Source: AFP
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
FC Barcelona Fears First Team Star Will Be Banned From Playing, Reports SPORT
FC Barcelona is concerned that one of its main first-team stars will be banned from playing at the turn of 2025 because of issues related to his registration and Financial Fair Play (FFP) limits according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Tuesday 21 December 2021 12:27:16
Official Exchange Rate Obsolete, Mandatory Reserves Down to $12.5 Billion, Salameh Says
Lebanon's official exchange rate, pegged at LL1,500 to the US dollar is obsolete, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh admitted Tuesday in an interview with AFP.
The fixed rate that guaranteed Lebanese strong purchasing power for the best part of three decades went into a tailspin when the state defaulted on its debt last year and is "no longer realistic," Salameh said.
The dollar hovered around the LL30,000 mark on the black market earlier this month – 20 times the official rate – and even banks have started using parallel rates.
Lebanon's mandatory reserves are down to $12.5 billion, Salameh said in the interview, adding that this was only enough to finance subsidies on basic goods for another six months.
Salameh also said that Lebanon needs $12-$15 billion in loans from its partners to kickstart its economic recovery.
"Our quota in the International Monetary Fund is $4 billion," the central bank governor said. "If countries add to it, we could reach $12 to $15 billion, an amount that could help start Lebanon's recovery and restore confidence."
