Woman armed with toy gun forces Beirut bank to hand over $13,000 in withheld savings

A woman is comforted at a Blom Bank branch after a group of depositors took hostages in Beirut, Lebanon on Sept. 14, 2022. (Reuters)
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Updated 15 September 2022
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Woman armed with toy gun forces Beirut bank to hand over $13,000 in withheld savings

  • Sali Hafiz, who poured gasoline over herself, said she needed the money to pay medical bills for ailing sister
  • Hafiz, wearing black clothes and face uncovered, entered BLOM bank in Beiru accompanied by activists and lawyer

BEIRUT: A woman entered a bank in Lebanon on Wednesday brandishing a gun, poured gasoline over herself and demanded that she be allowed to withdraw her savings. She left with $13,000. It later appeared that the gun was a toy.

It followed a similar incident earlier in the day in Aley. Access to funds held in Lebanese banks has been heavily restricted for some time as the country is in the midst of a long-running financial crisis.

Both incidents were greeted with widespread sympathy and support from the public, especially from other frustrated depositors.

Sali Hafiz, wearing black clothes and with her face uncovered, entered the Sodeco branch of BLOM bank in Beirut, across from the headquarters of the security forces, accompanied by activists from the Depositors’ Outcry Association and a lawyer.

She pulled out what appeared to be a gun, stood on a table and doused herself in gasoline from a bottle. She threatened to set herself and the bank on fire if she did not receive her and her sister’s joint deposits of about $20,000. She said her sister has brain cancer and they need the money to pay medical bills.

It appeared that Hafiz’s 23-year-old sister, Nancy, was in a car parked outside the bank with her husband, who was driving. She seemed to have lost her hair and her body appeared feeble. She could not walk and had difficulty speaking.

When Hafiz poured the gasoline over herself in the bank it sparked panic among employees and customers, and screams could be heard. As people clamored to get out they broke down a glass wall and fled.

Video footage filmed by the activists accompanying Hafiz show them demanding she receive her savings and telling staff to open cash boxes. One of the boxes contained $6,300 but Hafiz refused to accept this amount and demanded all of the money in her account. Eventually she was given $13,000 and left the bank without being stopped by security.

A small team of internal security officers arrived later and arrested some of the activists close to the bank where they were protesting against the banks and the governor of the central bank, Riad Salameh.

Later, in a TV interview, Hafiz said she is not a thief and had not harmed anyone. She said she had been forced to take action because her sister was dying.

“She needs an expensive injection daily for her treatment,” she said. “I went to the bank two days earlier to present the issue and asked the bank manager to give me the deposit to cover the cost of the treatment but he offered me just $200 a month, which was not enough for one injection per day.

“At home, we sold all our valuables to cover the cost of my sister’s treatment and I almost sold one of my kidneys to get some money. The deposit in the bank was saved by me and my sister from our work and it is held by the bank.”

She said that the money she took from the bank had been filmed by CCTV cameras so “we would not be accused of theft.”

Hafiz added: “I reassured the bank employees that I did not want to harm anyone but, rather, I wanted to save a human being. The weapon in my possession was one of my nephew’s toys.”

Her family lives near the branch where the incident took place. Her mother told Arab News: “My daughter, Nancy, almost committed suicide because she gave up on life. Sali could not stand seeing her sister suffer. We did not take money that was not ours. They refused to give us our money, so Sali resorted to what she did.”

Nancy described her sister as a “hero.” Other Lebanese said Hafiz “is strong and we are with her.”

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a young man called Rami Sharaf Al-Din entered a branch of Bankmed in the city of Aley. He reportedly threatened employees but, according to officials, members of the security services intervened and arrested him.

The incidents come a month after depositor Bassam Al-Sheikh Hussein held staff at a bank in Beirut hostage to get his savings so that he could pay his father’s medical bills. In the light of such events, bank employees are said to be considering going on a strike.

BLOM Bank said that the incident at its branch on Wednesday was a “premeditated and planned operation with the intent to harm.”

George Al-Hajj, president of the Federation of Syndicates of Banks Employees in Lebanon, told Arab News: “So far these incidents are happening without any bloodshed. However, the question is how is this dilemma going to be resolved?

“Going on a strike is not a solution but a loss for the country. Depositors have the right to receive their deposits. Bank employees are also depositors. Three years have passed and this dilemma is yet to be solved.

“They discuss the capital control law but do not approve it. They propose a plan to restructure banks. However, they do nothing. With every passing day, the crisis is worsening, losses increasing.”

He added that the federation is keen to “preserve the presence of bank employees or else they will lose their jobs. The break-ins happening are affecting all depositors and their money. It is important that the bank sector remains the safety valve of the Lebanese economy.”

Hassan Moghnieh, head of the Association of Depositors in Lebanon, told Arab News: “We do not encourage bank break-ins but failing to address this intensifying crisis, and dealing with people’s money with recklessness, might push many depositors to take this step as restitution, rather than theft or assault.”


Lebanese PM to visit Syria, discuss disappearance of prisoners

Updated 13 April 2025
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Lebanese PM to visit Syria, discuss disappearance of prisoners

  • Nawaf Salam lays wreath at Martyrs’ Monument in Beirut to commemorate 50th anniversary of Lebanese Civil War

LONDON: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is scheduled to visit the Syrian Arab Republic on Monday to discuss common interests with the new leadership in Damascus.

It will be Salam’s first visit to Syria since he formed a government in February, and he is scheduled to discuss the issue of Lebanese citizens who disappeared in Syrian prisons during the Bashar Assad regime that collapsed in December. It has been reported that 622 Lebanese nationals remain forcibly disappeared in Syrian prisons.

“I hope to return with good news about those missing in Syria, and I will update the Lebanese people on this issue tomorrow,” Salam said, according to the National News Agency.

Salam laid a wreath at the Martyrs’ Monument in Beirut on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of April 13, the date when Lebanon’s Civil War began in 1975.

Salam wrote on X: “We pause not to reopen wounds, but to recall lessons that must never be forgotten. All victories were false, and all parties (from the war) emerged as losers.”

He added: “There can be no true state unless legitimate armed forces have the exclusive right to bear arms.”


Aid worker missing after deadly attack on colleagues is held by Israel, ICRC says

PRCS paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah is being held in an Israeli place of detention. (@PalestineRCS)
Updated 13 April 2025
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Aid worker missing after deadly attack on colleagues is held by Israel, ICRC says

  • PRCS demanded the immediate release of Nsasrah, who it said was “forcibly abducted” while carrying out humanitarian duties

CAIRO: A Palestinian Red Crescent staff member who went missing in late March when 15 humanitarian workers were killed by Israeli fire is being detained by Israeli authorities, the rescue service and the Red Cross said on Sunday.
Hisham Mhana, the spokesperson for the ICRC in Gaza, confirmed to Reuters that it had received information that the Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah was being held in an Israeli place of detention.
“As per standard practice, we informed the families immediately. In this case, we also informed the Palestine Red Crescent Society as they have special standing as a partner of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,” he said.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment.
Mhana said the ICRC has not been granted access to Nsasrah, who until Sunday had been declared missing, and also has not been able to visit any of the Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli jails since October 7, 2023.
In a post on X, The PRCS demanded the immediate release of Nsasrah, who it said was “forcibly abducted” while carrying out humanitarian duties.
It added that Nsasrah and his colleagues came under heavy gunfire, which led to the killing of eight of them in a “grave violation” of international humanitarian law.
The bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency Service and the UN were found buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza in March.
The UN and the Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of killing them after they were dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli military referred Reuters to its statement from Monday, in which it said that a thorough inquiry into the incident was still underway and that it would provide further details only once the investigation is complete.
It said that a preliminary inquiry indicated that “the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists.”
The Israeli military has provided no evidence of how it determined that the six were Hamas militants, and the Islamist faction has rejected the accusation.
The only known survivor of the incident, PRCS paramedic Munther Abed, said soldiers had opened fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.


Moroccans demonstrate in support of Palestinians

Updated 13 April 2025
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Moroccans demonstrate in support of Palestinians

  • Demonstrators marched through the streets of Rabat under pouring rain in response to a call from the National Action Group for Palestine

RABAT: Several thousand people demonstrated in Morocco’s capital on Sunday to show support for Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
Under pouring rain, demonstrators marched through the streets of Rabat in response to a call from the National Action Group for Palestine, a coalition of several political organizations, including the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD).
“The Moroccans are with Gaza,” said the principal of a private school in Rabat who spoke to AFP.
The North African kingdom has officially called for “the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza,” but has not publicly discussed reversing the official establishment of ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-led Abraham Accords.
The latest protest followed another large rally held a week earlier, part of a spate of demonstrations across the country since the Israeli army resumed its offensive on March 18 against the Islamist group Hamas after a two-month truce in Gaza.


Israel denies entry to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians marking Palm Sunday

Updated 13 April 2025
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Israel denies entry to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians marking Palm Sunday

  • Israeli restrictions at checkpoints around Jerusalem require Palestinians to obtain security permits to access religious sites
  • Only 6,000 permits were issued this year to the West Bank’s 50,000 Christians

LONDON: Israeli authorities prevented Palestinian Christian worshippers from entering Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank to participate in Palm Sunday.

Israeli authorities imposed strict restrictions on Jerusalem over the weekend, limiting the access of Palestinian Christians to the city, the Wafa news agency reported.

Only a limited number of worshippers, primarily residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel, were able to attend religious services at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Wafa added.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Easter. It commemorates the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem and is observed by Eastern and Western Christian churches.

On Sunday, Patriarch Theophilos III of the Greek Orthodox Church and Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa led liturgies attended by the clergy and a small group of worshipers.

Israeli restrictions at checkpoints around Jerusalem require Palestinians — Muslim and Christian — to obtain permits to access religious sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, noted that only 6,000 permits were issued this year to the West Bank’s 50,000 Christians. Permit issuance requires a security clearance and often asks that applicants download a mobile application managed by Israeli authorities.

“This is the second consecutive year that only a small number of pilgrims are able to participate in Holy Week and Easter celebrations in Jerusalem due to the ongoing conflict (in Gaza),” Faltas told Wafa.

“Churches would continue to pray for peace, justice, and freedom for all people in the Holy Land,” he added.

The Catholic Palm Sunday procession took place on Sunday afternoon, starting from Jerusalem's Church of Bethphage and ending at the Church of Saint Anne.

Christians gathered for services at the Holy Family Catholic Church and Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Israeli attacks since late 2023. In the West Bank, Palm Sunday services were held in churches throughout Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin.


Syrian President Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - SANA

Updated 13 April 2025
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Syrian President Sharaa heads to UAE on official visit - SANA

CAIRO: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will travel to the United Arab Emirates for his second visit to a Gulf state as president on Sunday, Syria's official news agency reported.
He will be accompanied by foreign minister Assad al-Shibani, who visited the UAE earlier this year.
They are expected to discuss issues of mutual interest, the SANA state news agency reported.
Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia in February on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
His visit to the UAE comes as the new Syrian leadership attempts to strengthen ties with Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

 

(With Reuters)