Source: Washington Post
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
My Hope for Lebanon
A company of Lebanese soldiers assigned to maintain order in this anxious wartime capital is gathered at its headquarters 100 yards from the Mediterranean. I make the blunder of asking their commander how many of his men are Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze.
Monday, November 4, 2024
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
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
Thursday 1 September 2022 15:09:19
Massive Hike in Cell Service Fees Cuts off Lebanon’s Poor from the World
Shopping for grapes at Beirut’s wholesale market to resell from her produce cart, an exhausted Rawaa Ghosn described how another layer of her increasingly tenuous life was peeled away after she had to give up the use of her mobile phone in the face of skyrocketing rates.
It’s just one more symptom of Lebanon’s unfolding economic crisis that the United Nations said last year had plunged 82 percent of the country into poverty. Amid some of the worst inflation in the world, the value of the Lebanese pound has plummeted by 90 percent.
When the Ministry of Telecommunications decided on July 1 to bring fees in line with the rising cost of operations, the price of mobile phone service quintupled while internet broadband fees more than doubled.
The caretaker minister of telecommunications, Johnny Corm, defended the spike, saying it is necessary to keep the sector afloat amid the country’s economic collapse. But it also meant that the rest of the population, whose real wages have nosedived with the currency, can’t afford their phones, which are used for a variety of essential tasks, including accessing the internet, checking when electricity is available and ordering from the pharmacy or grocery store.
Of course, phone use also depends on whether there is even service. Last week, employees at the country’s two mobile phone companies, Touch and Alfa, went on strike over wages. On Wednesday, they were joined by employees of the main telecommunications provider, Ogero. The result has been disruptions in internet and cellular communications across the country, even completely shutting it down in some places.
Local media outlets reported Thursday that Corm had threatened to send the army into the service centers where employees are holding sit-ins if work didn’t restart.
In late 2019, Lebanon’s economy was crippled. As the currency crumbled, inflation on food reached 332 percent, the highest in the world over the summer, according to an August report from the World Bank.
The high prices for phone use also mean many lower-income families can’t reach the aid agencies and nongovernmental organizations that could help them. Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian aid organization, said it received 70 percent fewer calls and requests on its hotline in July than in previous months.
Elie Yaacoub, an analyst on a Mercy Corps team that compiled a report on the crisis, said other humanitarian organizations have reported a similar drop in calls. He added they are all trying to set up a free hotline, but that decision requires a judicial order — and judges in Lebanon are on strike.
Embrace, Lebanon’s main suicide prevention hotline, has had an increased number of callers asking operators to call them back because receiving calls is free, said Mia Atwi, the group’s president and co-founder.
Those relying on mobile data for their jobs are also drastically affected. Omar al-Aridi, a driver in a ride-sharing application, said the cost of the data package he needs for work ballooned sixfold under the new rates.
“We are paying a lot, and the product is very small,” he said. His employer does not cover data expenses, leaving him to pay them on his own.
Before the crisis, the telecommunications sector was a major source of revenue for the Lebanese state, and its history is plagued by accusations of corruption and lack of transparency.
In an April report, the country’s Court of Audit revealed that between 2010 and 2020, Lebanon’s telecom sector registered $6 billion in expenses for the telecom firms, Touch and Alfa, which the audit characterized as excessively high compared with similar markets.
“Expenses for what? Who spent what? Who did they get permission from?” said Mohamad Najem, executive director of SMEX, an organization that works on advancing digital rights in Lebanon and the Arab region. SMEX is asking for a forensic audit to be conducted.
“We want to know exactly not just how this money was spent, on what basis it was spent, why it was spent, who they got permission from, whether this was the best decision, who took this decision, etc.,” he said.
As internet service, described by the United Nations as a human right, is priced out of reach for many, there are fears for the future. The younger generation in particular is struggling to find affordable internet to do schoolwork and university projects.
“I’m just hoping I will be able to afford it,” said Karen Jamal, a 20-year-old graphic design student who is already working several jobs to pay for her studies.
“Some programs that I use need internet to work; that is gonna be a bit difficult,” she added. “I’m starting to sit in some cafes and Starbucks and such just to use the WiFi.”
Ghosn, the cart seller, who has witnessed much of Lebanon’s turbulent modern history in her life, had hoped the new generation would not have to deal with such a crisis.
“They made us live through wars, and now they killed our children with the economy. What else is there? Death is so much easier than this life,” she said.
