BEIRUT: The President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Charles Arbid launched a campaign entitled “Give Lebanon a Break” on Tuesday to stop political clashes during the month of December.
In a press conference attended by Nayla Tueni, CEO of An-Nahar media group, and prominent figures from the worlds of economics, commerce and tourism, Arbid said: “The Lebanese today are facing a dead end. The political parties are not negotiating with each other, which is an expression of how bad the situation is.”
He said that politics was not the art of incitement, accusations of treason, or mobilizing one street against another. “Politics is meant to serve the people.”
“ECOSOC is the natural place to express the mood of the people,” he said.
“Lebanon has really become the republic of perpetual crises and political clashes due to ill practices, and our ambition is to transform it into the republic of solutions.”
The press conference was prompted by the governmental paralysis that has prevailed since last October.
“How can we invite expatriates to come and spend the holiday season in this country with their families while political clashes continue?” he asked. “How can we negotiate with the International Monetary Fund while political clashes continue? How can we confront the new strain of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and cooperate to reduce the price of medicines and hospitalization bills while the political clashes continue? How can we reboot the economy, increase wages, combat poverty, curb unemployment and emigration, while the political clashes continue?”
Arbid called for a pause to political clashes during December, so that the Lebanese have chance to catch their breath and political parties can calm down and start searching for solutions away from confrontations.
Arbid addressed the politicians, saying: “Give us just one month.”
Tueni said: “We cannot ask anyone about their situation because we already know the answer which is not positive. We fear sending our children to school or going to work. We live in uncertainty.”
“This is not the image of Lebanon that we like, the image of loving life and smiling. Let us stick together as Lebanese, so that this month can pass without clashes in the streets, burning tires, nor confessional or sectarian tension. Give Lebanon the break it needs to continue.”
Tueni said: “We, the media, will shed light on all positive news, and we might cover a clash or a speech but in a new way. We will shed the light on any violator.”
Pierre Ashkar, the head of the Federation of Tourist Syndicates and the head of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon, said that the tourism sector is facing a great depression. “Everybody is working against tourism in Lebanon, which is confirmed by the declarations by politicians and the hostility they showed to the Arabs.”
He said: “The sector has been left prey to wolves after a relatively good period during the summer when internal tourism was active. Yet the current situation exhibited a huge decline and 2,000 rooms have been vacant in Beirut hotels since the explosion of Aug. 4.”
“Until now no tourism enterprise declared its program for the holiday season, for there is nothing encouraging as the dollar exchange rate is still increasing, there is no electricity, water, nor diesel, and the costs have become huge for the owners of enterprises, with no political nor economic solution in horizon. So, there are no indications that we will be celebrating this year.”
Ashkar said: “There are 650,000 people who used to travel to Turkey every year but who substituted this with internal tourism due to the high travel costs and health risks.”
While there are no indicators of a possible political silence during holiday season, activists on social media have launched a campaign “#Khallouh Indcom” (Keep him with you), calling on Qatar to keep President Michel Aoun, who was visiting Doha, and not let him back to Lebanon.
Some of them called for “stopping all flights between Lebanon and Qatar,” while an activist tweeted that he is ready to pay for the President’s expenses, and another tweeted “Thank You Qatar.”
Give Lebanon a break, politicians told
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Give Lebanon a break, politicians told
- Charles Arbid: “The Lebanese today are facing a dead end”
Wars in Gaza and Sudan ‘drive hunger crisis affecting 280 million worldwide’
- New report on global food insecurity says outlook for 2024 is ‘bleak’
JEDDAH: More than 280 million people worldwide suffered from acute hunger last year in a food security crisis driven by conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, UN agencies and development groups said on Wednesday.
Economic shocks also added to the number of victims, which grew by 24 million compared with 2022, according to a report by the Food Security Information Network.
The report, which called the global outlook for this year “bleak,” is produced for an international alliance of UN agencies, the EU and governmental and non-governmental bodies.
Food insecurity is defined as when populations face food deprivation that threatens lives or livelihoods, regardless of the causes or length of time. More geographical areas experienced “new or intensified shocks” and there was a “marked deterioration in key food crisis contexts such as Sudan and the Gaza Strip,” said Fleur Wouterse, a senior official at the UN’s Food and Agricultue Organization.
Since the first report by the Global Food Crisis Network covering 2016, the number of food-insecure people has risen from 108 million to 282 million, Wouterse said. The share of the population affected within the areas concerned had doubled from 11 percent to 22 percent, she said.
Protracted major food crises are ongoing in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen. “In a world of plenty, children are starving to death,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
“War, climate chaos and a cost-of-living crisis, combined with inadequate action, mean that almost 300 million people faced acute food crisis in 2023. Funding is not keeping pace with need.”
According to the report, situations of conflict or insecurity have become the main cause of acute hunger. For 2024, progress would depend on the end of hostilities, said Wouterse, who said aid could rapidly alleviate the crisis in Gaza or Sudan, for example, once humanitarian access to the areas was possible.
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted American and Israeli ships
- The Iran-aligned group said it targeted the US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean
- “The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent Israeli navigation,” Sarea said
CAIRO/DUBAI: Houthi militants in Yemen have attacked what they said were two American ships and an Israeli vessel, the group’s military spokesman said on Wednesday, the first such attack in more than two weeks.
The Iran-aligned group said it targeted the US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, the spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said in a televised speech.
Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea region since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent Israeli navigation or any navigation heading to the ports of occupied Palestine in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean,” Sarea said on Wednesday.
Separately, British maritime security firm Ambrey said earlier on Wednesday that it was aware of an incident southwest of the port city of Aden, an area where the Houthis often target ships they say are linked to Israel or the United States.
The vessel reported an “explosion in the water” approximately 72 nautical miles east-southeast of Djibouti, an updated advisory from Ambrey said.
Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping through the Suez Canal, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. The United States and Britain have launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Iraq hangs 11 convicted of ‘terrorism’: security, health sources
- Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president
- A security source in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province told AFP that 11 “terrorists from the Daesh group” were executed by hanging at a prison in Nasiriyah
NASIRIYAH, Iraq: Iraqi authorities have executed at least 11 people convicted of “terrorism” this week, security and health sources said Wednesday, with rights group Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency.”
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A security source in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province told AFP that 11 “terrorists from the Daesh group” were executed by hanging at a prison in the city of Nasiriyah, “under the supervision of a justice ministry team.”
A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of 11 executed people.
They were hanged on Monday “under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law,” the source added, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
All 11 were from Salahaddin province and the bodies of seven had been returned to their families, the medical official said.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in “a terrorist group,” an offense that carries capital punishment regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
Iraq has been criticized for trials denounced by rights groups as hasty, with confessions sometimes obtained under torture.
Amnesty in a statement on Wednesday condemned the latest hangings for “overly broad and vague terrorism charges.”
It said a total of 13 men were executed on Monday, including 11 who had been “convicted on the basis of their affiliation to the so-called Daesh armed group.”
The two others, arrested in 2008, “were convicted of terrorism-related offenses under the Penal Code after a grossly unfair trial,” Amnesty said citing their lawyer.
Biden says Israel must allow aid to Palestinians ‘without delay’
- “We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it,” Biden said
- “Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay“
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that new humanitarian aid be allowed to immediately reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as key US ally Israel fights Hamas there.
“We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it... including food, medical supplies, clean water,” Biden said after signing a massive military aid bill for Israel and Ukraine, which also included $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay,” he said.
US-Israel relations have been strained by Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering, many in makeshift encampments.
“This bill significantly — significantly — increases humanitarian assistance we’re sending to the innocent people of Gaza who are suffering badly,” Biden said.
“They’re suffering the consequences of this war that Hamas started, and we’ve been working intently for months to get as much aid to Gaza as possible.”
Israel hits Lebanese border towns with 14 missiles
- Hezbollah targets Israeli settlements in retaliation for Hanin civilian deaths
- Hezbollah said it attacked the Shomera settlement with dozens of Katyusha rockets
BEIRUT: Clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces escalated sharply on Wednesday, the 200th day of conflict in southern Lebanon’s border area.
Israeli airstrikes created a ring of fire around Lebanese border towns, with at least 14 missiles hitting the area.
In the past two days, military activity in the border region has increased, with Hezbollah targeting areas in northern Acre for the first time in the conflict.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes hit the outskirts of Aita Al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat, and Khallet Warda.
The Israeli military said it had destroyed a missile launching pad in Tair Harfa, and targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in Marqaba and Aita Al-Shaab.
Israeli artillery also struck areas of Kafar Shuba and Shehin “to eliminate a potential threat.”
Hezbollah also stepped up its operations, saying this was in retaliation for the “horrific massacre committed by the Israeli enemy in the town of Hanin, causing casualties and injuries among innocent civilians.”
A woman in her 50s and a 12-year-old girl, both members of the same family, were killed in the Israeli airstrike. Six other people were injured.
Hezbollah said it attacked the Shomera settlement with dozens of Katyusha rockets.
The group said it also targeted Israeli troops in Horsh Natawa, and struck the Al-Raheb site with artillery.
It also claimed to have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers in an attack on the Avivim settlement.
Israeli news outlets said that a rocket-propelled grenade hit a house in the settlement, setting the dwelling ablaze.
Hezbollah’s military media said that in the past 200 days of fighting with Israel, 1,998 operations had been carried out from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, including 1,637 staged by Hezbollah.
