Abandoned infant found, Mar Mikhael project in jeopardy, arrest warrant for Garderêve staff: Everything you need to know to start your Thursday

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An abandoned infant girl found overnight yesterday in Tripoli, North Lebanon, has been hospitalized for minor injuries, a security source told L’Orient Today. After being released from the hospital, the months-old child will be placed in a specialized center, the same source added. The child’s identity and the circumstances of her discovery remain unclear. One man on social media claimed to have rescued her from a stray dog, while Tripoli Municipal Council head Ahmad Kamareddine told L’Orient Today that a pack of dogs dragged her to the side of a road and barked, attracting the attention of a passerby. Amid a fourth year of economic crisis in Lebanon, an increasing number of families are unable to provide adequate health care, nutrition and education for their children, the UN Children’s Fund said in a report published last month.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) on Tuesday threatened to re-adopt precautionary measures, including a weekslong strike, after depositors forcibly recovered their funds during two separate holdups on the same day. Two depositors, one of whom was armed with a grenade, recovered parts of their savings from a branch of Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC) in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, and a branch of Crédit Libanais in Shehim, in the Chouf. Tuesday’s holdups raised the number of forcible withdrawals over the past two weeks to four. “The banks are warning that they will not be able to continue business as usual,” ABL said, asserting that “passing the laws necessary to preserve depositors' rights is the only way to reach a solution.” Last September, commercial banks reopened with heightened security measures after several weeks of closure in response to a wave of holdups. ABL called for several strikes since then, asking for a capital control law regulating withdrawals and decrying judicial rulings ordering payouts to depositors. Depositors have repeatedly held up banks to reclaim their own funds despite withdrawal and transfer restrictions imposed since October 2019.

Representatives of Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael residents allegedly interrupted “necessary work to ensure the safety of vehicular and pedestrian traffic” near the Mar Mikhael Square project, The Beirut Urban Lab announced yesterday, adding its “complete and final withdrawal” from the project. The Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut said its workers and engineers faced a “barrage of threats, insults and screams” while completing “necessary works in order to open the way for traffic on Armenia/Pasteur Street” as requested by the Beirut municipality. On July 12, the Lab announced that work obstructions caused by “campaigns of misinformation and distortion” led them to suspend the Mar Mikhael Square project, which aimed to improve walkability and create pedestrian-friendly spaces. Gemmayze mukhtar — a local elected official charged with administrative tasks — Bechara Gholam claimed the space would allow “immoral actions” to take place, while Lebanese Forces MP Ghassan Hasbani previously claimed that the area’s residents were concerned about potential traffic jams the square would cause. Officials involved in the project, however, repeatedly assured that the project was pursued after consulting with area residents — most of whom, the Lab claims, support its completion.

Caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib yesterday addressed a letter to his European Union counterpart, Josep Borell, calling for cooperation on the Lebanese public sector’s “urgent needs” and the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Bou Habib called on the international community to “speed up the provision of basic infrastructure and social services in Syria” to facilitate the return of displaced Syrians in Lebanon, which he claimed posed a threat to the country’s “social structure, stability and economy.” A day earlier, over 100 Free Patriotic Movement supporters protested against a European Parliament resolution passed last week claiming that displaced Syrians were still not guaranteed a “safe and dignified” return to their country. The EU also called on Lebanon to “refrain from expulsions, from imposing discriminatory measures and from inciting hatred against Syrian refugees.” Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch reported that Lebanon had arrested more than 2,000 Syrians and deported 1,800 since April amid increasingly aggressive policing of displaced Syrian communities in Lebanon and a rise in anti-Syrian refugee rhetoric from political and religious leaders.

The Mount Lebanon investigating judge on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Garderêve daycare’s owner and an employee who allegedly abused children entrusted to the facility, a senior judicial source told L’Orient Today. Security forces shuttered the daycare last Monday and arrested two women after videos circulating on social media appeared to show toddlers being force-fed and beaten by the daycare’s employees. The mother of a child who was in Garderéve’s care claimed her son was “traumatized” after being beaten “every time he tried to go to the bathroom.”

Banque du Liban Governor Riad Salameh, during his two-hour hearing on Tuesday, submitted documents requested by investigating judge Charbel Abou Samra in an investigation into allegedly embezzled central bank funds, a senior judicial source told L’Orient Today. Salameh’s brother Raja and his former assistant, Marianne Hoayek, who were present but not questioned during Tuesday’s hearing, are scheduled to be queried next Tuesday. On Monday, the judiciary precautionarily seized several of Salameh’s Lebanese assets — confiscated alongside properties and bank deposits worth hundreds of millions of euros across five European jurisdictions investigating the central bank chief’s alleged corruption.

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Rehabilitation of Qlayaat airport back on the agenda”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz