبة، التي أدت إلى فقدان المصرف المركزي القدرة على تلبية حاجة السوق إلى الدولار من أجل استيراد حاجات لبنان ومختلف البضائع من الخارج.

العجز المالي والنقدي والأزمة الاقتصادية والمعيشية التي تستفحل، لم يدفعا السلطة إلى الاستجابة لمطلب رفعه المحتجون ولا يزالون لتشكيل حكومة إنقاذ من خارج النادي السياسي، أي من شخصيات نزيهة ومستقلة، هدفها وضع وتنفيذ خطة إنقاذ على أن تمهّد لانتخابات نيابية مبكرة بعد ستة أشهر.

لم يقنع السلطة حراك الشارع المستمر بلا توقف ضدها، ولم تفلح الاحتجاجات في دفع السلطة إلى تغيير في سياسة المحاصصة التي لا زالت تتحكم في عملية تأليف الحكومة الجديدة، علما أن أطرافها أنفسهم يحيلون الفساد المستشري وعملية نهب المال العام إلى سلطة المحاصصة هذه، ورغم هذا الإقرار فلا تغيير في مقاربتها لتشكيل الحكومة.

والخلاف الناشئ اليوم بين أطراف السلطة، يرتكز على وجهتي نظر غير متباعدتين، والفارق بينهما في الشكل لا في المضمون المشترك، أي إعادة إنتاج السلطة.

الأولى، يمثّلها حزب الله وحليفاه رئيسا الجمهورية ومجلس النواب، وتقوم على تشكيل حكومة تكنوسياسية، أي حكومة تضم سياسيين واختصاصيين، ويعيّنون من قبل أطراف السلطة نفسها.

والثانية، يمثّلها رئيس الحكومة المستقيل سعد الحريري، الذي يدعو إلى تشكيل حكومة تكنوقراط، أي من الاختصاصيين ويسميهم أطراف السلطة أنفسهم.

انطلاقا من هاتين النظرتين، فالثابت أن التغيير المقترح من أطراف السلطة، هو في أفضل الأحوال بالنسبة إلى المحتجين، تغيير شكلي وغايته إعادة إنتاج الحكومات السابقة نفسها. وكان لمشهد اعتذار المرشح لرئاسة الحكومة سمير الخطيب عن الدخول في نادي المتنافسين إلى موقع الرئاسة، إشارة إلى أن السلطة لا تريد المغامرة بالتفريط بالرئيس سعد الحريري، لإدراكها، ولاسيما قلب هذه السلطة ورأسها حزب الله، أن التفريط بسعد الحريري سيجعل الحزب أكثر انكشافا أمام الشارع وأمام المجتمع الدولي، لاسيما وأن تجربة حزب الله مع الحريري منذ التسوية الرئاسية أظهرت، على ما يبدو، أن لا بديل له عن الحريري في رئاسة الحكومة، إلى جانب أن الأخير يبدو الأكثر قدرة على التعامل مع المجتمع الدولي بما يخدم إلى “حدّ مقبول” مصالح حزب الله.

انطلاقا من ذلك فإن الاستشارات المرتقبة التي تأجلت أسبوعا، أي إلى الاثنين المقبل، تتجه لتسمية الحريري، وهذا ما رفضه المنتفضون وعبّروا عنه برفضهم تسمية الخطيب أيضا، والتمسك بمطلب حكومة مستقلين.

في الموقف الدولي لا يبدو أن لبنان، الذي سيكون، الأربعاء، على طاولة المجموعة الدولية لبحث سبل دعمه، في موقع قوي خاصة وأنه لا توجد مؤشرات تدل على أن ثمة خطوات من قبل السلطة اللبنانية، توحي بالثقة. فالثقة الداخلية باتت شرطا دوليا لدعم لبنان، رغم ما يبثّه مسؤولون في حزب الله، من أن “دعم لبنان اقتصاديا وماليا مشروط بتشكيل حكومة جديدة من دون التدخل في مواصفاتها”، فيما تشير المعلومات إلى أن دولا عديدة شاركت في مؤتمر سيدر لدعم لبنان، لن تُقْدم على تقديم العون للبنان طالما بقي لبنان أسير معادلة السلطة القائمة والتي عجزت، وما زالت تعجز، عن استعادة سيادة الدولة من جهة، ولا توحي بالثقة لجهة إدارة عملية الإنقاذ من جهة ثانية.

وإن كان هذا الموقف مزعجا للسلطة القائمة، فإنه يلبي مطلب المحتجين الذين أعلنوا بوضوح أنهم لا يثقون بهذه السلطة للخروج من الأزمة الخانقة.

لذا فإن فرصة التغيير السياسي في لبنان، تتخذ هذه المرة أبعادا جدية، من حيث توفّر العناصر الموضوعية لإحداثه. والعنصر الحيوي يتمثل في توحّد اللبنانيين على أن مطلب التغيير يقوم على أساس وطني، من دون توسل أي عنوان طائفي أو حزبي أو جهوي، ولكن هذا ما يفرض تحديا أمام المنتفضين مفاده أن عملية التغيير الفعلي تتطلب تغييرا لقواعد اللعبة السياسية، أي تقويض نظام المحاصصة بتأمين خيارات بديلة تكون نتاج تفاعل حقيقي بين مكونات الحراك الشعبي، مستفيدين من مناخ دولي يدفع باتجاه قيام سلطة تتسم بثقة الشعب، وبالقدرة على إدارة عملية إنقاذ لبنان بأكبر قدر من الشفافية والإنتاجية.

حان وقت السياسة، وهو تحد يفرض نفسه بقوة على مجموعات الحراك الذي بات، أمام واقع إدارة السلطة ظهرها له، مجبرا على الانتقال إلى مرحلة جديدة من المواجهة، تستفيد من زخم الشارع وحيويته وضغط الأزمات من جهة، ومن الرغبة الدولية في مساعدة لبنان لاستعادة موقعه كدولة تتسم بشروط طبيعية وموضوعية من جهة أخرى، كبديل عن الانهيار الذي تدفع به سياسات الدولة الحالية، والذي شكّل خطرا ليس على لبنان فحسب بل حتى على سواه من الدول.

The post علي الأمين/اللبنانيون أمام فرصة وطنية ودولية: حان وقت التغيير appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 10 كانون الأول/2019

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نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 10 كانون الأول/2019

اضغط هنا لقراءة نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة المفصلة، اللبنانية والعربية ليوم 10 كانون الأول/2019

ارشيف نشرات أخبار موقعنا اليومية/عربية وانكليزية منذ العام 2006/اضغط هنا لدخول صفحة الأرشيف

عناوين أقسام نشرة المنسقية باللغة العربية
الزوادة الإيمانية لليوم
تعليقات الياس بجاني وخلفياتها
الأخبار اللبنانية
المتفرقات اللبنانية
الأخبار الإقليمية والدولية
المقالات والتعليقات والتحاليل السياسية الشاملة
المؤتمرات والندوات والبيانات والمقابلات والمناسبات الخاصة والردود وغيره

The post نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 10 كانون الأول/2019 appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 09- 10/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 54th Day

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Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 09- 10/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 54th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
December 10/2019

Tites For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 09-10/2019
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
Bishop Elias Audi: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
Aoun Expresses Relief over Lebanon Support Meeting
Aoun Vows to Eradicate ‘Malicious Germ of Corruption’
Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Report: Two Equations Govern Formation of New Govt.
Rafting, Cars Submerged as Flooding Wreaks Havoc in Jnah
Army Fires Tear Gas to Contain Clashes between Protesters, Karami Supporters
UNIFIL spokesperson to NNA: We have no evidence indicating that a ship has breached Lebanon’s territorial waters
Berri chairs Development and Liberation bloc meeting: Enemy boat’s infiltration of Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone against sea law
Minister of Education sets Christmas, New Year holiday dates
Hariri contacts Emir of Kuwait
Army Commander welcomes Chief of Malaysian Armed Forces
Al-Brax: Petrol Stations Syndicate adheres to Ministry of Energy’s decision to deliver gasoline in LBP
Jabak bound for Oman to partake in WHO Global Meeting
Rainwater floods airport offices
Scuffles outside Faysal Karami’s residence in Tripoli
Raad Says Economic Situation More Pressing than Govt. Formation
Rockets Hit Iraq Military Complex Housing U.S. Forces
Lebanon Sunni leaders back Hariri to return as premier
Lebanon Protesters Scuffle with Lawmaker’s Bodyguards in Tripoli

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 09-10/2019
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
المطران الياس عودة شهد للبنان وللحق وسمى الأشياء بأسمائها

Lebanon’s Orthodox great Bishop of Beirut, Msgr Elias Audi has overtly, patriotically, and faithfully witnessed for the truth and for our beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In his yesterday’s Homely he called things as they are, and named those forces who occupy Lebanon, as well as those Lebanese puppet officials who instead of serving Lebanon’s interests are siding with the terrorist Hezbollah, the occupier of Lebanon, and serving the Iranian agenda of occupation, expansionism and terrorism.
All those officials, politicians, clergymen and journalist who criticized Audi’s courageous homely are either Iranian mouthpieces, or mere Iranian mercenaries.
Accordingly all their Dhimmitude replies of criticism are valueless.
And yes as Bishop Audi stated, Hezbollah occupies Lebanon, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is the actual ruler of the country, and yes the Lebanese officials are mere puppets.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard
Below are excerpts from Bishop Elias Audi’s homely.

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi: The country is ruled by a group with weapons
NNA/December 08/2019
Beirut’s Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop Elias Audi presided over a memorial Mass service at St. George’s Cathedral in downtown Beirut this morning, marking the fourteenth commemoration of the martyrdom of Gibran Tueni and his two companions.
In his homily, Audi paid tribute to the memory of Martyr Tueini, recalling the true essence of his words that still reflect on our present times. “To believe that the true word does not die, but resonates stronger, listen to what Gibran said many years ago, as if to describe the present situation in our beloved country, which was distorted by the hand of corruption, betrayal and repression,” he said.
“What remains of the truth, service, humility, deliberation, transparency, justice, openness, democracy and freedom, what is left of it in our country?” questioned Audi, criticizing the current rulers for adopting the ways of “totalitarian regimes with their one-party system.”
“How long are we to continue paying the price for internal and external polarizations? How long are we to continue wasting opportunities? How long will the people remain captive to the policy of an extremist party?” Audi went on to question. “This country is ruled by a person you all know and by a group that governs us with arms!” he exclaimed. The Archbishop considered that for a citizen’s identity to be preserved, the country must be preserved. “Today, unfortunately, Lebanon pays the price of the mistakes committed by a corrupt and bankrupt political class,” he said, adding, “Had it not been for the people who held on to their identity, Lebanon would have been lost a long time ago.”
“The Lebanese people have demonstrated their ability to preserve the country and identity after the many struggles it has gone through…We must learn to belong to the homeland and a new political class must be created,” he emphasized.
Bishop Audi hailed the Lebanese youth’s uprising under the country’s national flag, and slogans of achieving social justice, anti-corruption, accountability, liberation of the judiciary from political interference, and forming a min-government of specialists with integrity and competence. “Are these mere fictitious demands, or are they the simplest things required to build a state?” he wondered. “The Lebanese people take pride in being a peaceful people, whose weapons are unity, faith, honesty and truth, especially their steadfastness in the face of conspiracies and attempts to sow discord and despair in souls,” the Bishop maintained. “Birth, my dear ones, is preceded by a painful labour, and the birth of a new Lebanon is approaching,” he said. “It is a question of will, above all, the will to sacrifice, the will to abandon selfishness and personal interests, the will to open up to the other and extend the hand of dialogue and the determination to reach for what unites rather than highlight the differences,” stressed Audi. “Our country is in conflict and is waiting for a heroic act to save it,” he underscored.

Bishop Elias Audi: Country Ruled by Armed Group and Person You All Know
Naharnet/December 08/2019
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi on Sunday decried that Lebanon is being ruled by one “person” and an “armed group.” “Today, this country is being ruled by a person you all know, and no one is saying a word, and it is being ruled by a group hiding behind arms,” Audi said in a sermon marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of the journalist Gebran Tueni. “What has scared officials and is still scaring them is the voice of right and truth, the voice of the hungry and suffering people, the voice of everyone who cherishes the country,” Aude added.“The ruling authority has been sentenced to death while the people and their country will only find resurrection and victory. The birth of a new Lebanon is nearing,” the metropolitan went on to say. Commenting on the protests that have been sweeping the country since October 17, Aude said the Lebanese who are on the streets are “sacrificing a lot for the sake of a future whose fathers and grandfathers had waited but did not get.”

Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
/حزب الله مصر على استنساخ الحكومة التبعية والإفساد المستقيلة
Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019

The Iranian armed Lebanese terrorist proxy, “The Party Of God”, Hezbollah, is the actual ruler of Lebanon, and it fully controls the country’s decision making process, as well as all the officials including the president, House Speaker and the cabinet.
At the present time, and as a result of an Iranian recent orchestrated parliamentary elections, and an electoral non-constitutional law that was tailored and imposed by intimation and force, Hezbollah enjoys a majority in both the parliament and the Cabinet.
The mass public peaceful Lebanese revolution that has been going on for the past 52 days has forced the cabinet to resign.
But the Occupier, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters, are still defiant and insist to maintain the pre revolution status quo.
Since the Cabinet’s resignation, Hezbollah has been stubbornly refusing to respond to any of the revolution’s just demands, and is insisting to maintain its irony Iranian grip on the country.
Hezbollah’s leadership in both Beirut and Tehran are evilly challenging the Lebanese peaceful revolution, and through terrorism and intimidation are adamant to replicate the corrupted-puppet resigned government in a bid to maintain their occupational status.
Apparently Hezbollah’s leadership has solely formed a new puppet government that is a mere replicate of the resigned one. But it is not yet official announced.
All that is left before its official announcement is a Lebanese Muslim Sunni politician that is willing to head it, as a facade cover no more no less.
Three Muslim Sunnis are competing for the post, Caretaker PM, Saad Al Hariri, Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and the businessman Samir Al Khatieb.
The PM’s name will be known tomorrow (Monday) through the folkloric president’s consultations with the 128 Members of the Lebanese Parliament.
But the real outcome is not clear due to the fact that many Lebanese well informed analysts strongly believe that the covert-Hariri Bassil business partnership is still very sold with the Hezbollah’s blessings which means that Hariri is still the one that Aoun, Bassil, Hezbollah and Berri prefer. They know him very well because he has been serving their interests, as well the Iranian agenda.
It is worth mentioning that 74 MP’s are all in Hezbollah’s leadership pocket and under its tip, and accordingly they will blindly vote in accordance to its orders “Faraman”.
In summary Hezbollah has belligerently refused to respond to all the demands of the revolution, and definitely will by force try to hold on to the ongoing status of its occupation.
Meanwhile the mass peaceful revolution is expected to go on in spite of all the oppression that its activists are facing, while all kinds of economical hardships that the country is facing are getting worse.
In conclusion, Lebanon needs a flood of divine intervention, and the floods of water on the roads to wash the ungodly leaders out.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard.

Aoun Expresses Relief over Lebanon Support Meeting
Naharnet/December 09/2019
President Michel Aoun on Monday expressed relief over the meeting that the International Support Group for Lebanon will hold Wednesday in Paris, thanking France for making the initiative in coordination with the U.N. Aoun’s remarks were voiced in a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis. The president told Kubis that Lebanon will send an official delegation to the meeting, hoping it will yield practical results, especially amid “the critical economic circumstances that the country is going through.”Kubis for his part briefed Aoun on the measures that have been taken in order to convene the meeting, noting that the event will send a strong signal on ISG’s commitment to helping Lebanon. The meeting will be held amid the absence of an active government in Lebanon, a dire economic and financial crisis, and unprecedented street protests against the entire political class.

Aoun Vows to Eradicate ‘Malicious Germ of Corruption’
Naharnet/December 09/2019
President Michel Aoun on Monday pledged to eradicate what he called “the malicious germ of corruption,” in a tweet marking the International Anti-Corruption Day. “We will continue to work with all our effort and energy to eradicate the malicious germ of corruption which has infiltrated the country’s health and institutions as well as the mentalities of a lot of individuals,” Aoun tweeted. He also called for turning integrity into “an approach, culture and lifestyle.” Aoun’s remarks come amid an unprecedented popular uprising against corruption in the country.

Parliamentary Consultations on New PM Postponed to December 16
Naharnet/December 09/2019
The Presidency on Sunday postponed the binding parliamentary consultations for naming a new PM from Monday, Dec. 9 to Monday, Dec. 16, after Dar al-Fatwa told the candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni consensus on re-nominating Saad Hariri for the post. “In light of the developments, at the desire and request of most parliamentary blocs, and to allow for further consultations and contacts, President (Michel) Aoun has decided to postpone the binding parliamentary consultations previously scheduled for tomorrow to Monday, December 16,” the Presidency said in a statement. Aoun had held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Hariri after Khatib announced the withdrawal of his nomination earlier in the day. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days. Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Report: Two Equations Govern Formation of New Govt.
Naharnet/December 09/2019
The political forces have floated two equations to form the new government amid ongoing delay, a media report published Monday said. According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the first equation is a government led by Saad Hariri but not containing Jebran Bassil while the other is a government in which the two men would be both inside or outside the government. If the parties don’t lean to any of the two equations anytime soon a “new postponement” of the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new PM “will not be surprising,” the daily added, citing political sources.
The Presidency on Sunday postponed the consultations from Monday, Dec. 9 to Monday, Dec. 16, after Dar al-Fatwa told the candidate Samir Khatib that there is Sunni consensus on re-nominating Hariri for the post. The main political parties, including Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, had reached consensus on Khatib’s nomination in recent days.Hariri stepped down on October 29, bowing to pressure from unprecedented street protests. The protest movement that has swept the country since October 17 has demanded the appointment of an independent technocrat government and an overhaul of the entire political system.

Rafting, Cars Submerged as Flooding Wreaks Havoc in Jnah
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 09/2019
Flash floods caused by heavy rains, bad infrastructure and clogged drainage systems on Monday invaded the Saint Simon area in the Beirut suburb of Jnah, turning roads into huge ponds and submerging dozens of vehicles. The floods also stormed homes, shops and factories as some residents used surfboards and kayaks to move around. Rainwaters meanwhile mixed with sewage as the sewers failed to withstand the huge amounts of water. “Residents of the area made personal initiatives and unclogged some sewers as they urged Ghobeiri Municipality to intervene,” the National News Agency said.
Rainwaters meanwhile leaked into several offices and the arrival and departure terminals at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, NNA added. A tunnel that passes under the airport remained closed for hours because pumps that clear water from inside it didn’t work.
Caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Youssef Fenianos said the ministry will help remove flood waters in Jnah although the area does not fall under its responsibility. “I understand people’s suffering and we are instantly following up on all the roads that have been blocked by floods, but there is a difficulty in dispensing funds due to the financial crisis that the country is going through,” Fenianos added. “I’m not dodging my responsibility and I’m offering full support to all areas suffering from this dilemma. I’m following up on what’s happening moment by moment and the emergency crew have been mobilized,” the minister went on to say. He also revealed that he has contacted the public prosecution and asked it to act against anyone who contributed to the flooding in the Khalde and Naameh areas. “The 50-year-old infrastructure cannot withstand this amount of rain,” Fenianos added, also blaming “the recent population surge.” The flooding comes amid nearly two months of demonstrations against the country’s political elite and decades of widespread corruption and mismanagement. Protesters remained in their encampments in Beirut and other cities amid the heavy rain. Despite spending billions of dollars since the 1975-90 civil war on improving infrastructure, Lebanon still suffers hourslong electricity cuts every day, and many people rely on tanker trucks to bring water to their homes. Every year when it rains, roads get flooded with water because of an inadequate sewage system.

Army Fires Tear Gas to Contain Clashes between Protesters, Karami Supporters

Naharnet/December 09/2019
Scores of protesters rallied Monday afternoon outside MP Faisal Karami’s residence in Tripoli after his guards clashed with a smaller demo that hurled trash bags at the building. The army arrived on the scene and separated between the two groups as protesters continued to shout slogans and hurl empty plastic bottles.Fierce stone-throwing clashes later erupted between the two sides, which prompted the army to fire tear gas to contain the situation. Several people were injured by the flying rocks and objects. The protesters had thrown trash bags outside the houses of several Tripoli politicians, such as Ashraf Rifi, Najib Miqati, Mohammed Kabbara and Samir al-Jisr.

UNIFIL spokesperson to NNA: We have no evidence indicating that a ship has breached Lebanon’s territorial waters
NNA /December 09/2019
UNIFIL spokesperson, Tilak Pokharel, on Monday told the NNA that despite the fact that the UN organization had been aware of a report issued by a Lebanese newspaper — claiming that an Israeli ship had violated the Lebanese territorial waters on November 27, 2019 — UNIFIL still lacked the necessary evidence to prove this true. “There are two issues we’d like to note regarding this media report. First, UNIFIL has no evidence indicating that a ship has violated the Lebanese territorial waters, as the media report has claimed. Second, when making such allegations, journalist always tend to ignore the nature of UNIFIL’s tasks in Lebanon as per its mandate,” Pokharel said. “UNIFIL has not been mandated to monitor the line of buoys, which had been unilaterally installed by Israel, and was not recognized by Lebanon and the United Nations,” he explained. As for the UNIFIL Naval Force (MTF), Pokharel said: “According to the request of the Lebanese Government, and pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1701, UNIFIL has a specific mission, which is to assist the Lebanese Navy in preventing the entry of weapons or related materials by sea to Lebanon, without the approval of the Lebanese government; therefore, the deployment of UNIFIL’s naval force and its operational focus revolves around the practical requirements to provide such support to the Lebanese navy.”

Berri chairs Development and Liberation bloc meeting: Enemy boat’s infiltration of Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone against sea law
NNA /December 09/2019
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Monday chaired a meeting by the “Development and Liberation” Parliamentary bloc, during which he discussed the political situation with bloc members, most importantly the recent flagrant Israeli breach of Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
A statement read by the bloc’s Secretary General, Anwar Khalil, in the wake of the meeting said that on 26/11/2019, a hydrographic survey ship arriving from Haifa port of the Israeli enemy carrying the flag of “Panama”, docked on the UN naval operations site. On 27/11/2019 at 13:19, the enemy vessel entered the Lebanese exclusive economic zone at a distance of five miles and remained in block 9 until 20:37 — a period of seven hours and eighteen minutes. “The infiltration of the vessel to conduct scientific research for the benefit of the Israeli enemy is considered a violation of Articles 56 and 60 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” MP Khalil said. Moreover, the bloc’s statement criticized the United Nations naval force for failing to implement the required procedures that necessitate summoning the ship and inquiring about the intent of its presence; it also condemned this heinous attack and asked of the United Nations to assume its responsibilities in this regard. Bloc members finally called for accelerating the formation of a government and responding to the positive international atmosphere by preparing for aid and support. Meanwhile, it also asked of the caretaking cabinet to assume its responsibilities and focus on the management of living conditions, food security, and the financial and economic situation.

Minister of Education sets Christmas, New Year holiday dates
NNA /December 09/2019
Caretake Minister of Education, Akram Chehayeb, on Monday issued a memorandum setting the Christmas and new year holiday dates as follows:
“On the occasion of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, high schools, public schools, institutes, and technical schools will stop teaching on the evening of Tuesday, December 24, 2019 until Thursday morning, January 1, 2020.”

Hariri contacts Emir of Kuwait
NNA /December 09/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri contacted today the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and discussed with him the political and economic difficulties that Lebanon is facing. Hariri thanked him for Kuwait’s permanent support for Lebanon and the Lebanese people.

Army Commander welcomes Chief of Malaysian Armed Forces
NNA /December 09/2019
Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Monday welcomed at his office in Yarzeh, Jen Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) chief, at the head of an accompanying delegation. Talks reportedly touched on the best means to bolster cooperation between the armies of both countries.

Al-Brax: Petrol Stations Syndicate adheres to Ministry of Energy’s decision to deliver gasoline in LBP
NNA /December 09/2019
Lebanon’s petrol stations syndicate chief, Sami Al-Brax, announced on Monday that the union plans to adhere to the implementation of the Ministry of Energy’s decision to deliver gasoline in LBP. “The Petrol Stations Owners Syndicate clings to the implementation of the Minister of Energy’s decision and requests of those concerned to interfere to impose its implementation and reject any attempt to repeal Resolution 3640 to deliver gasoline in LBP,” a statement by Al-Brax said. “The union rejects at the present time any amendment that alters the decision to deliver gasoline in Lebanese pounds. The Syndicate states that it is currently making all the contacts required to hand diesel oil to distribution companies and stations in Lebanese pounds,” he added.

Jabak bound for Oman to partake in WHO Global Meeting
NNA /December 09/2019
Caretaker Minister of Health, Dr. Jamil Jabak, on Monday headed to
Oman with an accompanying delegation to partake in the World Health Organization’s Global Meeting on noncommunicable diseases and mental health. Minister Jabak will deliver Lebanon’s speech at the conference, which is the first-ever Global Meeting on noncommunicable diseases since the United Nations Declaration of 2018 on noncommunicable diseases and its 2019 declaration on universal health coverage. More than 150 countries will participate in the Meeting, in addition to representatives of civil society organizations, the private sector, charitable foundations, academia and donors.
The World Health Organization is organizing the Global Meeting to Accelerate Progress on SDG Target 3.4 on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. The Meeting is hosted by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman from 9 to 12 December 2019 in Muscat. The overarching goal of the Global Meeting it to accelerate the implementation of national responses to address NCDs and mental health conditions with a view to reduce premature mortality and scale up interventions to reach SDG target 3.4 by 2030. The Meeting will focus on sharing success stories and challenges in countries.

Rainwater floods airport offices
NNA /December 09/2019
Several offices at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut have been flooded with rainwater, NNA reporter said on Monday, adding that the water has also reached the arrival and departure halls. The airport’s external access hall has also been flooded with rainwater, which impeded the movement of cars for a while. In the meantime, maintenance teams are working on opening the drainage networks, NNA reporter added.

Scuffles outside Faysal Karami’s residence in Tripoli
NNA /December 09/2019
Clashes erupted between a group of protesters and MP Faysal Karami’s bodyguards in front of his home in Tripoli, NNA reporter said on Monday. Some protesters tossed trash bags in front of the building where the MP lives. The scuffles then turned violent, requiring the intervention of the army to disperse both sides of the conflict.

Raad Says Economic Situation More Pressing than Govt. Formation

Naharnet/December 09/2019
Finding solutions to the dire economic and financial crisis is more pressing than forming a new government, the head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc said on Monday. “The government will be eventually formed, but we did not believe for a moment that things would go well nor that Samir Khatib was the one who would be nominated,” Raad said in a speech in the West Bekaa town of Suhmor. “At best, they were going to allow him to be designated before stepping down after failing to form a government and then (Saad) Hariri would have been designated. They did not allow him to reach the post and they kept him until the eve of the consultations and now we are before a new situation,” Raad added. He added: “By my estimation, we will ultimately find a solution for the issue of the government. It might take one or two months but we will find a solution. The problem is not in the formation or the non-formation of the government, but rather in the economic situation.”“What should we do with the economic situation that is affecting the people? What should we do regarding the dollar exchange rate that has changed?”Raad added: “Despite being close to people, because we belong to them, but do not believe anyone who tells you that we can replace the state. The state is the side that should address the economic situation with all its representatives who represent all Lebanese components.”Stressing that Hizbullah will not accept to “discuss preconditions that harm the country’s sovereignty,” the lawmaker said his party is willing to “offer concessions” regarding the formation of the government but “not at the expense of national dignity and sovereignty.”

Rockets Hit Iraq Military Complex Housing U.S. Forces

Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 09/2019
Several rockets slammed into an Iraqi military complex that hosts U.S. forces next to Baghdad International Airport on Monday, wounding six Iraqi troops, the military said. Security forces found launchers with rockets that had not been fired properly, indicating a larger attack was planned, a military statement said. It is the latest in an uptick in rocket attacks targeting either Iraqi bases where American troops are located or the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. U.S. defense officials have blamed several on Iran-backed factions in Iraq. Security sources told AFP that the wounded in Monday’s attack belong to Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service, an elite unit that was created and trained by U.S. forces. Two of them are in critical condition, the sources said. The military complex also hosts a small group of U.S. soldiers and American diplomats. There have been at least nine attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq in the span of six weeks. There have been no claims of responsibility and no U.S. forces have been wounded. Security sources have linked at least one last week to Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite faction close to Tehran and blacklisted by Washington. Iran holds vast sway in Iraq, especially among the more hardline elements of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a security force largely made up of Shiite militias. A U.S. defense official told AFP the rocket attacks made the Hashed a bigger security threat to American troops in Iraq than the Islamic State group, the jihadist movement which the U.S. has vowed to help Baghdad wipe out. On Friday the United States imposed sanctions on three senior Hashed figures. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have soared since Washington pulled out of a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran last year and reimposed crippling sanctions. Baghdad — which is close to both countries and whose many security forces have been trained by either the U.S. or Iran — is worried about being caught in the middle. U.S. officials say they are considering plans to deploy between 5,000 and 7,000 additional troops to the region to counter its arch-foe Iran.

Lebanon Sunni leaders back Hariri to return as premier
AFP/Ynetnews/December 09/2019
Businessman previously tapped to succeed as PM says he was informed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan that ‘a consensus had been reached to name Saad Hariri as prime minister to form the next government’. Sunni Muslim leaders in protest-wracked Lebanon have thrown their support behind ex-premier Saad Hariri to return to his post a month after he stepped down, a sidelined candidate said Sunday. Businessman Samir Khatib had been put forward as a likely contender to succeed Hariri, but he said a visit to the country’s highest Sunni Muslim authority had indicated otherwise.Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Deryan informed Khatib that “a consensus had been reached to name Saad Hariri as prime minister to form the next government”, the 72-year-old businessman said. Khatib then met Hariri, who has stayed on in the role of caretaker premier and has supported him in his bid, to inform him of his withdrawal from the race, he said in televised comments. Lebanon has been gripped by unprecedented cross-sectarian protests since October 17, denouncing perceived official mismanagement and corruption. Hariri stepped down less than two weeks into the nationwide movement, but a deeply divided political class has since failed to reach an agreement on a new premier. The names of several potential candidates were circulated in the media, but protesters rejected Khatib as being too close to traditional circles of power. The president has called for mandatory parliamentary consultations starting on Monday to decide on a new premier. Cabinet formation can drag on for months in the multi-confessional country, with Hariri taking almost nine months to reach an agreement with all political sides for the last one. According to a complex political system that seeks to maintain a fragile balance between religious communities, Lebanon’s prime minister is always a Sunni Muslim. Hariri has been prime minister on and off since 2009, stepping down and returning on two previous occasions. The 49-year-old follows in the footsteps of his father, late premier Rafik Hariri, and is considered the traditional political leader of the country’s Sunni Muslim community. Lebanon desperately needs a new government to rebuild trust with both protesters demanding a cabinet of independent experts, and international donors able to provide financial aid.
The Mediterranean country’s economy is in freefall, even as Lebanese struggle with a dollar liquidity crisis.

Lebanon Protesters Scuffle with Lawmaker’s Bodyguards in Tripoli
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 9 December, 2019
Lebanese soldiers had to separate protesters and the bodyguards of a member of parliament after scuffles broke out under heavy rain Monday evening between the two sides in the northern city of Tripoli, leaving at least one person injured. Tripoli has witnessed some of the largest protests since nationwide demonstrations broke out on Oct. 17 against widespread corruption and mismanagement. The protesters have since transitioned to demand an end to the rule of the political elite that has run the country following the 1975-90 civil war. The scuffles started after protesters threw bags of trash in front of the home of legislator Faisal Karameh. The protesters then started throwing stones at Karameh’s guards, who responded by also throwing stones, prompting troops to split them up. In video aired live on local TV, at least one person was seen injured in the head and ambulances arrived in the area afterward. Nearly half an hour after the scuffles, troops were able to push the protesters away from Karameh’s home. Karameh is a harsh critic of outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who resigned on Oct. 29. His resignation met a key demand of the protesters. Political disagreements between rival groups have so far delayed the formation of a new Cabinet, worsening the country’s economic and financial crisis. On Sunday, a possible candidate for prime minister of Lebanon said he was withdrawing from consideration for the post, prolonging the country’s political crisis. Samir Khatib said the country’s top Sunni religious authority told him the community supports the re-appointment of Hariri for the post.

Titles For The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 09-10/2019
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet/Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019
Environmental issues add to Iraqi, Lebanese misery/Chris Doyle/Arab News/December 09/2019
Lebanon: Vague Int’l Stances and Regime’s Provocative Practices/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 09/2019
Lebanon floods increase anti-government anger/Sunniva Rose/The National/December 09/2019
Lebanese mothers struggle to keep protests non-violent/Samar Kadi/Arab Weekly/December 09/2019
Fallout on Syria from Lebanon’s crisis is not just economic/Simon Speakman Cordall/Arab Weekly/December 09/2019
Lebanon Is Not a Hezbollah State/Hussein Ibish/Bloomberg/December 09/2019
Lebanese sarcasm: A powerful token of defiance/Salma Yassine/Annahar/December 09/2019
Lebanon’s exit path from economic woes/Marwan Mikhael/Anahar/December 09/2019
Why Russia Wants Lebanon/Grigory Melamedov/Middle East Quarterly
A Duel on a Sinking Ship/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 09/2019

The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 09-10/2019
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
المطران الياس عودة شهد للبنان وللحق وسمى الأشياء بأسمائها
Lebanon’s Orthodox great Bishop of Beirut, Msgr Elias Audi has overtly, patriotically, and faithfully witnessed for the truth and for our beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In his yesterday’s Homely he called things as they are, and named those forces who occupy Lebanon, as well as those Lebanese puppet officials who instead of serving Lebanon’s interests are siding with the terrorist Hezbollah, the occupier of Lebanon, and serving the Iranian agenda of occupation, expansionism and terrorism.
All those officials, politicians, clergymen and journalist who criticized Audi’s courageous homely are either Iranian mouthpieces, or mere Iranian mercenaries.
Accordingly all their Dhimmitude replies of criticism are valueless.
And yes as Bishop Audi stated, Hezbollah occupies Lebanon, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is the actual ruler of the country, and yes the Lebanese officials are mere puppets.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard

Hezbollah Is Stubbornly Insisting To Replicate The Puppet & Corrupted Resigned Lebanese Cabinet
/حزب الله مصر على استنساخ الحكومة التبعية والإفساد المستقيلة
Elias Bejjani/December 08/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81229/elias-bejjani-hezbollah-is-stubbornly-insisting-to-replicate-the-puppet-corrupted-resigned-lebanese-cabinet-%d8%ad%d8%b2%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87-%d9%85%d8%b5%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a7/
The Iranian armed Lebanese terrorist proxy, “The Party Of God”, Hezbollah, is the actual ruler of Lebanon, and it fully controls the country’s decision making process, as well as all the officials including the president, House Speaker and the cabinet.
At the present time, and as a result of an Iranian recent orchestrated parliamentary elections, and an electoral non-constitutional law that was tailored and imposed by intimation and force, Hezbollah enjoys a majority in both the parliament and the Cabinet.
The mass public peaceful Lebanese revolution that has been going on for the past 52 days has forced the cabinet to resign.
But the Occupier, Hezbollah, and its Iranian masters, are still defiant and insist to maintain the pre revolution status quo.
Since the Cabinet’s resignation, Hezbollah has been stubbornly refusing to respond to any of the revolution’s just demands, and is insisting to maintain its irony Iranian grip on the country.
Hezbollah’s leadership in both Beirut and Tehran are evilly challenging the Lebanese peaceful revolution, and through terrorism and intimidation are adamant to replicate the corrupted-puppet resigned government in a bid to maintain their occupational status.
Apparently Hezbollah’s leadership has solely formed a new puppet government that is a mere replicate of the resigned one. But it is not yet official announced.
All that is left before its official announcement is a Lebanese Muslim Sunni politician that is willing to head it, as a facade cover no more no less.
Three Muslim Sunnis are competing for the post, Caretaker PM, Saad Al Hariri, Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and the businessman Samir Al Khatieb.
The PM’s name will be known tomorrow (Monday) through the folkloric president’s consultations with the 128 Members of the Lebanese Parliament.
But the real outcome is not clear due to the fact that many Lebanese well informed analysts strongly believe that the covert-Hariri Bassil business partnership is still very sold with the Hezbollah’s blessings which means that Hariri is still the one that Aoun, Bassil, Hezbollah and Berri prefer. They know him very well because he has been serving their interests, as well the Iranian agenda.
It is worth mentioning that 74 MP’s are all in Hezbollah’s leadership pocket and under its tip, and accordingly they will blindly vote in accordance to its orders “Faraman”.
In summary Hezbollah has belligerently refused to respond to all the demands of the revolution, and definitely will by force try to hold on to the ongoing status of its occupation.
Meanwhile the mass peaceful revolution is expected to go on in spite of all the oppression that its activists are facing, while all kinds of economical hardships that the country is facing are getting worse.
In conclusion, Lebanon needs a flood of divine intervention, and the floods of water on the roads to wash the ungodly leaders out.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard.

Environmental issues add to Iraqi, Lebanese misery
Chris Doyle/Arab News/December 09/2019
As protests in Iraq and Lebanon continue unrelentingly into the heart of winter, the main drivers are unquestionably frustration at the rampant corruption and government mismanagement in both countries, as well as a desire to terminate the dead hand of the sectarian systems each society is held back by. Differences exist too, not least the bloodier, more repressive approach of the Iraqi security services and associated militias, with Iranian encouragement.
Yet one issue that lurks in both sets of protesters’ minds is the environment. In both countries, the total failure to tend to natural resources, protect the ecosystem and ensure clean air and water are telling symptoms of the broader failures of governance at every level. This makes these protests slightly different to those in other countries over the last decade. It may be also be a sign of things to come as overpopulation, combined with desertification, drought, sea rises and other phenomena, blight the planet.
Environmental issues have triggered protests before in both countries. In 2015, Lebanese protested for eight weeks at what was called the “great stink.” Trash was everywhere, even piling up outside hospitals. Landfills had become more like garbage mountains, with glaciers of detritus. The foul air hanging over the country caused by the garbage crisis could hardly be ignored. The air was toxified by large amounts of rubbish, including plastics, being burnt, leading to breathing and skin disorders. Today, temporary landfills on the coast are still infuriating Lebanese, who want them closed. Lebanon should have a glorious coastline on the Eastern Mediterranean. Instead, many of its beaches are unfit to swim at, with raw sewage soiling the water and plastic washed up on to the shore. Only the upmarket private resorts are acceptable, though not always.
Meanwhile, in Iraq in the summer of 2018, Basrans also came out to protest. Turn on a tap in Basra and you got a murky trickle of brown, salty water. That summer, water contamination led to 118,000 people going to hospital for reasons related to water quality in a city that could once boast of its glorious canals, for which it was nicknamed the “Venice of the Middle East.” Today, these same canals are clogged with pollutants and garbage.
Added to that, Iraq is also suffering from a major increase in dust storms. This is partly due to drought and climate change, but is also due to the chronic mismanagement of Iraq’s ecosystem and fertile areas. These storms have become almost routine, but lead to serious health issues.
What energizes the protesters on these issues is that the problem is largely political, with environmental consequences.
Of course, for both countries, wars have been devastating for the environment. Imagine the battering the Iraqi environment has suffered, not least after three major interstate wars — the Iraq-Iraq War, the US-led attack in 1991 and the US and UK-led invasion of 2003. More recently, Daesh adopted a scorched earth policy in its fight for survival, setting many oil fields alight to cause even more harm to the air quality. The toxic clouds often blocked out the sun and were referred to as the “Daesh winter.” Lebanon suffered from its own civil war, but also the periodic conflagrations with Israel, the last major one being in 2006. Assessing the real extent of environmental damage is tough in both countries given the lack of verifiable data. Environmental issues have always been very low down on the government priority lists — at least until now.
What is certain is that, without a real and systematic change in approach, these issues are only going to get worse. Global warming is not going to make any of this easier. Between 1970 and 2004, Iraq’s annual mean temperature rose by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius. Iraqis will have to face higher temperatures — a challenge given that summertime temperatures have been known to reach 53 C. The rise in sea levels and the decline in rainfall will only exacerbate subsequent droughts. Rising salinity levels, which have already damaged much of Iraq’s finest agricultural lands, will continue to climb.
The Tigris, Euphrates and Shatt Al-Arab rivers have all suffered from decreased water quality thanks to the damming taking place further upstream, which has drastically cut water flows.
Green movements in most of the Middle East are in their fledgling stage. What energizes the protesters on these issues is that the problem is largely political, with environmental consequences. Lebanon’s garbage crisis is largely down to the corrupt carving up of the system. Iraq’s government has failed to even start investing in the well-being of the country despite having vast hydrocarbon wealth at its disposal.
All sectors in these countries require significant education about these challenges. In Lebanon, protesters have been clearing up and recycling garbage after their demonstrations in Beirut, making a strong political point. The level of recycling in Lebanon is still far too low.
Governments, businesses, civil society and the broader public have to start working in harmony to address these issues — rather than working against each other — before it is too late. Both countries need to adopt smarter water management and irrigation strategies and provide incentives to keep water clean, prevent the dumping of toxic waste, to recycle and to maintain a healthier environment. Better public transport services are vital to reducing the amount of cars on the roads; something anyone who has suffered Beirut traffic jams would appreciate. The international community should be generous in offering support and expertise to address these issues in a holistic and on a long-term basis.
*Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU). He has worked with the council since 1993 after graduating with a first class honors degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University. He has organized and accompanied numerous British parliamentary delegations to Arab countries. Twitter: @Doylech

Lebanon: Vague Int’l Stances and Regime’s Provocative Practices
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 09/2019
Since the beginning of the Lebanese uprising on October 17, those following the events are asking the question of Lebanon’s geographic importance in the strategies of major countries. Especially given what this popular rage across sects and regions has embodied and the regime denying the uprising’s magnitude and significations on the one hand, and the regime’s responses that have provoked the majority of Lebanese people who have filled the streets and squares across the country.
Perhaps the most vulgar of these practices is the atmosphere that has surrounded the formation of a government, from the delays in the binding parliamentary consultations, trying to come up with a line-up before appointing a prime minister and imposing an action plan on it. All of this goes against the constitution, traditions, and the balances in the country.
Surveying international positions could help the Lebanese uprising persist and not retreat and could motivate it to move to more advanced stages and positions. It is no secret that the phase Lebanon is currently going through is decisive, and it is the most delicate after Iran began expanding in the region after the collapse of the Iraqi Baath regime in 2003 and the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011. Lebanon is now in the eye of the storm, while international and regional positions towards it have changed as a consequence of unbridled Iranian influence reaching hazardous levels. This has posed an existential threat to Lebanon by toppling the values of democracy in it, the balance of its components, and the positive neutrality that has characterized its foreign policy. All of these factors have contributed to periods of stability and sometimes leisure in Lebanon.
Today, regional and international powers only view Lebanon through their interests in their conflict with Iran and how to tame its influence in the region. Within this framework, we cannot but look at the international and regional positions on the Lebanese uprising. Subsequently, we must also look at the practices of the Lebanese regime with its Shiite duo and their Christian cover, and what implications that may have on the Lebanese regime and its existence.
In reality, the question about international and regional positions on the uprising poses many problematics: Are the international and regional forces interested in the uprising? Would this be in the interest of the uprising, or will it carry dangers that threaten its continuity and success? In both cases, what are the international and regional forces’ positions on the regime’s reactions to the uprising and on managing the political, economic, financial, and monetary crises?
Washington views Lebanon as one of the fronts in its struggle with the Iranian regime. The severe sanctions on Iran are not separate from those imposed on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and they are aimed at weakening the Mulla system and its affiliated militia extensions.
It is clear that Washington has abandoned military confrontation in the region, at least for now, and has leaned more towards enhancing its military presence in the Gulf. Also, the US is pursuing a plan to delegitimize the Iranian regime both politically and religiously by disseminating images of the massacres committed against Iranian protesters and information on hundreds of deaths and thousands of prisoners. It is doing so to unmask Iran both religiously and morally and to expose it for the monstrous and authoritarian regime that it is.
Regardless, the US is very patient with its strategy in the region, while Lebanese patience runs out very quickly.
Russia, on the other hand, is relentlessly attempting to fill the gaps the US has left to retrieve its traditional role in the Middle East and enable its new role in Syria, and to some extent, in Iraq. It is doing so by holding extensive communications with Lebanese parties, officially and at the level of leadership. In fact, it is also doing the same with the uprising, and of course, with Hezbollah, in an attempt to infiltrate the Lebanese sectors that are still distant from it, such as arming the Lebanese army, after reaching deals to extract oil and gas. The Russian strategy, so to speak, is advanced in Lebanese decision-making, which completes its presence and role in Syria and its objective alliance with Iran based on common interests.
Russian diplomacy is aware of the Lebanese concerns around Iran and its ambitions in the country, and it takes advantage of the reservations the US’ traditional allies have towards the unstable Trump administration and its blind support of Israeli policies.
However, is Russia capable of playing a rescue role in Lebanon, and to impose itself as a partner that can negotiate with the Trump administration and even co-exist with it such as what is happening in the Qamishli Air Base, and the أmeimim Air Base that are not far from American deployment and the Hamat Air Base in Lebanon? Despite all of this, Russia will not make any compromises that would not satisfy Hezbollah, for reasons that go beyond Lebanon and are more important for Moscow. Nevertheless, it announces that it is responding to the uprising’s demands while maintaining its support for the regime and communicates with it, leaving the doors of the presidency and Free Patriot Movement wide open in front of it.
European positions, on the other hand, are not very reassuring as they indicate some satisfaction, at least, if not motivation, towards the regime’s position and the formation of another Hezbollah-approved government, disregarding the popular uprising that has no precedent in this small country.
As for Arab silence, some consider it an attempt not to put the uprising in an awkward position and leave it to take its course, while others consider it a result of expelling Arab influence in Lebanon. Both theories may carry some truth, but it can be said that the Arab position on the Lebanese events, both at the level of the regime and the uprising, is that of watching and waiting. It views Lebanon through the lens of strategic confrontations that it has in the region. We cannot forget the unstable circumstances that Arab countries are going through, in addition to regional threats, drawing most of its attention to achieving internal and external security.
Have Washington, London, the Arabs, and Paris, especially President Emmanuel Macron, let go of Prime Minister Hariri returning to the government? It may not be merely giving up Hariri as a person but the role of the Lebanese Sunni sect in Lebanon on the one hand, and the fate of the popular uprising on the other. Has overriding the Taef Agreement and the constitution become this easy? Are these positions merely the result of a receding western influence facing Iran and Russia retrieving its role? Or, is it the result of the failure of the forces confronting Iran in Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah, and the region to attract international and regional support? These blurry international and regional positions on the popular uprising is a cause for worry, as it leaves things to the regime. This may drag Lebanon into a situation similar to what is happening to the Iraqi uprising in terms of violent repression by the Iran-backed regime and its proxies across Iraq. Today, there is concern that whoever is deciding the fate of the Lebanese uprising is the same as whoever decided to confront the demonstrations at the beginning of the war in Syria and the protests in Iraq.

Lebanon floods increase anti-government anger
Sunniva Rose/The National/December 09/2019
Torrential rain brings traffic to standstill in many areas of country
Flooding in Lebanon sparked more anger against the government on Monday, nearly two months after protests erupted against decades of mismanagement by the ruling elite. “Lebanon is drowning” was trending on Twitter after heavy rain hit the country on Sunday. Videos and photos of flooded roads and leaking government offices were widely shared on social media as more examples of politicians’ failure to provide decent infrastructure to the Lebanese since the end of the civil war in 1990. “Welcome to the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport: a fitting legacy for Hariri, besides the toilets,” tweeted Lebanese journalist Lara Bitar under a video of passengers dodging water dripping from the ceiling as they pulled their luggage. Water seeped into several offices at the airport and the arrival and departure halls, the state-run National News Agency reported. Nearby roads were flooded, causing massive traffic jams.
Another video, showing people wading through water in a corridor of a Labour Ministry building, went viral on Twitter. Men kayaked along roads in the southern suburbs of Beirut, leading many to jokingly compare the Lebanese capital to the Italian city of Venice. “This political class has turned Beirut into the Venice of the Middle East,” satirist Karl Sharro tweeted.
Perhaps the most widely commented video showed dozens of submerged cars on a highway in Ouzai, a suburb in South Beirut. “The water entered shops and homes” in the area, NNA reported. In a tunnel near by, drivers had to abandon their cars to escape the rising water on foot. Roads in the southern suburbs were reopened by Monday afternoon. The caretaker Minister of Public Works, Youssef Fenianos, blamed MEAS, a private company affiliated to the national carrier Middle East Airlines, for the flooding in Ouzai tunnel. Mr Fenianos said he “understood the suffering of the people but there are difficulties in disbursing the credits due to the financial crisis that the country is going through”.The rain turned to snow in Lebanon’s mountains, closing a major highway in the remote region of Hermel.

Lebanese mothers struggle to keep protests non-violent
Samar Kadi/Arab Weekly/December 09/2019
From Lebanon to Argentina to Chile mothers have been the vanguard of non-violence and peaceful coexistence, said Tanya Ghorra, a founding member of Mothers for Non-Violence.
BEIRUT – While watching clashes between anti-government protesters and Hezbollah and Amal sympathisers amid mounting sectarian rhetoric reminiscent of the devastating civil war, Lebanese mothers took to the streets pledging not to allow their children to experience the ills of civil strife.
Taking a stand against sectarian-inspired violence, the group Mothers for Non-Violence rallied thousands of women who marched in Beirut and other Lebanese cities in a show of national unity.
“What happened in the past couple of weeks sounded the alarm. What we saw reminded us of the pain and suffering of the civil war. We just had to act,” said Tanya Ghorra, a founding member of Mothers for Non-Violence.
“The call we posted on social media went viral in a few hours because it answered concerns of mothers who were helplessly watching these incidents. No mother on Earth wants war and violence. Mothers from all regions, backgrounds and religions came together to pledge no return to civil strife.”
Clashes erupted after supporters of the Shia groups Hezbollah and the Amal Movement stepped up violence and intimidation against peaceful protesters across Lebanon, with their sympathisers attacking demonstrators in Beirut, Baalbek and Tyre.
The particularly intense confrontation on a former front line of the civil war between Beirut’s neighbourhoods of Ain el-Remmaneh and Chiyah raised the alarm. Chiyah is known as a support base of the Amal Movement. Ain el-Remmaneh is a stronghold of the Christian Lebanese Forces party.
“We marched, mothers from all religious and social backgrounds, to build human bridges. We were there to say no to sectarianism, no to civil strife and no to violence. We are the people of one land,” Ghorra said.
“There were happy faces and big smiles in the demonstrations with people exchanging white roses and others throwing rice on us as we marched. Even the young guys who might have participated in the clashes were smiling and welcoming. Emotions were very high, very strong.”
Similar demonstrations took place in other parts of Beirut and in Tripoli in northern Lebanon. “It had a contaminating effect spreading from one place to another… a constructive contamination,” Ghorra added.
From Lebanon to Argentina to Chile mothers have been the vanguard of non-violence and peaceful coexistence, Ghorra noted in reference to the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement in which Argentine women campaigned for their children who disappeared during military dictatorship in the 1980s.
“Anywhere in the world mothers speak a common language,” she said. “Be it in Lebanon or Argentina or Chile they have the same rhetoric. Because we give life, we know more how precious and valuable life is. Our voice is one globally.”
The families of the missing who are suffering from the sequels the civil war (1975-90) were particularly vocal in the mothers’ march for peace.
“We participated in large numbers in the marches against the return to civil strife because we are the best example of what wars do to people,” said Wadad Halwani, founder of the Committee of the Families of Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon.
“When we heard about the clashes between Ain el-Remmaneh and Chiyah, the first thing that came to mind was the reincarnation of the front line. We participated in the demonstration to say that women, not only the wives or mothers of the disappeared, are the most afflicted by the scourge of war and, in the aftermath of conflict, they act as a compass or a fire extinguisher.”
The Committee of the Families of Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon has been staging a sit-in in a public garden in downtown Beirut since 2005 to press for information regarding the fate of some 17,000 people missing in the war.
“We consider our sit-ins in the heart of the current protests to be against corruption and injustices. Our common tragedy has brought the families of the missing together more than 30 years ago regardless of affiliations, religion and background. Today, a large bracket of the Lebanese people has realised that they have the same concerns and sufferings that unified them,” Halwani said.
The mothers’ movement has eased tensions, the organisers said. The traditional ruling parties have long pushed rhetoric of sectarian coexistence to gloss over deep class divides and to maintain their hold on power in the face of protesters’ challenge. “The power of women on the ground is very big,” Ghorra said. “Women have proved to be instrumental in containing tensions and preventing friction in the protests. They say: ‘We gave you life and we will stop you from imperilling it.’”
*Samar Kadi is the Arab Weekly society and travel section editor.

Fallout on Syria from Lebanon’s crisis is not just economic
Simon Speakman Cordall/Arab Weekly/December 09/2019
The result has thrown the shadowy relationship between Syria and the opaque Lebanese banking sector into sharp relief.
TUNIS – The Syrian pound hit a record low while protests in neighbouring Lebanon pressured Beirut’s banking system and choked one of Syria’s few financial gateways to the world.
Lebanon’s open-market economy and banking system have long served as vital financial conduits between Syria and the world. However, since protests erupted across Lebanon in mid-October, controls have been imposed on Lebanon’s historically robust banking sector, limiting currency withdrawals and restricting financial transfers abroad.
The fallout is bound not to be just economic. Few dispute that Syria’s and Lebanon’s fates are tightly bound. Thousands of Syria’s refugees are in makeshift camps along the Lebanese-Syrian border, reliant on international aid, much of it dispersed through the Lebanese government.
That makes the protests of acute political interest to policymakers in Damascus, who are trying to re-establish stable governance after years of civil war. However, further to the political ties between the two countries are economic ones, which predate Syria’s civil war, that decimated Syria’s economy. As such, businesses, wealthy families and Syria’s diaspora have relied on Lebanon’s banking sector and its high rates for financial security or to transfer money from abroad to relatives in Syria.
As unrest has overtaken Lebanon, dollar transfers to Syria have dwindled to next to nothing, Reuters reported. “These deposits are now trapped. You can imagine the aftershocks from this which is beginning to surface in the Syrian economy,” a senior Lebanese banker who handles accounts of wealthy Syrians told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
As the supply of dollars has shrunk, Syria’s pound, pegged at 47 to the dollar prior to 2011, was trading at a record low of 1,000.
One middle-aged Syrian in Damascus told VOA News he couldn’t understand what was happening. “The supermarket, the vegetable man and the taxi drivers tell us that prices are rising because the dollar is rising. It makes no sense, though, he says, because we’re in Syria and we’re paid in Syrian pounds. Who cares what the dollar is worth?” he asked.
Lebanon’s banking sector and its role in ensuring the supply of hard currency to Syria is becoming apparent.
“Lebanon’s banking sector is one of the few remaining viable ways for Syrians to get access to dollars and to trade with the wider world,” said Ryan Bohl, Middle East and North Africa analyst with risk consultancy Stratfor.
“Although the Jordanian border has reopened and Syria now controls some Iraqi border posts again, trade between those countries hasn’t rebounded back to pre-war levels and they don’t have major financial sectors either. So this is a key financial route for Damascus to maintain access to capital.”
Given the opaque nature of Lebanon’s banking sector, no one can be certain about precisely who in Syria may be benefiting from its loose controls.
“Nobody really knows if Syria’s government or its top leaders have money in Lebanon,” Bohl said. “They probably do, at least on a personal level, in part because it’s a safe place to park their money but in the sense of Syria’s Central Bank and its very small reserves (which are propped up by Iranian credit lines and Russian aid), there’s less direct exposure to Lebanon’s financial sector.”
While the extent of Damascus’s financial commitments in Lebanon’s banking sector is unclear, there is a network of Syrian businesspeople who rely on the sector to import goods to Lebanon, which can be transported or smuggled to Syria. “Syrian businesspersons are also using this sector to avoid sanctions impact and to be more flexible in trading with Western companies,” said Zaki Mehchy, a fellow with Chatham House, a think-tank in London.
“It is worth mentioning that many Syrian businesspersons have made fortunes from violence and conflict-related activities such as smuggling, kidnapping, arms dealing and human trafficking and, unfortunately, they are using the Lebanese banking sector to clear their money through projects inside Lebanon or transactions with foreign companies.”
After more than a month of unrest, the future of Lebanon’s declining economic fortunes, which sparked the current protests, is uncertain.
Dramatic slashes to the central bank’s interest rates, a factor that had made the sector so attractive to Syrian investors in the first place, has been like “bringing a bucket to a wildfire,” Farouk Soussa, an economist at Goldman Sachs, told the Financial Times. “It’s helping but at the margins.”
*Simon Speakman Cordall is a freelance writer.

Lebanon Is Not a Hezbollah State
Hussein Ibish/Bloomberg/December 09/2019
The country’s military has demonstrated reassuring independence from the Iran-backed militia, and deserves American support.
On Monday, the Trump administration finally released $105 million in annual aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces that had been appropriated by Congress but, like the more notorious hold on military assistance to Ukraine, was inexplicably delayed by the White House.
Better late than never, particularly since the Lebanese military has been protecting protesters in the streets of Beirut and other cities from intimidation by the pro-Iranian militias of Hezbollah and Amal.
The Lebanese protests, now coming close to their third month, are a powerful rebuttal to the pernicious notion that all of Lebanon, or even just the Lebanese state, is simply an extension or a tool of Hezbollah, and should be therefore treated as a terrorist entity and pariah.
Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, from all walks of life and throughout the country, have been protesting the entire socioeconomic and political establishment. Their anger isn’t directed primarily against Hezbollah or Iran, but against the entire power structure in the country, which they blame for mismanaging the economy and enriching itself at the expense of the general population.
Obviously, this threatens everyone who benefits from the status quo. But the threat to Hezbollah and its allies is particularly severe.
Through force and guile, Hezbollah has maneuvered over the decades to maximize its influence in Lebanon, ensuring that it remains the most potent armed force in the country, while minimizing its responsibility for the failures of the state.
It poses as a revolutionary group focused on combating Israel and only a small party of the government with a few minor ministries. In reality, it is by far the most powerful force in the country, maintaining its own foreign and defense policies, independent of the Lebanese government.
Hezbollah initially pretended to side with the protesters. But its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, quickly changed his tune and decided that the protests were “inauthentic” and manipulated by foreign “hidden hands.”
This is because any profound change to the political order in Lebanon must have one of two negative effects for Hezbollah. If the upheaval leads to real change, the group’s leverage can only decrease. Alternatively, if things don’t change, Hezbollah will become increasingly associated in the public mind with the corruption and repression that props up the system that maximizes its influence. Hezbollah’s bluff will be called, and its role exposed. Either outcome is a long-term threat to Hezbollah’s credibility and power.
So, the organization has been trying to disrupt the protests through threats and intimidation by goons. Protesters from Shiite communities have been repeatedly filmed “apologizing” to Hezbollah and its leadership, or to the state, for “insulting” them in the demonstrations. This is a familiar strong-arm tactic, in which the gun behind the camera cannot be seen by the viewer but is clearly evident in the expression of the victim. It has also been deployed by the regime in Tehran to try and undermine recent protests in Iran.
This is why supporting the Lebanese army is urgent and important. The army is the primary national institution that can serve as a bulwark against thoroughgoing Hezbollah domination. In recent weeks, it has repeatedly intervened on behalf of the demonstrators when they were attacked by gangs of Hezbollah and Amal thugs.
It is likely that the original impulse to withhold the congressionally-appropriated U.S. aid to the Lebanese military originated from the wrongheaded notion that Lebanon equals Hezbollah and therefore shouldn’t get any American support. Senator Chris Murphy, who lobbied for the release of the funds, has said that “there is at least one person at the [National Security Council] who wants to punish Lebanon for having a political relationship with Hezbollah.” Given that numerous commentators with close ties to the administration have been pushing for just such a perspective, that’s not surprising.
But the protests, and the army’s performance in recent weeks, have shattered this myth.
The protests represent the rejection of the sectarian order in Lebanon, and the resurrection of the pre-Civil War vision of Lebanon as a modern, unified nation-state with a national consciousness beyond communalism. That threatens much of the power structure, but it is a mortal danger to Hezbollah and its nefarious state-within-a-state in Lebanon.
Everyone interested in combating Hezbollah domination of Lebanon and power in the Middle East ought to take advantage of this opportunity and understand that the Lebanese state isn’t equivalent to Hezbollah. To the contrary, it is the alternative to Hezbollah. As such, it deserves support rather than isolation.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Lebanese sarcasm: A powerful token of defiance
Salma Yassine/Annahar/December 09/2019
Lebanese sarcasm, during a revolution or even on mundane days, has the ability to bring together the totality of the Lebanese masses.
BEIRUT: Whether sprayed on walls, printed on clothing, scribbled on posters, coiled within Arguileh smoke emanating from the streets, screamed in chants, sang in melodious tunes, or even jubilantly spread in spoken words, Lebanese sarcasm is rendered the emblem of an unconventional way to revolt peacefully.
Sarcasm is bluntly and effortlessly woven within the mundane daily conversations of the Lebanese, wherein Arabized memes and stickers are other forms of colloquial expression they resort to when chatting for instance.
These depictions often reflect tragic realities, such as economic crises and harsh living conditions. They also entail powerful messages intended to be voiced at the ruling class either in a direct or an indirect manner.
Iyad Al Hout, a stand-up comedian, stated that sarcasm can be a very significant tool to ridicule or undermine something or someone in a seemingly polite manner. It can also be a token of defiance, especially when ingrained in a culture that is obsessed with social norms and etiquette.
“Humor is an important tool that subverts and undermines structures of power. One of the reasons power structures work so well is because people fear them, but you can’t fear something that makes you laugh. People can either find clowns funny, or scary, it’s never both. Our society still mostly fears the clowns that are our politicians, but a lot of us comedians are trying to change that perception,” he added.
This expressive tool is perceived to be an escapade from the daily troubles that burden the people in times of difficulty, especially when bombarded with the current revolutionary situation.
One example of this would be the online platforms, such as Sarcasm Beirut and Overheard Beirut that receive submissions and post original and authentic material that reflect the crux of the Lebanese nature. Their content consists of jokes and moments that a plethora of Lebanese people experience.
Even when these platforms fail to make their audience laugh, they merely remain an unconventional and bizarre outlet for a bundle of statements that unifies the nation under the parasol of comedy.
“Despite the troubles that have been clouding Lebanon up until this very moment, we have earned the epithet ‘happiest depressed people,’” the founder of Sarcasm Beirut noted.
This comedic and sarcastic sphere has built a “safe haven,” as the founding team of Overheard Beirut told Annahar, “in the form of a community that welcomes glimpses of people’s realities, those we aim to share with members of the Lebanese society as well as neighboring Arab countries.”
Lebanese sarcasm, during a revolution or even on mundane days, has the ability to bring together the totality of the Lebanese masses. Sarcasm helps the people scatter the untold truth; it helps them deal with that which is expected to be left unsaid.
“Lebanese humor gave us a great advantage during this revolution. Those elements played a pivotal role in its viral spread across the globe. It has, in a way, become our coping mechanism too,” Farrah Khatib, a journalism student, told Annahar.

Lebanon’s exit path from economic woes
Marwan Mikhael/Anahar/December 09/2019
The government should aim at restoring confidence through economic sustainability and balanced growth.
There is one question on everyone’s mind: Is there still a way out of the current crisis or are we going to fall into an abyss with an intense deterioration of all economic indicators that could lead to dire consequences? A summary of the current economic situation will help us analyze its sustainability. Then we can try to find a way out of the crisis with the least damage to the economy.
The protests accelerated what was already a deteriorating economic and financial environment. The protests on the street accentuated panic among the population, with the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri being the cherry on the top. When banks opened following 14 days of closure, people rushed to withdraw and/or transfer their deposits into dollars or outside the country.
Banks were obliged to adopt further restrictions in order to maintain financial stability for the longest possible time. No banking system in the world could survive an unchecked rush on banks. When depositors place their money in a Lebanese bank, the bank, in turn, uses these funds to loan to other customers or to buy government bonds or Certificates of Deposit from Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank. Such uses are standard practice world over, and so long as depositors are content to keep their money in banks and do not en masse try to withdraw their deposits, the banking system remains stable and functional. In Lebanon, the liquidity issues of banks were also exacerbated as the banking system had already lost part of its foreign assets starting in 2011, with the balance of payments (BOP) in the red for more than eight years. Moreover, the BOP deficit had accelerated over the past two years.
The current economic and financial situation can only be transitory as its downfall has been accelerated by the protests, making the economic and financial situation unsustainable. The restrictive measures adopted by banks will make it less likely for capital to flow into the economy as investors will become worried about the risk of being unable to withdraw money from the system. It will, therefore, become more and more difficult to attract money and the economy will have to rely on its own existing stock of foreign assets to finance its imports of goods and services. Imports will decline as a result yet will continue to constitute the major drain on foreign assets.
Another source of draining deposit is cash withdrawals from banks. People are withdrawing as much cash as they can, in both currencies (Lebanese lira and US dollars), to counter the restrictive policies of banks. Then, being unable to transfer cash outside the country, this money is kept in safe boxes at homes. Estimates based on the balance sheets of BDL find that the amount of cash withdrawn from banks in October and November has amounted to more than $2.5 billion.
Taking a longer view, successive governments since 1990 were never able to restore investors’ confidence level to where it was before the war started. The dollarization rate never went below 50 percent and most of the time interest rates on lira were much higher than on dollars. During the episodes of shocks like in 1995, interest rates went up to 38 percent, while in 2005, 2006, 2008, and more recently, the price of credit default swaps (CDS)—these are an insurance against the risk of default of the Lebanese government—increased to more than 2400 basis points, meaning that there is a greater risk of default. Theoretically, the five years CDS should be equal to the difference between five years Lebanese Eurobonds and five years US bonds, which has crossed 1000 basis points.
As demonstrations continue, the restrictive policies of banks will remain in place and the repercussions of both on economic growth are substantial. Analysis of various sources including the Purchasing Managers’ Index, finds that companies’ turnovers fell by more than 50 percent in October, depending on the sector. The impact in November is anticipated to be larger than the previous month as banks froze their facilities for individuals as well as for companies, and reduced credit card limits. Consumption and imports are de facto declining and traders are feeling the heat.
The result is an economic recession combined with a liquidity drought that is unsustainable beyond the short term. Either a government is formed and the country is put on the right track of reforms or the restrictive policies will increase and the parallel exchange market will see a larger depreciation of the Lebanese lira. The cash economy will flourish as depositors will avoid putting money at banks.
So the million-dollar question remains: If a government is formed, is there a way out without a haircut on deposits, a restructuring of government debt, and devaluation? The most urgent issue is to restore investors’ confidence in order to be able to levy the restrictive measures of commercial banks and for capital to start flowing in again. A way out can be found without a haircut on deposits and devaluation, but a restructuring of government debt, at the least the debt in Lebanese lira, is preferable in order to reduce the burden on public finances.
The first step before getting into any future economic plan is to form a government. This government has to be formed quickly and, according to the Lebanese constitution, it has to get the support of the majority of parliamentarians. Beyond parliamentary approval, the government has to gain the confidence of people on the streets, but, most importantly it has to get international recognition as trustworthy and cooperative. Debating the composition of the new government is like debating the sex of angels. Be it technocratic, techno-political, or purely political, the most important thing— besides being approved by the international community—is for the government to be coherent, to have an economic and financial plan for the upcoming three to four years, and to be responsible for its actions, in order to be productive and immediately start to tackle the current economic and financial crisis.
If a government with international support is formed, then resolving the current economic woes will become easier. An inflow of deposits from the GCC governments of $7 billion to $10 billion as deposits at BDL will also be very vital to support confidence, as BDL will then be able to pump dollars in the market, and banks will relax capital controls in few months’ time. Of course, this will be conditional on the new government adopting an ambitious yet credible comprehensive economic reforms plan for the upcoming three to four years.
As capital controls will be maintained in the near term, the banking system has to move into reducing interest rates in order to limit the increase in its foreign currency exposure. A drastic reduction in interest rates is advisable on both dollar and lira deposits. The interest rate differential will have to decline to a quarter or half a percentage point as it is the case in economies with pegged currencies. This step will lead to a reduction in the cost of funds for banks, especially in dollars, at a time where capital inflows have been reduced to negligent levels. Banks will then move to reduce interest on corporate debt and start to provide loans again to businesses.
In order to accelerate the recovery process, it would be advisable for the new government to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as soon as possible. The importance of an IMF program is that it will act as a catalyst for capital inflows. The IMF will agree with the government on three years Extended Fund Facility (EFF) that will consist of an economic program agreed with the government including a timeline with quarterly evaluation by the IMF. It will also entail a package that could go up to a few billion dollars with quarterly disbursements if the review by the IMF mission is positive on the implementation of the reform program. Once the IMF gives a green light for the disbursement, international donors will do the same. Hence the IMF will act as a leverage to attract capital from abroad. If the IMF program will disburse $3 billion over three years, it is expected that this money will attract more than $10 billion over the same period. It is important to note that citizens will need to sacrifice in the short term, while gradually getting better public services over the medium term.
Having covered the pressing issues of the current situation, let us then look more specifically at the economic reality that Lebanon finds itself in and the measures that need to be undertaken in the immediate and the long term to put the country on a path toward recovery.
The government should aim at restoring confidence through economic sustainability and balanced growth. The strategy should be founded on three pillars:
1. Macroeconomic stabilization along with poverty reduction. This includes Large reduction of the fiscal deficit over the coming three and a half years (from the second half of 2020 till the end of 2023) through an effort to mobilize revenue that will generate 3-4 percentage points of GDP in gross additional tax revenue by end 2023 (it will be 1-2 percent on a net basis due to the privatization of telecoms in 2021), and a strategy for cost recovery in Electricité du Liban (EDL); monetary policy that will continue to aim at preserving the exchange rate peg for the moment, as it is an anchor for confidence and the negative impact from floating the lira outweighs its positive impact on competitiveness and on the reduction of the current account deficit; monetary policy that will try to reach an inflation objective of 4 percent or less in order to help in shoring up confidence; and increasing social and development spending to protect the most vulnerable.
2. Structural reforms with improved transparency and governance to strengthen public enterprises and institutions, and to foster higher economic growth. This will include: improving public financial management through better collection and better control of tax evasion to achieve more fiscal discipline and greater budgetary transparency; reforming EDL and the tariff structure to ensure a balanced budget for the energy sector and better services; modernizing and corporatizing all the enterprises owned by the government in order to prepare them for privatization; strengthening anti-corruption agencies such as the central inspection authority and the court of audit; and improving the regulatory framework of investment and job creation.
3. Adequate new financing from the international community to support Lebanon. If such a program is adopted, the government will be able to catalyze new external financing from governments and multilateral institutions, which will help close the financing gap and allow reforms to work.
Public debt restructuring is essential if Lebanon wants to get out of the vicious cycle of debt and deficit and put the debt to GDP ratio on a sustainable path. However, it should not include a haircut on the principal of the debt. Restructuring the debt does not mean a haircut on the debt as it will de facto lead to a haircut on deposits, even if it is the one held by the central bank only. The idea of BDL writing off its holding of government debt in order to substantially reduce the stock of debt—BDL holds close to $38 billion of Treasury Bills and Eurobonds—is not a viable option. Any decline of this magnitude in BDL assets will have to lead to a decline in its liabilities, meaning a haircut on banks deposits at BDL, which will result in banks having to do a haircut on their customers’ deposits.
Restructuring of government debt has to entail lengthening the maturity of government debt, while drastically reducing interest rates on the debt for the coming three years. Of course, this decline will hit the banking system profits for the upcoming few years. However, it is the least painful compared to any other measure that can help with getting out of the current crisis. In our scenario, we considered a decline in the effective interest rate on government debt to 1 percent in 2020, 2 percent in 2021, and 3 percent in 2022 and 2023. Interest rates will go back to market-rate starting 2024. This decline in debt service will help the government reduce the total deficit at a time when tax measures and expenditure tightening will help boosting the primary surplus. In our scenario, public debt to GDP ratio will decline from 154.7 percent at the end of 2019 to 113.7 percent at the end of 2023.
The government has to initiate the privatization process of telecom companies. The Higher Council for Privatization and PPP (HCP) will have to coordinate with the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA), which has to be appointed as soon as possible, in order to prepare for the privatization of the two telecom companies.
The best privatization strategy will have to bring in both citizens and strategic investors along with the government. It will serve three purposes: to develop capital markets, to give ordinary people a stake in the company to be privatized, and to ensure better management and higher future profits by bringing in a strategic investor. This strategy is based on the fact that the government will do an initial public offering (IPO) for a certain percentage of the company, open to the public. People will get a share of the profits while the strategic investor and the government will divide the remaining share. The government will continue to collect the taxes on the sector and will keep a share in the company; however, it will be a minority share.
Saying that the government should not privatize companies that are providing large profits to the Treasury is not an accurate statement. The privatization of the telecom companies will help reduce government debt by more than $6 billion in one shot (in our scenario, the privatization of the two mobile companies will take place in 2021), in addition to the fact that it will enhance the management and will reduce political interference. Services will improve and prices may decline while key performance indicators will be set for the companies to implement government strategy, mentioned above, in the telecom sector.
*Marwan Mikhael is an economist and lecturer at Saint-Joseph University (USJ).

دراسة مطولة تشرح الأسباب التي من أجلها يريد الروس لبنان
Why Russia Wants Lebanon
By: Grigory Melamedov/Middle East Quarterly
كيف تسعى روسيا الأرثوذكسية لبسط نفوذها على لبنان
سامي خليفة/المدن/10 كانون الأول/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81299/why-russia-wants-lebanon-by-grigory-melamedov-middle-east-quarterly-%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d9%85%d8%b7%d9%88%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%ad-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%b3%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%a8/

https://www.meforum.org/60026/why-russia-wants-lebanon
Russia’s attempts to draw Lebanon into its sphere of influence by placing it under Moscow’s air defense umbrella and selling weapons to Beirut have been discussed by American experts for years. Some analysts argue that Washington should not try to compete with the Kremlin there while others maintain that any concession is unacceptable. Russian arms sales to Lebanon would likely not affect the region’s balance of power, but Moscow’s expansion of its Syrian air defense umbrella could tip the balance of forces in the Arab-Israeli and Iranian-Israeli conflicts and create a serious challenge for the United States in the near future.
Moscow on the Mediterranean
During the first half of 2018, Russia increasingly expressed unhappiness with Israeli air strikes against Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. On September 17, 2018, Syrian air defenses shot down a Russian Ilyushin IL-20 military aircraft, supposedly by accident, during an Israeli operation. Moscow blamed Israel for the incident and immediately deployed S-300 air defense systems to Syria, significantly limiting the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement. Russian military and civilian experts openly insisted that now was the time to show Israel that the Kremlin dictated the rules in Syria. Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy stated: “If Israel were to defy Russia’s dominant role, Russia would react and take a stand. This is unlikely to happen because Israel knows Russia defines the rules in Syria.”[1]
The main Israeli objective in Syria was to prevent weapons transfers from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Jerusalem used Lebanese air space to foil such transfers. In November 2018, Lebanese president Michel Aoun asked Moscow to protect Lebanon’s air space. Russian media reports that the defense ministry was favorably considering the idea alarmed the Israelis.[2]
Earlier, in February 2018, Russian natural gas producer Novatek obtained permission from the Lebanese government to develop natural gas fields in territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea disputed by Lebanon and Israel. This action signaled that Moscow unambiguously sided with Lebanon and claimed the right to protect its natural gas investments during a military crisis.
The Russians remained neutral during Operation Northern Shield (December 2018–January 2019) when the Israel Defense Forces destroyed Hezbollah tunnels that crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border into northern Israel. However, Moscow’s ambition to draw Lebanon into its sphere of influence predates its intervention in Syria and persists to this day. Tensions could rise again at any time.
Russia and Lebanon
Lebanon is the only Middle Eastern country where Moscow can rely on a substantial Christian community. Its natural ally is the Orthodox Church, subordinated to the Patriarchate of Antioch. Currently, the Orthodox community comprises about 8 percent of Lebanon’s population. In the Lebanese government formed in January 2019, four ministers represent the Orthodox community politically, including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Ghassan Hasbani and Defense Minister Elias Abu Saab. Former minister of defense, Yaacoub Sarraf, whom Russian media had reported as favoring Russian arms sales to Lebanon, is also a member of the Orthodox Church.
Since the Stalin era, Soviet diplomats in Lebanon and Syria have been tasked with holding the Antioch Patriarch within the sphere of influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Under Putin, contacts with the Orthodox Christians have tremendously increased, and Moscow has also sought to ally with the Maronites—Lebanon’s largest Christian community. Historically, the Maronites’ main international partner was France, but this relationship significantly weakened when the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, Bechara Boutros Rahi, refused to support the “Arab Spring” and welcomed Russian troops in Syria. Because Rahi is subordinate to the Vatican, he tries to maintain a balance between Russia and the West, but his position seems closer to Putin’s than to the West’s. As he stated on Vatican Radio:
So, if you want democracy, apply it and listen to what the people say. Want to know what the fate of Assad is? Let the Syrian people decide! It is not your place to decide the president of Syria, of Iraq, of Lebanon.[3]
Putin has also revived a network of religious and secular organizations formed to lobby for Moscow’s interests in Lebanon, which went dormant after the Soviet collapse. The most noteworthy is the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), which had created roughly a hundred Orthodox schools in the region since its foundation in 1872. Sergei Stepashin, former head of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation, is the IOPS’s chairman, and Russia’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov is a member. During the Russian operation in Syria, Bogdanov, as a special presidential representative for the Middle East, tried to establish a dialogue between Assad and the moderate opposition. Another prominent IOPS member is Oleg Ozerov, deputy director of the Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and former permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The Association of Orthodox Families of Beirut also lobbies for Russian interests in Lebanon and maintains close links with the IOPS. The Lebanese Sursock family is one of its most influential and cooperated with the Russian consulate general in Beirut as early as the nineteenth century.[4] Robert Sursock, one of the family’s current representatives, served as chairman and chief executive officer of Gazprombank Invest Mena from 2009 to 2015.[5]
Lebanon is the only Arab country other than Syria where pro-Soviet leaders maintained power from the 1970s through the present. Nearly all of Lebanon’s most powerful elites, both pro- and anti-Russia, remained in place after the “Beirut Spring” in 2005. The Hariri, Aoun, and Jumblatt families are hardly Russian assets, but they still play major roles, and the Kremlin uses this to its benefit.
Leading Lebanese politicians have long sent lobbyists to Moscow who have strong ties with Russian big businesses established over the past quarter century. Notable among these are George Sha’ban, who has represented the Hariri family’s business, Saudi Oger Ltd., in Russia for a long time and has helped Russian oil monopolies break into the Saudi market, and Amal Abu Zeid, President Aoun’s representative to the highest rungs of the Russian political and economic elite, including President Putin. Abu Zeid’s company, ADICO Investment Corporation, entered the Russian market in 2000, specializing in Russian oil enterprises in Southeast Asia, and in 2014, Abu Zeid was made advisor for Lebanese-Russian affairs in the Lebanese Foreign Ministry. He has active contacts with the Russian Orthodox Church as an influential member of the Lebanese Maronite community.[6]
Russia also influences Lebanese Christians via groups associated with European far-right parties.
Finally, since Soviet times, Moscow, has relied on Russia-educated Lebanese students, and there are some ten to twenty thousand of them now.[7] The Association of Alumni of Soviet Universities in Lebanon was established in 1970 and has since intensified its activities, comprising some four thousand members according to official Russian sources.[8] Russia experts also claim there are as many as eight thousand mixed families in Lebanon formed by marriages of Russian women to Lebanese men.[9] The Russian media often mention that former students now occupy high posts in the Lebanese economy and political system and that mixed families strengthen Russia’s ties with Lebanon.
According to Deutsche Welle journalist Benas Gerdziunas, Russia also influences the Christian community via the European Solidarity Front for Syria, which is closely associated with European far-right parties, as well as with Lebanon’s radical Levant Party that calls itself the defender of Eastern Christianity in the Arab world.[10]
Pushback inside Lebanon
However, Moscow’s growing influence worries some Lebanese politicians. That became clear in January 2019 when Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water gave the Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft permission to manage the oil products storage terminal in the city of Tripoli for twenty years. According to L’Orient Le Jour, Druze leader and Progressive Socialist Party president Walid Jumblatt tweeted that the deal was reminiscent of the colonial powers’ struggle for oil in the region a century ago. “With Rosneft in Tripoli,” he wrote, “and tomorrow in Banias and Basra, Zarif-Lavrov [the Iranian and Russian foreign ministers] will be the headline of the new Middle East between the Russians and Persians.”[11] Despite such statements, Jumblatt and his son Taymour still frequently visit Moscow and maintain close contacts with Russian officials including deputy foreign minister Bogdanov.[12]
Antioch patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) opposed using the Orthodox Church for political purposes before he died in 2012.[13] His successor, Patriarch John X, takes a pro-Russian stance on many key issues,[14] making Moscow’s soft penetration into Lebanon easier than it otherwise would have been.
At the same time, some Orthodox Christians in Lebanon follow the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople—with which Moscow broke off relations—rather than the Antioch Patriarch. In October 2015, forty-six prominent leaders signed a petition denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church’s characterization of Moscow’s military intervention in Syria as a “holy war.” Russia’s claim that it is “protecting Christians,” they said, is a pretext for its nationalistic and political goals.[15] They believe that Moscow is using the same ploy to seize a more active role in Lebanon. Bishop Elias Audi of Beirut told Russian ambassador Alexander Zasypkin that his congregation “never asked to be protected.”[16]
Audi and his small group of supporters is the only organized political force in Lebanon attempting to prevent Russian interference in the country. The pro-Russian lobby is much better organized and more active.
Russian Objectives and Methods
Russia has two primary goals in the Middle East: to draw as many countries as possible from the U.S. sphere of influence into its own and to achieve a privileged position, if not a monopoly, in the regional weapons market. Both of these goals include Lebanon.
Putin fosters large Russian businesses and increases their profits via the Kremlin’s foreign allies.
According to Alexander Shumilin of the Center for the Analysis of Middle East Conflicts at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy, Putin has a two-pronged approach. As the Kremlin did during the Soviet era, Putin seeks to bind client states to Moscow by providing military assistance and economic support. The upside for the Russians is that the junior ally becomes dependent on Moscow; the drawback is that it is expensive. Putin also looks to foster the interests of large Russian businesses and increase their profits via the Kremlin’s foreign allies. Each junior ally must, therefore, be financially sound. Both approaches help Moscow fill spaces neglected by Washington.[17]
The interrelationship between these methods is evolving. Putin used the Soviet playbook in Syria and rescued the Assad regime. However, near the end of the operation, tycoons linked to Putin’s close aides signed contracts for postwar reconstruction work in exchange for oil, natural gas, phosphate, and other natural resource rights.[18]
After that, Russian expansion into Lebanon significantly changed. Though initially based on the principle of “economics first, then politics,” Moscow later rushed to link Lebanon to Russia by focusing on its relationship with Hezbollah and its attempt to sell weapons to the government. This plan meant sacrificing some of the economic benefits it might have reaped had it moved more slowly.
Off and On Military Assistance
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were restructured in 2005-06, after the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian forces. Most of their weaponry came from the United States, though France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Syria, and Russia also supplied weapons until 2008. Moscow’s contribution comprised of heavy-duty mobile bridges, trucks, cranes, bulldozers, and other vehicles valued at about $30 million.
The UAE contributed most to the small Lebanese air force with nine SA 342L Gazelle combat helicopters armed with machine guns, and France supplied the helicopters with fifty HOT long-range anti-tank missiles. Washington promised sixty-six surplus M60A3 tanks transferred from Jordan (after modifying the tanks’ stabilization systems to allow them to fire while moving) and thirty-four M109 155mm turreted, self-propelled howitzers for delivery after 2009, though only 10 tanks and 12 howitzers were actually supplied.[19]
There were, however, two main problems with U.S. military assistance to Lebanon at that time: Washington’s reluctance to supply heavy weapons, and internal bureaucratic procedures that slowed the implementation of the agreements. Washington also self-imposed three constraints in order to manage the balance of power:
It would provide the LAF with sufficient firepower to counteract Hezbollah and Sunni terrorist organizations.
It would not transfer weapons that could be captured by Hezbollah.
It would not provoke any escalations at the Lebanese-Israeli border. [20]
These restrictions were clearly justified from the U.S. and Israeli perspectives but were resented by many Lebanese journalists and politicians. In December 2008, Russia made the first attempt to exploit this dissatisfaction by offering to sell T-54/T-55 tanks for roughly $500 million during defense minister Elias Murr’s visit to Moscow. As the deal went nowhere, the Kremlin offered ten MiG-29 jet fighters for free, only to be told by the Lebanese government that its army needed helicopters rather than these fighting aircraft.[21] Many experts in Russia and Arab countries claimed that U.S. and Israeli diplomats killed the deal,[22] but Moscow should have known that Lebanon would not be able to stomach a $500 million price tag.
Either way, the offer sent an important message to Lebanon: If you can afford it, we will sell you heavy weapons without conditions. In addition, Putin had already demonstrated that he did not need approval from Russia’s Federal Assembly to sign international agreements. Lebanon could purchase weapons whenever it wanted.
Moscow made another attempt in early 2010 and offered six Mi-24 helicopters, thirty T-72 heavy battle tanks, thirty 130-mm artillery systems, and a significant quantity of ammunition. On February 25, 2010, Moscow and Beirut entered a formal agreement on military-technical cooperation but nothing came of it.
Russia perceived Lebanon as an extension of the Syrian war zone.
Then, in 2013, jihadists from Syria attempted to infiltrate Lebanon. In response, Saudi Arabia pledged $4 billion in assistance, mainly to purchase French military hardware. Riyadh suspended this pledge in 2016 after the Lebanese government failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Russia again tried to fill the void, and in summer 2016, Lebanon’s ambassador to Moscow, Shawki Bou Nassar, revealed that the two states were negotiating the purchase of a wide range of weaponry, including guns, 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, and T-72 tanks.[23] Putin expected the negotiations to succeed and reacted harshly when Beirut failed to sign the deal, temporarily banning Lebanese officials from Russia and announcing the Kremlin’s refusal to engage Beirut with these kinds of initiatives again.[24] Nevertheless, negotiations resumed after Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri visited Moscow in September 2017 and continued throughout 2018.
During this period, new factors influenced Moscow’s Middle East policy. First, Russia’s military leaders acquired more political power during the Syrian war, and the media repeated their talking points by pushing back against the opinion that Russian troops should not respond to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah or Iranian positions in Syria.[25]
Traditionally, the Russian military stayed out of politics and refrained from announcing weapons deliveries to other countries. However, after Syria’s allegedly accidental downing of the Russian IL-20 aircraft, the Ministry of Defense blamed Israel before the foreign ministry commented. The defense ministry then announced its decision to send S-300 air defense systems to Syria, “in accordance with the President’s instruction to strengthen the safety of the Russian military in Syria.”[26] Discussion of additional ways to “punish Israel” appeared mainly in the media associated with Russian military circles.[27]
Also, U.S. military strikes in Syria further irritated Moscow. Russia perceived Lebanon as an extension of the Syrian war zone, and its ambassador to Beirut, Alexander Zasypkin, announced on al-Manar, a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, that Moscow reserved the right to shoot down U.S. missiles.[28]
Another factor influencing Moscow’s Middle East policy was its changing view of possible military action in Lebanon following President Aoun’s November 2018 request that Russia extend its S-300 air defense umbrella to Lebanon. Third, Russian news media suggested that a foothold in Lebanon could boost Moscow’s recovery and restoration efforts in Syria.[29]
While all this was happening, U.S. aid to Lebanon declined. The Trump administration recommended cutting military and security assistance by 80 percent from fiscal year 2016 to 2018.[30] Moscow responded by offering Beirut a $1 billion line of credit for weapons purchases[31] and even offered some assistance for free.[32] The draft agreement extended beyond the ordinary scope of arms agreements by including the following:
Protection of Lebanese territory by Russian air defense systems deployed in Syria.
Access to and use of Lebanese ports, particularly the port of Beirut, for entry and repair of Russian warships.
Access to and use of Lebanese airspace for passage of Russian aircraft.
Access to three military bases, one of which had been used by the U.S.-led counterterrorist coalition until 2017.[33]
The ultimate fate of this proposal remains unclear. Hariri declined it in December 2018, but said he would accept Russian donations to Lebanon’s internal security forces.[34]
In March 2019, Aoun met Putin in Moscow when, according to Russian media, they discussed arms transfers in addition to the situation in Syria. However, the official joint statement did not mention an arms deal.[35] Russian experts and Lebanese supporters of an alliance with Moscow accused Washington of pressuring the Lebanese leadership to sabotage the agreement.[36]
In Moscow’s view, Hezbollah should not be classified as a terrorist organization.
Putin may not expect his entire proposal to be accepted; one or two provisions may be enough to satisfy him. Either way, Russia is reverting to the Soviet principle of prioritizing military and strategic interests over commercial concerns.
Russia and Hezbollah
From Moscow’s point of view, the fact that Hezbollah has a so-called political wing means the entity as a whole should not be classified as a terrorist organization. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in early 2006:
The question of legalizing Hezbollah is not relevant. It is a legal, political Lebanese organization. It has representatives in parliament and the government. Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese Shiite community. It is not an imported product.[37]
Hezbollah members of parliament visited Moscow for the first time in 2011. The Russian media assumed they were probing the depth of Putin’s support for Assad.[38] The Kremlin and Hezbollah cooperated substantially in Syria throughout the Russian intervention there.
Since then, Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Hezbollah fighters withdraw to Lebanon, for several reasons. First, Russia and Iran disagree about the future of Assad’s army. Tehran wants to maintain a Shiite military bloc in Syria led by Hezbollah that would be subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Moscow would rather restore the regular Syrian army and leave no place for Hezbollah. Second, some Sunni militias have refused to make agreements with the Assad regime, despite Russian efforts, because local civilians are afraid of Hezbollah. Third, Turkey and Israel have demanded that Hezbollah withdraw. Moscow cannot ignore these demands, especially since they align with its own preferences. According to some reports, the Russian army has even tried to stop a critical source of income for Hezbollah: drug trafficking along the Lebanese-Syrian border.[39]
Hezbollah’s current posture toward Russia is ambiguous. On the one hand, it is incensed by its envisaged eviction from Syria. “The world is heading to a new achievement that Russia will cooperate with them to get Iran and Hezbollah out of Syria,” Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah complained in June 2018.[40] On the other hand, Hezbollah suffered such heavy losses that it had no choice but to reduce its presence. Despite what the party has won, it lost popularity both inside Lebanon and among other Arabs. According to retired Lebanese Brig. Gen. Hisham Jaber, some 1,500–2,000 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria, and hundreds have been left with disabilities.[41]
Russian efforts in Lebanon have failed precisely because Lebanon is politically competitive.
Throughout 2018, many Russian experts blamed Beirut’s indecisiveness over an arms deal on U.S. pressure and the Lebanese government’s internal problems. Putin may have expected that the new government formed in January 2019, when a Hezbollah-led bloc emerged with a significant majority, would pursue a more pro-Russian policy. But Hezbollah’s political success alarmed the other factions with Lebanese leaders routinely criticizing each other for aligning themselves with Hezbollah and Tehran. In February 2019, the former coordinator of the March 14 General-Secretariat, ex-member of parliament Fares Soaid called for forming an “opposition front” against Prime Minister Hariri, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Hezbollah. Walid Jumblatt criticized Hariri as well.[42] Bassil, too, stated,
Hizbollah must admit that had it not been for the Free Patriotic Movement, it would not have managed to persevere in the face of Israel, terrorism or the isolation attempts.[43]
Many are angry at Moscow as well. Even Jumblatt, a Kremlin ally during the Lebanese civil war, said Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Zarif were trying to divide the Middle East as Sykes and Picot did during World War I.[44] Furthermore, in February 2019, Nasrallah began lobbying for the purchase of an air defense system from Iran instead of Russia. In this political context, Russia will have a hard time maintaining an effective lobby unless it uses economic incentives and sacrifices Russian business interests for political gain.
Putin’s Options
Putin follows the age-old adage of no permanent enemies and no permanent friends.
Russia’s primary source of political capital in the Middle East are actions taken by U.S. administrations that regional politicians interpret as weakness. In order to leverage it, however, Putin’s image as a strong and resolute leader must be consistent. He cannot abandon his goal of drawing Lebanon into his sphere of influence after expending so much effort. All of Moscow’s present clients are dictatorships, and Russian efforts in Lebanon have failed precisely because it is politically competitive.
But, Putin will press forward, and he has several options:
To re-bind Lebanon to Syria by nurturing a powerful pro-Syrian coalition in Beirut. Since the formation of the newest government, Lebanon is likely to reorganize its political blocs, and Moscow may attempt to benefit from that adjustment.
To establish Moscow as the principal mediator of Lebanese-Syrian relations while guaranteeing Lebanese sovereignty. By actively promoting the repatriation of Syrian refugees from Lebanon, Russia is improving its relations with the Lebanese military, which may lead to an opportunity to police the Lebanese-Syrian border. If it can pull off the latter, Moscow might be able to expand its mission if violence erupts in the border region.
If Russian oil and natural gas companies can obtain additional extraction rights in Lebanon, Moscow might be able to justify using private military contractors to protect them. This practice began in Ukraine in 2014, from where it spread to other parts of the world. In early 2018, for instance, over a hundred operatives of the Russian private military group Wagner were killed in combat operations near the Syrian town of Deir az-Zour. The group has been reportedly active in Libya, Sudan, and a number of Central African countries, where its personnel carry out security tasks for Gazprom, major Russian oil corporations, and companies engaged in gold and diamond exploration.[45] Such military contractors are not regulated by Russian law—meaning the Kremlin does not take responsibility for them—and they could potentially intervene in new conflicts.
Moscow’s best bet is an à la carte offer of protection under Russia’s air defense umbrella without strings attaching it to military aid. The strategy would be based on the developments in the Iran-Israel conflict. If Israel intensifies its attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah targets near its northern border, the Russian military lobby will become increasingly anti-Israel. Even if Putin does not want to aggravate relations with Israel, his desire or perceived need to appear strong would pressure him to proceed anyway.
Most Russian experts believe Hezbollah and Israel are stalemated, that neither side will seriously attack the other. But they are wrong. A heavily armed paramilitary organization with fresh combat skills, recent experience, and upgraded weaponry will not be idle for long if it is financially desperate. Hezbollah has only two options if Russia blocks it in Syria: discredit itself by inciting civil war in Lebanon or rally Arab support to its side by attacking Israel with Russian air support.
Conclusion
While Putin follows the age-old adage of no permanent enemies and no permanent friends, he exhibits no such flexibility toward the United States. He has nurtured an atmosphere of anti-American hysteria in Russia since before he even took office and has locked himself into a permanent anti-U.S. course to preserve his legitimacy. If Washington takes action against Iran, Putin will support Tehran both vis-à-vis the United States and in the Iranian-Hezbollah-Israeli conflagration that will likely erupt in such circumstances. This will make Lebanon a major battleground. It is therefore critical for Washington to ensure that any U.S.-Russian agreement on Syria would prohibit an expansion of Russia’s defense system to Lebanon. Whether or not Washington and Moscow can agree, a comprehensive U.S. policy toward Lebanon and Syria would be best. The U.S. administration should also focus on Christian communities in Lebanon to prevent them from irreversibly falling under the sway of Moscow, Hezbollah, and its Iranian patron.
Grigory Melamedov holds a doctorate from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a Moscow-based, independent researcher.
[1] The Times of Israel (Jerusalem), May 10, 2018.
[2] See, for example, Russkiye Vesti (Moscow), Nov. 22, 2018.
[3] Vatican News (Rome), Apr. 14, 2018.
[4] See, for example, Po Priglasheniyu IPPO Associaciya Pravoslavnyh Semey Beiruta Posetila Moskvu, The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society website, June 23, 2014.
[5] “Robert K. Sursock, Executive Profile,” Bloomberg L.P., New York.
[6] Mohanad Hage Ali, “Our Comrades in Beirut,” Diwan, Middle East Insights from Carnegie, Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut, Apr. 25, 2018; “Russia-Saudi Arabia Relations: Facts & Details,” Sputnik News Agency (Moscow), Oct. 5, 2017; Sanaa Nehme, “Amal Abou Zeid,” My Lebanon, Moscow, Nov.15, 2017; Reda Sawaya, “Ibr al-Hudud Bayna as-Siyasa wa-l-Iqtisad,” al-Akhbar (Beirut), Apr. 22, 2015.
[7] “Chleny IPPO Prinyali Uchastiye Vo Vstreche S Livancami,” The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, Feb. 9, 2015.
[8] “Vsemirnaya Organizaciya Vypushnikov Vysshyh Uchebnyh Zavedeniy,” Association of Alumni of Soviet Universities in Lebanon.
[9] Veniamin Popov, “Russkaya Koloniya V Livane,” Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Apr. 25, 2013.
[10] Deutsche Welle (Bonn), Aug. 5, 2018.
[11] Mohanad Hage Ali, “Le Liban, Nouveau Banc d’Essai des Ambitions Régionales Russes,” L’Orient Le Jour (Beirut), Feb. 23, 2019.
[12] Ali, “Our Comrades in Beirut”; Rosanna Sands, “Hajj Lubnani Nahwa Musku?” al-Bina (Beirut), Aug. 21, 2018.
[13] Al-Monitor (Washington, D.C.), Dec. 24, 2012.
[14] Orthodoxie.com (Paris), June 8, 2018.
[15] Ya Libnan (Beirut), Oct. 16, 2015.
[16] Deutsche Welle, May 20, 2018.
[17] Alexander Shumilin, “Rossiyskaya Diplomatiya na Blizhnem Vostoke: Vozvrat k Geopolitike,” Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Russie.Nei.Visions, May 2016, p. 8.
[18] See, for example, RBC News (Moscow), July 6, 2018.
[19] “US Military Assistance to Lebanon: Equipping LAF Not Transforming It,” Defense Magazine (Beirut), Oct. 2012; The Times of Israel, Feb. 8, 2015.
[20] Aram Nerguizian, “The Lebanese Armed Forces: Challenges and Opportunities in Post-Syria Lebanon,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 2009.
[21] See, for example, The Times (London), Dec. 18, 2008; Lenta.ru (Moscow), Mar. 1, 2010.
[22] Nour Samaha, “Is Lebanon Embracing a Larger Russian Role in Its Country?” The Century Foundation, New York, Aug. 7, 2018; Tehran Times, Apr. 10, 2011.
[23] Geopolitica.ru (Moscow), July 11, 2016.
[24] Ad-Diyar (Beirut), Dec. 12, 2017.
[25] See, for example, Riafan.ru (St. Petersburg), Federal News Agency, Sept. 22, 2017.
[26] TV Rossiya-24 (Moscow), Sept. 24, 2018.
[27] See, for example, Pravda (Moscow), Sept. 18, 2018.
[28] RIA Novosti, Apr. 11, 2018.
[29] See, for example, Gaseta.ru (Moscow), Apr. 24, 2017.
[30] Hardin Lang and Alia Awadallah, “Playing the Long Game: U.S. Counterterrorism Assistance for Lebanon,” Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C., Aug. 30, 2017.
[31] The Arab Weekly (London), Mar. 18, 2018.
[32] Naharnet (Beirut), Mar. 17, 2018.
[33] Alexander Kuznetsov, “O Vozmozhnom Voyennom Sotrudnichestve Mezhdu Rossiyey I Livanon,” The Institute of the Middle East, Moscow, Apr. 13, 2018.
[34] See, for example, al-Akhbar, Nov. 27, 2018.
[35] Joint statement between Michel Aoun, Lebanese president, and Vladimir Putin, Russian president, Presidential Press Office, Kremlin, Moscow, Mar. 26, 2019.
[36] See, for example, Alexander Kuznetsov, “Situatsiya v Livane,” The Institute of the Middle East, Moscow, Apr. 7, 2019.
[37] Sergey Lavrov, Russian minister of Foreign Affairs, interview, “‘Hezbollah’ Ne Importny Product,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow, Sept. 6, 2006.
[38] Anna Borshchevskaya, “Russia in the Middle East: Motives, Consequences, Prospects,” Policy Focus 142, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Washington, D.C., Feb. 2016, p. 28.
[39] See, for example, Novaya Gazeta (Moscow), July 22, 2018.
[40] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speech, reprinted in Alahed News (Beirut), June 8, 2018.
[41] See, for example, Asharq al-Awsat (London), Jan. 12, 2019.
[42] Naharnet, Feb. 5, 2019.
[43] Ibid., Feb. 5, 2019.
[44] Muhannad al-Haj Ali, “Az-Zuhaf ar-Rusi ila Lubnan,” al-Modon (Beirut), Jan. 28, 2019.
[45] See for example, The Moscow Times, Nov. 12, 2014; Grzegorz Kuczyński, “Putin’s Invisible Army,” The Warsaw Institute Foundation, Mar. 30, 2018; Arti Gercek news agency (Köln, Ger.), July 11, 2018; Novaya Gazeta, Jan. 23, 2019.

A Duel on a Sinking Ship
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 09/2019
Foreign observers find it difficult to understand the developments of the Lebanese situation and its sudden turns. This is not surprising. Lebanon is not a normal democracy, to which the known rules of such system apply. Lebanon’s democracy is bizzare. It resembles nothing but itself. A fragile democracy that is constantly on the brink of collapse and only escapes with treatments that today are no longer available.The Lebanese find it difficult to explain to non-Lebanese what is going on in the Land of Cedars. The game there is not governed by the accepted rules regarding elections, majority, and minority.
It is not enough to reflect on the provisions of the constitution to understand the story. It is true there is a constitution that is supposed to regulate the life of this republic that is heading towards bankruptcy. But the constitution alone is not enough.
There are turns, circumventions, and ambiguities, as well as the ingenuity of the designers of derogatory constitutional models, who have imaginations that exceed the skillful minds of the most famous fashion designers such as Elie Saab, Zuhair Murad, and others.
Unfortunately, the constitution is not the referee, nor has it the last say. In difficult seasons, it becomes the victim, not the guardian. Disregarding the constitution has become entrenched, as has the habit of disregarding the citizens.
Lebanese political games seemed amusing and cute on normal days. But they are painful and provocative in a country that sends out distress calls, such as drifting ships at sea… A country, in which words such as collapse and bankruptcy are in all conversations… A country, where a citizen commits suicide for not being able to secure half a dollar for his daughter or sets himself on fire for his inability to provide bread or to pay school fees for his children.
I don’t want to be too pessimistic and say that a beautiful Lebanon is just a lie that was invented by the Rahbanis and promoted by the scattered gold from the voice of Fairouz. I was willing to write about another topic. But what happened yesterday provoked me.
The prevailing impression was that the binding parliamentary consultations, which President Michel Aoun was scheduled to conduct after a long wait and stalling, would result in the nomination of businessman Samir al-Khatib. The latter was expected to form the government that would face the most difficult task in Lebanon’s independent history, especially since the economic collapse is no longer an imminent threat, but rather a reality.
According to rumors, the choice of Khatib would have freed the government from the burden of some ministers, who went too far in poisoning the Lebanese water of coexistence. Suddenly, Khatib, following a visit to Grand Mufti Abdullatif Derian, announced his withdrawal from the race, saying that the Sunni community was unanimous in supporting Saad Hariri as prime minister. Hariri had previously announced that he was not interested in forming the new government, after the other team insisted on a techno-political cabinet. He argued that only a technocrat government could help resolve the economic and financial collapse and address the international community.
With the postponement of binding parliamentary consultations, it seemed clear that it was difficult to overcome what became known as the “Hariri node”. This node started since his father’s entry in the club of prime ministers in 1992 with an exceptional aura and as a striking force based on an arsenal of Arab and international relations, in addition to his financial capabilities.Hariri succeeded in becoming the axis around which the regime revolved, despite the Syrian tutelage in Lebanon. The search for the president of the republic began on the basis of who can control and obstruct Hariri, after it became difficult to continue without him. Despite the differences, the experience was repeated with Saad Hariri, who suddenly emerged in the Lebanese arena, carrying the coffin of his father, whose assassination in 2005 constituted a turning point in the turbulent life of the Republic and put it on the path of decline.
The “Hariri node” was present in the elections and the formation of governments. His presence was imperative and his opponents had no option but to accept him, seek to obstruct him, and set ambushes to topple him whenever the opportunity aroused.
The Hariri government was brought down at the hands of Aoun and his allies. But the man returned to the Serail because he was the strongest in his sect and because he kept most of the arsenal of international relations that his father engineered and excelled in maintaining.
When the Hariri sect insists today on his appointment as prime minister, it acts in the same way as Michel Aoun’s allies, when they kept postponing the presidential elections to ensure his arrival as the figure who represents the most the Maronite community, and after the country suffered for years from what was known as the “Aoun node”.
A third node in the current system is that of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The State is unable to have a say on major issues without his approval. The past years have consolidated a dangerous norm. The strongest man in a sect or confession cannot be trespassed. This norm has distorted the Lebanese system, even if it was not translated in constitutional texts. There are those who are demanding the return of Hariri because he is the best able to address the Arab and international community, perhaps because he could save the Lebanese sinking ship. Others are calling for his return to be a partner in bearing the consequences of the collapse, as hopes for survival are diminishing. The dance of alliances and bickering between the Lebanese islands was taking place in a country that had long succeeded in postponing the hour of truth. But today, it is taking place in a country that witnesses the largest protest movement in its history amid rising poverty, unemployment, and bankruptcy. Politicians went too far in the game of coalitions and wrangling, and they did not stop at the signs of internal deterioration, nor at the US-Iranian tension line.
Lebanon is a difficult story that transcends its men. It is a magnificent Rahbani lie, where the resounding voice of Fairouz rises above tremendous destruction.

The post A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 09- 10/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 54th Day appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

Detailed LCCC English News Bulletin For December 10/2019

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Detailed LCCC English News Bulletin For December 10/2019

Click Here to read the whole and detailed LCCC English News Bulletin for December 10/2019

Click Here to enter the LCCC  Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Titles Of The LCCC English News Bulletin
Bible Quotations For today
Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News 
Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports And News
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources

The post Detailed LCCC English News Bulletin For December 10/2019 appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

إِذَا قَالَ أَحَد: «نِّي أُحِبُّ الله، وهُوَ يُبْغِضُ أَخَاه، كَانَ كَاذِبًا، لأَنَّ الَّذي لا يُحِبُّ أَخاهُ وهُوَ يَرَاهُ لا يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يُحِبَّ اللهَ وهُوَ لا يَرَاه/Who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen

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إِذَا قَالَ أَحَد: «إِنِّي أُحِبُّ الله»، وهُوَ يُبْغِضُ أَخَاه، كَانَ كَاذِبًا، لأَنَّ الَّذي لا يُحِبُّ أَخاهُ وهُوَ يَرَاهُ لا يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يُحِبَّ اللهَ وهُوَ لا يَرَاه
رسالة القدّيس يوحنّا الأولى04/من07حتى21/:”يا إِخوَتِي : أَيُّهَا الأَحِبَّاء، فَلْنُحِبَّ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا، لأَنَّ المَحَبَّةَ مِنَ الله. وكُلُّ مَنْ يُحِبُّ هُوَ مَولُودٌ مِنَ الله، ويَعْرِفُ الله. ومَنْ لا يُحِبُّ لَم يَعْرِفِ ٱلله، لأَنَّ اللهَ مَحَبَّة. وبهذَا ظَهَرَتْ محبَّةُ اللهِ لنَا، أَنَّ اللهَ أَرسَلَ ٱبْنَهُ الوَحِيدَ إِلى العَالَم، لِنَحْيَا بِهِ. بهذَا تَكُونُ المَحَبَّة، لا بِأَنَّنَا نَحْنُ أَحْبَبْنَا الله، بَل بِأَنَّ اللهَ نَفْسَهُ أَحَبَّنَا، وأَرسَلَ ٱبْنَهُ كَفَّارَةً لِخَطَايانَا. أَيُّهَا الأَحِبَّاء، إذَا كَانَ اللهُ قَد أَحَبَّنَا هكذَا، فَعلَيْنَا نَحْنُ أَيْضًا أَنْ نُحِبَّ بَعضُنَا بَعضًا. أَللهُ ما رآهُ أَحَد. إِنْ كُنَّا نُحِبُّ بَعضُنَا بَعْضًا فَٱللهُ يُقِيمُ فِينَا، وتَكُونُ مَحَبَّتُهُ فِينَا كَامِلَة. بهذَا نَعْرِفُ أَنَّنَا نَثْبُتُ فِيهِ وهُوَ فِينَا، بِأَنَّهُ أَعْطَانَا مِنْ رُوحِهِ. ونَحْنُ رأَيْنَا، ونَشْهَدُ أَنَّ الآبَ أَرْسَلَ ٱلٱبْنَ مُخَلِّصًا لِلعَالَم. فمَنْ يَعْتَرِفُ أَنَّ يَسُوعَ هُوَ ٱبْنُ اللهِ يُقِيمُ اللهُ فِيه، وهُوَ في الله. ونَحْنُ عَرَفْنَا مَحَبَّةَ اللهِ لنَا، وآمَنَّا بِهَا. أَللهُ مَحَبَّة، ومَنْ يَثْبُتُ في الْمَحَبَّةِ يَثْبُتُ في الله، واللهُ يَثْبُتُ فِيه. بِهذَا تَكْتَمِلُ المَحَبَّةُ فينَا، بِأَنْ تَكُونَ لنَا ثِقَةٌ أَمَامَهُ يَوْمَ الدَّيْنُونَة، لأَنَّهُ كَمَا كَانَ المَسِيح، كَذلِكَ نَكُونُ نَحْنُ في هذَا العَالَم.لا خَوفَ في المَحَبَّة، بلِ ٱلْمَحَبَّةُ الكامِلَةُ تَنْفِي الخَوْف، لأَنَّ الخَوْفَ يَأْتِي مِنَ العِقَاب، ومَنْ يَخَافُ لا يَكُونُ كامِلاً في المَحَبَّة. ونَحْنُ، فَلْنُحِبَّ الله، لأَنَّهُ هُوَ أَحَبَّنَا أَولاً. إِذَا قَالَ أَحَد: «إِنِّي أُحِبُّ الله»، وهُوَ يُبْغِضُ أَخَاه، كَانَ كَاذِبًا، لأَنَّ الَّذي لا يُحِبُّ أَخاهُ وهُوَ يَرَاهُ لا يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يُحِبَّ اللهَ وهُوَ لا يَرَاه. ولنَا مِنْهُ هذِهِ الوَصِيَّة، أَنَّ مَنْ يُحِبُّ اللهَ يُحِبُّ أَيْضًا أَخَاه!”.

Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen
First Letter of John 04/07-21/:”Let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also”.

أقُولُ لَكُم، يَكُونُ فَرَحٌ أَمَامَ مَلائِكَةِ اللهِ بِخَاطِئٍ وَاحِدٍ يَتُوب
إنجيل القدّيس لوقا05/من08حتى10/:”قالَ الربُّ يَسوع: «أَيُّ ٱمْرَأَةٍ لَهَا عَشَرَةُ دَرَاهِم، إِذَا أَضَاعَتْ دِرْهَمًا وَاحِدًا، لا تَشْعَلُ مِصْبَاحًا، وَتُكَنِّسُ البَيْت، وَتُفَتِّشُ عَنْهُ بِٱهْتِمَامٍ حَتَّى تَجِدَهُ؟ فَإِذَا وَجَدَتْهُ تَدْعُو الصَّدِيقَاتِ وَالجَارَات، وَتَقُولُ لَهُنَّ: إِفْرَحْنَ مَعِي، لأَنِّي وَجَدْتُ الدِّرْهَمَ الَّذي أَضَعْتُهُ! هكَذَا، أَقُولُ لَكُم، يَكُونُ فَرَحٌ أَمَامَ مَلائِكَةِ اللهِ بِخَاطِئٍ وَاحِدٍ يَتُوب”.»

I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15/08-10/:”‘What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’”

The post إِذَا قَالَ أَحَد: «نِّي أُحِبُّ الله، وهُوَ يُبْغِضُ أَخَاه، كَانَ كَاذِبًا، لأَنَّ الَّذي لا يُحِبُّ أَخاهُ وهُوَ يَرَاهُ لا يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يُحِبَّ اللهَ وهُوَ لا يَرَاه/Who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

Elie Aoun/Enemies of Lebanon (2 of 3): The Secret Societies/ايلي عون: اعداء لبنان

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Enemies of Lebanon (2 of 3): The Secret Societies
ايلي عون: اعداء لبنان – الجزء الثاني
Elie Aoun/December 10/2019

In a speech on press freedom, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stated that the responsibility of the press is not to amuse or entertain but to educate, to state the dangers and opportunities. In that same speech, he spoke in opposition “to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.”

He added: “We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy … It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.”

President Kennedy was not a conspiracy theorist. What he stated was a fact, not a theory. His assassination was the price he paid for his courage – for rejecting the rule of those who rule behind the scenes.

It is against this “highly efficient machine” that both the U.S. and Lebanon struggle.

During the 2004 presidential election, both George W. Bush and John Kerry were members of “Skull and Bones.” Regardless for whom of the two candidates the Americans voted, they were voting for the same secret society.

During the 2016 U.S. election, the vice presidential candidates on both sides were Jesuits. Regardless for whom Americans voted, they were voting for a Jesuit vice president.

Many view the Jesuit Order as a religious or educational institution, but that is not the complete story. According to the CIA’s E. Howard Hunt, “the Jesuits form the greatest intelligence service in the world, and always have.” Anyone who investigates their true history would know of their criminality and involvement in the usurpation of nations.

Whether in the U.S. or in Lebanon, often an individual is selected for a certain position based on that person’s affiliation – not patriotism or qualification.

The secret societies do not reward honest patriotic individuals, but rats who are willing to sell their soul and country for the sake of political advancement. Where is the benefit and logic in undermining the country where those who lead the secret societies and their descendants live? For money and power that will eventually vanish?

The Jesuit-educated leaders of the Kataeb and Lebanese Forces along with the freemason leaders of FPM and Al Marada do not and cannot achieve any constructive measure for the country. The same can be said of the Jesuit/Freemason Saad Hariri and Druze leaders, and the Freemason Shiite leadership.

These “leaders” are neither Christians nor Muslims. Their political logos and hand-signs have no basis in either the Bible or the Quran. They know exactly their pagan and “dark” source.

The fact that all these politicians have the same affiliation could not have been a mere coincidence. This fact proves that Jesuitism and freemasonry play a role in ruling and destroying Lebanon. Their loyalty is to their agenda, not a country. It is a waste of time to expect from them anything different than the “fruits” that have already been given.

The Jesuit educational system is not the means through which positive improvements can take place. Whether the reader wishes to believe or not, national independence and wellbeing are not a part of the Jesuit agenda. A good Jesuit/Freemason politician, who decides to become patriotic, gets assassinated.

Our objective is not to fight them. Rather, it is to know the truth and then focus on our strengths and that which we can do ourselves – focus on what we can build, rather than what we oppose. Eventually, evil carries the seed of its own defeat.

What type of cabinet Lebanon needs? A cabinet with no Jesuits and no freemasons.

The heads of the Jesuit intelligence network and freemasonry are guilty in undermining Lebanon. If they wish to “redeem” the names of their secret societies, they must remove their “dirty” stooges from power. The “prestige” of Jesuitism and freemasonry is down the drain, along with other undesirable objects.

Enemies of Lebanon (01 of 03): The Monetary System
أعداء لبنان (01من03): النظام النقدي
Elie Aoun/November 30/2019

The Lebanese government does not own the Lebanese Pound (or Lira). If it owned the currency, it would not borrow it and pay interest on it.

One main reason why the monetary system is an enemy because the Lebanese government abandoned its exclusive privilege to issue money and vested that privilege in the Bank of Lebanon (Decree 13513, Article 47).

In other words, the government gave the Bank the right to issue money, loan that money back to the government, and then charge it interest – at a time when the government could have issued its own money without paying any interest.

The “Bank of Lebanon” was created pursuant to Lebanese Law Decree 13513 of August 1, 1963 (Code of Money and Credit).

The Decree was signed by President Fouad Chehab and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh (who was also acting as a Finance Minister).

The Lebanese Parliament did not vote on or approve the creation of the Bank.

Not only does the Bank charge interest on the Bank’s loans to the State, the Bank does not pay interest to the State on the State’s deposits in the Bank (Article 86).

Not only has the government abandoned to the Bank its exclusive authority to print money, the government has also exempted the Bank from all taxes, imposts and rates whatsoever, already enforced or likely to be enforced for the benefit of the State, municipal corporations or other organizations (Article 118).

WHO OWNS THE LEBANESE CURRENCY?
The name “Republic of Lebanon” is not printed on any of the Lebanese currency notes. What is printed is the name “Banque du Liban” (Bank of Lebanon). Some may ask, is not the Bank owned by the Lebanese government? The answer is no.

Firstly, Decree 13513 does not say that the Bank is a branch of the Lebanese government. Instead, the Decree’s Article 13 states that the Bank is a juridical person of public law (a legal entity similar to a corporation) vested with financial autonomy.

Secondly, the Decree is written in a manner that reflects a relationship between two independent entities (rather than the Bank being a branch of the government).

For example, Article 74 requires of the government to provide a protection (military guard) for the Bank’s establishment free of charge. No such language would have been used in the Decree if the Bank is a branch of the government.

Thirdly, Article 113 dictates how net profits are shared between the Bank and the government – such as 50/50 basis on certain occasions and even 80/20 (80% to the Treasury; 20% to the Bank) under some other conditions. It is doubtful that this profit-sharing formula has been properly implemented. If the Bank is a part of the government, all the net profits would have been the government’s share, not divided with the Bank.

The questions are: If the Bank is a legal entity, who owns that entity?

In what manner has its profits been used or distributed since 1963 until now? Would the government revoke Article 47 and restore its exclusive privilege to issue money without paying interest for it?

Why opening a new bank requires applying for registration with the Central Bank (Article 135) and not with the Ministry of Finance?

Apparently, no politician would have the courage to discuss these issues.

The post Elie Aoun/Enemies of Lebanon (2 of 3): The Secret Societies/ايلي عون: اعداء لبنان appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

نديم قطيش/أثمان خريف حزب الله

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أثمان خريف «حزب الله»
نديم قطيش/الشرق الأوسط»/الثلاثاء 10 كانون الأول 2019

قال متروبوليت بيروت وتوابعها للروم الأرثوذكس المطران الياس عودة، الكلام الذي لا يريد كثيرون سماعه. وضع إصبعه على جرح المسألة اللبنانية، ليس من الآن بل منذ أن أجرم اللبنانيون، وكثيرون من أشقائهم العرب، بحق الوطن الصغير، وذهبوا إلى اتفاق القاهرة 1969، مشرعين أبوابه لسلاح الثورة الفلسطينية، لتكون النتيجة احتلال بيروت بدل تحرير القدس!!

ففي عظته خلال ترؤسه قداساً وجنازاً لمناسبة الذكرى السنوية الرابعة عشرة لرحيل النائب والصحافي جبران تويني، اعتبر المطران عودة، أنّ لبنان يحكم اليوم «من شخص تعرفونه جميعاً (…) ويُحكم من جماعة تحتمي بالسلاح». ولكن على من تقرأ مزاميرك يا سيادة المطران؟

فأهل الثورة خائفون على ثورتهم أن تغرق في رمال الانقسامات اللبنانية المتحركة، وتفقد «نقاءها الثوري» الذي ينوب عنه شعار «كلن يعني كلن» (كلهم يعني كلهم).

وأهل السياسة ومخضرموها يعرفون أن مزاج الشارع لا يحتمل إلا كلاماً بسيطاً وساذجاً في شعاراته وجذرياً وشمولياً في نقده، ويدركون أن كل إشارة إلى سلاح «حزب الله» يُشتم منها تنصل من المسؤولية عن الخراب والفساد من خصوم الحزب وهم شركاؤه في السلطة والمحاصصة وتبادل الخدمات.

من هنا تنبع أهمية كلام المطران عودة. من وقوعه خارج السلطة السياسية وحساباتها ومن انحيازه المبكر للثورة ولعناوينها ولمطالبتها باستقالة أركان السلطة السياسية، معتبراً يومها أن «الفراغ أفضل من الواقع الذي نعيشه اليوم».

سيتهم كلام المطران عودة بالكثير، لكنه سيظل بريئاً من تهمة المبالغة. فـ«حزب الله» الذي كان يتحكم بلبنان وارثاً لدور سوريا الأسد فيه، بات منذ الانتخابات النيابية الأخيرة عام 2018 يحكم لبنان بالفعل، من خلال أكثرية برلمانية كما من خلال الحكومة المستقيلة التي أمضى 9 أشهر في خياطة توازناتها بحيث يكون القرار السياسي فيها بيده للمرة الأولى بهذا الوضوح.

وهنا بيت القصيد ومربط المعركة الخفية التي يخوضها الحزب وتخوضها ضده قوى محلية وأبعد. ما فعلته الثورة أنها فتحت البلاد على أزمة حكم بالتأكيد، ولكنها أيضاً خلقت من حيث تريد أو لا تريد فضاءً لتصحيح خلل هيمنة «حزب الله» على القرار السياسي للبلاد وتعطيل إلحاق لبنان بالمحور الذي تقوده إيران في ذروة الاشتباك الإيراني الأميركي العربي.

فكل النقاشات التي تبدأ بتوزير صهر رئيس الجمهورية جبران باسيل أو عدمه في أي حكومة مقبلة سرعان ما تنتهي إلى نقاش حول توازنات هذه الحكومة ومن يملك القرار السياسي فيها، وهو ما تراقبه القوى الدولية عن كثب لتقرر وفقه ما إذا كانت ستمضي قدماً في برنامج إنقاذ لبنان اقتصادياً أم لا.

آخر كلام المفاوضات يشير إلى أن «حزب الله»، مستشعراً فداحة الأزمة الاقتصادية على جمهوره كجزء من الجمهور اللبناني العام، وافق على حكومة «تكنو – سياسية» لا يكون فيها بين الممثلين السياسيين أي من الوجوه التقليدية، لكنه ما زال متمسكاً بحكومة تعكس نتائج الانتخابات النيابية، أي استنساخ الحكومة المستقيلة التي يمسك بقرارها السياسي، لكن بوجوه جديدة وشراكة مختلفة.

أما مؤدى هذا الكلام فإنه لا حكومة في الأفق ولا من يحزنون، إلا إذا حسم «حزب الله» قراره بالاختيار بين السوسيولوجيا والجيوبوليتيك.

ففي السوسيولوجيا يعرف أن وعود الثورة التي أخذ الشيعة إليها منذ أربعين عاماً تقف عند خريف التجربة مطوقة بالفشل في إيران نفسها قبل الساحات الملحقة بها. ويعرف أن عليه الانخراط في المعالجات التي تنقذ بيئته بصرف النظر عن مصدرها وأثمانها. ليس أدل على ذلك من إعلان طهران عما وصفته بميزانية «تصدي العقوبات» الأقل اعتماداً على النفط في تاريخ البلاد، بدعم روسي بقيمة خمسة مليارات دولار. أي أن البلد النفطي والغازي سيكتفي ببيع السجاد والفستق، مراهناً على معونات موسكو التي تحتاج هي نفسها إلى معونات!!

أما في الجيوبوليتيك فهو يعرف أن التراجعات قاتلة وأن لعبة التوازنات لا تسمح بشبهة الهزيمة وأن من وعد بزمن الانتصارات بات أسير وعوده المستحيلة، بما لا يتيح مجالاً للقبول بأي تغيير يقوده الشارع.

ترجمت إيران ذلك عبر ميليشياتها بمجزرة الخلاني في العراق، التي قتل فيها 24 عراقياً يوم الجمعة الفائت في أحدث إشارة على إصرار إيران على إنهاء الاحتجاجات المندلعة في وجهها في العراق، وترجمته داخل إيران عبر مجازر مماثلة تتراوح أرقام ضحاياها بين المائتي متظاهر إيراني والألف ممن وصفهم المرشد علي خامنئي بالأشرار والخونة.

ضمن هذا الجيوبوليتيك يفهم «حزب الله» الأزمة المندلعة في لبنان. وقد عبر معاون الأمين العام لـ«حزب الله» حسين خليل عن ذلك بوضوح في حديث مع واحد ممن بُحث في توليهم رئاسة الحكومة اللبنانية، حين صحح له استخدامه مفردة «الحراك»، موضحاً أن «حزب الله» لا يعترف حقيقة بالحراك، بل يرى فيه «مؤامرة تستهدف رأس المقاومة».

لا يزال الجيوبوليتيك غالباً. وللمرة الأولى يمسك المجتمع الدولي بـ«حزب الله» من يد تؤلمه، ولن يتيح له الفرار أو تعديل وضعيته. أما الحزب فيبدو أكثر ميلاً للمواجهة، مما يعني أن الأزمة اللبنانية مرشحة لأن تطول وتتعقد، ما لم يقرر الحزب تجرع سم التسوية بغير شروطه.

قد لا يلتحق لبنان بحمام الدم المفتوح في المدن العراقية والإيرانية وقد يلتحق. لكن الأكيد أن الزمن اللبناني الراهن ليس زمن الخيارات العاقلة، وأن أثمان انتهاء وصاية «حزب الله» على البلاد لن تكون بسيطة.

The post نديم قطيش/أثمان خريف حزب الله appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.


تقارير وفيديو توضح حقيقة ما جرى في خيمة الملتقى وسط بيروت حيث تعرض من كان فيها استعداً لمحاضرة لم تحصل من تهديد وتشبيح وتخوين وإتهامات باطلة

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تقارير وفيديو توضح حقيقة ما جرى في خيمة الملتقى وسط بيروت حيث تعرض من كان فيها استعداً لمحاضرة لم تحصل من تهديد وتشبيح وتخوين وإتهامات باطلة

حزب الله يحرّض وجمهور الممانعة يهاجم خيمة “الملتقى”/وليد حسين/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019

لقمان سليم يؤكد لـ «جنوبية»: حاصرونا وهددونا بالقتل!/جنوبية/11 كانون الأول/2019

هكذا تم فبركة تهمة «التطبيع» لرواد خيمة الملتقى مع فيديو/جنوبية/11 كانون الأول/2019

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حزب الله يحرّض وجمهور الممانعة يهاجم خيمة “الملتقى”
وليد حسين/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019
لم يكن الهجوم البربري على خيمة “الملتقى” بالقرب من اللعازارية بسبب قول مقدم الجلسة “دولة إسرائيل”، خلال مناقشة الحاضرين في الندوة، التي أتت بعنوان “الحياد مفهوم الاستراتيجي لعودة ازدهار لبنان”.

فقد استُبقت الندوة منذ الصباح بحملة شرسة شنها محور الممانعة وجلاوزته. ولم يقتصر الأمر على تغريدات إعلاميين حزبلاهيين وصحبهم. حتى من حضر للاعتراض ومحاولة حرق الخيمة، لم يكن يعلم ماذا قيل فيها. ولم يعرف إذا كانت مشاركته في هذه الغزوة “المجيدة” بسبب تلفظ كلمة دولة إسرائيل من عدمها.

حتى أن اللغط طال جميع المتجمعين في الساحة، سواء من أتى لحرق الخيمة بمن فيها أو من أتى للدفاع عنها.

فالجميع كان يتحدث أن السفير السابق هشام حمدان هو من قال “دولة إسرائيل” ولم يقل عنها دولة الكيان الغاصب وخلافه. بينما وقائع الجلسة تثبت بما لا يدع الشك أن ما شيع غير صحيح ومن حضر أتى للتخريب فحسب.

فالكلمة لم تصل حتى إلى السفير السابق، إذ عملت الصبية اليسارية المجهرية على تطيير الجلسة، حتى قبل أن يكمل مقدم النقاش كلامه. وقال الأخير حرفياً، كما يظهر في شريط الفيديو، في معرض حديثه عن التحديات التي تواجه لبنان أنه “يوجد صراع مع عدو يتربص بنا منذ تأسيس دولة إسرائيل”.

لكن وبعد أن أكمل كلامه لدقائق عدة، أتت التعليمات لتطيير الجلسة فهب بعض الحاضرين هاتفين “يا فلسطين نحنا معاكي للموت”، وعلت الهتافات والصرخات وجرى هرج ومرج وصل ألى حد استدعاء جحافل يسارية للقضاء على الخيمة و”وكر الجواسيس والعملاء”.

فأحد الغاضبين اليساريين راحت به مخيلة التحريض إلى القول إن أحدهم قال نريد التطبيع التجاري والاقتصادي مع إسرائيل كي يزدهر لبنان.

وعندما حاولنا أن نستفسر منه إذا ما كان حاضراً على هذا الكلام الخطير كان رده: “لا لقد قالوا لنا أنه قال هذا الكلام”.

هذا الغضب المفتعل الذي انساق خلفه يساريون وشيوعيون، عوضاً، أو تكافلاً وتضامناً مع حزب الله وخطابه، يشي بأن ساحة اللعازارية لن تكون “للخونة والعملاء” كما راح يصدح المنفعلون على خطاب لم يسمعوه بل قيل لهم كذا وكذا.

كما لو أن خيمة الملتقى التي عقدت نحو 35 جلسة حوارية عن النظام الطائفي والدولة المدنية والجامعة اللبنانية والفساد في قطاع الكهرباء والسياسات الاقتصادية والمالية، والتي فصلت وشرحت عمل المصارف والفساد والهدر وكل ما خرج من أجله اللبنانيون إلى الشوارع، باتت فجأة “وكراً صهيونياً”!

اللافتات التي ناهز عددها 16 لافتة، والحملة التي سبقت الندوة، تشي أن ثمة جهات تريد خطف الساحات العامة، وجعلها مطية لحزب الله، بعد أن فشل في إقناع حلفائه بالانسحاب من الساحات غداة دفاعه الشرس عن الحكومة والسلطة.

بعض الحاضرين حاولوا تهدئة الأمور معلنين للغاضبين أن السفير السابق أخطأ في عدم القول دولة العدو الاسرائيلي. وراحوا يدينون المنظمين على إقدامهم على عقد هذه الجلسة محتجين على عنوانها. لكن المحتجين لم يرضوا بهذا الكلام التهدوي وراحوا يشيعون ويروجون أن هذه الخيمة تستقبل خونة وعملاء وإسرائيليين. وهذا محض هراء، وخبث، ودليل قاطع على تربص حزب الله وأعوانه اليساريين بهذه الخيمة.

ووفق شهود عيان، كان أول المعترضين والمهاجمين هم المجموعات التي زرعها الحزب في الساحتين في الأيام السابقة، قبل أن يلجأ بعض الشيوعيين للمزايدة عليهم، والمشاركة في التحريض وشتم ولعن ندوة أتى بعضهم إليها لتطييرها عن سابق إصرار وتصميم.

“اسمع يا صهيوني شعب بلادي لا ما بيركع”، هتفت الصبية بالمتجمهرين لحرق وتكسير الخيمة. هتاف وخطاب مستمد من لغة التخوين التي ينتهجها حزب الله وأعوانه. “لا نريد خطاب فيلتمان والأميركي” في ساحة الثورة، قال أحد صبية اليسار المجهري، الذي لا يزيد عدد المنتمين إلى مجموعته أصابع اليد الواحدة، فمن أين أتى بعشرات الشبان الشتامين؟

علماً أن هذه المجموعة خُوّنت منذ أقل من أسبوع عبر شرائط مصورة، قيل أنها مفبركة في الضاحية الجنوبية، واتهموها بأنها تأتمر لأميركا. ثم أكمل كلامه قائلاً: “من في الخيمة عميل وصهيوني ومندس”، مفرغاً جام غضبه على الذين حاولوا لجم غضبه شارحين له أن ما يشاع غير صحيح، وأن السفير السابق قال دولة العدو الإسرائيلي وليس دولة إسرائيل. لكن تقصد عدم الاقتناع، وراح يبرر أن عنوان الجلسة كلام منسوب لفيلتمان. وبالتالي، “لا نريد الخطاب الأميركي في ساحة الشرف”. قالت إحدى السيدات الغاضبات على فعل هؤلاء الرعاع أن هذه الساحة للنقاش، ولن تكون لكمّ الأفواه، كما يريد أن يحولها هؤلاء الزعران.

لكن الزعران كانت كلمتهم “سنحرق الخيمة اليوم أو غدا أو بعد غد… سنحرقها”.

حالت القوى الأمنية، حتى ساعة كتابة التقرير، دون إحراق الخيمة. لكن من الواضح منذ أيام، أن حزب الله سيطر على ساحة رياض الصلح واللعازارية، ولم يبق إلا ساحة الشهداء، التي تنتظر الساعات والأيام المقبلة للانقضاض عليها. وكل ذلك للدفاع عن السلطة ورموزها، التي خرجت الناس -بمن فيهم اليسار المجهري والشيوعيين- لاسقاطها.

*الصورة المرفقة هي للصحافي بيار ابي صعب وهو كتاب جريدة الأخبار الملالوية.. وقد ذكر كثر اليوم بأنه هو من أوائل المحرضين على خيمة الملتقة ومن المحرضين عليها وعلى روادها ومحاضريها.

لقمان سليم يؤكد لـ «جنوبية»: حاصرونا وهددونا بالقتل!
جنوبية/11 كانون الأول/2019
قامت مجموعة من أنصار “حزب الله” وما يعرف منهم بسرايا المقاومة وبلطجية يدعون انهم ناشطون وتابعون لوسائل إعلامية يدعمها الحزب بالهجوم على خيمة الملتقى في ساحة الاعتصام في وسط بيروت التي كان من المقرر ان يتم القاء محاضرة فيها حول اعلان بعبدا وتحييد لبنان من الصراع الاقليمي. وأقدم المهاجمون على استقدام تعزيزات من مناطق مجاورة التي كانت قد قامت بالاعتداء على المتظاهرين في الرينغ وساحتي الاعتصام في بيروت قبل اسابيع، وقاموا بالتهجم والهتاف بشعارات تحريضية واتهامات بالعمالة وتهديد المعتصمين بالقتل وفيهم اعلاميون وناشطون معروفون بدعمهم للثورة منذ انطلاقتها وعرف منهم: لقمان سليم، بهجت سلامة، ادمون رباط، ايمن جزيني، مكرم رباح. وقد تدخلت قوة من مكافحة الشغب لحماية الناشطين المحاصرين، لكن المهاجمين عادوا واستقدموا تعزيزات ايضا وقاموا بهجمات متوالية وسط ذهول المعتصمين الذين فوجئوا بهذا الهجوم المنظم تحت ستار دعم المقاومة وبهتافات الاتهامات بالعمالة والتطبيع مع اسرائيل. وقال المعتصمون المحاصرون لموقع “جنوبية” ان حياتهم مهددة بالخطر وانهم معرضون للقتل بأي لحظة وان الشعارات التي تهدر دمهم ما زال يطلقها المهاجمون دون توقف.

هكذا تم فبركة تهمة «التطبيع» لرواد خيمة الملتقى!
جنوبية/11 كانون الأول/2019
اضغط هنا لمشاهد فيديو ما حدث في خيمة الملتقى
متذرعون بتهمة “العمالة” والتطبيع مع اسرائيل كما جرت العادة هاجم مجموعة من انصار “حزب الله” خيمة الملتقى” وسط بيروت، وقد حصل اشكال في الخيمة الموجودة في الباحة المقابلة لمبنى “العازارية”. وفي التفاصيل، أنه ومع بدء ندوة فكرية تتناول موضوع الحياد، كان يحاضر فيها السفير السابق هشام حمدان، والباحث والمؤرخ عصام خليفة والعميد المتقاعد خالد حمود، همت مجموعة الى محاصرة الخيمة مانعة إكمال الندوة. واتهمت المجموعة المعتدية مكونة من يساريين ومناصرين لحزب الله منظمي الندوة “بالترويج للتطبيع مع اسرائيل”. وحضرت القوى الامنية لحماية الخيمة مع تهديد المعترضين بإحراقها، الأمر الذي أظهر مؤشرات قمع خطيرة للرأي في باحة الثورة.
في حين اشارت معلومات صحفية ان مجموعة من سرايا المقاومة حاولت اقتحام منتدى الحوار بالقوة في ساحة الشهداء بالقرب من مبنى اللعازارية وخلق حالة هرج ومرج وفوضى ما استدعى تدخل القوى الأمنية وفرقة مكافحة الشغب لثنيهم عن تكسير الخيمة. وفيما أصر المهاجمون ان احد المحاضرين في الندوة كان يروج للتطبيع مع اسرائيل يظهر هذا الفيديو حقيقة ما جرى، وكيف تم فبركة تهمة العمالة وتحريف الكلمة الذي تم التأكيد فيها على عداء اسرائيل للبنان.
وفي هذا الاطار، ناشد النائب السابق فارس سعيد عبر تويتر نقيب المحامين ملحم خلف التوجّه الى وسط بيروت حيث تحصل عملية محاصرة لمجموعة من الشباب من قبل عناصر شغب و”نرجو وسائل الاعلام المساعدة على توثيق الاحداث “. أضاف:”نعرف من الشباب المحاصرين في وسط بيروت لقمان سليم، بهجت سلامة، ادمون رباط، ايمن جزيني، مكرم رباح، خالد حمادة ونضال ابو شاهين وسنورد اسماء اخرى، هؤلاء في خطر، تحيّة لصمودهم، انقذوهم من خلال تغطية اعلاميّة واسعة”. وتابع سعيد:”نرجو مساعدة الشباب المحاصرين في وسط بيروت من خلال توثيق ما يجري عبر شبكة التواصل الاجتماعي والطلب من كل وسائل الاعلام التوجّه الى مكان الحصار، خيمة الملتقى وسط بيروت. تحيّة الى كل الشباب المحاصر. صمودكم مدوّي”.

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المنسقية:في اسفل صورتين لبيار ابي صعب الصحافي العامل في جريدة الأخبار وقد ذكر كثر من الذين تواجدوا في خيمة الملتقى بأنه هو من الذين حرضوا على ما حصل على خلفية الحقد والغيرة والتملق لجهات معينة

The post تقارير وفيديو توضح حقيقة ما جرى في خيمة الملتقى وسط بيروت حيث تعرض من كان فيها استعداً لمحاضرة لم تحصل من تهديد وتشبيح وتخوين وإتهامات باطلة appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

يوسف بزي: جمهورية ميشال عون.. واللواء مرتضى قرباني

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جمهورية ميشال عون.. واللواء مرتضى قرباني
يوسف بزي/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019

ساذج أو كاذب من تفاجأ بما قاله مستشار قائد الحرس الثوري الإيراني، اللواء مرتضى قرباني: “في حال ارتكبت إسرائيل أصغر خطأ تجاه إيران، سنسوي تل أبيب بالتراب انطلاقاً من لبنان”.

هذا الكلام ليس جديداً، بقدر ما هو تذكير لواقع الأمر. لبنان بالنسبة لإيران عبارة عن منصة صواريخ، ليس دولة ولا شعباً ولا وطناً. منصة صواريخ وحسب، إلى حد أن قائد الفرقة المحلية من “الحرس الثوري” حسن نصرالله، قال في خطبته الأخيرة متبجحاً أن لديه من الصواريخ يحار أين يخزنها.

وهو قبل أشهر قليلة ردد كثيراً مقولته أنه رهن إشارة “المرشد” بشن حرب في حال الهجوم على إيران. وهذا بدوره ليس جديداً، بل معروف منذ سنوات طويلة. مع ذلك، ما تلفظ به اللواء قرباني يثير الانتباه لا لناحية تحدثه عن لبنان وكأنه أرض سائبة، بل لاستثنائه ضمنياً غزة والجولان من وعيده وتهديده. هذا أمر جديد.

تم استبدال التهديد التقليدي بإشعال كل الجبهات بتخصيص لبنان وحده كمنطلق للرد على إسرائيل. بما يشعرنا أن لبنان مستباح إيرانياً حتى أكثر من غزة وأكثر من جنوب سوريا. وهذه الاستباحة التامة في تصريح “المستشار” بدت مختلفة عن تصريحات إيرانية وحزبلاهية كثيرة تشابهه في المعنى. إذ أن طريقة الكلام هذه المرة جاءت بمنتهى الأريحية.

بالطبع، الثقة التي عبر فيها اللواء قرباني عن جهوزية “لبنانه” للانتقام لإيران إن تعرضت لسوء إسرائيلي، متأتية ليس فقط من ولاء نصرالله للولي الفقيه وإخلاصه وتفانيه في الدفاع عن “الجمهورية الإسلامية في إيران”، بل متحصلة أيضاً من واقع رضوخ دولة لبنان لحزب نصرالله الحرسي، رضوخاً ما عاد بالإمكان توريته أو تمويهه.

الأصح القول أن لبنان، رئيس الجمهورية فيه هو ميشال عون ووزير خارجيته جبران باسيل ووزير دفاعه الياس بوصعب ورئيس حكومته سعد الحريري ورئيس برلمانه نبيه برّي.. لا يسعه إلا أن يكون دولة راضخة لجهاز الصواريخ هذا.

أكثر من ذلك، أريحية قرباني هي نتاج منطقي لذاك التصريح الشهير الذي أدلى به قاسم سليماني بعيد الانتخابات النيابية في لبنان معلناً انتصاره هو فيها. أي السيطرة “الشرعية” على النظام اللبناني على نحو “أرقى” بكثير من صيغة غازي كنعان.

فهذه المرة، شرعية الوصاية والسيطرة ممنوحة طوعاً من قبل من كان يدعي السيادة والاستقلال، وقايضهما مقابل وهم السلطة والمناصب والكثير من أرباح المغانم والحصص والصفقات، باسم “حقوق المسيحيين”.

ودولة كهذه، يقرر مصيرها مستشار الحرس الثوري، الذي برع في قتل شعبه (أكثر من ألف قتيل بثلاثة أيام وآلاف المعتقلين المعذبين)، ويقتل بدم بارد وإجرامي الشبان العراقيين، ويشن حملة إبادة على الشعب السوري.. ليس لها الحق أن تسمي نفسها “دولة”.

فعدا عن كونها فاشلة في تنظيف مجاريرها، وغارقة في الفساد على نحو قياسي يظهر في الإحصاءات الدولية، ومنهارة مالياً واقتصادياً، هي أيضاً مجردة من الكرامة. هذه الكلمة الأخيرة التي يتم ابتذالها هي والانتصارات والعزة والشرف فوق الخرائب المتكاثرة والفقر المتفشي والمقابر المتوسعة.

ليس من لوم لا على إيران ولا على حرسها في هذا الاحتقار التام لمبدأ “سيادة الدولة”، بل لا لوم حتى على حزب الله المنسجم مع إيمانه بالامبراطورية الخمينية. اللوم – الذي لا طائل منه أصلاً – يقع على من يمثل الدولة اللبنانية رسمياً، هؤلاء تحديداً الذين صاغوا عام 2016 ما سُمي “التسوية”، التي كانت بمثابة صك تمكين إيران من التحكم بلبنان ومصيره.

لذا، ليست صادمة وقاحة قرباني، الذي قرر أيضاً أن يقول أن “قلوب وأرواح شعوب اليمن وسوريا ولبنان والعراق مع إيران”. بمعنى آخر يؤمن هذا الضابط امتلاكه أيضاً قلوبنا وأرواحنا. لما لا، طالما أن لديه في هذه الدول ميليشيات الحشد الشعبي وحزب الله وأنصار الله وميليشيات الأسد. فهذه كلها لديها قدرة إقناع لشعوبها بالغة الفعالية، كما اختبرنا طوال العقدين الماضيين وحتى اليوم.

ففرق الإعدام في الميادين العراقية وبراميل الأسد فوق المدن السورية وفرق الاغتيال في شوارع بيروت وجحافل الحوثيين في صنعاء، حاسمة في كسب عقول وأفئدة الشعوب.

على كل حال، وبغض النظر عن هذا الـ”لبنان” وصغائره، فقد طمأننا اللواء قرباني بقرب “تقطيع آذان الإسرائيليين إرباً” (حسب قوله). وربما علينا الافتخار من الآن فصاعداً، فـ”المقاومة” لا تحمي لبنان فقط بل تحمي إيران وحلف الممانعة كله، بما فيه فنزويلا ربما.

وفي هذه الأثناء كل هذه الاحتجاجات عن الإفلاس والفساد والانهيار وسعر العملة والاقتصاد والطبابة والتعليم والبنى التحتية والعدالة والحريات، والتلويح بالأعلام اللبنانية.. ما هي إلا مؤامرة أميركية وكلام خونة.

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إيران تتوعد بتدمير إسرائيل من لبنان
وكالات/الثلاثاء 10 كانون الأول 2019
قال مستشار قائد الحرس الثوري الإيراني اللواء مرتضى قرباني: “في حال ارتكبت إسرائيل أصغر خطأ تجاه إيران، سنسوي تل أبيب بالتراب انطلاقا من لبنان”. وأضاف لوكالة أنباء “ميزان”، ردا على تصريحات إسرائيلية بشن عمل عسكري ضد طهران: “إيران لا تسعى لحيازة السلاح النووي وإسرائيل أصغر من أن ترتكب أي خطأ تجاه إيران… يد مقاتلينا على الزناد بأمر من المرشد الأعلى… إذا أمر المرشد بشن هجوم صاروخي على إسرائيل، سيرفع جميع الصهاينة أيديهم مستسلمين… سنقطع آذانهم إربا، ونحن لا نخشى من جراثيم الفساد”. وتابع: “قلوب وأرواح شعوب اليمن وسوريا ولبنان والعراق مع إيران، والأحداث الأخيرة في لبنان والعراق وإيران تهدف إلى ضرب وحدة جبهة المقاومة بما فيها الجمهورية الإسلامية”. وهدد وزير الدفاع الإسرائيلي نفتالي بينيت يوم الأحد، بجعل سوريا فيتناما بالنسبة لإيران، متعهدا بمنع التمركز العسكري الإيراني في الأراضي السورية، داعيا للانتقال من الردع إلى الهجوم.

The post يوسف بزي: جمهورية ميشال عون.. واللواء مرتضى قرباني appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

نادر فوز: لبنان على عتبة الدولة البوليسية وهوس بقمع جبل لبنان/أيمن شروف: محاولات مكثفة لشيطنة طرابلس مجدداً

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محاولات مكثفة لشيطنة طرابلس مجدداً
أيمن شروف/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019

لبنان على عتبة الدولة البوليسية.. وهوس بقمع جبل لبنان
نادر فوز/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019
في عزّ الثورة، من الطبيعي أن تلجأ السلطة إلى تحريك أذرعها الأمنية، للجم أي حركة شعبية جدية في أي منطقة كانت. ما حصل منذ أسبوع إلى اليوم يدلّ على أنّ السلطة تسلك هذا المسار. في الناعمة وسعدنايل في الأيام الأخيرة، لاحقت العناصر الأمنية الناشطين إلى منازلهم. تعاملت مع القسم الأكبر منهم بطريقة وحشية، وغير أخلاقية، شابها الضرب والسُباب. ثم أعيد إطلاق سراحهم من دون معرفة أسباب توقيفهم حتى. ليل الثلاثاء، جاء الدور على منطقة جونيه. في مناطق مختلفة، بين يسوع الملك وغزير، تعامل الجيش اللبناني مع الناشطين بقوة واعتقل أربعة شبان، هم إيلي هيكل، جاد بو نصرالدين، كارلوس زغيب وجيلبير عسيلي. وبعد التحقيق معهم أحيل الأربعة إلى مخفر قوى الأمن في صربا. وما يكرّس بوليسية الدولة في حادثة جونيه، أنّ النائب العام الاستئنافي في جبل لبنان القاضية غادة عون (والمعروفة بميولها السياسية) قررت استمرار توقيف المعتقلين الأربعة حتى صباح الأربعاء. فكانت انتفاضة شعبية جديدة في جونيه، هبّت فيها الناس وقطعت الطرقات لإطلاق سراح أبنائهم ورفاقهم الثوار.
القضاء في خدمة السلطة
قرار عون هدفه ليّ ذراع كل منتفض، وكل من يجرؤ على التعبير بسلمية عن معارضته للسلطة وحكّامها. لا يمكن فهم قرارها إلا على هذا النحو. فالموقوفون، من بين آلاف شاركوا في قطع الطرقات خلال أسابيع الثورة. لم يعتدوا على أملاك عامة ولا خاصة، ولم يعاملوا القوى الأمنية بالشدّة، بل العكس حصل. وفي اللغة المحكية يحاول القضاء “تربية” المتظاهرين خدمة للسلطة. فالحائط المسدود الذي وصلت إليه أحزاب الحكم، عريض وسميك. توافقاتها وتسوياتها لم تعد تجدي نفعاً لخرقه. كما أنّ حلولها معدومة للخروج من أزمة اقتصادية ومالية واجتماعية، باتت تحثّ الناس أكثر على الخروج إلى الشارع. نجحت هذه السلطة في إلهاء الناس بأولوياتها اليومية من تأمين لقمة العيش وسحب الدولار من مسارب المصارف والخوف من أزمة المحروقات. لكن هذه كلها علاجات مؤقتة، ستنتهي صلاحيتها بغضون أيام. فجيش البطالة يكبر، وكذلك أصحاب الأمعاء الخاوية، في فصل شتاء بدأ يشتدّ حاملاً معه البرد ومتطلبات مكافحته.
تفاصيل النمط البوليسي
قبل أيام لاحقت الأجهزة الأمنية، وتحديداً الجيش، الناشطين في شوارع الناعمة. دخلت بيوتهم واعتقلت بعضهم. أما في سعدنايل، فكان المشهد أكثر وحشية. عند الخامسة فجراً من يوم الأربعاء 4 كانون الجاري، عمل الجيش بواسطة جرافات وآليات على فتح الطريق العام. وعند السابعة صباحاً، كانت جموع البلدة بدأت بالتجمهر من أجل إعادة قطعتها. أتمّوا المهمة في نقاط عدة وسط علميات كرّ وفر من الجيش. كانت العناصر تفتح الطريق عند نقطة، فتٌقطع عند أخرى. لتنسحب بعدها وحدات الجيش من الطريق العام، وتدخل في زواريب البلدة وتتغلل داخلها. ثم انقضّت على المتجمهرين ولاحقتهم في الطرقات الفرعية والداخلية. ضربت واعتقلت كل من تواجد في الشارع، حتى النساء. وكانت الغلة اعتقال 16 ناشطاً. منهم قصرّ كانوا ذاهبين إلى المدرسة، إضافة إلى ثلاثة سوريين كانوا متوجّهين إلى أعمالهم. كان الضرب مبرحاً، وكذلك سيل الشتائم. وحسب أحد الشبان الذين أوقفوا، تعامل أحد العناصر مع الموقوفين ببذاءة فائقة وصلت حد الطلب من بعضهم “قول عون ربّك”. طبعاً هذه الحادثة تحديداً متروكة لقيادة الجيش وضباطها. وعلى الطريق من سعدنايل إلى ثكنة رياق، كان الضرب شغّالاً، وتوقف عند الدخول إلى الثكنة. أُجري مع المعتقلين تحقيق بدائي، حول هوياتهم وأسمائهم وما هدف وجودهم في الشارع عند وقوع الحادثة. ثم أعيد الإفراج عنهم عند الثالثة من بعد الظهر، بعد قطع أهالي البلدة الطريق بالكامل والتفاوض لإطلاق سراح أبنائهم. لم يعرف المعتقلون أسباب توقيفهم، لكنّ الأكيد أنّ ضغط الشارع وقطع الطرقات كانت سبب حريّتهم بدل إحالتهم إلى ثكنات أخرى أو إلى مخافر قوى الأمن.
الساحة المسيحية وخصوصياتها
وفي كسروان، لم يأت توقيف الناشطين الأربعة أمس من فراغ. سبق ذلك تعامل الجيش مع قطع للطرقات بشدّة وفتحها بالقوة. وسبقه أيضاً مشهد أمني مريب ليل الأحد – الإثنين استباقاً لأي حركة ميدانية معارضة للاستشارات النيابية التي عادت وتأجلت. فحسب أكثر من ناشط من كسروان، انتشرت حواجز الجيش في المنطقة بشكل مدروس. إذ ضيّقت الحركة على الناس على نحو واضح. وعلى تلك الحواجز كانت العناصر تدقّق بالأسماء وتحاول مطابقتها مع أسماء مطلوب توقيفها. أما البيان عن الجيش فيقول إنه تدابير أمنية اتخذت تلك الليلة وأوقف خلالها 24 لبنانياً و93 من جنسيات مختلفة “لتورّطهم في جرائم متعددة، منها الإتجار بالمخدرات وتهريب وحيازة أسلحة وممنوعات، والتجوّل داخل الأراضي اللبنانينة من دون إقامات شرعية”..
الحسابات السياسية
اللافت في الحركة الأمنية قبل قطع الطرقات وأثناءها وبعدها في جبل لبنان، أنّ القوى الأمنية تتعامل مع منطقة جبل لبنان بالشدّة. ضرب واعتقال وملاحقات لا يمكن تفسريها إلا من باب لجم المناطق المسيحية، ومنعها من مؤازرة الثوار في باقي المناطق. حساسية هذه المنطقة تحديداً تكمن في أنّ حركتها قوضّت العهد في الأسابيع الأولى للثورة، وبعثت برسالة واضحة إلى رئيس الجمهورية والتيار الوطني الحرّ الحاكم. وبالتالي تعقيد الأمور على المنتفضين في هذه المناطق أمر طبيعي، يهدف أولاً إلى حصر تراجع شعبية التيار الوطني الحرّ، ومنع محاصرته سياسياً. وثانياً ضرب حركة معارضيه السياسيين، مستقلّين كانوا أو محازبين. وثالثاً، إخماد الثورة في هذه المناطق، من أجل تصوير الحركة الشعبية وكأنها من لون طائفي واحد (طرابلس، البقاع الأوسط، ساحل الشوف). وهي محاولة ستفشل طبعاً، وأبرز دلائلها حركة الناس في جونيه الثلاثاء. وإذا كان بالإمكان تخويف الناس عبر الضرب والاعتقال، فإنّ الانتشار الأمني وإقامة الحواجز يحمل رسائل سياسية للمعنيين. للقوات اللبنانية تحديداً. فوفق نظرة قيادة التيار وأنصاره، ليس من محرّك للشارع في المناطق المسيحية سوى القوات اللبنانية. لا يريدون سماع حقيقة أنّ الجمهور نزل في كل لبنان ومن كل الطوائف ضد الفساد ونهب المال العام. وكأنّ التيار، وأعوانه في السلطة والمؤسسات، يشنّون حرب إلغاء جديدة. أو بالأحرى يستكملون حربهم السابقة التي خرجوا منها مهزومين. قراءتهم للأمور محدودة ولا ترى إلا عدواً واحداً. أو بالأحرى يتعاملون مع كل الأمور وفق منظور العدو الواحد، في حين أنّهم يواجهون شعباً كاملاً.

محاولات مكثفة لشيطنة طرابلس مجدداً
أيمن شروف/المدن/لأربعاء 11 كانون الأول/2019
زيارة طرابلس زمن الثورة، أشبه بإعادة اكتشاف المدينة من جديد. بالأحرى، هو اكتشاف الحقيقة التي طمسها السياسيون بألعابهم الخبيثة. اكتشاف معدن الناس وصلابتهم. زيارة المدينة هي إعادة تعريفها وإخراجها من الشيطنة التي سيقت إليها غصباً، نزولاً عند مصالح سياسيين محليين وغير محليين، حوّل تلك المساحة الجميلة إلى أرض تبادل رسائل أمنية – مذهبية -سياسية. هذا تحديداً ما سقط في 17 تشرين. وهذا ما يعمل الطرابلسيون على منع تسلّله مجدداً تحت أي ذريعة كانت.
الأجهزة وأزلامها
المدينة الخارجة إلى الحياة بعد 17 تشرين لا تُشبه كل ما كان يحاولون إلصاقه بها، وما هم اليوم على استعداد ليقوموا به مجدداً، من أجل إعادة تطويعها. مدنيّتها وتعددها وانفتاحها وقبولها لكل ما هو مُختلف، كلها لم تكن موجودة في أذهان اللبنانيين عند الحديث عن عاصمة الشمال. طرابلس بالنسبة لعديد من اللبنانيين هي مرادف للتطرف الديني. هكذا عملت الأحزاب ومعها الأجهزة على تكريس هذه الصورة، التي استغلوا فيها فقر الناس وعوزهم من أجل مصالحهم الشخصية، وهكذا يحاولون اليوم العودة إليها من الباب ذاته. تقف المدينة اليوم كما الثورة أمام التحدي الأبرز: الصمود بوجه السلطة وأجهزتها. هذه السلطة التي هالها ما يحصل في منطقة كانوا يعتبرونها حديقتهم الخلفية، وإذ بها تتحول إلى مكسرهم. هؤلاء، يُجندون الآن كل شيء من أجل استعادة المدينة وإعادتها إلى مستنقع الخضوع. كيف؟ بالأجهزة أولاً، بأزلام هذه الأجهزة ثانياً، وبالمحازبين الذين لم يُدركوا بعد أن ما يحصل اليوم هو أكبر بكثير من حزب أو تيار، وهم أقلية أمام ناس الثورة. محاولات بدأت تتضح شيئاً فشيئاً مع مرور الوقت ومع استمرار الدفع بالمدينة لتكون منطقة معزولة عن كل ما حولها، توازياً مع ألعاب خبيثة تُمارس فيها وتحريض حزبي لجماعاتهم الذين يقتاتون على مثل هذه الأعمال. جميل مشهد المدينة المنتفضة. لكن هذا الواقع يجب ألا يُسقط من الحسبان كيفية استغلاله من قبل الحاقدين على المنتفضين. هؤلاء يوزعون الأدوار بعناية. إذ أنهم بدأوا حملة خبيثة الهدف منها إظهار المدينة وكأنها الوحيدة المنتفضة، وأن كل المناطق الباقية تقف متفرجة. وهذا هدفه واضح: تعميم نقمة الطرابلسيين على باقي المدن، من أجل الانتقال إلى المرحلة الثانية، وهي إقناع الناس أن بقاءهم في الشارع وحيدين سيكون له ثمن غال، وبالتالي فرض تسلل الخيبة ومعها الخوف إلى نفوس الطرابلسيين، تمهيداً لإعادتهم إلى بيت الطاعة الطائفي المذهبي، مع وعود متكررة بمساعدات لم تأت ولن تأتي طبعاً.
دور ربيع الزين
إضافة إلى هذه المحاولة التي بدأت تتضح معالمها، يعود دور المدعو ربيع الزين المريب. يخرج إلى الناس ليدعوهم لحرق أنفسهم تعبيراً عن اعتراضهم على السلطة، يدعو الناس للانتحار، وليزكي حقد الناس على جلاديها، لكي يُعطي للأجهزة التي على ما يبدو هو أكثر المرتبطين بها، فرصة التسلل أكثر إلى الساحة. وتوازياً مع هذا الأمر، يستغلّ قدراته المالية من أجل تكوين مجموعات تأتمر به، مستفيداً من حاجتهم إلى المال، كما كانت تفعل السلطة السياسية تماماً. ويطلب منهم قطع الطرق وإقفال كل مداخل المدينة. أي بما معناه إقفال الطرق على الطرابلسيين أنفسهم، وهذا ما ظهر جلياً يوم الاثنين 9 كانون الأول.
قرر ربيع الزين أن يكون الحاكم بأمره هناك. لكنه ليس وحيداً ولا يعمل من تلقاء نفسه. هو محاط بمن يُعبدون له طريق عزل المدينة، تمهيداً للاستفراد بها. وهو، يلتقي مع كل التيارات السياسية التي تريد الهدف نفسه: تركيع الثورة وعاصمتها. هذا التنظيم في العزل، محط شك كبير، خصوصاً في ظل واقع عدم قدرة أي مدينة أخرى في لبنان على القيام بهذا الأمر. قدرة كانت بالأمس مدعاة دهشة، صارت اليوم محل شك. وأيضاً، ومع ارتفاع شجرة الميلاد في المدينة، هناك من بدأ بمحاولة استغلال هذا الأمر، من أجل تجييش الطائفيين ليقوموا بعمل عدواني، يُكرّس أيضاً ما تريده السلطة، ويُسهم في إعادتها إلى مربع ما قبل ثورة 17 تشرين، إلى حزام البؤس والحرمان. طرابلس عاصمة الثورة أمام تحدٍ كبير ومفصلي في الأيام المقبلة، نأمل أن تتخطاه. الثورة أمام امتحان احتضان طرابلس والوقوف إلى جانبها، وعليها أن تنجح، لا مفر.

The post نادر فوز: لبنان على عتبة الدولة البوليسية وهوس بقمع جبل لبنان/أيمن شروف: محاولات مكثفة لشيطنة طرابلس مجدداً appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 11 كانون الأول/2019

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نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 11 كانون الأول/2019

اضغط هنا لقراءة نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة المفصلة، اللبنانية والعربية ليوم 11 كانون الأول/2019

ارشيف نشرات أخبار موقعنا اليومية/عربية وانكليزية منذ العام 2006/اضغط هنا لدخول صفحة الأرشيف

عناوين أقسام نشرة المنسقية باللغة العربية
الزوادة الإيمانية لليوم
تعليقات الياس بجاني وخلفياتها
الأخبار اللبنانية
المتفرقات اللبنانية
الأخبار الإقليمية والدولية
المقالات والتعليقات والتحاليل السياسية الشاملة
المؤتمرات والندوات والبيانات والمقابلات والمناسبات الخاصة والردود وغيره

The post نشرة أخبار المنسقية العامة للمؤسسات اللبنانية الكندية باللغة العربية ليوم 11 كانون الأول/2019 appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 10- 11/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 55th Day

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Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 10-11/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 55th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
December 112019

Tites For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 10-11/2019
Bishop Audi’s Divine Words Drove Hezbollah In To A tantrum of Fear and Anger
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Angry protesters attack Lebanese city’s municipality
Protesters Vandalize Tripoli Municipality after Two Die in Building Collapse
Protesters Block Jounieh Highway, Many Roads as Tripoli Protests Escalate
Clashes reignite in Tripoli after roof collapse kills two people
Saudi Arabia’s FM: Important Lebanon finds way forward for stability
Army Receives Shipment of U.S. Ammunition
Hariri Meets with Caretaker Interior and Finance Ministers
Lebanon: Heavy Rain Causes Floods, Inundates Beirut
Protesters in South Lebanon Stand Up to Attack, Threats
Army: Six Troops Injured in Clashes between Protesters, Karami Supporters
Report: Hariri Insists on ‘Rescue’ Cabinet Composed of Specialists
Berri’s Bloc Slams Israeli Vessel’s Infiltration of Lebanese Waters
HRW Warns of Impact of Financial Crisis on Lebanon Hospitals
Relief Agency: 15 people injured in stampede between protesters and Army in Al-Mina
Jumblatt: Paris conference may be last opportunity for Lebanon to stop decline
Four detainees released from Jounieh Serail

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 10-11/2019
Bishop Audi’s Divine Words Drove Hezbollah In To A tantrum of Fear and Anger
Elias Bejjani/December 10/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81284/elias-bejjani-my-almighty-god-bless-safeguard-bishop-elias-audi-he-witnessed-for-the-truth-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9/
Bishop Audi’s divine words scared Hezbollah because THE WORD is holy, pure and stronger than missiles. Yes it is the word of truth no more no less. Meanwhile the terrorist Hezbollah instigated all its trumpets, mouthpieces, cymbals, mercenaries, and Trojans to harshly, boldly and impolitely criticize and assault Bishop Audi. This crazy reaction affirms that Hezbollah, despite of all its missiles and huge arsenal is afraid of the  Bishop’s words of truth.

My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
المطران الياس عودة شهد للبنان وللحق وسمى الأشياء بأسمائها

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81284/elias-bejjani-my-almighty-god-bless-safeguard-bishop-elias-audi-he-witnessed-for-the-truth-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d8%a9/
Lebanon’s Orthodox great Bishop of Beirut, Msgr Elias Audi has overtly, patriotically, and faithfully witnessed for the truth and for our beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In his yesterday’s Homely he called things as they are, and named those forces who occupy Lebanon, as well as those Lebanese puppet officials who instead of serving Lebanon’s interests are siding with the terrorist Hezbollah, the occupier of Lebanon, and serving the Iranian agenda of occupation, expansionism and terrorism.
All those officials, politicians, clergymen and journalist who criticized Audi’s courageous homely are either Iranian mouthpieces, or mere Iranian mercenaries.
Accordingly all their Dhimmitude replies of criticism are valueless.
And yes as Bishop Audi stated, Hezbollah occupies Lebanon, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is the actual ruler of the country, and yes the Lebanese officials are mere puppets.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard

Angry protesters attack Lebanese city’s municipality
Associated Press/December 10/2019
The attack in the country’s north came as heavy rainfall blocked roads and strained major infrastructure across Lebanon. BEIRUT: Angry protesters attacked the municipality headquarters in Lebanon’s second largest city, Tripoli, on Tuesday, smashing windows and setting a room on fire, in an outburst of violence triggered by the collapse of a house overnight in the area that killed two siblings. The attack in the country’s north came as heavy rainfall blocked roads and strained major infrastructure across Lebanon. The country is already roiled by anti-government protests and a plunging economy.
Many Lebanese hospitals may soon be unable to provide patients with life-saving surgery and urgent medical care amid the worsening financial crisis, an international rights group also warned on Tuesday. For years, the Lebanese state has failed to pay its debts to public and private hospitals, making it more difficult for them to buy medical supplies and pay salaries. “The Lebanese government’s failure to pay its bills to medical facilities seriously endangers the health of the population,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While politicians horse-trade over a new Cabinet, the government is not responding to the desperate economic situation in the country and the clock is ticking on the ability of many doctors and hospitals to treat patients.”
The economic crisis has led to unprecedented capital controls by lenders. It has also affected imports amid a shortage of U.S. dollars that the Lebanese banking system heavily relies on. Lebanon imports most of its basic needs such as medicine, fuel, wheat and medical products.
Sleiman Haroun, the president of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, told The Associated Press that the health sector is passing through “a very serious crisis” because doctors are facing a shortage of foreign medication and equipment. Haroun said that importers of medical products have been saying since September that they have not been able to buy new stocks. This is causing shortages in urgently needed material, including stents for hearts, filters for kidney and blood bags, he added. In Tripoli, a large military force was sent to the city to deal with the violence. The cause of the house’s collapse wasn’t immediately clear, but heavy rain appeared to have contributed. The two killed were a 19-year-old woman and her older brother, according to local media.
Tripoli has witnessed some of the largest protests since nationwide demonstrations broke out on Oct. 17 against widespread corruption and mismanagement. The protesters are demanding an end to the rule of the political elite that has run the country following the 1975-90 civil war.
Locals told the local LBC TV station that the collapse was the result of negligence, saying that the municipality has repeatedly ignored calls by the owners to renovate the old house. Their claims could not be immediately confirmed. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that the angry protesters damaged the office of the mayor as well as a municipality car that was parked outside the building. It added that the army later intervened and prevented further violence.The violence came a day after Lebanese soldiers had to separate protesters and the bodyguards of a lawmaker after scuffles broke near his house in Tripoli.

Protesters Vandalize Tripoli Municipality after Two Die in Building Collapse

Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Angry protesters on Tuesday attacked the municipality of the northern city of Tripoli after two individuals died in a residential building collapse in al-Mina neighborhood. Protesters fiercely threw stones at the windows of the municipality after the Lebanese army prevented them from forcing their way into the building. A utility room belonging to the municipality and located outside the main building was set on fire. Civil Defense fireteams intervened immediately to distinguish the blaze. Two people were killed at dawn Tuesday when the roof of a residential building collapsed in al-Mina in Tripoli, the National News Agency reported. NNA said the old building collapsed at dawn in al-Andalos neighborhood in al-Mina killing two brothers from Syria. Rescue teams of the Civil Defense, Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces were at the scene immediately after the incident, said NNA. In response, protesters angered with what they say “ignorance” of the authority blocked the main highway with burning tires and stormed the municipality building setting the trash bins on fire and smashing its outdoor.

Protesters Block Jounieh Highway, Many Roads as Tripoli Protests Escalate

Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Protesters on Tuesday blocked the Jounieh highway in both directions for several hours to demand the release of four detained demonstrators. Other protesters meanwhile rallied outside Jounieh’s serail for the same purpose. The detainees were held during a road-blocking protest in the morning. The highway was later reopened after the release of the four protesters. Protests meanwhile witnessed an escalation in the northern city of Tripoli, where several people were injured in clashes between army troops and stone-throwing protesters at the entrance of Tripoli’s el-Mina district. The confrontation erupted as soldiers sought to reopen a blocked road. Troops fired tear gas during the clash as protesters said rubber bullets were also fired at them. The demonstrators in el-Mina are demanding the resignation of the municipal chief in protest at the collapse of a house overnight in the area that killed two siblings. Protesters had attacked the municipality headquarters in el-Mina earlier in the day, smashing windows and setting a room and vehicles on fire. A large military force was sent to the city to deal with the violence. The cause of the house’s collapse wasn’t immediately clear, but heavy rain appeared to have contributed. The two killed were a 19-year-old woman and her older brother. Elsewhere, protesters blocked the al-Quntari intersection in Beirut in solidarity with the Tripoli and Jounieh demonstrators. They were later dispersed by riot police.Other protesters meanwhile blocked the vital Jiye highway that links Beirut to the South, the Hamat tunnel in Batroun, the Chekka tunnel, the al-Beddawi highway, the Minieh-Abdeh road, the al-Bireh-Qubayat road, the Akkar Plain road and several roads in the Bekaa and Hasbaya. The Jiye highway and the Chekka tunnel were later reopened.

Clashes reignite in Tripoli after roof collapse kills two people
Annahar/December 10/2019
Angered protestors made their way to the Mina municipality building and the residence of Mayor Abdel-Kader Alameddine who they accuse of negligence.
BEIRUT: Clashes broke out in Tripoli since the early hours of Tuesday morning after a house’s roof caved in killing two people inside. Angered protestors made their way to the Mina municipality building and the residence of Mayor Abdel-Kader Alameddine who they accuse of negligence.
They threw rocks at the building before storming in and vandalizing the interior before the Lebanese army intervened.  Neighbors told local station MTV that they submitted a request to the municipality to have the building refurbished, citing concerns over its safety only to be rebuffed. The two people, Abdel-Rahman Kakhiyeh and his sister Lama, died after the roof of their house collapsed in the middle of the night following heavy rainfall throughout the day. These renewed clashes come a day after Lebanese soldiers had to separate protesters and the bodyguards of a member of parliament after scuffles broke out under heavy rain Monday evening between the two sides in the northern city of Tripoli, leaving at least one person injured. Tripoli has witnessed some of the largest protests since nationwide demonstrations broke out on Oct. 17 against widespread corruption and mismanagement. The protesters have since transitioned to demand an end to the rule of the political elite that has run the country following the 1975-90 civil war.The scuffles started after protesters threw bags of trash in front of the home of legislator Faisal Karameh. The protesters then started throwing stones at Karameh’s guards, who responded by also throwing stones, prompting troops to split them up.In a video aired live on local TV, at least one person was seen injured in the head and ambulances arrived in the area afterward. Nearly half an hour after the scuffles, troops were able to push the protesters away from Karameh’s home. Karameh is a harsh critic of outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who resigned on Oct. 29. His resignation met a key demand of the protesters. Political disagreements between rival groups have so far delayed the formation of a new Cabinet, worsening the country’s economic and financial crisis.
On Sunday, a possible candidate for prime minister of Lebanon said he was withdrawing from consideration for the post, prolonging the country’s political crisis. Samir Khatib said the country’s top Sunni religious authority told him the community supports the re-appointment of Hariri for the post.

Saudi Arabia’s FM: Important Lebanon finds way forward for stability
Reuters, RiyadhTuesday, 10 December 2019
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said stability in Lebanon, which has been rocked by more than a month of protests that forced the prime minister to resign, was “very, very important” to the kingdom. Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said he would not “pre-judge” a conference planned this week in Paris to support Lebanon, which is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. “I’ll wait for the results of the conference.”The Lebanese people and the political system need to find a way forward that guarantees its stability and sovereignty, he told a news conference – following the conclusion of the GCC 40th Summit held in Riyadh – in response to a question regarding aid to Lebanon.

Army Receives Shipment of U.S. Ammunition
Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
The Lebanese Army on Tuesday received a shipment of U.S. military assistance, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. NNA said the shipment, delivered at the Port of Beirut, involved sixteen containers of various calibers of ammunition as part of a U.S. grant. The grant is part of the U.S. military assistance program for Lebanon, the agency added. On December 2, U.S. officials said that the Trump administration had released more than $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delay.

Hariri Meets with Caretaker Interior and Finance Ministers
Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Tuesday evening at the Center House with caretaker Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan and caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. The meeting was held in the presence of Hariri’s economic advisor Nadim Munla.A statement issued by Hariri’s office said discussions focused on “the financial and economic situation and the 2020 draft state budget.”

Lebanon: Heavy Rain Causes Floods, Inundates Beirut
Paula Astih/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Heavy rains flooded the streets of Beirut again this month, causing major roadblocks and traffic jams across the capital.
People on social media circulated dozens of photos and videos of areas completely inundated and some citizens using kayaks and surfboards to move after their cars were submerged in water and damaged. Many Lebanese expressed their indignation at the renewal of these scenes at every rainstorm, blaming the turmoil on the mismanagement of the concerned ministries and state agencies. The National News Agency (NNA) reported that heavy and torrential rains flooded the Jnah-Saint Simon area, where roads turned into rivers, and water entered homes and shops. Sewage was also mixed with the rainwater, the NNA said. The neighborhoods of Ouzai, Hay el-Selloum, and Laylaki in Beirut’s southern suburb were heavily flooded, and the residents, through personal initiatives, opened some sewers to drain the water amid calls for the municipalities to intervene.
Torrents also submerged several offices at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, as well as the arrival and departure halls. Heavy water swamped the airport’s external exit and entrance, impeding the movement of cars for some time. In a news conference, Minister of Public Works and Transport Youssef Fenianos said he understood the suffering of the people and followed up all the road closures, and added that he was “ready to assume full responsibility.”
Fenianos cited difficulties of spending credits allocated to the ministry due to the financial crisis the country is going through. On the other hand, he noted that the neighborhood of Ouzai fell outside the jurisdiction of his ministry, “but we are rushing to help so that citizens don’t drown in the water.” He explained that the ministry was responsible for main highways. More than one ministry and institution exchanged accusations over the street flooding. In this context, expert in public policies Dr. Ola Boutros pointed out that the best solution to avoid the recurrence of these scenes was to establish a supreme Transportation council. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, she said: “The issues of transportation, works, traffic, and vehicles are scattered among several ministries and bodies, including Public Works, Energy, Interior, Transport, the Council for Development and Reconstruction and municipalities. In addition, we lack a comprehensive policy in this field.”She added that infrastructure was a second factor to be considered, noting that in some areas, it dated back to the French mandate. “The presence of 1.5 million displaced Syrians exacerbates the pressure on this already worn out network, so every year we see this crisis repeating,” Boutros underlined.

Protesters in South Lebanon Stand Up to Attack, Threats
Beirut- Hanan Hamdan/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Five years ago, the former Moukhtar [local head, selected for simple administrative tasks] of the town of Qulaila in South Lebanon, Mahmoud Saleh, could not find anyone to pay for his treatment when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. This forced him to incur the cost of removing one of his kidneys, which amounted to 18,000 US dollars at the time, although he could not afford it. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Saleh said: “We took to public squares because of the difficult economic situation. Our politicians are responsible for this situation, and we are still here because they refuse to meet a single one of our demands. Those in power have clung to it for many years without even considering giving us our basic rights. We do not even have healthcare or pensions; instead, they have drowned us with debt.” Protesters in Tyre, a city in south Lebanon, have been a vital part of the protest movement since it first erupted in October. They were met with repression, and the most prominent of which was when they were assaulted by partisans and had their tents destroyed at the Al-Alam Square. However, the scene hasn’t changed in the past few days, save the erection of new tents to the square, and the addition of a large tent meant to protect protesters from the rain, allowing them to continue to hold their debates and lectures. The square is also equipped with plastic chairs, mobile mattresses, and stoves to make tea and coffee.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Hassan Darwish, one of the young people who maintain a constant presence in the square, says: “The uprising in Tyre has not changed, and people’s determination has not been shaken. The people of Tyre will not leave the squares just like that, and we will persist until our demands are met”. He points to the fact that internal debates are still being held at the square daily and that civil society initiatives are also ongoing. He also says that a new tent will soon be installed near the square “to support anyone in need by providing them with clothes and food. The basic idea behind it is that it will be accessible to every household and person. We have launched this symbolic initiative because of the difficult living conditions some of us in Tyre arrived at, with the minimum wage standing around 600,000 Lebanese pounds (400$ at the official rate but effectively much less). This isn’t enough for people to secure their basic needs”.

Army: Six Troops Injured in Clashes between Protesters, Karami Supporters
Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
The Lebanese army said in a statement on Tuesday that six of its troops were injured while separating between “protesters and house guards of MP Faisal Karami’ in Tripoli a day earlier. The statement said that scores of protesters gathered Monday afternoon “outside the houses of some MPs” in the northern city of Tripoli and that the situation aggravated into “provocations, stone throwing between them and guards of Karami.”Six of the troops were injured while trying to separate between the two, said the statement. “The units deployed to separate them and worked to disperse the demonstrators and prevent them from fabricating riots and setting fire to garbage containers, as well as arresting citizen Mohammed Abdul Aziz Ayoun Al-Soud,” it said. In Sarba, army troops arrested four individuals after attempting to block the highway with burning tyres. They have been referred to investigation, according to the statement. On Monday, protesters rallied outside Karami’s residence. Fierce stone-throwing clashes later erupted between the two sides, which prompted the army to fire tear gas to contain the situation. Several people were injured by the flying rocks and objects. The protesters had thrown trash bags outside the houses of several Tripoli politicians, such as Ashraf Rifi, Najib Miqati, Mohammed Kabbara and Samir al-Jisr.

Report: Hariri Insists on ‘Rescue’ Cabinet Composed of Specialists
Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Lebanon’s binding parliamentary consultati ons have been delayed until Monday and outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri “adamantly” insists on forming a cabinet of “specialists” to counter the crisis in Lebanon, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. Political sources following up on the developments in Lebanon told the daily “the upcoming (binding) parliamentary consultations to name a premier are going to be decisive this time. This has compelled the presidency to allow some time (until Monday) before initiating the consultations.”The sources pointed out that although Hariri is “open” for talks with parties, but he “insists on the formation of a rescue government composed of specialists shall he be chosen to lead the new government.”Hariri is expected to hold talks this week with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Progressive Sociaist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat, they said.
After the recent developments “Hariri’s chances to be named a premier have risen,” they said. On Sunday, President Michel Aoun postponed the consultations after Sunni Muslim leaders threw their support behind Hariri returning to the post, and to “allow for more deliberations”.
Businessman Samir Khatib had been put forward as a likely contender to succeed Hariri, but he said a visit to the country’s highest Sunni Muslim authority had indicated otherwise. Several names had been put forward as potential candidates to replace Hariri, and Khatib was the latest — despite protesters rejecting him as being too close to traditional circles of power.

Berri’s Bloc Slams Israeli Vessel’s Infiltration of Lebanese Waters
Beirut – Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
The Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, headed by Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, underlined the need to speed up the formation of the government and respond to the positive international atmosphere to support Lebanon. The bloc also called on the caretaker cabinet to assume its responsibilities and focus on the management of living conditions, food security and the financial and economic situation. In a statement following a meeting on Monday, the parliamentary bloc said it discussed the political situation and the recent “flagrant Israeli breach of Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone.”
“A hydrographic survey ship arriving from Haifa port of the Israeli enemy carrying the flag of Panama docked at the UN naval operations site,” it revealed. “On 27/11/2019 at 13:19, the enemy vessel entered the Lebanese exclusive economic zone at a distance of five miles and remained in block 9 until 20:37 — a period of seven hours and eighteen minutes,” the statement said. “The infiltration of the vessel to conduct scientific research for the benefit of the Israeli enemy is considered a violation of Articles 56 and 60 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the bloc stressed.
It also criticized the UN naval force for failing to implement the required procedures, asking the United Nations to assume its responsibilities in this regard.

HRW Warns of Impact of Financial Crisis on Lebanon Hospitals
Associated Press/Naharnet/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Many Lebanese hospitals may soon be unable to provide patients with life-saving surgery and urgent medical care amid the worsening financial crisis, an international rights group warned on Tuesday.
For years, the Lebanese state has failed to pay its debts to public and private hospitals, making it more difficult for them to buy medical supplies and pay salaries. “The Lebanese government’s failure to pay its bills to medical facilities seriously endangers the health of the population,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While politicians horse-trade over a new Cabinet, the government is not responding to the desperate economic situation in the country and the clock is ticking on the ability of many doctors and hospitals to treat patients,” he warned. The economic crisis has led to unprecedented capital controls by lenders. It has also affected imports amid a shortage of U.S. dollars that the Lebanese banking system heavily relies on. Lebanon imports most of its basic needs such as medicine, fuel, wheat and medical products. Suleiman Haroun, the president of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, told The Associated Press that the health sector is passing through “a very serious crisis” because doctors are facing a shortage of foreign medication and equipment. Haroun said that importers of medical products have been saying since September that they have not been able to buy new stocks. This is causing shortages in urgently needed material, including stents for hearts, filters for kidney and blood bags, he added.

Relief Agency: 15 people injured in stampede between protesters and Army in Al-Mina
NNA /Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
The Operations Room of the Emergency and Relief Agency announced in a statement that 15 people have been injured, 3 of them transported to the region’s hospitals, as a result of the stampede between the demonstrators and the Army in Al-Mina.

Jumblatt: Paris conference may be last opportunity for Lebanon to stop decline
NNA/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
Head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, tweeted this Tuesday: “The Paris conference may be the last opportunity for Lebanon to stop the decline, if not the collapse. We recall in this regard that the first condition for the Paris conference was reform, starting with the electricity sector. The PSP has repeatedly called for reform in this sector, before the outbreak of the revolution, denouncing the merchants of ‘ships’ and what goes beyond the ships, thus affecting the price of fuel.”

Four detainees released from Jounieh Serail
NNA/Tuesday, 10 December, 2019
The four detainees — Elie Haikal, Gilbert Asseili, Carlos Zogheib and Jad Bou Nasser Eddin — held at the Jounieh Serail against the backdrop of bandits this morning have been released.


Titles For The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 10-11/2019
Bishop Audi’s Divine Words Drove Hezbollah In To A tantrum of Fear and Anger/Elias Bejjani/December 10/2019
My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
Enemies of Lebanon (01 of 03): The Monetary System/Elie Aoun/November 30/2019
Enemies of Lebanon (2 of 3): The Secret Societies/Elie Aoun/December 10/2019
Iran’s threat to destroy Tel Aviv from Lebanon condemned/Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 11, 2019
‘This phoenix has to rise’: new Beirut sculptures represent the power of the Lebanese people/Laura Mackenzie/The National
A War on Two Fronts/Lynn Abi Raad/Carnegie/December 10/2019

The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 10-11/2019
Bishop Audi’s Divine Words Drove Hezbollah In To A tantrum of Fear and Anger
Elias Bejjani/December 10/2019
Bishop Audi’s divine words scared Hezbollah because THE WORD is holy, pure and stronger than missiles. Yes it is the word of truth no more no less. Meanwhile the terrorist Hezbollah instigated all its trumpets, mouthpieces, cymbals, mercenaries, and Trojans to harshly, boldly and impolitely criticize and assault Bishop Audi. This crazy reaction affirms that Hezbollah, despite of all its missiles and huge arsenal is afraid of the Bishop’s words of truth.

My Almighty God Bless & Safeguard Bishop Elias Audi …He Witnessed For The Truth & For Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/December 09/2019
Lebanon’s Orthodox great Bishop of Beirut, Msgr Elias Audi has overtly, patriotically, and faithfully witnessed for the truth and for our beloved Lebanon, the Land of the Holy Cedars.
In his yesterday’s Homely he called things as they are, and named those forces who occupy Lebanon, as well as those Lebanese puppet officials who instead of serving Lebanon’s interests are siding with the terrorist Hezbollah, the occupier of Lebanon, and serving the Iranian agenda of occupation, expansionism and terrorism.
All those officials, politicians, clergymen and journalist who criticized Audi’s courageous homely are either Iranian mouthpieces, or mere Iranian mercenaries.
Accordingly all their Dhimmitude replies of criticism are valueless.
And yes as Bishop Audi stated, Hezbollah occupies Lebanon, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is the actual ruler of the country, and yes the Lebanese officials are mere puppets.
Our Prays go to the oppressed and occupied Lebanon that Almighty God shall always guard, protect and safeguard

Enemies of Lebanon (01 of 03): The Monetary System
أعداء لبنان (01من03): النظام النقدي
Elie Aoun/November 30/2019

The Lebanese government does not own the Lebanese Pound (or Lira). If it owned the currency, it would not borrow it and pay interest on it.
One main reason why the monetary system is an enemy because the Lebanese government abandoned its exclusive privilege to issue money and vested that privilege in the Bank of Lebanon (Decree 13513, Article 47).
In other words, the government gave the Bank the right to issue money, loan that money back to the government, and then charge it interest – at a time when the government could have issued its own money without paying any interest.
The “Bank of Lebanon” was created pursuant to Lebanese Law Decree 13513 of August 1, 1963 (Code of Money and Credit).
The Decree was signed by President Fouad Chehab and Prime Minister Rachid Karameh (who was also acting as a Finance Minister).
The Lebanese Parliament did not vote on or approve the creation of the Bank.
Not only does the Bank charge interest on the Bank’s loans to the State, the Bank does not pay interest to the State on the State’s deposits in the Bank (Article 86).
Not only has the government abandoned to the Bank its exclusive authority to print money, the government has also exempted the Bank from all taxes, imposts and rates whatsoever, already enforced or likely to be enforced for the benefit of the State, municipal corporations or other organizations (Article 118).
WHO OWNS THE LEBANESE CURRENCY?
The name “Republic of Lebanon” is not printed on any of the Lebanese currency notes. What is printed is the name “Banque du Liban” (Bank of Lebanon). Some may ask, is not the Bank owned by the Lebanese government? The answer is no.
Firstly, Decree 13513 does not say that the Bank is a branch of the Lebanese government. Instead, the Decree’s Article 13 states that the Bank is a juridical person of public law (a legal entity similar to a corporation) vested with financial autonomy.
Secondly, the Decree is written in a manner that reflects a relationship between two independent entities (rather than the Bank being a branch of the government).
For example, Article 74 requires of the government to provide a protection (military guard) for the Bank’s establishment free of charge. No such language would have been used in the Decree if the Bank is a branch of the government.
Thirdly, Article 113 dictates how net profits are shared between the Bank and the government – such as 50/50 basis on certain occasions and even 80/20 (80% to the Treasury; 20% to the Bank) under some other conditions. It is doubtful that this profit-sharing formula has been properly implemented. If the Bank is a part of the government, all the net profits would have been the government’s share, not divided with the Bank.
The questions are: If the Bank is a legal entity, who owns that entity?
In what manner has its profits been used or distributed since 1963 until now? Would the government revoke Article 47 and restore its exclusive privilege to issue money without paying interest for it?
Why opening a new bank requires applying for registration with the Central Bank (Article 135) and not with the Ministry of Finance?
Apparently, no politician would have the courage to discuss these issues.

Enemies of Lebanon (2 of 3): The Secret Societies
ايلي عون: اعداء لبنان – الجزء الثاني
Elie Aoun/December 10/2019

In a speech on press freedom, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stated that the responsibility of the press is not to amuse or entertain but to educate, to state the dangers and opportunities. In that same speech, he spoke in opposition “to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.”
He added: “We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy … It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.”
President Kennedy was not a conspiracy theorist. What he stated was a fact, not a theory. His assassination was the price he paid for his courage – for rejecting the rule of those who rule behind the scenes.
It is against this “highly efficient machine” that both the U.S. and Lebanon struggle.
During the 2004 presidential election, both George W. Bush and John Kerry were members of “Skull and Bones.” Regardless for whom of the two candidates the Americans voted, they were voting for the same secret society.
During the 2016 U.S. election, the vice presidential candidates on both sides were Jesuits. Regardless for whom Americans voted, they were voting for a Jesuit vice president.
Many view the Jesuit Order as a religious or educational institution, but that is not the complete story. According to the CIA’s E. Howard Hunt, “the Jesuits form the greatest intelligence service in the world, and always have.” Anyone who investigates their true history would know of their criminality and involvement in the usurpation of nations.
Whether in the U.S. or in Lebanon, often an individual is selected for a certain position based on that person’s affiliation – not patriotism or qualification.
The secret societies do not reward honest patriotic individuals, but rats who are willing to sell their soul and country for the sake of political advancement. Where is the benefit and logic in undermining the country where those who lead the secret societies and their descendants live? For money and power that will eventually vanish?
The Jesuit-educated leaders of the Kataeb and Lebanese Forces along with the freemason leaders of FPM and Al Marada do not and cannot achieve any constructive measure for the country. The same can be said of the Jesuit/Freemason Saad Hariri and Druze leaders, and the Freemason Shiite leadership.
These “leaders” are neither Christians nor Muslims. Their political logos and hand-signs have no basis in either the Bible or the Quran. They know exactly their pagan and “dark” source.
The fact that all these politicians have the same affiliation could not have been a mere coincidence. This fact proves that Jesuitism and freemasonry play a role in ruling and destroying Lebanon. Their loyalty is to their agenda, not a country. It is a waste of time to expect from them anything different than the “fruits” that have already been given.
The Jesuit educational system is not the means through which positive improvements can take place. Whether the reader wishes to believe or not, national independence and wellbeing are not a part of the Jesuit agenda. A good Jesuit/Freemason politician, who decides to become patriotic, gets assassinated.
Our objective is not to fight them. Rather, it is to know the truth and then focus on our strengths and that which we can do ourselves – focus on what we can build, rather than what we oppose. Eventually, evil carries the seed of its own defeat.
What type of cabinet Lebanon needs? A cabinet with no Jesuits and no freemasons.
The heads of the Jesuit intelligence network and freemasonry are guilty in undermining Lebanon. If they wish to “redeem” the names of their secret societies, they must remove their “dirty” stooges from power. The “prestige” of Jesuitism and freemasonry is down the drain, along with other undesirable objects.

Iran’s threat to destroy Tel Aviv from Lebanon condemned
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 11, 2019
Lebanon is not an arena for external use by any country, says information minister
BEIRUT: A statement by a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has triggered a series of condemnations in Lebanon, after he claimed the country could be used for military strikes.
Maj. Gen. Morteza Qorbani told Mizan News: “If the Zionist regime makes the smallest mistake toward Iran, we will reduce Tel Aviv to ashes from Lebanon,” according to Russia Today, adding he claimed his words were “a response to Israeli statements about launching military action against Tehran.”
“Iran is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and Israel is too small to make any mistake toward Iran. If the Supreme Leader orders a missile attack against Israel, all Zionists will raise their hands and surrender.
“The hearts and souls of the people of Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq are with Iran, and the recent events in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran aim to strike the unity of the resistance front, including the Islamic Republic.”
In response to the statement, Lebanon’s Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab said: “If what is attributed to (Qorbani) is correct, it is unacceptable and it is a violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, which has a relationship of friendship with Iran.”
The minister, who belongs to the Free Patriotic Movement allied to Hezbollah, stressed: “The independence of the Lebanese must not be affected in any way.”
Farid Al-Bustani, a member of the parliamentary bloc affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement, said: “If this is true, it is a violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon on the one hand and the status and immunity of the resistance on the other.”
FASTFACTS
● Iran’s Gen. Morteza Qorbani told Mizan News: ‘If the Zionist regime makes the smallest mistake toward Iran, we will reduce Tel Aviv to ashes from Lebanon.’
● Lebanon’s Minister of Information Jamal Al-Jarrah described the words as ‘irresponsible and arrogant, constituting an affront to the sovereignty of Lebanon, the people and the state.’
Minister of Information Jamal Al-Jarrah described the words as “irresponsible and arrogant, constituting an affront to the sovereignty of Lebanon, the people and the state.
“Iran can defend itself however it wants, but Lebanon is not a mailbox for the IRGC and is not an arena for external use by any country. These words are completely unacceptable.”
The president of the Independence Movement, Michel Moawad, criticized Qorbani’s statement, while member of Parliament Nadim Gemayel demanded a “clear position on these words from Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, President of the Republic Michel Aoun and from (Prime Minister) Saad Hariri.” Hezbollah’s Ibrahim Al-Moussawi tweeted: “In light of the enemy’s (Israeli) occupation of Palestine, parts of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the threat against Egypt, and the Zionist appetite open to our oil, gas and water, any call to neutrality is misleading and suspicious, and it is a betrayal of the homeland, right and justice, and meets the enemy’s goals intentionally or unintentionally. “Neutrality is at best a delusion and at its worst is treachery. Reject it.”

‘This phoenix has to rise’: new Beirut sculptures represent the power of the Lebanese people/
Laura Mackenzie/The National
Sculptures of a phoenix and a revolutionary woman have been erected by protesters and artists in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square
First, there were the martyrs. Then, the phoenix. Then, the revolutionary woman. In the past two weeks, the famed bronze statue in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square that was built in honour of Lebanese nationalists executed by the Ottomans in 1916 has been joined by two neighbours – two sculptures that are decades younger than the civil war-scarred statue, but which are arguably just as powerfully symbolic.
One of the new sculptures, a giant phoenix, positioned as if about to take flight, was pieced together by anti-government protesters out of the remains of protest tents destroyed by government supporters. “It was really a collaboration of all Lebanese people – of all religions, all sects, all areas,” says Hayat Nazer, the Beirut-based artist who had the idea for the piece. “There were even old men with white hair working on it. And there were several who had blood coming out of their hands because the metal pieces (from the tent frames) were broken and had sharp, ragged edges.”
Nazer, who had originally gone down to the protest site, just south of Martyrs’ Square, on Lebanese Independence Day to build the phoenix alone and was quickly joined by a hundred people wanting to help, says she begged the men with bleeding hands to stop. “But they would not,” she says. “They were like, ‘No, no, we have to finish. This phoenix has to rise.’” And within only a few hours, rise, it did. Work continued on the sculpture for a few more days, though, with engineers and architects offering their technical knowledge, another person donating LED lighting to give the creature fiery eyes and blazing feathers at night and one man even voluntarily waking up before dawn every morning to go and check that nothing had happened to the sculpture overnight – and then messaging Nazer with an update.
Such determination seems representative of the very message that Nazer was trying to convey in the first place. As the artist, 32, explains, she had wanted to build the phoenix – a mythical bird that is born again from the ashes of its predecessor – to show that “we [the Lebanese people] will not burn, we will not break, we will be victorious”.
“While the idea of the phoenix on its own is very strong, and it coming from the burnt tents is very strong, for me, what’s even stronger is that, on the day of independence, the Lebanese people built it”, says Nazer, sitting in the protest site at night, raising her voice to be heard above the revolutionary songs being blasted out from a speaker as passers-by stop at regular intervals to take photos of the bird. Lebanese protesters gather around Martyrs Square monument in Lebanon’s capital Beirut during ongoing anti-government demonstrations on October 28, 2019. Demonstrators set up barricades and parked cars across key roads today to protest corruption and press their demands for a radical overhaul of their country’s sectarian political system. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO
Lebanese protesters gather around Martyrs Square monument in Beirut. AFP
The second new sculpture to appear in this part of downtown Beirut in recent days is also as powerful. Titled Revolution is a Woman, the figure of a woman waving a Lebanese flag is made out of rubbish collected from the protest sites in the area, including water bottles, cans and even the plastic tips used to smoke shisha – a common activity for many of those protesting.
Pierre Abboud, 47, the Dubai artist and interior designer behind the work, says he was inspired to fly back to his home country to build it after witnessing the strength of the Lebanese women who have taken part in the countrywide protests since October 17, including the wife of Alaa Abou Fakhr, the protester killed by a soldier in front of his family last month. “When this young man was shot and his wife was kissing his hand [at the funeral], I was really touched by the scene and I did a drawing. And then I saw all the women on the street trying to make peace between the men,” he says, referring to the female protesters who have deliberately stood between their male counterparts, the security forces and government supporters to prevent bloodshed (one of whom, incidentally, has been Nazer, the artist behind the phoenix).
epa08051121 A tourist from Hungary looks at a sculpture made of soft drink cans depicting a girl carrying a Lebanese flag with Arabic words at the ground reading ‘Revolution is a woman’ by Lebanese artist Pierre Abboud on display at Martyr’s Square in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 December 2019. Demonstrations in Lebanon are continuing as protesters aim to apply pressure on the country’s political leaders over what they view as a lack of progress following the prime minister’s resignation on 29 October. Lebanese President Aoun called for formal consultations on 09 December with lawmakers to designate a new prime minister. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
A tourist looks at the sculpture made of soft drink cans. EPA
“The women are still keeping this revolution very moderate, very decent, very creative … I want to tell the women, thank you – to my mother, to my sister, to my wife. The women are keeping it peaceful, while they [the politicians] want to make it bloody.”
The recycled materials from which Abboud’s revolutionary woman is made of, meanwhile, are a nod to another central theme of the recent Lebanese protests: recycling and the environment. With the country long having grappled with waste crises, protesters have made it a point to clean up after themselves and to recycle as much rubbish as they can from the protest sites, including in downtown Beirut where Abboud sourced his sculpture’s materials from a specially designated recycling site.
“The trash that we have is gold,” says Abboud, who describes “trash art” as his passion and who was involved in a record-breaking effort in Lebanon last year to create the world’s largest recyclable material mosaic.
“Let’s think ‘environment’ through the whole country. Let’s make use of the trash. Let’s be creative and arrange our environment versus art … Lebanon should be the country of beauty and art. And the sculpture is a small message to show how we can do that – using the trash, using the bad things.”
Though Abboud’s sculpture was designed and financed by him, however, like the phoenix, it is the work of many people. The artist employed the help of many friends, contacts and colleagues. And when Abboud and his team were working on the sculpture at the protest site, as Nazer also experienced, passers-by kept offering to help. “People were amazing … There is a vibe I never saw. They helped me all day long.”
Abboud, who moved to the UAE in 2005 after finding that he kept running into obstacles with the authorities in Lebanon as a young artist, added that he had never before dreamed of being able to put a sculpture in a square in Beirut.
“And today, I don’t own it anymore,” he says. “It’s for the streets.”

A War on Two Fronts
Lynn Abi Raad/Carnegie/December 10/2019
Lebanese protestors seek change in established syndicates while creating new ones not controlled by politicians.
Since October 17, the Lebanese have risen up against their ruling elite, whom they accuse of having failed to provide economic prosperity, liberty, and stability. Early on, the protestors recognized the role of institutions in any reform process. However, in the absence of early elections, the protest movement has shifted its attention toward advancing their goals through professional syndicates and labor unions, which have been largely coopted by the political class since the 1990s. In this battle for syndicates and unions, the protest movement has advanced on two fronts. In the elections to certain syndicates, it has run against candidates backed by the traditional political class. In parallel to this, it has sought to establish independent syndicates or unions to better embody the demands and spirit of the uprising.
The battle for the presidency of the Beirut Bar Association was the first clear institutional win for the uprising. In elections on November 17, the independent candidate Melhem Khalaf defeated a rival backed by the political parties. This represented a shift in the association, which in recent years has been presided over by politically-backed members. To be sure, the growing desire among professionals to back independents had started well before the uprising, notably in April 2017. At the time another independent, Jad Tabet, had been elected head of the Beirut Order of Engineers. However, Tabet had enjoyed the support of a traditional political party, the Kataeb Party, and only won by a margin of 21 votes, much smaller than the 800-vote difference in favor of Khalaf.
Khalaf’s win also held more meaning as it came at a critical time when the ability of the protest movement to translate its street power into an electoral victory was being questioned. Andrea Makary, a young graduate who worked with Khalaf on his campaign and who recently passed the exam to join the Beirut Bar Association, described the atmosphere during the runoff with the candidate backed by the parties. “When the results were posted, you can’t imagine the amount of joy that filled the Palace of Justice! We literally burst into tears,” she told me. With the odds against Khalaf, the win was especially emotional for his supporters.
Khalaf has become known as the uprising’s candidate. Following his win, lawyers in the Palace of Justice held up their fists, shouting “Revolution! Revolution!” and sang the national anthem, echoing the chants of protestors around the country. Since then, Khalaf has taken a stance in defense of the uprising, marking a significant departure from his predecessor, Andre Chidiac, who had been backed by the Free Patriotic Movement of President Michel Aoun. Under Chidiac, the Beirut Bar Association had failed to support the demonstrators, remaining silent while arbitrary arrests and detentions took place. In fact, the association upheld a rule banning lawyers from protesting in their robes without permission. Making good on his promise to represent anyone in need of a lawyer, Khalaf took to the streets on November 20 when a dozen protestors were arrested in Riad al-Solh Square and he played a crucial role in securing their release. The independents’ win symbolized hope for the many young lawyers disillusioned with the ruling parties. Lawyers in Lebanon, like many other professionals, often affiliate themselves with political parties to get ahead in their careers. A recent law school graduate, Romy Boulos, recounted her experience to me of interviewing with a major law firm. After she told her interviewer that she had no political affiliation, that person said, “You have to be politically affiliated to succeed as a lawyer in Lebanon. You have to choose a party or else you’ll fail.” Refusing to go against her beliefs, Boulos took a job abroad. However, the independents’ victory gave her hope for a career at home.
Makary also described a clear generational gap at play, which she experienced while acting as Khalaf’s representative in one of the polling stations. Young lawyers were moving away from traditional politics, while middle-aged lawyers were still clinging to their political patrons and dismissing the uprising. Yet what was striking was the number of retired lawyers who support the independent wave, after years of experiencing the dominance of the parties.
Aside from scoring electoral wins in established syndicates, independents are creating alternative syndicates and associations that are actively partaking in the uprising. One notable example is the Association of Professionals (Tajammu‘ al-Mehaniyyat wal Mehaniyyin), which describes itself on its Facebook page as “a gathering of professionals from different sectors … that took an active part in the October 17, 2019, uprising against the ruling class.” It acts as an umbrella organization for independent professional associations, such as the Association of Independent University Professors (Tajammu‘ al-Asatizah al-Mustaqileen fi al-Jami‘at), the Alternative Press Syndicate Group (Tajammu‘ Naqabat al-Sahaafa al-Badila), and the Gathering of Independent Employees (Tajammu‘ al-Muwazafine al-Mustaqileen), and also promotes their activities and initiatives. The Association of Professionals also holds its own public discussions and organizes marches and protests related to the independence of syndicates and unions and their role in the current uprising. It hailed Melhem Khalaf’s win as “a victory for the revolution and a loss for the ruling parties” and the beginning of the process of liberating syndicates and unions from the dominance of ruling parties and their system of clientelism.
The battle for independent, representative, and democratic syndicates and labor organizations is a microcosm of the larger struggle in Lebanon’s streets. The electoral victories of independent candidates symbolize small wins on the road toward bigger ones in future parliamentary elections. Syndicates and unions have the potential to play a larger role in the uprising. They can unify members, rally support, and show their force in the streets, as they have done historically and have been doing during the current protests.
Most important in the coming weeks, they can take on more of a leadership role and channel the demands of the uprising to any new government, which may be especially necessary as the economic situation deteriorates. Time and time again, history has shown the power and value of united and independent professional and labor movements in demanding and enacting change.

The post A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For December 10- 11/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 55th Day appeared first on Elias Bejjani News.

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