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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 ...
Iran: The Regime Falters as Fear Shifts
Natasha Metni Torbey 02/01 17:35 - Reading : 7 minute(s)
Iran economic crisis protests Mullahs Donald Trump Islamic Republic
In Iran, today’s protests are no longer a part of a long series of crises that the Islamic Republic has, over decades, contained through repression, intimidation, or external distraction. This is different: a deep, gradual, but now unmistakably visible erosion of the regime’s symbolic, ideological, and psychological foundations. This ...
After the Vote: Exposing the Gap Law’s Broken Promises
Claudia Groeling 2025-12-29 19:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam International Monetary Fund Lebanon Banque du Liban Gap Law Banks
Lebanon’s cabinet on December 19 approved one of the most controversial pieces of legislation since the country’s financial collapse in 2019, adopting the so-called “Gap Law” in a narrow vote that has reignited public anger and raised serious concerns among economists, legal experts, and international observers. Backed by 13 ministers ...
Do Syria’s Former Regime Networks Really Command 168,000 Fighters?
This Is Beirut 03/01 00:05 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Syria Lebanon AssadRegime AhmadAl-Sharaa
As Syria tries to stabilize after years of devastating war, a new and unsettling narrative has emerged: claims that remnants of Bashar al-Assad’s former regime command an armed force of up to 168,000 fighters, allegedly preparing for renewed confrontation. The figure, revealed through leaked documents and intercepted communications obtained ...
Storms in Lebanon: Why We Name Them, Why We Fear Them, Why We Wait for Them
Makram Haddad 2025-12-12 09:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)
Marc Wehaïbé Storm Lebanon Winter
Adam, Farah, Norma, Zeina, Yohan, Oscar… In Lebanon, winter storms have taken on the appearance of characters. They pop up on weather maps, scroll across TV tickers and flood Instagram stories, as if winter too had its own cast. Yet behind the folklore of first names and the debates about “one storm too many” lies a much more serious ...
LAU Medical Center – Rizk Hospital: A Century of Medicine at the Heart of Beirut
Makram Haddad 2025-12-09 15:10 - Reading : 7 minute(s)
LAU Lebanon Achrafieh Hospital Rizk Hospital
A hundred years ago, a young surgeon just back from Paris put up a sign near the Nasra tram stop in Sodeco: “Dr. Toufic Rizk Clinic.” Twelve beds, three nurses, one passion: practicing modern surgery in a Lebanon still finding its way. At the time, no one could have imagined that this small beginning would grow into a full hospital in 1957 ...
De-Radicalizing Hezbollah's Base: A Realist Framework
Salam El Zaatari 2025-12-29 13:15 - Reading : 8 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Lebanese Army Washington
Any serious discussion about de-radicalizing Hezbollah supporters must begin by discarding comforting illusions about the organization. It is not a fringe extremist group operating on the margins of Lebanese society but a heavily armed political-military organization embedded in parliament, municipalities, unions, border economies, and a regional ...
UNRWA in the Crosshairs: U.S. Weighs Unprecedented Sanctions
Amal Chmouny 2025-12-22 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
United Nations Lebanon Donald Trump Hamas UNRWA
In the shadow of the Gaza conflict, a quiet but consequential debate is unfolding in Washington over whether the U.S. should designate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a terrorist-affiliated entity and impose sweeping sanctions. A move once viewed as unthinkable is now the subject of urgent policy deliberations, with senior ...
Teetering on the Edge: Escalation Along the Lebanon–Israel Border
Amal Chmouny 2025-12-08 14:00 - Reading : 9 minute(s)
Lebanon Israel United States Hezbollah
The Israeli-Lebanese border is now one of the Middle East’s most volatile fronts, where a “low-intensity” conflict feels less like crisis management and more like a dress rehearsal for an imminent war. U.S. and Israeli officials are no longer debating whether fighting will erupt again, but how quickly and extensively it could escalate, ...
Could the IMF’s debt plan for Lebanon unintentionally bolster Hezbollah?
Ian Talley 2025-12-09 17:50 - Reading : 10 minute(s)
Lebanon International Monetary Fund Hezbollah Amal Banque du Liban
The International Monetary Fund risks unintentionally reviving a war-weakened Hezbollah by insisting Lebanon push heavier losses onto the banking sector than critics say is necessary — a move they argue would entrench the cash economy that Iran’s terror-designated proxy thrives on. At issue is how the IMF wants Lebanon’s ...
Ahead of 2026, Washington's Tougher Terms for Lebanon
Amal Chmouny 2025-12-31 17:10 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Lebanon Washington Donald Trump Lebanese Army Amal
Heading into 2026, U.S. engagement in Lebanon has become explicitly conditioned on measurable progress toward Hezbollah’s disarmament, marking a clear break from the strategic ambiguity that long defined Washington’s approach. The aftermath of the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict, alongside Lebanon’s deepening economic and political crises, ...
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, ...
Holy See Delivers Speech at the Presidential Palace
This is Beirut 2025-11-30 18:25 - Reading : 10 minute(s)
“Mr. President, Distinguished Civil and Religious Authorities, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen, Blessed are the peacemakers! It is a great joy for me to meet with you and to visit this land where “peace” is much more than just a word, for here peace is a desire and a vocation; it is a gift and a work in ...
Fresh Clashes Kill Six in Iran Cost-of-Living Protests
This is Beirut 02/01 09:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Europe Tehran United States USA
Protesters and security forces clashed in several Iranian cities on Thursday, with six reported killed, the first deaths since the cost-of-living demonstrations broke out. The protests began on Sunday in Tehran, where shopkeepers went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, and have since spread to other parts of the country. On ...
Pope Leo’s Speech During Youth Meeting in Bkerke
This is Beirut 2025-12-01 19:10 - Reading : 9 minute(s)
Dear young people of Lebanon, “assalamu lakum!” (peace be with you!) This greeting of the Risen Jesus (cf. Jn 20:19) sustains the joy of our meeting. The enthusiasm we feel in our hearts expresses God’s loving closeness, which brings us together as brothers and sisters to share our faith in him and our communion with one ...
Christmas 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 ...
Yemen's Separatists Say Fighting 'Existential' War Against Saudi-Backed Forces
This is Beirut 02/01 16:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Saudi Arabia Yemen Houthis United Arab Emirates
Yemen's UAE-backed separatists said they were fighting a critical war against Islamists and Al-Qaeda extremists supported by Saudi Arabia, their military spokesman said on Friday. "This war is decisive and existential," Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Al-Naqib said in a statement, after the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes and ...
How Syria Can Begin Integrating the SDF
Seth J. Frantzman 2025-12-24 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Turkey Syria SDF Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa
Clashes erupted December 22 in Aleppo between Syrian government troops and the local Kurdish security forces (Asayish), killing at least three people and underscoring the challenges facing efforts to unify armed factions under the Syrian transitional government. Even as Damascus seeks to consolidate nationwide security and integrate armed ...
Why was Sharaa Invited to Washington, but not Aoun?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 2025-12-23 10:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Washington Lebanon Lebanese Army Syria Joseph Aoun Ahmad al-Sharaa
Until late 2024, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was a U.S.-designated terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head for leading the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. By contrast, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) until his election in January 2025, was widely regarded as one of ...
Syria and Lebanon: Who Is Moving Forward in 2026?
Salam El Zaatari 04/01 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Nawaf Salam European Union Gulf Hezbollah Syria
Entering 2026, Syria and Lebanon stand at an inflection point along the region’s active fault line. While both nations shook off paralysis at roughly the same time a year ago, neither has become truly stable. What separates them is the nature of the risks they face in the near and medium-term as the Middle East undergoes uneasy post-war ...
Lebanon Must Pick the Abraham Accords over the Muslim Brotherhood
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 2025-12-15 14:25 - Reading : 8 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Abraham Accords Israel Iran Turkey
Lebanon must pick a side in the regional map of alliances. One seeks peace, prosperity and higher standards of living for all and consists of the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Bahrain, and Morocco, enshrined by the Abraham Accords. The rival alliance—Qatar, its ATM, and Turkey, its NATO muscle, as well as Syria, Algeria, and Tunisia—dismisses ...
The Path Is Made by Walking: How Each Step Creates the Way
David Sahyoun 2025-12-10 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Psychoanalysis Path Desire Culture Way Culture
Within this framework, the statement can be read as an ethic of movement, desire, and fruitful incompleteness. It suggests that truth is not a fixed object, but a direction; not a trophy, but a process. Likewise, failing is not a mistake, but the condition of one who is on the journey. As Franck Pavloff, French writer and psychologist, puts it in ...
Saudi Arabia Condemns "Dangerous" UAE Moves in Yemen, Bombs Arms Shipment
This is Beirut 2025-12-30 14:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Yemen SaudiArabia UAE GulfCrisis
Saudi Arabia declared a UAE-backed separatist advance in Yemen a threat to the kingdom's national security on Tuesday and called Abu Dhabi's actions "highly dangerous," as the rivalry between the Gulf monarchies boiled over into an open dispute. The strongly worded foreign ministry statement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition fighting in ...
Deadly Clashes in Aleppo as Turkey Urges Kurds Not to Be Obstacle to Syria's Stability
This is Beirut 2025-12-22 22:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Syrian Democratic Forces Aleppo
The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces on Monday ordered their fighters to cease fire following deadly clashes that came as Turkey's top diplomat urged the Kurds to integrate into the Syrian army. At least three people were killed in the clashes, which came ahead of a deadline for implementing a March 10 agreement between Damascus and ...
The Damask Rose, Defiant Memory of a Wounded Syria
Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-12-09 18:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Damascus Syria Damask Rose Flower
South of Damascus, each spring returns with a scent that war could not wipe away. In the fields of Al Marah, the same quiet wonder unfolds again. The Damask rose blooms with stubborn grace. As every year, the steady ritual of renewal stirs a sense of hope, and Roula Ali Adeeb walks the rose-a tad tweaked but close lined paths, gathering each ...
The 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)
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 ...
Gap 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 ...
Financial Gap Threatens Depositors Amid Government Inaction
Nadia al-Hallak for Houna Loubnan 2025-12-13 20:12 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Banks Central Bank of Lebanon Banque du Liban Middle East
Amid ongoing government debates over the draft law addressing the financial shortfall and the fate of deposits, concern is growing within economic and banking circles over the plan’s potential direction. Each new draft leak highlights a deep disagreement—over how losses should be allocated and the extent of the burden the state must shoulder ...
No More Free Passes: U.S. Ties Security Aid to Lebanese Action
Amal Chmouny 2025-12-11 10:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Lebanese Army Lebanon US congress NDAA Hezbollah Disarmament
The U.S. Congress has sent a clear, stern message to Beirut that Washington’s support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is no longer a blank check. The latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), up for a vote in the House of Representatives, imposes new conditions and restrictions on U.S. aid to the Lebanese army, ...
Gap 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 ...