March 12th, 20210BEIRUT — Growing resentment and outrage among the Lebanese led to eight days of protests this week, with protesters using burnt tires to block roadways across the country in anger over the nation's economic meltdown and political deadlock amid a pandemic lockdown.
The Lebanese army said on Wednesday it had started clearing...
March 6th, 20210BEIRUT — Protesters blocked some roadways in Lebanon for a second day on Wednesday, after the currency’s fall to a new low further enraged a population long horrified by the country’s financial meltdown.
In the past year, Lebanon has been through a popular uprising against its political leaders, the bankruptcy of the state and...
February 5th, 20210BEIRUT — Activist, publisher and filmaker Lokman Slim was found dead in a car in Southern Lebanon on Thursday.
Slim died from four bullets in the head and one in the back. Slim’s sister Rasha al-Ameer suggested he had been murdered because of his ardent criticism of Shi’a Hezbollah. He was last seen after visiting a poet...
January 28th, 20210TRIPOLI — A man was killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Thursday in clashes between security forces and protesters angry over a strict lockdown that has cut off livelihoods in a collapsing economy.
Omar Taybah, 30, was hit by a bullet overnight, according to a local hospital that treated him, a security source and...
January 18th, 20210BEIRUT — COVID-19 patients wait on pavements outside hospitals in Beirut, where emergency rooms are packed and intensive care beds full.
Inside, exhausted healthcare workers are succumbing themselves — doctors at one hospital, asking not to be named, said around 40 percent of staff were sick or in isolation.
Countries...
January 4th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanon announced a full lockdown for three weeks, including a night curfew, to stem a rise in COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals in a country already facing financial meltdown.
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan said the lockdown would start on Thursday and run until Feb. 1, with further details on...
December 20th, 20200BEIRUT — The head of Lebanon’s airline said on Sunday the carrier would at some point need to demand payment for tickets bought in Lebanon using “fresh dollars”, or recently transferred currency that is not subject to restrictions imposed since a financial crisis.
Middle East Airlines (MEA) Chairman Mohamad El-Hout did not...
December 16th, 20200BEIRUT — Two former Lebanese ministers charged with negligence over a huge explosion at Beirut port in August that killed 200 people snubbed a judge on Wednesday by not turning up for questioning.
Judge Fadi Sawan charged three former ministers and the caretaker prime minister last week, sparking fierce debate about whether he had...
November 28th, 20200DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park.
A source briefed on the matter told Reuters the visas had temporarily stopped being issued to Afghans,...
October 28th, 20200BEIRUT — The first of many warnings about a deadly cargo in Beirut’s port came in February 2014, about three months after its arrival. It was made by Colonel Joseph Skaf, described by his family as a diligent customs official.
Skaf, then the head of the anti-narcotics and money laundering division, informed the customs authority...
October 8th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has gained a prominent endorsement from several diplomatic and policy experts on the Middle East.
A substantial list of former ambassadors to Middle East and North African (MENA) nations, foreign policy advisors and Middle East affairs experts have signed on to a letter,...
September 17th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on a Hezbollah official and two Lebanon-based companies as the country experiences a deep economic crisis, accusing them of being linked to the Hezbollah group.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it blacklisted Arch Consulting and Meamar Construction,...
September 4th, 20200DEARBORN — Dearborn City Council President Susan Dabaja, the Dearborn Fire Department and the Dearborn Heights Professional Firefighters are teaming up to raise money for Lebanon.
The Amity Foundation, a local non-profit in the Dearborn and Dearborn Heights communities, will be hosting the event and will be delivering the money...
August 31st, 20200BEIRUT – French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined political and financial reforms Lebanese politicians need to make to unlock foreign aid and rescue the country from multiple crises, including an economic meltdown, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The two-page “concept paper” was delivered by the French ambassador...
August 28th, 20200BEIRUT – Two people were killed and at least 10 wounded in clashes in a town south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Thursday evening, the state news agency and a security source said, as several political parties urged calm.
The Lebanese army said on its Twitter account that it had deployed units to Khaldeh town to “control the...
August 21st, 20200DEARBORN — Jackie Ayoub, a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, has set up a GoFundMe page to accept donations that will go towards helping patients of the pediatric oncology unit at Saint George Hospital in Beirut.
The unit was badly damaged along with the hospital in the Aug. 4 explosion at the city's port. Now...
August 20th, 20200WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) are co-leading an effort to put pressure on the Trump administration to use its powers to defer deportation of Lebanese nationals in light of the Aug. 4 Beirut explosion.
The relief effort for the people of Lebanon comes after the Beirut...
August 19th, 20200French President Emmanuel Macron is in no position to pontificate to Lebanon about the need for political and economic reforms. Just as thousands of Lebanese took to the streets of Beirut demanding “revenge” against the ruling classes, the French people have relentlessly been doing the same; both peoples have been met with police...
August 19th, 20200DETROIT — The ART X Detroit (AXD) festival, a twice-yearly festival showcasing works from Kresge Foundation fellows conducting projects in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck, celebrated those works in a virtual celebration on Wednesday evening.
AXD organizers say the 22 commissioned pieces showcased this year reflect on “the...
August 18th, 20200By Laura Albast
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Between 50 and 60 individuals from the Lebanese diaspora gathered in front of Lebanon’s Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday afternoon. They demonstrated to show solidarity with, and demand justice for, the victims of the Beirut blast.
Compared to the demonstrations held last year at the...
August 18th, 20200LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — On Tuesday, a U.N.-backed tribunal convicted Salim Jamil Ayyash, allegedly a member of the Hezbollah group, of conspiring to kill former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing that set the stage for years of confrontation between Lebanon’s political forces.
Hariri, a Sunni Muslim...
August 15th, 20201On August 4, hours before a massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an ominous warning to Lebanon.
“We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers,” Netanyahu said during an official tour of a military facility in central Israel. “I suggest to all of them, including,...
August 14th, 20200BEIRUT — Another day of unrest and protests in Beirut on Thursday, as Lebanese security forces tried to stop angry protesters from approaching a meeting of MPs. The MPs gathered for the first time since the port side blast that killed 172 people on Tuesday, Aug. 4, with dozens still missing.
The death and injury toll (estimated...
August 10th, 20200BEIRUT — On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the official resignation of his government after a powerful Beirut port explosion sparked outrage and protests against the country’s leaders. The massive explosion that devastated the capital last Tuesday killed some 200 people and wounded 6,000 others.
Diab...
August 7th, 20200BEIRUT (REUTERS) — Lebanon’s president said on Friday an investigation into the biggest blast in Beirut’s history would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference, as residents tried to rebuild their shattered lives after the explosion.
The search for those missing has intensified, as rescuers sifted...
August 5th, 20200BEIRUT — On Wednesday, Lebanese rescue teams pulled out bodies and hunted for missing people in the wreckage caused by a massive warehouse explosion that sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 135.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared three days of mourning from Thursday as early investigations blamed...
August 4th, 20200BEIRUT — A huge explosion in Beirut has caused at least 78 deaths and 4,000 injuries. The explosion sent a shockwave across the Lebanese capital, creating massive destruction, shattering windows and collapsing apartment balconies.
Social media became flooded with videos and photos from eyewitnesses on the ground soon after the...
August 3rd, 20200
BEIRUT (REUTERS) — Lebanon named the president’s diplomatic adviser as new foreign minister on Monday after Nassif Hitti quit the post, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown, which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state.
Foreign donors have...
