A portrait of Fadi Bejjani who succumbed to wounds inflicted during clashes that erupted between residents of the town of Kahaleh and members of Hezbollah, hangs on a pole, as gunmen shoot into the air during his funeral procession in the Christian town on Aug. 11, 2023. (Credit: Joseph EID / AFP)
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Residents of the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp on Saturday protested their displacement caused by clashes that broke out last month and left at least 13 people dead. Protesters decrying the absence of “compensation for the property damage” resulting from the clashes blocked the main road of the camp’s Hettin neighborhood by burning tires, residents reported to L'Orient Today. “We’ve been sleeping in schools for a fortnight now,” one demonstrator said, calling for the restoration of homes “destroyed” during the clashes. Ain al-Hilweh residents displaced by the fighting took refuge in nearby schools. The clashes between Fatah and rival Islamist factions intensified on July 30, following the fatal shooting of a Palestinian security official, Abu Ahmed al-Armoushi, and four of his bodyguards.
The Lebanese Army on Saturday announced the dismantling of a human smuggling operation, arresting 130 people for “attempting to flee illegally by sea” to an unspecified European country. The arrests took place in Sheikh Zennad, Akkar. Spanish police on Sunday announced the arrest of 19 people who allegedly organized a multimillion-dollar land, sea and air migration operation for Syrian nationals departing from Lebanon. 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 in the country.
Police arrested an NGO member on charges of sexually molesting two minors, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday. He is also alleged to have encouraged some minors to engage in sexual activities, drug and alcohol consumption, based on the reported confessions of the detainees and testimonies of witnesses in the case. The NNA statement did not name the NGO; however, the charges are similar to accusations leveled against the Mansourieh-based child care association Village de paix et d'amour, which was shut down last month.
Hundreds of people gathered in Kahaleh on Friday for Fadi Bejjani’s funeral after he was killed Wednesday in fighting that broke out following the overturning of a Hezbollah truck in the area. Bejjani's coffin was kept aloft through the streets of Kahaleh by a crowd of around 100 men. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. While the circumstances of the incident remain unclear, videos circulating on social media show a tense crowd gathered around the ammunition-laden truck, while others show armed men in civilian clothes firing automatic weapons. One of the videos purportedly shows Bejjani firing an automatic weapon in the midst of the clashes. The day of the funeral, Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif Naboulsi told L’Orient Today that the party expects to recover the munitions seized after the incident.
A report on the forensic audit of Banque du Liban by Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) claimed the central bank hid billions of dollars in losses and found purported evidence of a “commission scheme” for which the former governor is being investigated, Reuters reported. Former BDL governor Riad Salameh denied the allegations in written comments to Reuters. Salameh said A&M had arbitrarily alleged “misconduct” within the central bank. Salameh also claimed that the accounting procedures used were approved by BDL’s central council and the government. A&M claimed to have identified payments, totaling $111.3 million to one Swiss and six Lebanese banks, which appear to be a “continuation of the commission scheme under investigation by Lebanese and international prosecuting authorities.” The former central bank governor is being investigated over charges of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of central bank funds through an alleged scheme involving commission payments to a company owned by his brother, Raja Salameh, who claimed the payments were a cost saving measure.
Environmental education NGO TERRE Liban on Friday announced a judicial order to remove an installation by Palms the Legend restaurant infringing on “riverine public properties” in Nahr al-Kalb. Mount Lebanon’s public prosecutor, Judge Ghada Aoun, gave the restaurant until the end of next week to comply with the order. TERRE Liban founder Paul Abi Rached said that while an environmental study is necessary to grasp the full scope of risks, he noted apparent issues such as “microplastic pollution [and] the reduction of the watercourse by an embankment.” According to several observers, fireworks fired from the restaurant in June caused a brief fire, threatening century-old olive trees. In recent weeks, citizen mobilization (and authorities’ response) has impeded some illegal construction along the coast.
Caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makary told L’Orient Today he intends to resume broadcasting at Télé Liban, claiming the temporary interruption was a cost-saving measure amid a strike by the station’s employees. Télé Liban employees ended their strike, a source close to Makary told L’Orient Today on Saturday, after they attained “part of their demands,” which include receiving unpaid dues that have accumulated since 2021. “Not everyone is convinced that we should end the strike,” one station employee told L’Orient Today, while noting that the minister’s commitment to paying owed salaries was promising. Station employees went on strike on Aug. 3 to demand the backlogged payments and protest the deterioration of their salaries. Télé Liban’s broadcast was interrupted on Friday, a move that Makary told L’Orient Today was taken to preserve limited fuel stocks. The station had not been airing its regular TV programs for several days.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “Heated exchange between culture minister and MP Daou over LGBTQ+ rights”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
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