Israeli navy vessels are pictured off the coast at the border between occupied Palestine and Lebanon on Jun. 6, 2022. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
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Israeli ministers released a joint statement yesterday that it was ready to “defend its strategic assets” amid increased tensions over disputed maritime territory between occupied Palestine and Lebanon. Over the weekend, a production vessel from the Energean Power company arrived on behalf of the Israelis at the Karish offshore gas field, sparking angry responses from Lebanese officials. On Monday, Lebanon sent an invitation for the US mediator between Lebanon and Israel on the maritime border issue to come to Beirut to further long-stalled negotiations. Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli army opened fire on Lebanese who approached the occupied area of Shebaa in southern Lebanon, which did not result in any injuries. The individuals in question had moved closer to occupied Palestine to pick fruit when an Israeli patrol fired some 40 bullets in their direction. While border violations and security incidents are very frequent in the area, fears of escalating tensions have increased following the maritime dispute.
Lebanon's caretaker energy minister on Wednesday blamed "politics" for the delay of a US-backed deal to help the country battle its crippling power shortages. Speaking on the sidelines of an energy conference in Amman, Walid Fayyad told Reuters that the World Bank, which had pledged to finance the project, was "adding more conditions although they were clear at the start” and that the US had demanded to "see the financing terms from the World Bank" to ensure that the electricity deal "is not sanctionable," even though Washington had insisted the country did not have to fear sanctions over its regional energy supply plans. Lebanon and Jordan on Jan. 26 signed a deal to import about 400 megawatts of electricity across Syrian territory, part of a wider plan that would also see Egyptian gas pumped to a power station in northern Lebanon via a pipeline that runs through Jordan and Syria. The agreement with Egypt has yet to be signed. Fayad said the delay would worsen shortages as Lebanon enters its summer season, with higher energy demand and an influx of tourists.
Caretaker Public Works Minister Ali Hamieh announced Wednesday a call for tenders to construct an annex to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport. The building to the east of the airport will provide “services that are not offered in the current [airport] building.” Hamieh added that the project is expected “to create hundreds of jobs,” adding that it will cost $70 million. The new terminal will be designated for Hajj, Umrah and Ziyarah charter flights, as well as low budget airlines, he added, but offered no further details about the project.
Tripoli municipality head Riad Yamak is under investigation for allegedly wasting public funds. A complaint filed by members of the Tripoli municipality was transferred on Wednesday to the Financial Public Court by Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, who also transferred Yamak’s file to the Audit Bureau following another investigation related to suspicions of spending money without legal grounds.
A suspect in a Metn pharmacist's murder case has been arrested by the Internal Security Forces, while a second supect has fled the country. An ISF statement issued on Tuesday claimed that a main suspect in the killing of pharmacist Leila Rizk, who was found dead at her pharmacy in the Metn area in April, was arrested on April 28, while a second suspect in the case has fled the country. The apprehended suspect, a Syrian national who, according to a psychiatrist who examined him, suffers from “an intellectual disability,” confessed that he carried out the crime by strangling the victim, the statement said. A second suspect, a Syrian national with a history of theft, fled the country after which the ISF gathered DNA samples from his home, which matched those taken from the victim’s body. The murder prompted the pharmacists’ syndicate to call for pharmacies across the country to close the morning after.
A fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose is now available without appointment. Anyone in Lebanon who received a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine more than six months ago can now get a fourth, without an appointment, authorities announced on Wednesday. The new regulation comes as the overall two-dose vaccination rate in the population remains below 45 percent, almost two and a half years after the pandemic hit the country. The Health Ministry did not specify which centers or hospitals offer this walk-in service. Less than 50 percent of the population in Lebanon has received a first dose of vaccine against COVID-19. In Lebanon, the coronavirus has caused more than a million contaminations and more than 10,000 deaths since February 2020.
The fire that raged in the pine forests of al-Safira town in Dinnieh since Tuesday night has been completely extinguished. The head of the Federation of Dinnieh Municipalities, Muhammad Saadieh, said on Wednesday that the efforts of the Lebanese Army, Civil Defense, volunteer teams and the town’s forestry center have led to a complete halt of the fire. Saadieh also said that “the fires that erupted yesterday reached large areas of wild pine trees … and that the damage cannot be calculated until after the end of the extinguishing work.” He claimed the wildfire was not accidental, pointing out that "in light of the high prices of fuel people resorted to [using] firewood, but this does not allow them to burn forests or cut trees randomly." Saadieh added that the federation is “in the process of establishing a disaster room to intervene and follow up on such disasters that may occur in the future."
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Ayyam Beirut al-Cinema’iyya: Stories of love and displacement.”