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8 May 2008
BEIRUT, 9 May (IPS) - Men clad in black have roamed the streets of Beirut since Wednesday, their faces covered with ski masks or dark kaffiyeh (checkered scarf), as they wreaked havoc in the large avenues leading to the airport or dividing Sunni and Shia areas. As darkness loomed over Lebanon, the winds of discord seem to set the Lebanese capital ablaze. Read more about Opposition forces take control of Beirut
7 May 2008
BEIRUT, 8 May (IRIN) - Ramzi Ali was nearly 13 when his parents took him out of school to work as a motorbike mechanic. “Conditions are hard, and political tensions are destroying the country,” said Ali, now 14, as he manned a barricade of burning tires in central Beirut on 7 May. “My parents just couldn’t afford to keep me at school any more.” Read more about High prices, low wages feed violent political stand-off
1 May 2008
BEIRUT, 1 May (IRIN) - With inflation in double digits and the cost of living rising, the government has proposed raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, but Palestinians say they continue to be marginalized in the labour market. Several hundred Palestinians protested at the edge of Shatila camp in south Beirut on 30 April ahead of the 1 May labour day holiday, traditionally a time for workers’ to air their grievances. Read more about Palestinians protest exclusion as government moots minimum wage
5 May 2008
Since 10 October 2007, residents of the destroyed Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon have been gradually allowed by the Lebanese army to return to the ruins of their homes. However, the core of the camp, the so-called “old camp,” as well as parts of the “new camp,” which doesn’t fall under the mandate of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, remain sealed off and are still under the exclusive control of the Lebanese army. Ray Smith reports from Nahr al-Bared. Read more about Video: Who burned Nahr al-Bared?
30 April 2008
The merry-go-round of dialogue sessions between the government loyalist and the opposition camps just got a fresh push when persistent parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri called for yet another set of roundtable negotiations after several months’ hiatus. The press is abuzz with weighing the pros and cons, as well as gauging the chances of success or failure, of such talks. Read more about Meet the Lebanese Press: From dialogue to declarations
7 April 2008
On the rare occasions the media have covered the situation of destroyed Nahr al-Bared camp’s more than 30,000 inhabitants, they have done so with only a narrow focus on the humanitarian problems they face — ignoring the glaring political questions that only the camp residents seem to be left asking. Ray Smith analyzes such a report for Electronic Lebanon. Read more about The "humanitarian" sidelining of Nahr al-Bared
6 April 2008
What’s next for Lebanon after the Arab Summit that concluded last weekend in Damascus? Marx said history repeats itself first as tragedy, second as farce. Arab summits tend to repeat themselves as tragedies and farces at one and the same time, and the latest summit in Damascus was no exception. Summit soap opera moves by top and low-level delegates over closing statements, the tone of speeches, and other trivialities were the norm. Read more about Meet the Lebanese Press: Post-summit syndrome
1 April 2008
CAIRO, 1 April (IPS) - The 20th Arab League summit, convened earlier this week in the Syrian capital Damascus, drew relatively few heads of state, with both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz choosing to stay at home. According to local commentators, the low level of diplomatic representation served to show up Syria’s isolation within the otherwise US-dominated Arab fold. Read more about Another Arab tea party ends
28 March 2008
BEIRUT, 28 March 2008 (IRIN) - A boycott by Lebanon and major Arab powers of the Arab summit in Damascus (29-30 March) has dashed hopes for a last-ditch settlement of the Lebanese presidential crisis, raising fears of a descent into violence after it passes. Political turmoil in Lebanon has often been the precursor to regional conflict and serious humanitarian problems in the past. Read more about Arab summit boycott of Syria threatens regional conflict
26 March 2008
SIDDIQINE, Lebanon, 26 March (IPS) - Ali Mohanna lives in a two-room cinderblock structure with his wife and brain-damaged son. By the side is a small, freshly plowed tobacco field and the plot of rubble he once called home. Mohanna’s house was bombed by Israel during the 34-day conflict in 2006, as were houses of most residents of Siddiqine — an impoverished village of 6,000, about 10km inland from the coastal town Tyre. Read more about A devastated town recovers, in a way