State losing stature, crime rising as economic gloom envelops Lebanon

Unrest and theft of state property is on the rise in Lebanon, despite the security forces’ efforts to arrest criminals. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 04 March 2022
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State losing stature, crime rising as economic gloom envelops Lebanon

  • Sign of disrespect for government is citizens failing to stand for national anthem, claims culture minister
  • Crisis intensifies as manhole covers, electricity wiring and even iron handrails stolen for scrap

BEIRUT: For Lebanese Culture Minister Mohammed Al-Murtada it was a sign that sums up the attitude of the country’s people toward the state, amid the nation experiencing one of the world’s worst economic crises and crime on the rise: Citizens failing to stand in respect for the national anthem.

Al-Murtada had attended a cultural celebration held in the city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, and was astonished when the anthem was not played. Furious, he asked for the anthem to be played, but the attendees refused to stand.

Al-Murtada, a former judge, said in a statement: “I repeated the request to play the national anthem so that the audience would hear me and stand up in respect.

“Anyone who fails to play the national anthem and deliberately ignores it, would be contributing, knowingly or unknowingly, to neglecting a binding national duty, and this is something we will not tolerate.”

However, nothing binds Lebanese citizens to their state anymore, and forgetting to play the national anthem is proof; the state is losing its stature.

Theft of state property is on the rise, despite the security forces’ efforts to arrest criminals. Manhole covers are constantly being stolen and sold for scrap, between $10 and $20 each, depending on their weight.

Thieves take advantage of the electricity rationing after midnight to dismantle electrical installations, which they later melt for copper that they can sell for scrap.

The thievery had been anticipated because of the economic crisis that has resulted in unprecedented rates of poverty and unemployment on one hand, and inflation on the other. However, the strangest items are being stolen, which reflects the dire reality experienced by Lebanon’s citizens and residents.

The latest, most blatant theft, was of an iron railing from a bridge in Beirut.

A civil society organization, YASA, that works to secure and develop public safety to avoid traffic accidents, recently published a picture on social media of the Barbir intersection bridge, the busiest intersection in Beirut, without any handrails, captioning it: “We leave this to the competent judiciary and the internal security forces.”

On Thursday, the Lebanese Army said: “Unknown individuals have stolen the metal poles and the barbed wires surrounding minefields in the southern border area to sell them. Consequently, the minefields are no longer marked out.”

The army command warned against “committing such acts, given the direct danger they may pose to citizens,” stressing that it would “track the perpetrators down and arrest them.”

The Lebanese are living amid a devastating economic crisis that has pushed two-thirds of the population into poverty since 2019. The World Bank described the situation in Lebanon, which hosts more than a million Palestinian and Syrian refugees, as “one of the worst crises the world has witnessed in modern times.”

The lack of kinship between the state and citizens is evident by the levels of absenteeism in the public sector, with workers staying home for several days a week.

Many are now unable to buy fuel to go to work after the government gradually raised subsidies, which caused the price of gasoline to double within a few months, not to mention the price hike following the rise in global fuel prices because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Public Administration Employees Association protested “the government's failure to meet employees’ demands with effective solutions, and its decision to only offer social aid without increasing salaries.”

The association decided to reject this aid and carry on with its strike, calling on employees to only attend work one day a week.

The head of the General Labor Union, Dr. Bechara Al-Asmar, described the social aid as “peanuts.” He criticized the government and Prime Minister Najib Mikati “who had previously agreed to the system of rotation at work,” and blamed the government for not controlling market prices.

Al-Asmar added: “Public and private sector employees are the most vulnerable here.” He said a general strike at all institutions could happen soon.

Dr. Bashir Ismat, a professor of development studies and former advisor to the minister of social affairs, said: “The policies adopted in Lebanon, and the inability to find an alternative and root out corruption, have led to major existential crises, the result of which (could see) state institutions completely collapse.”

He said crime was on the rise causing considerable insecurity. “Everything is worsening; depression, despair, suicide, school dropouts, begging, disguised begging, child labor, unemployment, low demand for marriage, divorce, prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse … The production and services sectors are falling apart, the real estate sector is suffering, shops are closing, industrial and craft institutions are shutting down.”

Ismat noted: “The ruling authority and its supporters are desperately trying to save the system, and they are working together to stay in power, be it through the cash cards, social aid, or sweet promises. But the ruling authority is sinking and with it, the Lebanese.”


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 7 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in therecorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.
 


Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

Updated 20 min 12 sec ago
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Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran late Thursday not to respond to Israeli strikes by hitting American bases, saying Washington was not involved.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”
Israel announced strikes on Iran, where loud explosions were heard, hours after US President Donald Trump publicly said they should not do so.
Trump had said that Israel would ruin chances for a peacefully negotiated solution, which he said was close.
A sixth round of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program had been scheduled between the United States and Iran on Sunday in Oman.
“Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense,” Rubio said, without offering support or criticism of the strikes by the close US ally.
“President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” he said.
 


Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

Updated 24 sec ago
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Israel attacks Iran’s capital with explosions booming across Tehran

JERUSALEM: Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel said it targeted nuclear and military sites.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.
Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.
Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel.
People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blast. State television acknowledged the blast.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighborhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area — but it wasn’t immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.
An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.
The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly 5 percent on the news.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.
“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.
The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”
“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said
Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.
As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.
Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.
“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.


US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

Updated 13 June 2025
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US says airstrike killed Daesh official in Syria

WASHINGTON: The US military announced Thursday that a recent airstrike had killed an Daesh group official in northwest Syria.
In a post to social media, US Central Command  said its forces “conducted a precision airstrike in northwest Syria killing Rakhim Boev, a Syria-based Daesh official,” using another name for Daesh.
The post on X said Boev was “involved in planning external operations threatening US citizens, our partners, and civilians.”
The accompanying image depicts an SUV vehicle with a bashed-in windshield and roof.
AFP previously reported that 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.
A call to CENTCOM seeking confirmation that the incidents are related was not immediately returned.
The twin drone strikes in the Idlib region mirror the US-led coalition’s past strikes on jihadists in the area.
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.


Returning Syrian refugees cut global displaced total

Updated 12 June 2025
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Returning Syrian refugees cut global displaced total

  • UN believes 1.5m from abroad and 2m internally displaced will be home by the end of 2025

GENEVA: Refugees returning to Syria have cut the global total of displaced people from a record peak at the end of 2024, the UN said on Thursday.

More than 500,000 have returned from abroad and 1.2 million internally displaced people have gone back to their home areas since Bashar Assad was deposed in December. The UN refugee agency estimates 1.5 million from abroad and 2 million internally displaced will return by the end of 2025.
Worldwide, a record 123.2 million were forcibly displaced by last December, but the total had fallen to 122.1 million by the end of April. The main drivers of displacement were conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine.

“We are living in a time of intense volatility ... with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said. “We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.”