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No end to crisis in sight as Lebanon's garbage mountains grow

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by Ellen Francis - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arpi Kruzian has lived on the coastline east of Beirut for three decades. But now her balcony has a different view: a massive mound of trash rising on the Mediterranean. “This used to be the sea,” she said outside her home. “One day we looked out, we couldn’t see the sea.” Trucks and bulldozers have piled waste at a land reclamation site there since last year. “In the summer, we died from the stench,” she said. “You can’t control the smell...it seeps in from under the doors.” Landfills and dumpsites - many infamously known as “garbage mountains” - have mushroomed across Lebanon since the 1990s. The mess peaked in 2015 when the capital’s main landfill shut down, after running well beyond its expiry date. Heaps of rubbish festered in the summer heat for months. Politicians wrangled over what to do, and the trash crisis of 2015 sparked a protest movement. It became a glaring symbol of a sectarian power system unable to meet basic needs like electricity and water. The government has since managed to get the waste off the streets and out of Beirut, partly through more landfills. But residents and environmentalists accuse it of failing to reach a permanent solution - warning of dire consequences on the Mediterranean and public health.

TEMPORARY FIX

Last month, the cabinet agreed to expand two seaside landfills at the outskirts of Beirut. Both had started as stop-gaps to resolve the 2015 crisis. “Lebanon seems to be addicted to these coastal landfills,” said Bassam Khawaja, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “They cannot keep jumping from one emergency solution to the next ...It is remarkable that we don’t have a national law regulating waste.” Authorities have not conducted any studies on the environmental impact of the two dumps, near the Beirut airport and the Bourj Hammoud neighborhood, he said. The expansion will include a composting plant at the landfill by the airport - which Khawaja said would be “an important step if it actually happens”. Lebanon has relied on a string of temporary fixes since an emergency waste plan in the late 1990s, after the end of its 15-year civil war, he said. The government has left local municipal councils to their own devices without the right resources or funding, especially outside the capital. For residents and activists, the mess stems from corruption and gridlock at the heart of government, where private firms allied to politicians routinely fight over lucrative contracts. A Human Rights Watch report in December said hundreds of unsanitary, makeshift dumps have spread across the country. The U.S.-based group said 150 of them burn rubbish out in the open every week. Government officials have repeatedly banned open burning. The environment ministry could not be reached for comment after repeated requests. The ministry has crafted an outline for a waste system that focuses on recycling and gradually closing dumpsites, which cabinet approved this month. Environment Minister Tarek Khatib says his office is fulfilling its duties. “We will launch a garbage plan in cooperation with the municipalities,” he said last week, when piles of refuse washed up on the shore north of Beirut. Photos circulated widely showed plastic bags and rot covering the beach after a storm. Officials have traded blame over such incidents in the run-up to parliamentary elections in May.

LANDFILL DISTRICT

Over the past year, Joe Salem has watched the hill of rubbish growing on the coast east of Beirut from his window. He gave the workers at his aluminum factory surgical masks and filled the place with air fresheners. “When a customer comes in, the smell of scum and dirt enters,” he said, pointing at the dumpsite behind the mall in the Dora suburbs. “We can’t open the windows. We spend our time with the rats,” Salem added. “It’s a catastrophe for the environment, for the people who live in the street.” But complaining to authorities is hopeless, he said. “People (object) and shut roads and do this and that. Nobody answers them.” Another mound has also been rising at the edge of a runway at Lebanon’s only airport. In the summer, it sends a pungent smell along the highway, and sticks out in the view from the Costa Brava Beach Resort nearby. Residents say the facility, known as the Costa Brava landfill, has crippled economic activity and driven customers away from the beach. “The whole area has been affected,” said Khaled Hammoud, who owns a bakery a few hundred meters away. It makes no difference when the stench subsides in the winter. People have branded it “a landfill district, a district that stinks,” he said. “Nobody goes there.” Additional reporting by Issam Abdallah; writing by Ellen Francis; editing by William Maclean and Jason Neely Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Here's the most valuable brand in some countries

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Central Bank increases mortgage costs

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by TK Maloy - annahar.com BEIRUT: Subsidized housing loan rates increased by 0.5 percent Friday, as the Central Bank sought to shore up the banking sector's holding of lira deposits, experts noted. "The central notion behind this is to keep depositors behind the Lebanese Pound, by allowing banks to keep up the average eight percent interest payment for lira deposits," one banker noted for Annahar. Rates for lira deposits were increased during the short-lived Hariri political crisis at the end of last year to prevent a flight into dollars by Lebanese depositors and have stayed in place as a cautionary measure. The eight percent figure is for short-term-maturity deposits of lira versus the higher rates of around 9-to-10 offered for larger sums held for a longer maturity term by banks.

Current home loans were pegged at 4.23 percent, and under Friday’s guidance offered in a BDL circular, the percentage payback for loans changes upwards by 50 basis points, bringing the rate to 4.73 percent. Another banker noted that the increase in the loan rate simply brings the rate back in line to where it was a year ago, when rates were cut to help stimulate the housing sector. Though, the financial analyst added that while only a relatively minor change to the subsidized loan rate, nevertheless, this and other economic factors will make home shoppers think more cautiously about a residential purchase in an already slowed market.

Movie reviews: 'The Insult' delivers powerful commentary on Lebanese civil war

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by Richard Crouse, Contributor, CTV -- “The Insult,” Lebanon's first-ever Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film, centers around a small slight that escalates until the eyes of a nation are turned toward it. The problems begin with a leaky illegal drainpipe on Lebanese Christian auto mechanic named Tony’s (Adel Karam) Beirut balcony. When it drips water unto a construction crew working below, Palestinian Muslim refugee Yasser (Kamel El Basha) patches it. Enraged a stranger has tampered with his property Tony undoes the work and demands an apology. “He thinks he’s a hotshot but he’s not.” Tony rants. “He better apologise for insulting me.” When the men meet, Tony, who is revealed as a fan of anti-Palestinian Christian leader Bachir Gemayel, blurts out "I wish Ariel Sharon had wiped you all out." A physical confrontation leads to a court trial which becomes a media sensation. Writer-director Ziad Doueiri, who worked as a camera assistant under Quentin Tarantino on “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown,” uses the small story of two men and a disagreement to shine a light on an old and continuing deadlock in the Middle East. Buoyed by terrific performances—El Basha won the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival—the film comments on the Lebanese civil war in microcosm. Boiling the country’s history of unrest between Sunni Muslims and Christians down to a personal story puts a human face on a huge problem. Doueiri humanizes the conflict metaphorically, showing the effects of dehumanizing rhetoric and hate. “The Insult” is a serious, powerful film that offers not only emotion but also empathy.

Hezbollah choices aren't in Lebanon's interest: Bassil

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By The Daily Star BEIRUT: Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said in an interview published Friday that Hezbollah is making decisions that aren't in the best interest of Lebanon. Nevertheless, in an interview with Magazine, a French-language Lebanese publication, Bassil said that the Free Patriotic Movement that he heads supports Hezbollah's actions against Israel and terrorism. "On internal questions, Hezbollah makes choices that do not serve the interests of the Lebanese state, and all of Lebanon pays the price. ... There is corruption that eats away at us and we can't carry on this way," Bassil was quoted by the publication as saying. The FPM and Hezbollah have been allies since the party's founder and current President Michel Aoun struck and memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in 2006. Domestically, he is quoted as saying, the FPM “remains a guarantee for Hezbollah should Lebanon be attacked by Israel or come under terrorist aggression.” Bassil's published comments came as the country is still reeling from the spat between the FPM and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement after a video of Bassil calling Berri a "thug" was leaked.

Berri and Hezbollah are historical allies. "In the MOU with Hezbollah, there is a fundamental clause concerning the construction of the state," Bassil told the publication. "Unfortunately, this point is not put into practice, under the pretext of strategic considerations." As for Christian unity, Bassil said his party supports it, but not at the expense of Lebanon's best interests. "The Christians cannot live outside of the state. The unity of the whole community is important but not at the detriment of the state."

Bassil's media office later issued a statement clarifying aspects of what had been published and carried by local media. Nevertheless, the statement didn't deny what he told the publication. "Some media outlets are taking excerpts from Bassil's conversation with 'Magazine.' The truth is that Bassil said that '[FPM's] relationship with Hezbollah is a strategic one, it will continue, and it broke the record for political relationships in Lebanon and that we are on same wavelength regarding strategic matters." According to the statement, Bassil "regrets that there are some differences in local matters. There are some decisions that Hezbollah takes in internal matters that don't serve the state and this is what makes Lebanon pay the price. One of the main items of the MOU was to build a state and this isn't being implemented under the pretext of external policies."

MIDDLE EAST’S NEXT OIL WAR? ISRAEL THREATENS LEBANON OVER HEZBOLLAH AND NATURAL GAS

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BY TOM O'CONNOR - NEWSWEEK - Israel has threatened to invade Lebanon amid a recent spat over natural resources and militant groups that, once again, raised tensions between the longtime foes. Addressing the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Lebanon’s latest plans to drill in a disputed offshore oil and gas field known as Block 9 were “very, very challenging and provocative,” according to Reuters. In the same speech, the far-right minister threatened to wage a full-scale war against Lebanon if Hezbollah launched any attacks against Israel. The Iran-backed Shiite Muslim movement warned it would defend Lebanon’s natural resources at any cost. “We reiterate our firm and unequivocal position in decisively confronting any aggression against our oil and gas rights, defending Lebanon’s assets and protecting its wealth,” Hezbollah told Newsweek in an email statement.

Lebanon did not recognize Israel’s 1948 creation, which caused a mass exodus of Palestinians and a regional war between the majority-Jewish state and its Arab, mostly Muslim neighbors. Israel has invaded Lebanon twice, the first time during the 15-year Lebanese civil war and a second time in 2006 in response to Hezbollah’s cross-border raids. In both instances, Hezbollah led the local resistance against Israel, which ultimately withdrew. In the latest crisis, Israel has warned foreign companies not to invest in Lebanese plans to explore the Block 9 offshore oil reserve located on the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon. Lebanon awarded bids last month to France’s Total Sa, Italy’s Eni SpA and Russia’s Novatek PJSC to drill for oil and gas in blocks 4 and 9 within Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone, but Lieberman warned this was a “grave mistake” and “contrary to all the rules” because Block 9 belonged totally to Israel, Bloomberg News reported, citing an Israeli Defense Ministry statement. Lieberman also threatened to respond to Hezbollah aggression with a “full-strength” invasion, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. He vowed, “If in Israel they sit in shelters, then in the next fighting all of Beirut will be in shelters.” These comments have been met with fury back in the Lebanese capital. “We need to be aware of what the Israeli enemy is plotting against Lebanon, especially with the support of those who are working internally and externally to provide a climate of harmony with the Israeli threats to attack Lebanon,” Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Thursday in a statement, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency. “Lebanon will counter these Israeli claims by diplomatic means, while asserting its right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by all the available means,” he added.

Lebanon was still reeling from a dispute between supporters of Aoun, who represented the mostly Maronite Christian Free Patriotic Movement, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, leader of the Shiite Muslim Amal Movement. Both former civil war foes were members of the pro-Hezbollah March 8 Alliance, but a new dispute emerged when Aoun promoted dozens of army officers without the approval of one of Berri’s aides. It escalated when Aoun’s son-in-law and party head Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was caught on video calling Berri “a thug,” as Lebanon’s The Daily Star reported. After massive protests rocked Beirut and beyond, Bassil expressed regret, and Berri contacted Aoun Thursday in an effort to unite the two leaders in the face of Lieberman’s recent warnings. They agreed to meet Tuesday to discuss the crisis. A day before, the National News Agency reported three Israeli gunboats violating Lebanon’s southern maritime boundary near Ras Naqoura, citing an army communiqué. It would be at least the second such incident in two days.

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, head of the majority-Sunni Muslim Future Movement that led the opposition March 14 Alliance, was reportedly present during the phone call between Aoun and Berri. Hariri, who himself was the subject of an international drama involving Saudi Arabia and his brief resignation in November, stood by the two. “We are facing a major aggression with regard to Lebanon’s oil wealth, especially in Block 9, and Lebanon will have clear and decisive steps in this regard,” Hariri said Thursday in a statement.

Lebanon's Aoun urges forgiveness, stability after protests

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Supporters of Speaker Nabih Berri Tuesday staged a protest on motorbikes through the streets of Beirut, waving Amal Movement flags.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for forgiveness and stability on Tuesday after a political row involving his son-in-law triggered street protests and deepened a rift with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Berri supporters set tyres ablaze and blocked roads on Monday in protest against comments by Aoun’s son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who had called him “a thug” in a video that circulated on social media. “What happened on the ground is a big mistake based on a mistake,” Aoun said in a statement. “I forgive all those who assaulted me and my family, and I look to those who insulted each other to forgive each other,” he said.

The Free Patriotic Movement party, founded by Aoun, said Bassil had already expressed regret for the comments and it regarded the issue as over. Berri supporters, who have been demanding a public apology from Bassil, protested again after the FPM statement, briefly setting fires in a main road in Beirut, security sources said. Political tensions between Berri, a Shi‘ite, and Aoun, a Maronite Christian, have been escalating since December when Aoun signed a decree promoting dozens of army officers without the signature of Shi‘ite Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, one of Berri’s closest aides.

The row threatens to ignite sectarian tensions in the run-up to a parliamentary election in May, and risks paralyzing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s coalition government which groups nearly all of Lebanon’s main parties. In one incident on Monday, gunfire erupted near the offices of Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) east of Beirut. The FPM and the Amal movement led by Berri traded blame. Bassil expressed regret for his remarks in an interview with the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper on Monday, saying he had departed from his moral standards in the closed meeting. But this did little to ease fury in the Berri camp, which has said Bassil crossed “red lines”. The FPM, following a meeting of its leadership, said Bassil had “recalled” the leaked comments and expressed regret.

Berri and Aoun, both in their 80s, were civil war enemies. The conflict ended in 1990 when the Syrian army forced Aoun, then head of one of two rival governments, from the presidential palace and into exile. Berri says Aoun exceeded his constitutional powers with the army promotions. Aoun says he did not. The standoff has also strained Aoun’s political alliance with the Iran-backed Shi‘ite group Hezbollah, which has longstanding ties to Amal and Berri. MPs with Hariri’s Future Movement expressed “concerning the level of political dialogue in the country, which reached unacceptable limits, including insulting presidencies and leaders on social media sites”. They also stressed the importance of upholding the constitution and the peace deal that ended the 1975-90 civil war. Reporting by Tom Perry and Ellen Francis; Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Richard Balmforth Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.