Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid provided by Hezbollah set out for Syria from the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs on Feb. 12, 2023, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
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Banque du Liban (BDL) chief Riad Salameh on Friday said he does not intend to prolong his 30 years in office at the end of his term in May, while again refuting allegations of siphoned brokerage fees and collusion with a money exchanger recently sanctioned by the US Treasury. “At the end of my term, I will turn a page in my life and leave the central bank," Salameh told Al-Sharq TV, near the end of a six-year term, renewed by the government in 2017, culminating three decades at the head of the BDL. A delegation of European investigators said on Jan. 20 that they would return to Lebanon to question Salameh this month after the end of a first visit to Beirut pursuing suspicions of corruption and money laundering against the once-lauded central bank governor. Salameh is the subject of five European investigations and one Lebanese case. The governor has repeatedly denied claims of wrongdoing, reiterating “not a single dollar of BDL funds was paid to Forry Associates Ltd. [a Virgin Islands registered company owned by Salameh’s brother, Raja]” which is thought to have covertly received commissions from the sale of BDL assets. The central bank chief also denied having any “personal ties'' to Hassan Moukalled and his exchange company, CTEX — both sanctioned by the US Treasury for allegedly financing Hezbollah and accused of manipulating the parallel exchange market.
The Parliament Bureau is scheduled to meet today to discuss the agenda of an upcoming session after more than a third of parliamentarians on Saturday announced a boycott of legislative sessions until the presidential vacuum, in effect since Nov. 1, is filled. A total of 46 independent MPs as well as MPs from the Forces of Change, Kataeb and Lebanese Forces cited Article 75 of the Lebanese Constitution, claiming that under current circumstances Parliament acts as “an electoral body and not a legislative assembly.” Upcoming legislative sessions are expected to include discussions of a draft law on capital control — the passing of which is among the demands made by the International Monetary Fund to unlock a multibillion dollar aid package and by commercial banks, which have informally limited depositors’ access to their funds since 2019, to end an open-ended strike launched last Tuesday. Another presidential election session has yet to be scheduled after an inconclusive 11th attempt to name a new head of state in January. Forces of Change MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba have not left Parliament since the end of the session on Jan. 19, saying they will remain there until a president is elected. Norway and Switzerland in a joint statement on Friday issued the most recent of repeated calls from the international community urging the election of a president. MPs refusing to attend non-electoral sessions last December postponed a Parliament session discussing allegations of corruption in the telecoms sector.
Lebanon continued its efforts to aid Turkey and Syria after an earthquake last Monday which killed more than 33,000 people as the repatriation of Lebanese quake victims began. Residents of Wadi Khaled, in the Akkar governorate, on Friday held a funeral for Wissam Mohammad Kheir al-Assaad, a resident of Gaziantep, in Turkey's south. Assaad’s daughter Nadoua was reportedly buried in Turkey. At least six Lebanese people died in Turkey and Syria in Monday's earthquake, while at least three others were found alive under the rubble. “The embassy is still trying to find out about the 50 people who are still missing, to confirm whether they are Lebanese and to get in touch with their relatives,” Lebanon's ambassador in Turkey, Ghassan Moallem, told L'Orient Today regarding missing person reports received by the diplomatic mission. The Lebanese Army and Civil Defense announced the return of relief workers on Friday and Saturday from Turkey and Syria while other rescuers remain, joined by new delegations from Muslim Scouts of Lebanon and other groups. The Lebanese teams in Turkey and Syria continued sharing reports of successful rescues, announcing on Friday the extraction of a mother and son alive from the rubble of a building in Syria, four days after the deadly earthquake. Meanwhile, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib met with US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Friday to discuss the “opening of Beirut international airport and all Lebanese ports to receive the [humanitarian] aid destined to Syria.”
The first shipment of World Bank loan-funded wheat, estimated to cover “one month's consumption of Arabic bread,” arrived on Saturday. “Other shipments, of different sizes, will follow in the coming months," the World Bank said, aiming to “ensure affordable bread for poor and vulnerable households.” Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam previously announced that the World Bank loan, approved by Parliament last October, would ensure the supply of subsidized wheat for nine to 12 months — after which the ministry plans to implement targeted subsidies for people with low purchasing power.
Court officers on Friday announced that they will “stop following hearings, except for those devoted to detainees” as of today to demand improved working conditions. The court employees cited deteriorating living conditions in a statement announcing the strike. Judicial assistants in the North and Akkar governorates held a weeklong strike earlier this month to protest “unbearable living conditions and the deterioration of the purchasing power of the judicial assistant’s salary” which has prevented them from attending their jobs. The court officers ended a two week strike last year between July and August after the cabinet approved aid payments.
The Lebanese Army carried out raids in Beirut and Tripoli following deadly clashes linked to private generator owners, arresting two men on Saturday in the capital’s Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood who were allegedly involved in one of the incidents. Residents of the Aisha Bakkar neighborhood of Beirut on Friday held a sit-in in front of the Interior Ministry, demanding the removal of a neighborhood mukhtar [a local official responsible for records] allegedly involved in a shooting earlier the same day in which one person was killed and four others injured. On Saturday, the army announced the arrest of two people suspected of having participated in the clashes. The army also deployed to Tripoli on Friday after “a dispute between youths and employees of generator owners” left one man dead and two others injured, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the area reported. Due to marked electricity supply deficits from state owned Electricité du Liban, citizens have to rely on private generator subscriptions. Protests against high generator bills, particularly those charging rates higher than the prices set by the Energy Ministry, have repeatedly occurred across Lebanon.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read article from over the weekend: “‘Chandeliers swaying left and right’: Tripoli residents recount horrors of quakes, fear building collapse”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this Morning Brief erroneously stated "Banque du Liban (BDL) chief Riad Salameh on Friday said he does intend to prolong his 30 years in office at the end of his term in May,"; it should in fact have read "Banque du Liban (BDL) chief Riad Salameh on Friday said he does not intend to prolong his 30 years in office at the end of his term in May."