Collective action is key to fighting corruption in Lebanon, experts say

A protester holds a banner during a demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 29 July 2021
Follow

Collective action is key to fighting corruption in Lebanon, experts say

  • A new research paper says the Lebanese state ‘is built on systemic corruption and non-accountability. This system has effectively collapsed’
  • Recovery is possible but will require civil society groups, the media, private organizations and other activists to work together to confront the ruling elite and force change

LONDON: The political and economic crisis in Lebanon can be resolved, experts say, but it will require collective action, the mobilization of civil society, and the formation of coalitions.
Since the end of the civil war in 1990, corruption among the political elite has undermined Lebanon’s recovery and development, according to Karim Merhej, a researcher and data analyst at The Public Source, culminating in the unprecedented socioeconomic crisis the country now faces.
Lebanon is in a transitional period in which the foundations of the post-civil war political and economic systems are built on the exploitation of resources that should be benefiting the people of the country, Merhej said.
His comments came during a discussion of his newly published research paper, “Breaking the Curse of Corruption in Lebanon,” hosted by Chatham House, a think tank in London.
“This state is built on systemic corruption and non-accountability,” he said. “This system has effectively collapsed and we are in a period where we are not sure what is going to happen yet. Even the political class in Lebanon do not know what is happening — they have gone almost 10 months without forming a government.”
On Monday, billionaire businessman Najib Mikati was chosen to be Lebanon’s new Prime Minister-designate, tasked with forming a government to end a year of political deadlock that has crippled the country. This is the third time he has been elected to the post after previously serving in 2005 and 2011.
He replaced Saad Hariri, who resigned on July 15 after nine months of negotiations with President Michel Aoun about the composition of the new government ending in failure. After his resignation, the Lebanese currency, which had already lost most of its value, hit record lows.
Last month the World Bank said Lebanon is enduring one of the three worst economic collapses since the mid-19th century. More than half the population is believed to be below the national poverty line and children, 30 percent of whom “went to bed hungry or skipped meals” in June, are “bearing the brunt” of the crisis, the institution said.




Words are written by Lebanese citizens in front of the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. (AP)

Merhej’s paper examines the anti-corruption laws in Lebanon, investigates why they are not working, and offers recommendations for action by the government, the international community and civil society.
“Lebanon’s anti-corruption initiatives, culminating in the recent adoption of the National Anti-corruption Strategy, are destined to be ineffective,” he writes.
“The Lebanese political elite unveiled these initiatives to the international community, as well as the Lebanese electorate, following the uprising of late 2019 and early 2020 in order to rehabilitate their tarnished image, and in some cases to acquire much-needed international funding.”
Merhej said that while the strategy and new laws might look commendable on paper, they are likely to be poorly implemented because of “a lack of political will among Lebanon’s ruling elites to engage in transparency, the absence of an independent judiciary, the use of state resources to benefit the private interests of the elites, the use of bureaucracy to make laws unimplementable, and the fact that the ruling elites are the custodians of the country’s broad anti-corruption strategy.”
The fight against corruption requires great effort and will not achieve results overnight, he warned. The government must prioritize the formation of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, he added, and ensure the judiciary is independent and not tied or subservient to the political class.
“We have seen a lot of collective organizing in the past two-to-three years, particularly after the October uprising in 2019, and we have seen the emergence of alternative syndicates (and) grassroots organizations and initiatives to protect free speech,” he said.
A lot of funding is flowing into Lebanon, with more expected, Merhej added as he called on the international community to implement transparency strategies to ensure aid goes directly to the people who need it and not into the pockets of corrupt officials.

Diana Kaissy, director of civil society engagement at the International Republican Institute in Lebanon, agreed that greater transparency is needed, particularly for parliamentary committee meetings, which are held behind closed doors and the minutes are not released to the public.
“We need to be sitting at the table, being part of these consultations, drafting these laws, so we make sure that they are laws that can be used (and) they are not toothless, they do not have loopholes,” she said.
Not all government officials are corrupt, Kaissy added, and a multi-stakeholder approach must be adopted that capitalizes on key players.
Little by little, she said, eventually it will be possible to make the changes people want. “I currently see no other way, and that is maybe what is keeping us hopeful and working the whole time,” she added.
Badri Meouchi, a corporate governance consultant with Tamayyaz, said countries or institutions that want to support anti-corruption efforts in Lebanon should work closely with the media, civil-society groups, private-sector organizations, and others in the public arena. Elections are also important, he said, but there are major challenges to overcome.
“We need to organize ourselves better, as well as financially, because they are very well organized (and) have amazing financial resources at their disposal, and we need to become more creative than they are — because they’re very creative,” he said.
Lebanon is set to hold separate municipal, parliamentary, and presidential elections next year.
There is hope, however, in what is happening on the ground, he added.
“What has changed in the past two years, which is encouraging, is that the formula of fear has changed,” Meouchi said. “It used to be, a couple of years ago, that if a politician entered a public place everyone wanted to shake their hand and be seen with them.
“Today you have citizens who are emboldened and this is a new factor in the fight against corruption, because there is only so much that we in civil society can do.”


Lebanese army says Hamas handed over suspect in missile launches toward Israel

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

Lebanese army says Hamas handed over suspect in missile launches toward Israel

CAIRO: The Lebanese army said on Sunday that Hamas handed over a suspect involved in launching missiles towards Israel in March, days after Lebanon warned the Palestinian group not to conduct operations that compromise Lebanese security or sovereignty.


UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban on May 7

Updated 3 min 19 sec ago
Follow

UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban on May 7

  • UAE will lift a ban for its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025

DUBAI: The UAE Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that it will lift a ban on its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025, following a visit by the Lebanese head of state last week, according to WAM News Agency. 

The decision comes after a joint statement issued on Thursday, announcing that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed agreed to implement measures to facilitate travel and improve movement between the two countries.

The UAE banned its citizens from traveling to Lebanon in 2021. Lebanese citizens were not banned from traveling to the UAE. 


Paramilitaries launch first attack on Port Sudan: army

Updated 04 May 2025
Follow

Paramilitaries launch first attack on Port Sudan: army

  • The paramilitaries have expanded the scope and frequency of their drone attacks on army-held areas since losing control of areas including most of the capital Khartoum in March
  • UN agencies have also moved their offices and staff to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge from the war.

PORT SUDAN: Sudanese paramilitaries on Sunday struck Port Sudan, the army said, in the first attack on the seat of the army-aligned government in the country’s two-year war.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023, have increased their use of drones since losing territory including much of the capital Khartoum in March.
Army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said in a statement that the RSF “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities in the city of Port Sudan with suicide drones.”
He reported no casualties but “limited damage” in the city, on Sudan’s Red Sea coast.
AFP images showed smoke billowing from the area of the airport in Port Sudan, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) from the nearest known RSF positions on the outskirts of Khartoum.
In the eastern border town of Kassala, some 500 kilometers south of Port Sudan, near Eritrea, witnesses said three drones struck the airport on Sunday for the second day in a row.
An AFP correspondent in Port Sudan said his home, about 20 kilometers from the airport, was shaking as explosions were heard early Sunday.
A passenger told AFP from the airport that “we were on the way to the plane when we were quickly evacuated and taken out of the terminal.”
On social media, users shared videos which AFP was not able to immediately verify showing a large explosion followed by a cloud of smoke rising from the blast site.
Flights to and from Port Sudan, the country’s main port of entry since the start of the war, were suspended until further notice, a government source told AFP.
The rare attacks on the airports in Port Sudan and Kassala, both far from areas that have seen much of the fighting since April 2023, come as the RSF has expanded the scope and frequency of its drone attacks.
The paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have been battling the regular army, headed by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million.
In the early days of the war, the government relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which until Sunday’s attack had been spared the violence.
UN agencies have also moved their offices and staff to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge from the war.
The conflict has left Sudan, Africa’s third largest country, effectively divided.
The army controls the center, east and north, while the RSF has conquered nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and parts of the south.
Lacking the army’s fighter jets, the RSF has relied on drones, including makeshift ones, for air power.


Missile launched from Yemen lands near Israel’s main airport

Updated 04 May 2025
Follow

Missile launched from Yemen lands near Israel’s main airport

  • Yemen's Houthis claim missile attack on Israel's main airport
  • Sirens were activated in Tel Aviv and other areas in the country

TEL AVIV: A missile landed inside the perimeter of Israel’s main airport on Sunday, wounding six people, halting flights and gouging a wide crater, in an attack claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
The Israeli military said “several attempts were made to intercept” the missile that was launched from Yemen, a rare Houthi attack that penetrated Israel’s air defenses.
A video issued by Israel’s police force showed officers standing on the edge of a deep crater with the control tower visible in the distance behind them. No damage was reported to airport buildings or runways.
The police reported a “missile impact” at Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main international gateway.
An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport’s largest, with the crater less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) away from the closest tarmac.
“You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen meters (yards) wide and several dozen meters deep,” central Israel’s police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video shared by the force.
It was not immediately clear whether the impact was caused by the Yemeni missile or by an interceptor.
The attack was claimed by Yemen’s Houthis, who say they act in support for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza.
“The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile,” the Houthis said in a statement, referring to their own forces.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.
An AFP journalist inside the airport at the time of the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35 am (0635 GMT), adding the “reverberation was very strong.”
“Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers,” the AFP journalist said.
“Many passengers are now waiting for their flights to take off, and others are trying to find alternative flights.”
An incoming Air India flight was diverted to Abu Dhabi, an airport official told AFP.
A passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of the country, caused panic.
“It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this,” said the passenger, who did not want to be named, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
“A missile might come at any time and life stops for some time. Today at the airport there was panic and even I was scared, because the blast was big.”

Israel’s airport authority said that “departures and arrivals have resumed” at Ben Gurion, a short while after they had been interrupted due to the missile fire.
The airport “is open and operational,” the aviation authority said in a statement.
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened a forceful response, saying: “Anyone who hits us, we will hit them seven times stronger.”

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas praised the missile attack on Israel's airport that was claimed by the Houthis.

“Yemen... escalates its attacks on the heart of the illegitimate Zionist entity, surpassing the most advanced defense systems in the world and striking its targets with precision,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement. 


Qatar rejects Netanyahu’s ‘inflammatory’ Gaza comments: foreign ministry

Updated 04 May 2025
Follow

Qatar rejects Netanyahu’s ‘inflammatory’ Gaza comments: foreign ministry

  • Netanyahu's office earlier urged Qatar to stop its "double game" and "decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas”
  • Qatar ministry spokesman said the statement "fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility”

DOHA: Gaza mediator Qatar on Sunday rejected comments from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it needed to “stop playing both sides” in truce negotiations.
A statement released by Netanyahu's office on Saturday said Qatar needs to “decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas.”
Qatar “firmly rejects the inflammatory statements... which fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari responded in a post on X.

Gaza mediator Qatar on Sunday rejected comments from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it needed to “stop playing both sides” in truce negotiations. A statement released by Netanyahu's office on Saturday said Qatar needs to “decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas.” Qatar “firmly rejects the inflammatory statements... which fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari responded in a post on X.

Despite efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to restore a ceasefire, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.
Israel, which wants the return of 59 hostages still held in Gaza, has insisted Hamas must disarm and be excluded from any role in the future governance of the enclave, a condition that Hamas rejects.
It has insisted on agreeing a lasting end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces as a condition for a deal that would see a release of the hostages.
Al-Ansari criticized the portrayal of the Gaza conflict as a defense of civilization, likening it to historical regimes that used “false narratives to justify crimes against civilians.”
In his post, Al-Ansari questioned whether the release of 138 hostages was achieved through military operations or mediation efforts, which he said are being unjustly criticized and undermined.
He also cited the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza represented by what he called a suffocating blockade, systematic starvation, denial of medicine and shelter, and the use of humanitarian aid as a tool of political coercion. On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Friday, adding to signs that attempts to stop the fighting and return hostages held by Hamas have made no progress.
Israel’s campaign was triggered by the devastating Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage. It has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated Gaza where aid groups have warned the Israeli blockade risks a humanitarian disaster.