People gather at the site of an explosion in Sayyida Zeinab on the southern outskirts of Damascus, July 27, 2023. (Photo by Syrian TV/AFP)
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Dozens of students protested a tuition hike at Lebanon’s only public university, Lebanese University (LU), which was necessary to avoid a faculty strike and logistical problems at the start of the new academic year, university president Bassam Badran told L’Orient Today. “It's unacceptable that a professor, who earned around $4,000 per month before the crisis, is currently paid $200,” Badran said. Public employees’ salaries, despite repeated adjustments, have retained only a fraction of their pre-crisis value amid the lira’s depreciation and several concurrent years of triple-digit annual inflation. Lebanese students’ undergraduate and master’s tuition was raised more than tenfold, reaching upwards of $140 and $190 per year, respectively, while Phd costs more than tripled, reaching $250. “Tuition fees will be higher for foreign students,” Badran added, "reaching LL300 million (over $3,300) for Ph.D students.” Badran called for a budget of at least LL4,000 billion (compared to a previous budget of LL860 billion), financial support for professors and civil servants, the possibility of tenure for professors and the granting of permanent status for contract staff.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees on Saturday renewed “its urgent call to all armed groups to immediately vacate its facilities in the Ain al-Hilweh camp,” after an eighth school was confirmed to have been seized. The armed groups’ presence “poses a serious threat to the education of thousands of Palestinian refugee children living in the camp,” the statement said, as well as “to the timely start of the academic year for 5,900 children from the camp.” Hundreds of families remain displaced from the camp after the eruption of armed clashes earlier this month that killed at least 13 people.
A joint statement issued on Friday by Kahaleh’s municipality, residents and local authorities criticized the military court’s summoning of four area inhabitants in relation to a deadly armed clash in the town surrounding an overturned Hezbollah truck. Kahaleh’s mukhtar confirmed to L’Orient Today that at least four residents were summoned by the military court. “It is not acceptable that the investigation starts with unarmed individuals who were present ... instead of concentrating on the armed group that opened fire with their automatic weapons to try to intimidate them,” the statement read. On Aug. 9, Kahaleh residents gathered around the crash site of a Hezbollah truck transporting munitions — which were later seized by the army — but it remained unclear how the armed clash erupted. Kahaleh resident Fadi Bejjani and Hezbollah member Ahmad Ali Kassas were killed during the fight. A Hezbollah spokesperson said they “expect that the four [Hezbollah] members who were involved will be summoned.”
The alleged perpetrator of a bombing that killed six people in Damascus purportedly died by suicide during a Hezbollah raid, a party spokesperson told L'Orient Today. Hezbollah told AFP that Wissam Dalla, a Syrian national in his early twenties, “threw himself from the seventh floor” of a building Hay al-Sellom, where he had been staying with relatives, “after learning his location had been discovered.” The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a blast in the Sayyida Zeina neighborhood south of Damascus committed on July 27 ahead of Ashoura commemorations.
At least two people were shot to death during two separate incidents on Saturday, respectively involving a land dispute and a personal dispute at a wedding. L’Orient Today’s Bekaa correspondent reported an alleged fratricide over a land dispute after which the suspect shot his wife several times. The alleged shooter’s house was then targeted by a hand grenade into the house of the accused, igniting a fire and causing material damages. The military has since imposed strict security measures, including cordoning off the area, and a series of raids were carried out to find the perpetrator. Also on Saturday, a wedding in Tripoli degenerated to an armed clash between the bride’s brother and brother-in-law, killing the former, a security source told L’Orient Today. The same source said that army intelligence arrested three individuals suspected of involvement. Variedly-motivated disputes have repeatedly escalated into deadly armed clashes across Lebanon amid a rampant, unregulated presence of firearms.
The Lebanese Industrialists’ Association on Friday expected a blowback to “trade relations” after a Foreign Ministry decision to remove more than a dozen economic attachés, who a diplomatic source claimed were hired out of “corruption and clientelism.” The 15 commercial attachés – responsible for studying economic issues, providing information to public administrations and assisting traders and industrialists in foreign markets — were informed of the decision to abolish their posts by the end of the year. The Lebanese Industrialists’ Association said the measure “threatens Lebanon's trade and economic relations with important and influential countries that import more than $2 billion from Lebanon every year.” The Foreign Ministry has repeatedly announced measures intended to cut costs, including reduced salaries and staff in foreign missions and increase revenues, such as raising costs for issuing passports and other administrative services.
Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn, a documentary mini-series on the Lebanese-Brazilian internationally wanted former Renault-Nissan chief’s escape from Japanese custody, is set to be released on Apple TV+ this Friday. The four-episode documentary series relies on testimonies from former Green Beret operative Michael Taylor, who abetted Ghosn’s escape from Japan where he was awaiting trial for aggravated breach of trust. The series is adapted from the Wall Street Journal’s investigation of Ghosn, who reporter Nick Kostov described as “larger than life.” In addition to the Japanese international arrest warrants, Ghosn is also the subject of two international arrest warrants issued by French and Japanese authorities, which have charged him with misuse of corporate assets, money laundering and corruption. The former automobile tycoon remains in Lebanon, where the chance of extradition is minimal.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “Salameh's bank accounts are frozen. What does that mean?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz