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MORNING BRIEF

An executive double vacancy, 5 million seized Captagon pills, and a captured prison escapee: Everything you need to know to start your Wednesday

Here’s what happened yesterday and what to expect today, Wednesday, Nov. 2

An executive double vacancy, 5 million seized Captagon pills, and a captured prison escapee: Everything you need to know to start your Wednesday

Parliament will meet on Thursday to go over Aoun's letter. Photo taken during the fourth parliamentary session on Oct. 24 to elect a president. (Credit: Mohammed Yassin/L'Orient Today

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“Our goal is the election of a new president as soon as possible,” said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, while international actors expressed concern over the double executive vacancy in effect as of yesterday. Director-General of the Presidency Antoine Choucair shared a similar sentiment during a press briefing yesterday, as the presidential wing at the Baabda palace was shuttered two days after former President Michel Aoun’s departure on Monday, with his term officially over as of yesterday, although four parliamentary electoral sessions have failed to identify his successor. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled a session for Thursday to address a letter from Aoun calling for the caretaker cabinet’s resignation. The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil said in a televised interview Tuesday night that he supports the idea of finding "a consensus president," but that he is not a presidential candidate himself. Aoun repeatedly denied that a caretaker cabinet can assume a president’s powers in the event of a presidential vacancy while also accusing Mikati of purposely delaying government formation. Mikati, for his part, accused Aoun of blocking government formation while claiming that his government will continue managing affairs. European Union Head of Diplomacy Josep Borrell said “institutional volatility” engendered “serious risks for Lebanon and its people,” calling for presidential elections and government formation “with the utmost urgency.” In October, an EU official announcing increased funds for Lebanon claimed that “in the presence of a president and a cabinet, we are ready to grant more aid and additional amounts," highlighting that “it is impossible to grant aid in the absence of a government to receive it.”

Despite announcing in late September that the official lira-to-USD exchange rate would increase yesterday to LL15,000 on the dollar, the Finance Ministry has failed to offer implementation details. On Sep. 28, The Finance Ministry announced a tenfold increase in the official exchange rate — matching the rate used in the 2022 budget — as a step towards the “gradual unification” of exchange rates. The new official rate is half that of the Banque du Liban lira-to-USD exchange platform Sayrafa rate, which as of Monday was LL30,100, roughly LL6,000 less than the parallel market exchange rate. A government source told L’Orient Today on condition of anonymity that the new rate will be applied gradually, starting with “certain fees” and is not expected to initially impact “either taxes or duties.” Changes to the official exchange rate will impact compulsory levies (taxes and duties) which are still calculated at the rate of LL1,507.5 to the dollar.

Internal security forces foiled an alleged Captagon smuggling attempt, seizing over five million pills reportedly heading to Sudan by way of Ivory Coast in Ghazieh, South Lebanon. The raid occurred Monday evening, leading to the arrest of two suspects who were in the warehouse where nearly 800 kilograms of the illicit stimulant was concealed in construction boards set for delivery to the Beirut port. The Anti-Narcotics Division of the Lebanese Customs Administration stopped two shipments of construction and industrial equipment destined for Sudan and Tunisia, containing one million and nearly two million Captagon pills, respectively. The restrictions against Captagon in Gulf countries have rendered smuggling a lucrative venture for some in Lebanon while leaving Lebanese authorities in hot water with their Gulf counterparts. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari announced “a mechanism has been established” to combat drug smuggling from Lebanon, which will be discussed after a government is formed.

Army intelligence arrested 15 people allegedly attempting to irregularly emigrate from the shores of al-Abdeh, North Lebanon. The army transferred the alleged migrants to the relevant authorities, but no smugglers were arrested in relation to the incident. The migrants would have faced particularly precarious weather conditions had they launched yesterday. Irregular migration attempts more than doubled for a second year in 2022, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official told L’Orient Today, citing attempted migrants’ “inability to survive in Lebanon due to the deteriorating economic situation.” The boat crossings carry numerous risks for potential migrants including arrest by foreign authorities, being stranded at sea, and death. In September, over 100 people died in a failed irregular migration attempt reportedly launched from Lebanese shores. Earlier the same month, a four-year-old child died in transit to a Greek hospital after having been stranded at sea for days.

Another Adlieh prison fugitive returned to custody Monday evening after he was arrested by the Lebanese Army. The alleged escapee “confessed … [to] stealing 43 motorcycles,” since his escape from prison on Aug. 7, according to an army statement. The man is the fifth recaptured inmate of more than 30 who escaped the detention center through a window, aided by an unspecified, smuggled tool. The unprecedented economic crisis has further aggravated poor conditions inside Lebanon's prisons, where overcrowding and lack of medical care regularly cause protests and riots by inmates. Lebanon’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture called for “the prompt closure” of the detention center at the Justice Palace in Beirut, where living conditions were described as “horrific.”

In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from yesterday:‘The fight against cholera in Lebanon requires water reform.’

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.“Our goal is the election of a new president as soon as possible,” said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, while international actors expressed concern over the double executive vacancy in effect as of yesterday. Director-General of the Presidency Antoine Choucair shared a similar sentiment during a press briefing yesterday, as...