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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Druze politician says Iran gains in Lebanon as Arabs abandon it
2022-01-28
[JPost] "Give us money, or we'll become Iranian Proxies...because we've done so well under their thumb so far"
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said on Thursday that Iran had gained more power in Lebanon because Arab states had abandoned the country, and that nobody could replace Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri after his decision to step away from politics.

In an interview with broadcaster MTV, Jumblatt also stepped up his criticism of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, the country's dominant party, saying Lebanon was not a rocket-launching platform, in reference to its vast arsenal.

Jumblatt said that he had agreed with Russian officials during a recent visit to Moscow that what he described as the Arabs' abandonment of Lebanon had given more power to Iran.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon's PM, President sign decree to form new govt after over a year
2021-09-11
[EN.ALGHADEERTV.NET] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch. In 2020 Hezbollahblew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate faci8lity exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that...
’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 signed a decree forming a new government in the presence of parliament speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
 on Friday, the presidency said in a statement.

Lebanon had been without a government for over a year as it descended further into an economic meltdown.

The presidency said on Twitter earlier that Mikati would meet Aoun, but without saying if they had reached an agreement on a government.

One official source told Rooters a cabinet line-up Mikati would present to Aoun was promising. Political sources said there had been intensive contacts through the night to try to reach an agreement.

The failure to agree on a cabinet has left Lebanon without any effective government as the country has sunk deeper into a crisis which the World Bank has described as one of the sharpest implosions of modern times.

Mikati, a politician-businessman who was designated prime minister in July, has previously said he would seek to re-start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once his government was formed.

The cabinet formation has been derailed repeatedly by disagreements among political factions over the distribution of cabinet seats.

Mikati is the third prime minister-designate to attempt to form the government since the government resigned over a year ago in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast amidst the worsening economic meltdown.

Mikati was designated after Saad al-Hariri, a former prime minister, abandoned his efforts.

Aoun’s political adversaries have accused him and his political party, the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, of seeking effective veto power in the new government by demanding a third of the seats. Aoun has denied this repeatedly.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon's Rai Berates Politicians as Deadlock Drags on
2021-06-03
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch...
's most senior Christian holy man on Wednesday bemoaned the inability of the country's senior politicians to agree a government as the country sinks further into financial collapse.

"We don't have bread, we don't have medicine, we don't have fuel, what are they waiting for?" Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai said after a meeting with President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads over cabinet positions since October, preventing the formation of a government that is much needed to enact reforms and unlock foreign aid.

Lebanon has been without a government since Hassan Diab's cabinet resigned in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast last August. Diab's government has carried on in a caretaker capacity.

Any hopes of a breakthrough after Rai's visit to the presidential palace on Wednesday were dashed after Hariri and Aoun each issued statements criticizing the other.

Aoun accused Hariri of trying to overstep his powers while Hariri said the president was under the sway of his son-in-law MP Gebran Bassil.

"The country needs salvation; it doesn't need verbal war," Rai said. "Respect each other, insults don't do anything, they just muddy the waters."

Rai spoke ahead of a planned visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis
...Argentine liberation theologist, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was elected pope in 2013. Rather than setting up shop in Avignon, where he belongs, the first Jesuit Pope chose to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse instead of the papal apartments. He is big on climate change, against consumerism, and in favor of throwing a blanket over homosexual activity (so to speak) within the clergy. He's not real sure about the Resurrection, about Christ's divinity, and a few other things that would have gotten him burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, but he's hot for a certain South American Earth Mother Goddess...
 on July 1.

Pope Francis, who has promised to visit Lebanon if fractious politicians agree on a new government, is meeting its Christian leaders to discuss the country's worsening economic meltdown.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese President Aoun Fears Chaos as Crisis Bites
2021-04-01
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 said on Wednesday the country could face chaos before it can recover from a financial meltdown.

Crushed under a mountain of debt and decades of graft, Lebanon has plunged into its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Aoun, a former army commander, and Saad al-Hariri, a three-time premier who was designated prime minister in October, have been locked in a standoff over the makeup of a new cabinet as the crisis worsens.

Scenes of shoppers brawling over goods, protesters blocking roads, and shuttered businesses are now commonplace.

"I will hand over the country better than when it was handed to me ... but I fear the cost will be very high, ‮)‬there‮(‬ may be chaos before that," Aoun said in comments published by Lebanese television channel al-Jadeed. Aoun’s term expires in 2022.

The president, whose party run by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil leads the biggest bloc in parliament, told a news hound at al-Jadeed he feared the dangers looming over Lebanon threatened its very existence.

The currency has lost most of its value, making more than half the population poor. Last August’s port blast, which devastated parts of Beirut and killed 200 people, deepened the country’s misery.

The deadlock has persisted since Aoun warned in September that the country was going "to hell" without a new government.

Foreign donors have made clear they will not bail out Lebanon before its leaders agree a new cabinet that must launch reforms.

"I wish I inherited my grandfather’s orchard and didn’t take up the presidency," Jadeed cited Aoun as saying on Wednesday.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon in danger of sinking 'like Titanic' if no govt. formed: Knobby Berri
2021-03-30
[PRESSTV] Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
 says the crisis-stricken and cash-strapped Arab country is in "danger" and would sink "like the Titanic" if a new government was not formed within the next two months.
"The country is in danger if a government isn't formed in two months. The country as a whole is [like the] Titanic. It's time we all wake up because in the end, if the ship sinks, there'll be no one left," Berri said during a parliament session in Beirut on Monday.

Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 is still waiting for a new government to be formed months after caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab's cabinet resigned in the wake of a massive explosion at Beirut port on August 4 last year, which ravaged the heart of residential areas and the city’s vibrant commercial district.

More than 200 people were killed and over 6,000 others injured in the giant blast. Dozens of people are still unaccounted for.

Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 have been at loggerheads for months over the makeup of a new cabinet.


Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon's Caretaker PM: Activating Resigned Cabinet up to Parliament
2021-03-25
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, said on Wednesday that it was parliament’s decision whether to re-activate a resigned cabinet, after months of wrangling that has blocked a deal on a new government.

Diab’s cabinet has served in a caretaker capacity since quitting last August over the huge Beirut port blast that killed 200 people and compounded the country’s financial collapse.

In his statement on Wednesday, Diab said the political deadlock spurred calls to activate his cabinet but that the question of whether the constitution allows it was up to the parliament.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday a new cabinet was needed to pull Lebanon out of financial crisis, after a standoff over government formation between its president Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 and prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri worsened.

The crisis is posing the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-1990 civil war, and a new cabinet could help initiate reforms to unlock foreign aid.

"Government formation is the only alternative to the chaos that threatens everyone," Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc said in a statement, calling for transparency and cooperation between Lebanon’s leaders.

The row between Hariri and Aoun intensified after a meeting between the two to discuss a new cabinet ended in a public repudiation.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group is an ally of Aoun.


Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon Crisis Escalates after Failure to Agree Government
2021-03-23
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
's financial crisis intensified on Monday after Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri publicly repudiated President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
, saying the latter wanted to dictate cabinet membership and grant veto powers on policy to his political allies.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Thousands March in Central Beirut as Political Deadlock Persists
2021-03-13
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Thousands marched in central Beirut on Friday demanding a new independent government to lift Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 out of its deepening crisis as frustration over the country’s financial meltdown grew.
Lebanon’s economic crisis is posing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Erupting in late 2019, it has since wiped out jobs, locked people out of their bank deposits, slashed 85% of the value of its currency and raised the risk of widespread hunger.

"In light of the terrible failure of those in power socially and politically we are going to the streets to ask for a new independent government and an alternative to the current system," a statement by one group of protesters said.

Lebanon’s problems were compounded after a port explosion in August devastated whole tracts of Beirut, killing 200 people and prompting the government to resign, leaving the country rudderless as it sinks deeper into financial collapse.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s cabinet has stayed on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.

But prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri, nominated in October, is at loggerheads with President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 and has been unable to form a new government to carry out much needed reforms to unlock international aid.

"We are hungry. It is that simple. That is why we are taking part here," said one protester on the streets with his family who declined to be named.

The protest comes after two days of relative calm since nationwide roadblocks persisted for more than a week as groups of demonstrators, angry at the currency’s tumble to a new low, burnt tires to block streets.

Several caretaker ministers have made alarming public remarks in the past week about the state of Lebanon’s security and finances.

Interior minister Mohammed Fahmy said security had all but broken down with "all possibilities open", while energy minister Raymond Ghajar warned that cash for power generation was running out fast and Lebanon could be in total darkness by the end of the month.

Despite the warnings, there has been no movement on the political front.

The lack of action prompted French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian to say that time was running out to prevent Lebanon collapsing and he could see no sign that the country’s politicians were doing what they could to save it.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon's Caretaker PM Pleads for a New Govt as Protests Continue
2021-03-07
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab threatened on Saturday to stop performing his duties to pressure politicians to form a new government, citing an incident in which shoppers fought over milk to illustrate the parlous state of the economy.

Diab’s cabinet resigned on the back of the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion that devastated swathes of the capital. Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri was nominated in October but has failed to form a new cabinet since due to political deadlock between him and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
An ongoing financial crisis, which erupted in 2019, has wiped out jobs, raised warnings of growing hunger and locked people out of their bank deposits. A new cabinet could implement reforms needed to trigger billions of dollars of international aid.

"If seclusion helps with cabinet formation then I am ready to resort to it, although it goes against my convictions for it disrupts the entire state and is detrimental to the Lebanese," Diab said in a televised speech.

"Doesn’t the scramble for milk constitute a sufficient incentive to transcend formalities and roughen out the edges in order to form a government?" Diab said referring to the recent incident at a Beirut supermarket in which shoppers fought over powdered milk.

A video of the squabble went viral on social media, leaving many people shocked at the desperate state of the economy.

Groups of protesters have been burning tires to block roads across the country on a daily basis since the Lebanese currency tumbled to a new low on Tuesday, enraging a population long horrified by the country’s financial meltdown.
Related:
Hassan Diab: 2020-12-30 FBI Found Port Blast Caused by 500 Tons of Fertilizer, Says Diab
Hassan Diab: 2020-12-15 Leb PM declines to be questioned in Beirut blast probe, official source says
Hassan Diab: 2020-12-12 Hizbullah Dubs Indictment in Port Blast as ‘Politicized’
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb PM declines to be questioned in Beirut blast probe, official source says
2020-12-15
[THEBAGHDADPOST] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s caretaker prime minister, Hassan Diab, has declined to be questioned by the judge who charged him and three former ministers with negligence over the Beirut port blast, an official source said on Monday.

Judge Fadi Sawan has met pushback from influential parties including Shi’ite Hezbollah and Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri, underlining the political hurdles facing the investigation.

Lebanese are still waiting for answers four months since one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts on record. A stockpile of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years, detonated in August, killing 200 people, injuring thousands and devastating entire districts.

Some politicians accused Sawan of being selective and overstepping his powers by charging ministers. Others, including the head of the Beirut Bar Association, said the move showed courage.

The outgoing premier "has said everything he has to say about this file, full stop," according to his office. Diab, who has testified as a witness, quit after the disaster but continues to serve in a caretaker role.
He and President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 were warned in July that the nitrate could destroy the capital if it went kaboom!, according to documents seen by Rooters. Aoun has said he had no direct authority over the port.

Sawan requested an appointment from Diab’s office but was told he would not agree to be questioned, the official source at the prime minister’s office said.
Sawan could not immediately be reached for comment.

The caretaker interior minister, Mohammed Fahmi, said he would not enforce any arrest warrants for Diab or the other officials if they refused to be questioned. "And let them pursue me if they wish," Lebanese newspaper al-Joumhouria quoted him as saying.
After meeting with Diab on Friday, Hariri pledged not to let anyone "violate the post of prime minister" - a seat reserved for a Sunni Moslem in the sectarian power-sharing system.

The ex-ministers charged by Sawan are members of parties allied to Hezbollah, which said the charges smacked of "political targeting". Two are from Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
’s Shi’ite Amal party, which also accused the judge on Monday of breaching the constitution.

Lebanon’s senior Christian holy man, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, said on Sunday he hoped reactions to Sawan’s move would not obstruct the probe or cause "a national division on a sectarian basis".


Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
No consensus yet in Lebanon on government formation, says Jumblatt
2020-12-11
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] A prominent Lebanese politician said on Thursday it seemed there would be no "white smoke" soon to signal the formation of a new government, indicating more deadlock after the prime minister-designate presented a draft cabinet line-up.

Four months since Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
’s last government quit in the wake of the August 4 Beirut port explosion, main parties have been unable to agree on a cabinet even as the country sinks deeper into a crippling financial crisis.

Saad al-Hariri, who was named in October to form the new government, gave President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 his cabinet line-up on Wednesday, saying the atmosphere was positive.

Aoun’s office said the two had agreed to try to bridge the gap between their proposals.

"It appears the white smoke over the government will not be released soon as a result of further testing to adopt the best vaccine to deal with the crisis," Walid Wally Jumblat
...Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
, Lebanon’s dominant Druze politician, wrote on Twitter, referring to the traditional signal that a new pope has been chosen.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun designated Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri as prime minister
2020-10-23
[TWITTER]
Link



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