Lebanon

12 June 2020; MEMO: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab called an emergency cabinet session this morning after a night of escalating protests over the dire economic situation and currency collapse. According to Naharnet, Diab cancelled all appointments to hold the meeting to discuss the financial crisis.

BEIRUT, June 12 (NNN-Xinhua) — Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets on Thursday night to protest against the hike in the price of US dollar to the Lebanese pound and the deteriorating economic situation, the National News Agency reported.

Protesters cut roads in several areas in Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli and other regions.

They attempted to cut the road near the Association of Banks in Lebanon which prompted the intervention of riot police and led to clashes with protesters.

BEIRUT, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets on Thursday night to protest against the hike in the price of U.S. dollar to the Lebanese pound and the deteriorating economic situation, the National News Agency reported.

Protesters cut roads in several areas in Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli and other regions.

They attempted to cut the road near the Association of Banks in Lebanon which prompted the intervention of riot police and led to clashes with protesters.

BEIRUT (AP) — In scenes not witnessed for years in government-controlled parts of Syria, dozens of men and women marched through the streets this week, protesting a sharp increase in prices and collapse of the currency, some even calling for the downfall of President Bashar Assad and his ruling Baath party.

“He who starves his people is a traitor,” some of the protesters chanted at the protest in the southern city of Sweida.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese military on Sunday said overnight riots and sectarian tensions in central Beirut and other areas left dozens of people injured, including 25 soldiers, and warned that the clashes had endangered national unity.

BEIRUT, June 6 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Industry Minister, Imad Hoballah, said on Friday that, the government will inject 400 million U.S. dollars, to support the country’s industry and agriculture.

This support will come in cooperation with the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon.

Lebanon’s economy has for long been dependent on the services sectors, such as tourism and the banking sector, causing problems to the country, that has to rely on importing foreign products for consumption.

BEIRUT, June 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The ministry of labour in Lebanon says it will give shelter to Ethiopian domestic workers abandoned without pay by their employers.

An initial group of 35 Ethiopian women camping outside their consulate in Beirut has been housed in a hotel by the Lebanese authorities after a public outcry over their plight.

But more are continuing to arrive outside the consulate as the Lebanese economic crisis intensifies.

The authorities have promised to take action against their employers.

BEIRUT (AP) — On a summer day last year, presidential guards drove out of the charity organization founded by Syria’s wealthiest businessman and a close cousin of President Bashar Assad, carting away boxes of documents and computers. At the same time, the charity’s director was being questioned at the palace on suspicion of corruption.

03 June 2020; MEMO: The Lebanese Army and Israeli occupation forces squared off yesterday along the border between the two countries. According to reports, two Israeli Merkava tanks were deployed to the border but remained on the “Israeli side” of the so-called Blue Line, representing the first time Israeli tanks crossed the fence since the 2006 war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.

30 May 2020; MEMO: Lebanon has scant chance of securing badly needed aid from the International Monetary Fund as the government fails to enact reforms demanded by donors to address its financial crisis, opposition politician Samir Geagea said on Friday, Reuters reports.

“Unfortunately, (matters) are going from bad to worse,” he said. “It could, in my opinion, reach social unrest, and social violence.”