World

Yearender: Lebanese struggle with year of political, financial crises toward signs of hope

Published

1 year ago

30/12/2022

by Tian Ye, Liu Zongya

BEIRUT, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — Bidding farewell to the year 2022, the Lebanese are still battling to contain the repercussions of a lingering financial crisis and a political impasse of the failure to elect a new president after Michel Aoun left the presidential palace in October.

The financial crisis in Lebanon that began in 2019 was characterized in 2022 by the continued sharp depreciation of the Lebanese currency against the U.S. dollar, which has further shrunk the Lebanese people’s wealth. To prevent capital flight, Lebanese banks placed a cap on the amount of money depositors can withdraw.

However, signs of hope are seen as the Lebanese usher in a new year.

A maritime boundary agreement Lebanon signed with its arch-rival and neighbor Israel has raised the hope for lucrative gas explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean, which analysts believe could mitigate Lebanon’s financial woes and contribute to the improvement of the ties between the two countries that have no diplomatic relations.

Moreover, a hard-earned economic growth of 2 percent after a protracted and deep recession has added to the possibility of positive development for the country with a population of about 6.8 million.

POLITICAL DEADLOCK

Lebanon’s parliament has failed for several times over the past two months to elect a new president for a lack of consensus among political parties on a new successor to former President Aoun, who left office in October after finishing his six-year term.

Before the end of Aoun’s tenure, the Lebanese government had been in caretaker’s status following Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s failure to form a new government. Lebanon now has an unprecedented dual executive-level power vacuum in the absence of a president and a fully-empowered government.

Political gridlock has slowed down the efforts to implement structural reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for the IMF bailout loan of 3 billion U.S. dollars which could lead the country onto the path to recovery.

At the opening ceremony of the Arab Economic Forum held in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Dec. 22, Mikati stressed that sweeping reforms remain vital to reach a deal with the IMF and unlock billions of dollars in aid to rescue Lebanon’s stricken economy.

The country is now “at a crossroads — it will either mark the start of the long-awaited economic revival or a gloomy decline,” he said.

The key to Lebanon’s salvation is achieving real political reform, the basis of which is to build a state of justice and citizenship away from the calculations of sects, factions, and their quotas, said Waref Kumayha, president of the Silk Road Institute for Studies and Research, a Beirut-based private organization.

LINGERING FINANCIAL CRISIS

Because of a severe shortage of the U.S. dollar in the ongoing financial crisis, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value since 2019.

On Dec. 26, the exchange rate of the Lebanese currency sank to the record low of 48,000 pounds against one U.S. dollar on the parallel market, down from 40,000 pounds on Oct. 14.

Meanwhile, inflation in Lebanon registered a year-on-year increase of 189.4 percent in the first 11 months of 2022, according to data released by the country’s Central Administration of Statistics (CAS). Hyperinflation continued for the 29th consecutive month, rising annually to about 142.4 percent in November from the same month a year earlier, the CAS Consumer Price Index showed.

To prevent the capital flight to overseas, Lebanese banks imposed restrictions on the withdrawal of deposits in both local and foreign currencies.

In September, desperate depositors broke into and raided several banks to demand the return of their money. Out of growing security concerns, some banks had to suspend their services, local media reported.

Worse still, the Lebanese government’s ability to manage the first cholera outbreak since 1993 and accommodate an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees has also been put to the test by the country’s poor economic conditions.

Since the first cholera case was detected in Lebanon on Oct. 6, 5,767 suspected and confirmed cases, with 23 associated deaths, have so far been reported. In November, Health Minister Firas Abiad called on donor countries and international institutions to support the Lebanese hospitals in the fight against the cholera epidemic.

Hosting a large number of refugees has so far cost almost 33 billion U.S. dollars, “which constitutes a huge burden on the Lebanese economy,” Lebanese Minister of the Displaced Issam Charafeddine told Radio Liban Libre in August.

Kumayha believed that the solution to Lebanon’s financial crisis lies in restructuring the public debt and banking sector, as well as rebuilding the economy by shifting from the rentier-based to the production-based economy.

SIGNS OF HOPE

Despite the political deadlock and decline in living standard in a year marred by the cholera outbreak and financial crisis, there have been some positive developments that provided the Lebanese with hope for a better future.

In April, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait announced the return of their ambassadors to Lebanon, in a positive sign of a thaw in their tense relations. The move came after Mikati pledged to take the necessary and required measures to enhance cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In October, Lebanon signed a landmark deal with Israel after lengthy negotiations, setting the maritime boundary with the neighbor for the first time and giving the green light to lucrative gas explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Under the deal, the unexplored Qana natural gas field will be under Lebanon’s control, while Israel would receive 17 percent of the profits. This has raised hope for alleviating Lebanon’s financial crisis.

Lebanon’s top negotiator and deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab told reporters in October that the deal marks “a new era.” In a televised speech, the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah announced the end of “all exceptional and special measures as well as mobilization” against Israel.

On Dec. 22, Mikati revealed at the opening ceremony of the Arab Economic Forum that Lebanon’s economy recorded a growth of 2 percent this year after a long and deep recession.

He credited the modest growth to higher revenues from tourism and a rise in remittances from Lebanese living abroad, among other factors.

World

Israeli strikes intensify across Gaza, army urges evacuation

Published

1 day ago

24/04/2024

Israel on Tuesday ordered residents of the city of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate “urgently” ahead of a new planned onslaught in the area.

“You are in a dangerous combat zone,” Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), wrote on the social media platform X.

He stated that the army has an imminent plan to “act with great force” against militant infrastructure in the area.

Israeli attacks intensified on Tuesday, with reports of strikes in the northern regions, where the IDF had previously pulled back some of its forces, as well as in central and southern areas.

Several air strikes and ground shelling were reported in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, as residents described almost non-stop bombardment, according to Reuters.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Tuesday in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 32 Palestinians and wounded 59 others during the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 34,183 and injuries to 77,143 since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group announced on Tuesday that it had struck Israeli bases north of the city of Acre with a drone, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since the conflict began.

According to the Israeli military, it was unaware of any of its facilities being targeted by Hezbollah, but had stated earlier on Tuesday that it had intercepted two “aerial targets” off Israel’s northern coast.

Satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as the Israeli military signals that it plans an offensive on the city of Rafah. But a Palestinian health official later said the tent camp was being set up to house displaced people who are currently sheltering in a hospital and is not related to any impending military operation.

Khan Younis has been targeted by repeated Israeli military operations over recent weeks. According to an AP report on Tuesday, Israel said it has planned to evacuate civilians from Rafah during an anticipated offensive on the southern city, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge during the conflict.

More than 1 million residents in the Gaza Strip have lost their homes and 75 percent of the population have been displaced since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict 200 days ago, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.

“Destruction is everywhere in Gaza. Damage to critical infrastructure is immense,” UNRWA wrote in a post on X.

In a recorded speech marking the 200th day of the conflict, Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, accused Israel of impeding mediation efforts for a ceasefire.

Israeli media reported on Monday that preparations were underway to expand the humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip ahead of a possible Israeli attack on the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah.

Rafah is the last refuge for more than 1.4 million Palestinians who were displaced from the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip.

Source(s): CGTN

World

Biden tells Zelenskyy new arms will be provided quickly to Ukraine

Published

2 days ago

23/04/2024

U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over phone on Monday that his administration will soon quickly provide additional arms to Ukraine once a bill authorizing related funds clears Congress and becomes law.

“President Biden shared that his administration will quickly provide significant new security assistance packages to meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield and air defense needs as soon as the Senate passes the national security supplemental and he signs it into law,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

Biden was referring to the $61 billion aid for Ukraine that the House passed Saturday. The measure, now bundled with other foreign aid funding, will be voted on as a comprehensive national security supplemental appropriations bill in the Senate this week, with passage all but certain and Biden pledging to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk.

“President Biden also underscored that the U.S. economic assistance will help maintain financial stability, build back critical infrastructure,” the readout said, adding that the economic assistance will also “support reform as Ukraine moves forward on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration.”

Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the new aid from Washington is expected to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense as well as its long-range and artillery capabilities.

The Ukrainian president also discussed with Biden the work on a bilateral security agreement and the preparations for the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland slated for mid-June, he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X on Saturday that senators have reached an agreement to vote on the national security supplemental on Tuesday.

Source(s): CGTN

World

Israel ups pressure on Hamas as UNICEF decries child deaths in Gaza

Published

3 days ago

22/04/2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to ramp up military pressure on Hamas, despite the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warning last week that one child was being killed or injured every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip.

“With one child killed or injured every 10 minutes (in Gaza), above anything else, we need a ceasefire. It is the only way to stop the killing and maiming of children,” UNICEF Communication Specialist Tess Ingram said during a press briefing in Geneva on April 16.

With no breakthrough yet in truce talks between Israel and Hamas, Netanyahu pledged to intensify the military crackdown in Hamas in a video address. “We will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” he said without elaborating on the time and place.

“In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory.”

The prime minister’s latest remarks came a day after U.S. lawmakers approved $13 billion in new military aid to Israel, even as global criticism mounts over the dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu also condemned an anticipated U.S. sanction against a unit of its army forces. “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), I will fight it with all my might.”

The Biden administration is slated to announce sanctions against the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, which would be the first time the U.S. has ever taken such a step.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz also urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call to reconsider potential sanctions against an Israeli military unit, his office said on Sunday.

Gantz told Blinken that the move would harm Israel’s legitimacy in time of the ongoing Gaza conflict, asserting that “it has no justification because Israel has a strong and independent judicial system.”

Two U.S. officials familiar with the situation said the U.S. announcement could come as soon as Monday, AP reported.

The officials told AP that about five Israeli units were investigated and all but one had been found to have taken action to remedy the violations. The Leahy Law, named for former Senator Patrick Leahy, bars U.S. aid from going to foreign military units that have committed human rights abuses.

The U.S. review was launched before the Israel-Hamas conflict and not connected to recent Israeli actions inside Gaza or the West Bank.

The incidents that were the subject of allegations took place in the West Bank and mostly occurred before the Israel-Hamas conflict, the outlet said.

Before the Gaza conflict, violence had already been on the rise in the West Bank and it has risen since with frequent Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.

Source(s): CGTN