Lebanon

Lebanon’s Cabinet Divided Over Controversial Financial Gap Law

This is Beirut 2025-12-22 20:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon Nawaf Salam International Monetary Fund Banks Central Bank of Lebanon Gap Law

The controversial financial Gap Law presented as key to resolving Lebanon’s enduring banking crisis that deprived depositors of their savings, topped discussions at Monday’s cabinet meeting, exposing differences among ministers. The session, attended by Central Bank Governor Karim Souaid, was adjourned and will resume Tuesday to ...

Israeli Strike in Saida District Kills Three

This is Beirut 2025-12-22 14:40 - Reading : less than a minute

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Saida South Lebanon

Israel said Monday it launched a drone strike in Quneitra’s Saida district, targeting a car carrying what Israel said were Hezbollah operatives, killing three people. One of the deceased is reportedly a Lebanese Army soldier. Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, “A short while ago, the Israel Defense ...

Hezbollah Allegedly Strengthens Hold on Beirut Port Amid Disarmament Doubts

Michael al-Andary 2025-12-22 13:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Beirut Port Hezbollah Nawaf Salam Beirut International Airport Lebanese Army Israel United States

Despite the Lebanese cabinet’s move to impose a firm deadline for the disarmament of militias, developments on the ground point to a “lack of seriousness” in enforcing the decision against Hezbollah, a security source told This is Beirut on condition of anonymity, questioning whether the government’s commitment is backed by concrete ...

US Senator Accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of Rearming

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lindsey Graham Hamas Hezbollah Lebanon Israel United States

US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas and Hezbollah of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday and charged that the Palestinian Islamist group was also consolidating power in Gaza. After two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, a fragile ceasefire has held since October, despite both sides trading accusations ...

The IMF Sets an Example Through Lebanese Depositors: Unpacking One the Most Dangerous Laws in the Country’s History

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 15:40 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Banque du Liban International Monetary Fund economy banking system banks

What the government presented as the ‘Financial Gap Law’ is not merely a piece of financial legislation; it is a text that lays the foundations for the post-adoption economic order. It does not conceal its objective but states it calmly: ending a crisis that has lasted for years instead of resolving it, writing off deposits instead of ...

FocusGap Law: The Programmed Destruction of the Banking Sector

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 15:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Economy Banks BDL Gap Law

Presented as a restructuring measure, the Gap Law organizes a methodical liquidation of the Lebanese banking sector. Behind complex technical mechanisms—loss hierarchy, balance-sheet cleanup, recapitalization—lies a clear political choice: to sacrifice banks to settle a public crisis that the state refuses to assume. This text does not reform ...

SpotlightGap Law: A Legalized Expropriation of Deposits

This is Beirut 2025-12-21 12:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Banks BDL Lebanon Economy Gap Law

Wrapped in the technical language of financial restructuring, the Gap Law is presented as a necessary step to correct the imbalance of Lebanon’s banking system. Behind this rhetoric lies a far more serious reality: the legalization of a massive expropriation of bank deposits, in blatant disregard of property rights, legal certainty, and the very ...

ReportChristmas in South Lebanon: Villages Orphaned of Their Youth

Katia Kahil 2025-12-21 11:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon South Lebanon USA Displacement

In the villages of South Lebanon, Christmas flickers like a fragile flame. Despite the ever-present fear and palpable tension, church bells toll and evening gatherings are held. In Alma al-Shaab, Yaroun, Deir Mimas, Khiam, and Marjayoun, garlands and nativity scenes timidly pierce the deserted streets. Once alive with laughter and reunion, these ...

FocusThe Law of Financial “Massacre”: When Nawaf Salam and “Kulluna Irada” Strip Depositors of Their Savings

Eleonore Stephan for Huna Lubnan 2025-12-21 09:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon IMF Banks BDL Economy

At one of the darkest moments in Lebanon’s national life, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is promoting a so-called “financial gap law” as a technical solution, while in reality it legalizes suffering and formalizes the confiscation of Lebanese citizens’ savings. The so-called “Kulluna Irada” law does not merely steal money; it also ...

SpotlightGap Law: How the Lebanese State Erases Its Responsibility

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 18:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Banks Lebanon Economy Gap Law IMF

Every financial crisis raises a central question: who should bear the losses? In a liberal economy grounded in responsibility, the answer is clear: those who decided, spent, borrowed, and ultimately failed. The Gap Law, however, offers a radically opposite answer. It methodically organizes the erasure of the Lebanese state’s responsibility and ...

SpotlightGap Law: Nawaf Salam and the IMF, Architects of a Legalized Spoliation

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 16:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Gap Law Economy Banks

By claiming on Monday a commitment to “deliver justice to depositors,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam did more than distort reality: with the active backing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he sealed one of the greatest financial and moral abdications in Lebanon’s history. The Gap Law, presented as a lifesaving legal framework, is in ...

Financial Gap Law: Farewell to a Lifetime’s Savings… Where Is Karim Souhaid?

This is Beirut 2025-12-20 15:55 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Banks Banque du Liban Gap Law

The draft Financial Gap Law, also known as the Financial Regularization Law, is set to be discussed at the Cabinet table on Monday. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has praised the project, presenting it as the first comprehensive legal framework to recover deposits and address the financial gap in a systematic and fair manner, within available means, ...