The seafront in Beirut. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today/File photo)
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The Internal Security Forces (ISF) yesterday said they halted more than 230 people from making an irregular migration attempt by sea on Saturday. The ISF and the Lebanese Army said they arrested nine alleged people smugglers who had attempted to transport hundreds of people off the coast of Selaata in Batroun, charging each would-be migrant between $6,000 to $7,000 for an attempted crossing towards Italy. The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) recently reported that irregular migration attempts departing from Lebanon made up nearly half of the 378 deaths on the Eastern Mediterranean route in 2022. Irregular departures from Lebanon’s shores more than doubled for a second year in 2022 amid increasingly dire living circumstances.
Forces of Change MPs yesterday denounced Israel’s absorption of the northern part of the Ghajar village, which, according to the United Nations’ Blue Line, is divided between Lebanese territory and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Forces of Change MPs Melhem Khalaf, Najat Aoun, Yassin Yassin, Elias Jaradi and Firas Hamdan visited the outskirts of Ghajar on Sunday and in a joint statement called on the Lebanese government to use all available means to “lift this usurping and blatant aggression immediately.” The visit comes days after Thursday’s cross-border rocket exchange between Israel and unidentified parties in southern Lebanon. Israeli construction works over the past months repeatedly raised tension after breaching Lebanon’s southern border, leading to confrontations with the Lebanese army and the area’s residents.
A wildfire between Akkar and Dinnieh, North Lebanon burned for four days, including over the weekend. The blaze ravaged forests overlooking the Wadi Jouhannam valley despite continuous attempts to stop its spread by Civil Defense teams and initial response units from the Union of Jurd al-Qayta Municipalities and the Akkar Trail association. Local authorities repeatedly urged the Lebanese army to send helicopters, which could not access the site on Friday due to thick fog. Experts warned that rising global temperatures would result in heightened fire risks in Lebanon, where funding and equipment shortages have made it difficult to stop their spread. Several wildfires have already charred dozens of acres in Akkar this summer. Lebanon loses 1,500 to 2,000 hectares of forest annually to wildfire and deforestation, according to USAID.
The alleged shooter who killed one person and injured three others on Friday outside a mosque in Bar Elias, Bekaa, died a day later from wounds suffered during his arrest, the state-run National News Agency reported. The circumstances of the shooting remain unclear. A security source on Friday told L’Orient Today that the incident was linked to a personal dispute. The NNA claimed that the alleged shooter opened fire on the army. Later on Friday, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the area said unknown assailants torched the alleged gunman’s house. Amid unregulated and rampant firearm possession, deadly shootings motivated by personal disputes repeatedly occur across Lebanon, often injuring bystanders.
The Lebanese Army on Saturday gave an update on the investigation into the fatal shooting of Malek and Haitham Tawk on July 2, revealing its soldiers were part of an exchange of fire prior to one of the deaths. The army said it opened fire in response to being shot at while attempting to implement security measures, leading to the arrest of several people and revealing that Malek “was wounded and later died of his wounds.” “If the army is involved, it would have been unintentional, as the soldiers were attempting to restore calm to the situation,” William Tawk, MP for Bsharri and a close friend of the victims’ family, told L’Orient Today last week.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from the weekend: “Akkar farmers see climate change affect their crops”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
