Lebanese protesters climb the fence along the southern border with Israel this past weekend amid tensions spurred by the escalating violence of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. (Credit: João Sousa/L’Orient Today)
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Rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel overnight Monday but fell short of crossing the border, drawing artillery fire from the Israeli military. A Lebanese military source told AFP that three rockets had been fired from southern Lebanon toward Israel, while the Israeli military said in a statement that six rockets had been launched. The United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, said the rocket fire had come from around the area of Rashaya Fawqar, in southern Lebanon. “The UNIFIL Head was immediately in contact with counterparts in the Lebanese army and [Israeli military] commands urging the parties to exercise maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation,” the mission wrote on Twitter. The situation had returned to calm by the early morning hours, UNIFIL said.
Banque du Liban launched Sayrafa, a much-awaited currency exchange platform that is billed to become the official reference for the lira’s market value. However, the platform does not yet include buy and sell rates for foreign currencies, a money exchanger told L’Orient Today, adding that Sayrafa will allow licensed exchangers to temporarily trade currencies at a market rate of their choice while the central bank gathers data before setting its own exchange rate. While still officially pegged to the dollar at LL1,507.5, the lira is presently trading on the black market at around LL12,600.
Lebanon registered 201 new COVID-19 cases on Monday — the lowest single-day number of recorded cases since August. Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 vaccine committee announced that residents aged 40 and older can now receive the AstraZeneca vaccine without making an appointment — they can simply walk into a vaccination center. Although new daily cases have been falling since the surge of infections at the beginning of this year, the virus still poses a significant threat, and the health system is now presented with a new obstacle — long COVID, also known as post-COVID syndrome, which could be afflicting tens of thousands of Lebanese.
Judge Tarek Bitar questioned the acting director-general of the port, Bassem al-Qaissi, as part of investigations into the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion. Bitar, the lead investigator into the explosion, interrogated Qaissi as a representative of the port’s management, which is being prosecuted in the case, the NNA reported. The judge’s scheduled questioning of Mustafa Baghdadi, the shipping agent for the Rhosus — the vessel on which the ammonium nitrate that detonated in the blast arrived in Beirut — had been postponed due to the agent’s hospitalization, the NNA added. Bitar was appointed in February to lead the probe into the blast. Earlier this month, on the explosion’s nine-month anniversary, families of its victims urged the judge to persist in his inquiries while resisting political pressure.
Further protests and marches will take place across Lebanon today in solidarity with Palestinians under bombardment in Gaza and others suffering violence as a result of the Israeli occupation. In Sur, media workers will hold a solidarity protest at 10 a.m. in front of the NNA offices in the area, while in Beirut, Lebanese and Palestinian organizations and parties will march at 5 p.m. from the Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp to Riad al-Solh Square. Additionally, Hezbollah has invited people to a 5:30 p.m. protest at the Gibran Khalil Gibran Garden. Meanwhile, the foreign affairs and expatriates committee will convene at 11 a.m. to discuss the latest developments in occupied Palestine.
Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali will hold a press conference today about the procedures and processes for Syria’s upcoming presidential elections. The conference will take place at the Syrian Embassy in Yarze at 1:30 p.m. Syrians in Lebanon will be able to cast their vote at the embassy on May 20.