Syrian elections cause tension and violence in Lebanon

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Members of the Christian rightwing Lebanese Forces group attack a car carrying Syrian voters before heading to the Syrian embassy to vote, in the town of Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 20, 2021. (AP)
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Updated 21 May 2021
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Syrian elections cause tension and violence in Lebanon

  • Syrian refugees in Lebanon proclaiming support for the Assad regime face off against angry Lebanese in street fights
  • Former minister Richard Kouyoumdjian tells pro-Assad voters ‘You are opportunists and you are not displaced’

BEIRUT: Calls for Syrians in Lebanon to return to their country have become a deeply divisive politicized issue over the decade-long civil war in Syria, one which has recently been exacerbated by the upcoming election in Syria.

On Thursday, groups of angry Lebanese beat up Syrian expatriates and refugees heading to the Syrian embassy to cast their votes for next Wednesday's election, and threw stones at their vehicles, outraged over what they perceive as an organized vote for Assad. There have been rumors that Hezbollah organized transport for voters from across Lebanon to the embassy.

Assad is running for a fourth term, facing symbolic competition from two other candidates in a vote that is all but guaranteed to see him continue as president.

The Syrian opposition — as well as many Western and Arab countries — see the election as a sham designed to give Assad’s reign a veneer of legitimacy. The election also violates UN resolutions that call for a new constitution before a presidential vote.

Lebanon hosts 865,531 registered Syrian refugees, and there are several hundred thousand Syrians residing in Lebanon with their families as daily or seasonal workers.

Syrians in Lebanon include regime supporters and opposition figures who fled to Lebanon because of the war. Lebanon is in the midst of a severe economic crisis and is calling for Syrian refugees to return to their country because of the high cost of hosting them.

The roads leading to the embassy area in Yarzeh were congested with cars and buses loaded with voters since early Thursday morning. Many chanted slogans in support of Assad and the regime army, waving Syrian flags and carrying pictures of Assad. They confirmed to the media before and after the polls that they had voted for Assad.

Many Lebanese people reacted angrily to this. Members of the Lebanese Forces party went to the coastal highway that connects northern Lebanon with Beirut, and blocked cars carrying pictures of Assad, or Syrian flags, or banners for the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) — an ally of the Syrian regime, smashed car windows, and assaulted their occupants.

FASTFACT

The roads leading to the Syrian Embassy area in Lebanon were congested with cars and buses loaded with voters since early Thursday morning. Many chanted slogans in support of Bashar Assad.

They told the media: “They are loyal to Assad, so why are they still in Lebanon as refugees?”

Members of the Lebanese Forces party also said that Assad-supporting Syrians should have their refugee status removed.

Similar scenes took place in Beirut’s Ashrafieh neighborhood, where young Lebanese men chased a car displaying the Syrian flag. The Lebanese army intervened to separate the two sides.

Fifty-four-year-old Mohsen Saleh Al-Ahmad died while traveling by bus from Chtaura, Bekaa, to the embassy. According to official preliminary investigations, he had a heart attack.

Since Thursday morning’s events, the army has tightened security in and around the Syrian Embassy, which is located in the vicinity of the Ministry of Defense and the Army Command, and on the roads leading to it.

But further clashes broke out in the afternoon, this time instigated by Syrians, who reportedly got off the buses transporting them along the coastal road near Nahr Al-Kalb and proceeded to assault passers-by and throw stones at cars, injuring several people, including journalists from MTV.

Some Lebanese politicians were quick to condemn the actions of pro-Assad Syrian voters.

Former minister May Chidiac said: “They claim to be displaced and are calling on the international community to support them with fresh dollars while they are an additional burden on Lebanon’s overstretched economy! At the doors of the Syrian embassy, ​​they are chanting for Bashar Assad. As long as you are not threatened, go back to where you came from.”

Another former minister, Richard Kouyoumdjian, said: “Swear allegiance to Bashar Assad in your country, not in ours. You are opportunists and you are not displaced.”

But former Hezbollah MP Nawar Al-Sahili described attacks on Syrian voters as demonstrating “racism and a lack of integrity.”

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali said those attacks were “painful, and we refer (them) to the concerned authorities” and called on Lebanon “to cooperate to find quick exits for the return of the Syrians to their country.”

The Syrian diplomat said that the large number of voters “reflects the desire of Syrian people to return to a safety that they have not found outside Syria.”

Lisa Abu Khaled, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Arab News: “The UNHCR has received reports of incidents involving pressure, threats, and harassment affecting Syrian refugees in Lebanon and in relation to the Syrian presidential elections. The reported incidents range from confiscation of documents to threats of physical harm.”

She added: “Voting is a personal choice and is not linked to refugee status, nor to a person’s need for international protection. Voting will not lead to the loss of refugee status. The UNHCR has received reports of intimidation and pressure, which may have pushed a number of refugees to participate in the elections.

“The UNHCR is a non-political humanitarian organization, and therefore does not play any role in the Syrian elections,” she continued. “That said, if and when incidents of threats and pressure are reported by refugees, we work with the concerned stakeholders in Lebanon to ensure that refugees continue to be protected in Lebanon.”

Not all Syrian refugees in Lebanon exercised their right to vote. Abu Ahmad, a camp supervisor in a refugee camp in Arsal, told Arab News: “Most people are not interested. There may be some who voted at the embassy, ​​but they do not (symbolize) a collective conviction. Refugees are frustrated and cannot forget their suffering and the horrors they experienced during their displacement.

“What has changed now? How can Assad be re-elected? On what basis? People were hoping for some change to happen, but what is happening is the polishing of the image of Bashar Assad in front of the international community,” he continued. “Maintaining my strength today is more beneficial than wasting my time in front of the ballot box. Here, I feel safe even though I am homeless.”

Caretaker Social Affairs and Tourism Minister Ramzi Musharrafieh, who visited Syria a few weeks ago and discussed the return of refugees, denounced “all the infringements that have occurred and are unjustified,” and said that “protecting (Syrian voters) is our priority.”

Former MP Khaled Al-Daher, who has been a major advocate for Syrian refugees in Lebanon in the past, said on Thursday: “Anyone who wants to elect Bashar Assad from among the refugees in Lebanon will not have refugee status and must leave the Lebanese territories because they have no problem with the Syrian regime, but are in Lebanon for specific goals and objectives.”


Syria rescuers say two killed in drone strikes on northwest

Updated 5 sec ago
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Syria rescuers say two killed in drone strikes on northwest

  • During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh

DAMASCUS: Two people were killed in separate drone strikes Tuesday on a car and a motorcycle in the northwestern bastion of the Islamist former rebels who now head the Syrian government, rescuers said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin drone strikes in the Idlib region but a US-led coalition in Syria has carried out past strikes on terrorists in the area.
Earlier this year, the United States said it killed several commanders of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate Hurras Al-Din in the area.
The group had recently announced it was breaking up on the orders of the interim government set up by the rebels after their overthrow of Bashar Assad in December.
US troops are deployed in Syria as part of a US-led coalition to fight the Daesh group.
When contacted by AFP, a US defense official said they were aware of the reports but had “nothing to provide” at the time.
During a meeting in Riyadh last month, US President Donald Trump called on his Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa to help Washington prevent a resurgence by Daesh.
 

 


Gaza-bound activist convoy enters Libya from Tunisia

Updated 31 min 41 sec ago
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Gaza-bound activist convoy enters Libya from Tunisia

  • Convoy members were heard chanting “Resistance, resistance” and “To Gaza we go by the millions” in a video posted on the organizing group’s official Facebook page

BEN GUERDANE, Tunisia: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists taking part in a convoy crossed the Tunisian border on Tuesday into Libya, aiming to keep heading eastwards until they break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory, organizers said.
This comes after Israel intercepted an aid ship attempting to breach its blockade on Gaza, which was carrying 12 people, including campaigner Greta Thunberg and European parliament member Franco-Palestinian Rima Hassan.
The “Soumoud” convoy, meaning “steadfastness” in Arabic, set off from Tunis on Monday morning, spokesman Ghassen Henchiri told Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM.
He said it includes 14 buses and around 100 other vehicles, carrying hundreds of people.
Convoy members were heard chanting “Resistance, resistance” and “To Gaza we go by the millions” in a video posted on the organizing group’s official Facebook page.
Henchiri also told Jawhara FM radio channel the convoy plans to remain in Libya for “three or four days at most” before crossing into Egypt and continuing on to Rafah.
Organizers have said Egyptian authorities have not yet provided passage to enter the country, but Henchiri said the convoy received “reassuring” information.
Organizers said the convoy was not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aimed at carrying out a “symbolic act” by breaking the blockade on the territory described by the United Nations as “the hungriest place on Earth.”
Algerian, Mauritanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists were also among the group, which is set to travel along the Libyan coast.
After 21 months of war, Israel is facing mounting international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.
The Madleen aid boat, which set sail for Gaza from Italy on June 1, was halted by Israeli forces on Monday and towed to the port of Ashdod.
The 12 people on board were then transferred to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, adding that Thunberg had been deported.
Five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily.
 

 


Algeria man’s self-immolation investigated as ‘terrorism’

A general view shows the Justice Ministry in the Algerian capital, Algiers. (AFP file photo)
Updated 37 min 57 sec ago
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Algeria man’s self-immolation investigated as ‘terrorism’

  • The charges include “endangering the lives and physical safety of others” and “publishing and promoting false and malicious news”

ALGIERS: Algerian authorities have launched a counterterrorism investigation after a man had set himself on fire, an act investigators suspect was part of coordinated plot with links abroad, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Faouzi Zegout was injured as a result of the self-immolation on June 1 outside the justice ministry to protest a case he was involved in.
A video of the incident in the capital Algiers circulated on social media, showing Zegout saying he had done it “because of a judge... who arbitrarily threatened me with a 10-year prison sentence.”
At an Algiers court on Tuesday, a prosecutor said that five people had been detained in the case, without specifying whether Zegout was one of them.
One of the five has been released under judicial supervision, and the case has been transferred to a counterterrorism division, the court heard.
According to the prosecutor, investigators had found that the act was orchestrated by an “organized criminal group” with suspected ties abroad.
The prosecutor said the group had allegedly plotted the act and assigned roles, including filming and publishing the self-immolation online, to “disturb public order and disrupt institutions.”
The charges include “endangering the lives and physical safety of others” and “publishing and promoting false and malicious news.”
The person who filmed the incident had “communicated with people abroad,” had “multiple bank accounts” and “received money transfers from people,” the prosecutor said, without specifying when the alleged transfers had occurred or who made them.
Zegout has said that he recently appeared in court for launching a fundraiser without official authorization to help cover medical costs for sick people.
A court in Frenda, his hometown about 340 kilometers (200 miles) west of Algiers, was scheduled to deliver its decision the same day he set himself on fire.
 


Israel cancels waiver allowing Israeli and Palestinian banks to work together

Updated 10 June 2025
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Israel cancels waiver allowing Israeli and Palestinian banks to work together

JERUSALEM: Israel canceled a waiver on Tuesday that had allowed Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, threatening to paralyze Palestinian financial institutions, Israel’s finance ministry said in a statement.
“Against the backdrop of the Palestinian Authority’s delegitimization campaign against the State of Israel internationally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has instructed Accountant General CPA Yahli Rotenberg to cancel the indemnity provided to correspondent banks dealing with banks operating in Palestinian Authority territories,” the ministry said.
Smotrich had threatened in May 2024 to cut the vital connection between Israel and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for the recognition of the State of Palestine by three European countries.
The Palestinian financial and banking system is dependent on the regular renewal of the Israeli waiver.
It protects Israeli banks from potential legal action relating to transactions with their Palestinian counterparts, for instance in relation to financing terror.
In July, G7 countries urged Israel to “take necessary action” to ensure the continuity of Palestinian financial systems.
It came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “to cut Palestinian banks from Israeli counterparts would create a humanitarian crisis.”
The overwhelming majority of exchanges in the West Bank are in shekels, Israel’s national currency, because the Palestinian Authority does not have a central bank that would allow it to print its own currency.
 


Medical charity shuts South Sudan hospital after attacks

MSF teams during the distribution of mosquito nets in Renk, Upper Nile State. (Supplied)
Updated 10 June 2025
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Medical charity shuts South Sudan hospital after attacks

  • South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months as a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, has collapsed

NAIROBI: Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, said it was forced to shut a hospital in South Sudan after violent looting, leaving a remote and conflict-plagued county without a major health facility.
MSF said its hospital in Ulang, Upper Nile State, was “completely destroyed” after armed individuals stormed the facility in April, threatened staff, and looted medicine worth $150,000.
The attack left the facility “in ruins and unable to function,” it said in a statement.
South Sudan has descended into renewed conflict in recent months as a power-sharing agreement between rival generals, President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, has collapsed.
“The extensive losses from the looting have left us without the necessary resources to continue operations. We have no other option but to make the difficult decision to close the hospital,” MSF head of mission for South Sudan, Zakaria Mwatia, said.
MSF said it has also withdrawn support from 13 primary health facilities in the county, adding that the move leaves the area “without any secondary health care facility,” with the nearest one more than 200 km away.
In May, another MSF hospital in Old Fangak in northern South Sudan was bombed, destroying its pharmacy and all its medical supplies.
The incident came after the army threatened to attack the region in response to a number of boats and barges being “hijacked” which it blamed on Machar’s allies.
South Sudan has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.