Lebanese banks declare three-day closure over security concerns

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Updated 17 September 2022
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Lebanese banks declare three-day closure over security concerns

  • Bank holdups by increasingly frustrated depositors snowball in Lebanon
  • Strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency have been imposed since 2019

BEIRUT: Depositors wanting to recover withheld savings carried out hold-ups in at least five different banks across Lebanon on Friday.

The banks have been denying people access to their money for three years, with the government yet to establish a legal framework for the recovery of deposits, pushing depositors to retrieve their funds by force.

In Friday’s incidents, security forces negotiated with depositors, some of whom voluntarily headed to police stations to surrender after making sure their money safely reached relatives.

They followed events on Wednesday, when Sali Hafiz stormed her local bank with a toy gun and managed to recover part of her savings to help pay for her sister’s cancer treatment. The security forces issued an arrest warrant against her, but she remains at large.

Hassan Moghnieh, the head of the Lebanon’s Depositors Association, told Arab News: “It is an uprising of depositors who can no longer endure more than three years of having their savings withheld. Five banks were stormed on Friday, and there is news about more banks being stormed in Nabatiyeh in the south, Batroun, and Halba in the north.”


STORMING OF THE BANKS

Banks reportedly held up by depositors

• Byblos Bank in Ghazieh
• BLOM Bank at Beirut’s Tarik El-Jadida
• Bank Audi in Chiyah
• Banque Libano-Française branches at Kafaat and Hamra
• Lebanon & Gulf Bank at Ramlet El-Baida
• BLOM Bank in Concorde
• Fransabank in Beirut
• BankMed in Chehim in Mount Lebanon


Friday’s incidents prompted the bank association to hold an emergency meeting and decide to close banks for three days starting Monday.

Depositor Mohammed Reda Korkmaz and his son Ibrahim stormed the Byblos Bank branch in Ghazieh. The father held employees hostage, poured gasoline, and threatened to set the branch on fire if he did not get his money back.

Panic ensued at the bank for some time, and Korkomaz managed to retrieve $19,200 from his account and handed it over to someone who was waiting for him outside the bank.

It turned out that Korkmaz worked as a taxi driver, and he used a plastic pistol and a gasoline bottle to threaten employees. Later, he and his son surrendered, smiling to the security forces at the scene.

Abdel Rahman Sobra stormed the BLOM Bank branch in Tariq Al-Jdideh, one of the most popular and crowded neighborhoods in Beirut.

He claimed to have a gun in his pocket but did not use it to threaten employees.

He demanded to recover his withheld deposits, estimated at $165,000. Sobra said he was a businessman and is unable to pay his dues and cover his employees’ salaries.

A woman in her 80s later joined Sobra, asking to be allowed to withdraw her money as she needs to pay her medical bills.

Video footage from inside the bank showed that security forces entered to negotiate with Sobra but did not arrest him.

An armed depositor broke into the Bank of Lebanon and Gulf in Ramlet Al-Bayda, in the south of Beirut, carrying a hunting rifle. The depositor, identified as Jawad Sleem, is unemployed, according to his brother, who was waiting for him outside the bank.

Sleem used to work in real estate but became unemployed after the economic collapse in the country. He demanded $35,000 from his deposit of $50,000 and held five hostages inside the bank.

Armed with a gun, a depositor from Al-Moussawi family stormed the Libano-Française bank in Mrayjeh in one of Beirut’s southern suburbs, and forcibly took his entire deposit of $20,000.

A depositor who is a serving lieutenant in the Internal Security Forces broke into Bankmed in Chehime in Iklim El-Kharoub. It was said that he fired into the air.

Activist lawyer Haytham Azzo, known for defending civilians protesting in the streets and depositors breaking into banks, told Arab News that these depositors do not have criminal intentions, and only want their rightful property.

“This is the result of the state not addressing the frozen dollar deposits crisis as the economic crisis worsens. The state is turning normal civilians into criminals when they are not as such,” Azzo said.

Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi called for an immediate meeting of the Central Security Council. “The law will be strictly enforced, however, I will not accept a confrontation between people and the security forces; There will be no gunfire or harsh treatment,” he said.

Mawlawi addressed depositors: “You cannot reclaim your rights in such a way as it harms the banking system and leads to the rest of the depositors losing their rights.”




Above, the smiling suspects surrender to the police. (Twitter)

The bank association said its decision to suspend work came “after the repeated attacks on banks, especially the physical assaults on bank employees and their dignity.”

It also came “after taking into account the risks that the customers are facing inside the branches subjected to storming operations.”

The association stressed that “it wants to protect the interests of depositors” and that “violence was not and will not be a solution.”

Economic expert Jassem Ajaka told Arab News that storming banks is a “very dangerous indicator that the government has given up on its role, to the extent that people themselves are now reclaiming their rights.”

He said: “This is a warning for the government to approve the draft of the Capital Control Law, restructure banks and acknowledge public debt.”

President of the Lebanese Depositors Association Hassan Moghnieh said: “An increase in bank break-ins was expected,” adding “closing down banks will not address the crisis, since the break-ins will restart on the first day of banks reopening their doors.”

He warned of “massive social chaos” and denied that “any party was responsible for depositors’ uprising.”


Trump administration removes Syria sanctions

Updated 24 May 2025
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Trump administration removes Syria sanctions

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday lifted comprehensive economic sanctions on Syria, marking a dramatic policy shift following the end of Bashar Al-Assad's regime and opening the door for new investment in the war-torn country.

Syria must "continue to work towards becoming a stable country that is at peace, and today's actions will hopefully put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous and stable future," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.


NGO calls for probe of US-backed Gaza aid group

Updated 23 May 2025
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NGO calls for probe of US-backed Gaza aid group

GENEVA: Swiss authorities should investigate the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial US-backed group preparing to move aid into the Gaza Strip, justice watchdog TRIAL International said on Friday.
Describing the foundation as a private security company, it said aid distribution should be left to UN organizations and humanitarian agencies.
“The dire humanitarian situation in Gaza requires an immediate response,” TRIAL International’s executive director, Philip Grant, said in a statement.
“However, the planned use of private security companies leads to a risky militarization of aid,” he added.
That, he argued, “is not justified in a context where the UN and humanitarian NGOs have the impartiality, resources, and expertise necessary to distribute this aid without delay to the civilian population.”
TRIAL International said it had filed legal submissions calling on Switzerland, where GHF is registered, to check that the group was complying with its own statutes and the Swiss legal system.

FASTFACT

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.

The GHF has said it will distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.
But the UN and traditional aid agencies have already said they will not cooperate with the group, which some have accused of working with Israel.
On Thursday, the UN cited concerns about “impartiality, neutrality, and independence.”
Aid began trickling into the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in more than two months, amid mounting condemnation of an Israeli blockade that has sparked severe shortages of food and medicine.
Israel launched its war on Gaza after the October 2023 attack.
On Friday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.


UN chief says Gaza war in ‘cruelest phase’ as aid trucks looted

Updated 23 May 2025
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UN chief says Gaza war in ‘cruelest phase’ as aid trucks looted

  • Antonio Guterres demands Israel 'allows and facilitates humanitarian deliveries
  • World Food Programme says15 of its trucks were looted in southern Gaza

GAZA CITY: The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.
Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.
Gaza civil defense agency official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir told AFP at least 71 people were killed, while “dozens of injuries, and a large number of missing persons under the rubble have been reported as a result of Israeli air strikes” on Friday.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict,” adding that Israel “must agree to allow and facilitate” humanitarian deliveries.
He pointed to snags, however, noting that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza in recent days, only 115 were able to be collected.
“In any case, all the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” he added in a statement.
“Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction,” he said.
The World Food Programme said Friday that 15 of its “trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries.”
“Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity,” the UN body said in a statement, calling on Israeli authorities “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster.”
Aid shipments to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has resulted in severe shortages of food and medicine.
“I appeal to people of conscience to send us fresh water and food,” said Sobhi Ghattas, a displaced Palestinian sheltering at the port in Gaza City.
“My daughter has been asking for bread since this morning, and we have none to give her.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday.
But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March.
“No one should be surprised let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or ‘lost’,” he said on X, adding that “the people of Gaza have been starved” for more than 11 weeks.
The Israeli military said that over the past day, its forces had attacked “military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts” in Gaza.
“In addition, the (air force) struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip,” it added.
The military said on Friday afternoon that air raid sirens were activated in communities near Gaza, later reporting that “a projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip was intercepted” by the air force.
In Gaza’s north, Al-Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.
The civil defense agency later said it had successfully contained a fire at the hospital.
An AFP journalist saw large plumes of smoke billowing above destroyed buildings in southern Gaza after Israeli bombardments.
“Have mercy on us,” said a distraught Youssef Al-Najjar, whose relatives were killed in an air strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.
“We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger — enough!“
Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19.
On Friday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.


Netanyahu accuses France, Britain and Canada of ‘emboldening’ Hamas

Updated 23 May 2025
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Netanyahu accuses France, Britain and Canada of ‘emboldening’ Hamas

  • France dismisses Israeli leader's accusations and said there needs to be a lasting peace solution for Israel and and Palestine
  • Israel fears more European countries will officially recognize a Palestinian state

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the leaders of France, Britain and Canada of wanting to help the Palestinian militant group Hamas after they threatened to take “concrete action” if Israel did not stop its latest offensive in Gaza.

The criticism, echoing similar remarks from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday, was part of a fightback by the Israeli government against the increasingly heavy international pressure on it over the war in Gaza.

“You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history,” Netanyahu said.

The Israeli leader, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza, has regularly criticized European countries as well as global institutions from the United Nations to the International Court of Justice over what he says is their bias against Israel.

But as the flow of images of destruction and hunger in Gaza has continued, fueling protests in countries around the world, Israel has struggled to turn international opinion, which has increasingly shifted against it.

“It’s hard to convince at least some people, definitely on the far left in the US and in some countries in Europe, that what Israel is doing is a war of defense,” said former Israeli diplomat Yaki Dayan.

“But this is how it is perceived in Israel and bridging this gap is sometimes an impossible mission,” he said.

Israeli officials have been particularly concerned about growing calls for other countries in Europe to follow the example of Spain and Ireland in recognizing a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution to resolve decades of conflict in the region.

Netanyahu argues that a Palestinian state would threaten Israel and he has framed the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington on Tuesday by a man who allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” as a clear example of that threat.

He said “exactly the same chant” was heard during the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

“They don’t want a Palestinian state. They want to destroy the Jewish state,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X.

“I could never understand how this simple truth evades the leaders of France, Britain, Canada and others,” he said, adding that any moves by Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state would “reward these murderers with the ultimate prize.”

Instead of advancing peace, the three leaders were “emboldening Hamas to continue fighting forever,” he said.

The Israeli leader, whose government depends on far-right support, said Hamas, which issued a statement welcoming the move, had thanked French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canada’s Mark Carney over what he said was their demand for an immediate end to the war.

The leaders’ statement on Monday did not demand an immediate end to the war, but a halt to Israel’s new military offensive on Gaza and a lifting of its restrictions on humanitarian aid. Israel had prevented aid from entering Gaza since March, before relaxing its blockade this week.

“By issuing their demand – replete with a threat of sanctions against Israel, against Israel, not Hamas – these three leaders effectively said they want Hamas to remain in power,” Netanyahu said.

“And they give them hope to establish a second Palestinian state from which Hamas will again seek to destroy the Jewish state.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said France, which like Britain and Canada designates Hamas as a terrorist organization, was “unwaveringly committed to Israel’s security” but he said it was “absurd and slanderous” to accuse supporters of a two-state solution of encouraging antisemitism or Hamas.

French government spokesperson Sophie Primas said France did not accept Netanyahu’s accusations, adding: “We need to de-escalate this rising tension between our two states and work to find lasting peace solutions, for Israel and for Palestine.”

Asked about Netanyahu’s remarks, Britain’s armed forces minister Luke Pollard said London stood with Israel in their right to self-defense. “But that self-defense must be conducted within the bounds of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“At this moment, we stand fast against terrorism, but we also want to make sure that the aid is getting into Gaza,” Pollard told Times Radio.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza was launched in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken as hostage into Gaza. It has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians and devastated the enclave, where wide areas have been reduced to rubble.


Lebanese army to begin disarming Palestinians in Beirut camps in mid-June

Updated 23 May 2025
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Lebanese army to begin disarming Palestinians in Beirut camps in mid-June

  • The Lebanese and Palestinian sides agreed on starting a plan “to remove weapons from the camps, beginning mid-June,” the source told AFP
  • By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps

BEIRUT: The joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee, which convened on Friday in the presence of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam of Lebanon, agreed to begin implementing the directives outlined in the joint statement issued by the Lebanese-Palestinian summit held on Wednesday in Beirut, in terms of restricting weapons to the hands of the Lebanese state.

A source in Salam’s office told Arab News: “June 16 will mark the beginning of the Lebanese army’s deployment to Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, namely Shatila, Mar Elias and Burj Al-Barajneh camps, to take control of the Palestinian factions’ weapons.

“This will involve Lebanese army patrols inside these camps, followed by subsequent phases targeting camps in the Bekaa, northern Lebanon and south, particularly Ain Al-Hilweh, the largest, most densely populated and factionally diverse Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, encompassing factions affiliated or non-affiliated with the liberation organization.

The source said the “implementation date will be communicated to all Palestinian factions, including Hamas,” and that “the factions will convene to agree on the mechanism, and that pressure will be applied to any group that refuses to relinquish its weapons.”

Addressing Hamas’s earlier stance linking the surrender of its weapons to that of Hezbollah, the source said “there is no connection between the two issues. Once the disarmament process begins, neither Hamas nor any other faction will be able to obstruct or impede it.”

The source said that Arab and regional actors are actively supporting Lebanon in facilitating the disarmament process.

Salam welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to “resolve the issue of Palestinian weapons in the camps,” noting the “positive impact of this decision in strengthening Lebanese-Palestinian relations and improving the humanitarian and socio-economic conditions of Palestinian refugees.”

He affirmed Lebanon’s “adherence to its national principles.”

Salam called for “the swift implementation of practical steps through a clear execution mechanism and a defined timeline.”

According to a statement, both sides agreed “to launch a process to hand over weapons based on a set timetable, accompanied by practical steps to enhance the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees, and to intensify joint meetings and coordination to put in place the necessary arrangements to immediately begin implementing these directives.”

A statement issued after talks between Abbas and Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s president, reaffirmed “their commitment to the principle that weapons must be exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese state, to end any manifestations that contradict the logic of the Lebanese state, and the importance of respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.”

Since the Nakba — the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, and the suppression of their political rights — Lebanon has had 12 Palestinian refugee camps.

According to the Population and Housing Census in the Palestinian Camps and Gatherings in Lebanon, 72.8 percent of Palestinians in the camps face dire living conditions. The rest are Syrians, Lebanese, and other foreigners, the majority of whom are foreign workers.

Abbas, during his visit, reiterated that “the refugee camps are under the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and the Lebanese army, and the presence of weapons in the camps outside the state’s authority weakens Lebanon. Any weapon that is not under the command of the state is weakening Lebanon and endangering the Palestinian cause.”

Hisham Debsi, director of the Tatweer Center for Strategic Studies and Human Development and a Palestinian researcher, characterized the Lebanese-Palestinian joint statement as “a foundational document that functions as a political, ethical, and sovereign framework. Opposition to its declared positions would be tantamount to rejecting the Lebanese government’s oath of office and ministerial declaration.”

Debsi said: “The joint statement has blocked any potential maneuvering by Hamas to retain its weapons, since the declaration provides the Lebanese state with complete Palestinian legitimacy to remove protection from any armed Palestinian individual. Abu Mazen (Abbas) has reinforced this position repeatedly throughout his Beirut meetings.”

In his assessment, “no faction can now challenge both Lebanese and Palestinian authority given this unified stance.”

Debsi highlighted “a fundamental division within Hamas’s Lebanon branch, with one camp advocating transformation into a political party with the other supporting maintaining ties to Iranian-backed groups.”

He added: “Those opposing Hamas disarmament will face political and security consequences, particularly as camp residents seek to restructure their communities beyond armed resistance, which has become obsolete and must evolve into peaceful advocacy.”