The Beirut waterfront, Nov. 10, 2022. (Credit: Maria Klenner/L'Orient Today)
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Imad Salamey, an associate professor of Middle Eastern political affairs at the Lebanese American University, told L’Orient Today that he expects Palestinian groups in Lebanon will retaliate against Israeli attacks, but dismissed concerns for a “widespread confrontation.” Retaliation from within Lebanese borders is hard to prevent due to the Lebanese Army and United Nations peacekeepers’ limited “technical capacities,” Salamey added. On Tuesday, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, Ahmed Abdel-Hadi, vowed the group would respond to pre-dawn Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders and 10 civilians, including several children. The attack triggered rocket exchanges that killed at least 20 people in Gaza in less than two days. In early April, an Israeli attack on worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque escalated into rocket exchanges, leading to an attack by Palestinian militants from Lebanon towards Israel and an Israeli retaliation targeting alleged Hamas targets.
The Beirut International Airport management responded to a series of posts by social media users claiming that items were missing from their luggage. The airport invited concerned passengers to contact them and review security camera footage. “We have always said that any citizen who comes to the airport can check the cameras,” Civil Aviation Director General Fadi al-Hassan told L’Orient Today. Hassan said he was surprised by the social media response that could “tarnish the image of the airport and Lebanon, just before the summer when the country is expecting many tourists.” One social media user claimed that her mother found medication and valuable items missing from her luggage after traveling from Beirut.
A hunting rifle accident killed a seven-month-old baby and injured his 12-year-old brother yesterday in the Abi Samra district of Tripoli. “Omar Omar al-Araj (seven months old), was buried, while his injured brother remains in Al-Shifa Hospital, [in] Abu Samra [Tripoli],” a statement by the brothers’ family said, noting that the accident occurred “while the children were playing with a 12-gauge hunting rifle.” The rampant presence of firearms in Lebanon has repeatedly been linked to injuries and deaths. Unregulated possession of firearms continues to endanger citizens across Lebanon. Beirut MP Paula Yaacoubian called in November for an “end to loose weapons and stray bullets” after her flight was struck by a bullet while landing at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called for the election of a president by June 15, stressing the need for the future head of state’s input in choosing the next Army commander and Banque du Liban (BDL) governor. Berri expressed hope that the upcoming BDL vacancy would provide an impetus for electing a president — which MPs have failed to do over the course of 11 election sessions. In January, current BDL governor Riad Salameh — implicated in several local and international corruption probes — said he does not wish to renew his term after 30 years in office. His current term expires in July. The designation of a new Lebanese Army commander, meanwhile, is scheduled for next January.
The German Federal Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of two alleged Hezbollah members accused of campaigning and speaking on behalf of the movement in Germany. The men were arrested near Cuxhaven in the north of Germany under suspicion that they had acted as representatives of Hezbollah in the region of Bremen. In May 2021, a spokesman for German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said three groups in Germany had been banned for “financing the terrorist organization Hezbollah.” Germany listed the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 2020, after the European Union had designated its military wing as such since 2013.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Rising sea-surface heat threatens Lebanon’s aquatic life”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz