People carry the body of a fighter of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah during his funeral in Beirut's predominantly Shiite Muslim southern suburb, on Aug. 10, 2023 after he was killed the previous day amid clashes between Hezbollah and residents of the Christian town of Kahaleh. (Credit: Joao Sousa/L'Orient Today)
A funeral is scheduled today for Fadi Bejjani, a Kahaleh resident killed Wednesday evening during a shootout over an overturned Hezbollah truck. Ahmad Ali Kassas, a Hezbollah member also killed Wednesday, was buried yesterday. Heavy gunfire was heard in and around Beirut’s southern suburbs as Hezbollah prepared for Kassas’ funeral. Around the same time, caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim’s car was damaged by gunfire, which caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi attributed to a stray bullet. Security forces were seen gathering evidence in Kahaleh, Aley — the circumstances of the truck’s overturning and the ensuing shootout remain unclear. The crash site is notoriously accident-prone, but eyewitnesses told L’Orient Today they saw the truck rolling at high speed, making sounds potentially emanating from an issue with its brakes. The Lebanese Army yesterday confirmed that the truck was transporting munitions, which were transferred to army barracks to be handled “under judicial supervision,” according to Mawlawi. Hezbollah claimed its members were shot at while they were attempting to tow the truck. The head of the Kahaleh municipality, Jean Bejjani, told L’Orient Today residents had gathered around the truck to offer assistance before the eruption of haphazard gunfire, which struck nearby houses. Videos of the incident show parts of the shootout near a church in the area. Numerous political figures called for the prosecution of the shooters and criticized the presence of non-state weapons. Hezbollah, meanwhile, described the incident as “programmed tension,” for which it blamed “seditionists inside Lebanon.”
The US Treasury, in coordination with Britain and Canada, sanctioned former Banque du Liban chief Riad Salameh and three of his associates for alleged corruption. The three states jointly blocked assets belonging to Salameh, his brother Raja, his former romantic partner Anna Kosakova and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek. The US additionally sanctioned Salameh’s son, Nady. The former central bank governor, Kosakova and Hoayek already face international criminal charges issued by the French judiciary. Riad Salameh routinely denies corruption charges while being investigated in several European countries where he allegedly invested misappropriated funds. Yesterday, the presiding judge over the Lebanese investigation, Charbel Abou Samra, was relieved from the case following a complaint by State Legal Department head Helene Iskandar, who represents Lebanon’s interests as a civil party.
Parliament is scheduled to convene for a legislative session next Thursday. The session’s agenda has yet to be disclosed. Parliament and the caretaker cabinet each contended that it was the other’s responsibility to draft a bill approving a central bank loan to fund state expenses, such as public employee salaries, as required by the new Banque du Liban (BDL) leadership. Interim BDL head Wassim Manssouri also called for the approval of the 2023 budget — currently under review by the government — and the enactment of laws on capital controls, bank restructuring and other reforms. Legislative sessions remain contentious amid the ongoing presidential vacuum, with several parties announcing their boycott of any non-electoral sessions.
The final report on Alvarez and Marsal (A&M)’s forensic audit of Banque du Liban was transferred to cabinet ministers, the office of the presidency and Parliament’s secretariat said yesterday. The Finance Ministry announced that caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil first forwarded the report to the caretaker prime minister’s office, which in turn disseminated it. The report’s sharing comes after a brief controversy that led to a ruling forcing Khalil to share a preliminary version of the forensic audit report. On Monday, Khalil gave Mikati BDL audit reports executed several years ago by the firms KPMG and Oliver Wyman. They found that BDL had not used consistent accounting methods and had not complied with international standards. Although the BDL audit is a prerequisite for the release of a multibillion dollar aid package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the IMF has not expressly required the completion of its forensic accounting component.
An unidentified assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at the Swedish Embassy in Beirut on Wednesday evening, an embassy spokesperson confirmed to L’Orient Today. The incendiary weapon did not cause any damage or casualties. The perpetrator managed to escape, the spokesperson added. It was unclear if Swedish Ambassador Ann Dismorr was in the embassy at the time of the attack on Wednesday night. Dismorr recently returned to Lebanon, the embassy spokesperson said, having left on a “planned vacation” at the end of July. Last month, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters rallied to party leader Hassan Nasrallah’s call to demonstrate in front of the embassy after an Iraqi refugee in Sweden desecrated the Quran during a protest.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Infographics: Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
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