Lebanon: Rai Blames Government Deadlock on ‘Interests’ of Political Parties

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by aawsat.com -- Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai slammed political parties over the obstacles facing the government formation process “for the sake of immediate or future calculations and interests.” His comments came as the country faces a government deadlock since the designation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form the new cabinet more than two months ago. Speaking on Friday during New Year’s mass sermon, the patriarch stressed that no political party or group had the right “to hinder the formation of the government for the sake of current or future interests, while Lebanon is moving fast towards complete collapse and bankruptcy.” The patriarch is set to resume his initiative to bring the view of President Michel Aoun and Hariri closer on the cabinet formation.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to resolve the government deadlock has faced internal obstacles. The international community linked its economic and financial support to the country with the formation of a cabinet that will begin implementing much needed reforms. “It is truly shameful that the New Year begins without a new government that is focused on its work. It is also disgraceful for those obstructing its formation to deal with the Lebanese problem as if it were one of the chess stones of the Middle East or the major countries,” Rai remarked. The patriarch stressed that any solution to Lebanon’s problems, whether it was the outcome of local efforts or of cooperation with the international community and the Arab world, should be in the interest of Lebanon and all the Lebanese.

Report: Lebanon Enters ‘Critical Stage’ as COVID-19 Cases Surge

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By AFP -- Lebanon awaits the decision of the ministerial committee concerned with following up on the coronavirus file, with the country ending 2020 and setting a record of more than 3,000 daily cases for the first time since the outbreak of the virus in February 21, media reports said Saturday. The Prime Minister’s Public Health Adviser, Petra Khoury, said the number of coronavirus cases will “surpass all expectations,” necessitating “quick and drastic” decisions in 2021 to control the spread and face the challenges. Khoury said Lebanon is on the verge of a difficult phase in January and February, pointing to a significant shortage of ICU hospital beds for coronavirus patients. She said the “problem is very complex and Lebanon needs a change in the behavior of citizens,” explaining “the cruelty of the stage during the onset of winter season where people gather in indoor spaces, in addition to the start of the flu season.”

Authorities are expected to impose a new total lockdown in Lebanon after registering a record high of coronavirus cases after the Christmas and New Year Eve festivities. Lebanon recorded 2,385 new cases on Friday and 11 deaths. Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab had earlier said that Lebanon tends to go for a lockdown after the holidays if the cases continue to rise. They have a total of 850 beds, including 300 in intensive care units, Haroun said. “Patients are now waiting in line … waiting for a bed to be free,” he told AFP news agency. “Over the past three weeks, the occupancy rate of intensive care units has increased by 10 percent,” pushing the occupancy of hospital beds in Beirut to over 90 percent of capacity. “We have been asked by several hospitals not to transfer patients to them,” Lebanese Red Cross president Georges Kettaneh told AFP.The total number of coronavirus cases in Lebanon reached 181,500, and 1400 deaths since the first cases was detected in February.

Memorial for Qassem Soleimani Erected in Lebanon Depicts The Moment His SUV Was Hit By A Drone Missile

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By DAVID CENCIOTTI -- theaviationist.com -- One year ago, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad. A somewhat weird memorial erected in Lebanon shows the moment a missile hit the SUV carrying the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force. On Jan. 3, 2020, at 12.47 AM LT, a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, along with members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s PMF militias. The attack occurred just outside Baghdad International Airport, in Iraq, where Soleimani had just arrived (from Lebanon or Syria) to bring Iran’s response to a letter that Iraq had sent out on behalf of Saudi Arabia in order to ease tensions between the two countries in the region, according to Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi. The air strike on the convoy made by a Toyota Avalon and Hyundai Starex caused 10 casualties

The details of the drone strike that assassinated Soleimani have never been disclosed and, one year later, there are still different narratives of the whole operation. According to one version, a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, took off from Kuwait and carried out the raid. This version has never been confirmed; quite the contrary actually, as the Kuwaiti Armed Forces denied it. According to another version, as many as three MQ-9 drones took off from al-Asad airbase, the second largest airbase in Iraq, flew in the sky of Baghdad for 20 hours and then returned to al-Asad after the air strike. Serviced by two parallel paved runways and at least 33 hardened aircraft shelters along with secured weapons storage facilities, Al-Asad Airbase was captured from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces by the coalition Australian Special Air Service Regiment on April 16, 2003 by a special operations raid during the second Persian Gulf War in Iraq. The airbase, along with Irbil, was targeted by more than a dozen ballistic missiles launched by Iran as part of of “Operation Martyr Soleimani”, a retaliatory strike for the assassination of the Iranian General.

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Rouhani Declares Trump Will Be Dead 'in a Few Days' as Iran-US Relations Keep Crumbling

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by By Brian Trusdell - newsmax.com -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared that President Donald Trump will be dead ''in a few days'' during a speech to his Islamic nation’s cabinet as the first anniversary of the killing of a general in the country’s military approached. Rouhani’s Wednesday speech, excerpts of which were posted in English on the Iranian presidential website, called Qasem Soleimani a ''martyr'' and ''moderate leader with tact.'' Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force — described by military specialists as an unconventional war and clandestine operations unit — was killed in a targeted drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020, that was approved by Trump. The U.S. Department of Defense blamed Soleimani for hundreds of deaths and injuries to Americans; he was purportedly killed while in neighboring Iraq while ''actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.''

Besides Trump, Rouhani referred to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as the ''main perpetrators of this crime.'' "One of the effects of this stupid and disgraceful act was that Trumpism ended and in a few days, the life of this criminal will end and he will go to the dustbin of history, and we are very happy about this and we believe that the period after Trump will be a better condition for regional and global stability," Rouhani said. The remarks come as tensions have intensified approaching the anniversary of Soleimani’s death; his successor has vowed vengeance, and the U.S. has flown B-52s over the region in an act of deterrence.

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New Year in Lebanon marred by 'horror night' of mayhem from celebratory gunfire

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by middleeasteye.net -- New Year celebrations in Lebanon were marred by what local media said was a "horror night", after celebratory gunfire left a Syrian woman dead and damaged an aeroplane. Lebanese authorities could do little to prevent the barrage of festive gunshots that rang out across the country on Thursday night, a popular way to mark occasions such as weddings, funerals and graduations. The Syrian refugee died "after being wounded in the head by a stray bullet" that landed in a refugee camp in the eastern town of Baalbek, according to the National News Agency.

Meanwhile, in an unconnected event, an aircraft belonging to Middle East Airlines was damaged by gunfire while parked on the tarmac at Beirut airport. It happened after people in southern Beirut had fired in the air in celebration. A Middle East Airlines spokesperson told AFP that the Airbus A321, only delivered last year, would need to be repaired. All other planes had been undamaged and were able to take off as scheduled, the source said. In the run-up to New Year’s Eve celebrations, Lebanese security forces had taken to social media to warn of the danger of firing shots in the air. Lebanon24 reported gunfire coming from rooftops and that in some areas rockets had even been launched. Officially, celebratory gunfire is illegal in Lebanon, where firearm ownership remains widespread three decades after the end of its 1975-1990 civil war. In September, Lebanese footballer Mohamed Atwi died after being injured the previous month by a stray bullet.

Many Lebanese, their hopes in tatters, say they fear what 2021 will bring

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Michel Hayek Prediction 2021 - 2022

by NAJIA HOUSSARI - arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: After a year of financial, political and social turmoil, few in Lebanon believe the crisis-wracked country’s situation will improve in the coming 12 months, while growing numbers fear their plight will worsen dramatically. “Our country is broken,” said Rima Al-Khatib, who works in the banking sector, describing a year in which her father died and the family was unable to pray for him in the mosque because of a nationwide lockdown at the time. Al-Khatib told Arab News that she “is in a state of denial about everything that happened this year.” “I don’t want to reflect on it because it is too painful,” she said.

With university and health studies in recent weeks showing alarming levels of depression and anxiety in young and old alike, it is clear few people have any expectations, let along dreams, for the new year. One mental health survey concluded that up to 16 percent of people aged 18-24 suffer from severe depression, while 41 percent of women still suffer from post-traumatic stress in the wake of the Beirut port blast. Meanwhile, lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of the coronavirus affected the mental health of 41 percent of the participants in another study, with a further survey claiming 9.5 percent of the population risk becoming depressed because of the country’s dire economic situation. Al-Khatib said that she will never forget the day of the port explosion. “I was in my car on the road and a balcony fell from a building in front of me,” she recalled. “I could not understand what happened. My friend narrowly escaped death and the explosion killed two of my work colleagues, leaving two children orphans.”

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