Lebanon faces 'biggest danger', needs elections, says patriarch
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
February 08, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2023
Lebanon faces 'biggest danger', needs elections, says patriarch

World+Biz

Reuters
17 August, 2020, 09:40 am
Last modified: 17 August, 2020, 09:46 am

Related News

  • Lebanon's ordeal: from civil strife to economic collapse
  • At least one killed, 7 injured in explosion near Lebanon's Sidon
  • Lebanon judge investigating port blast kept on case by judiciary
  • Lebanese demand justice on port blast anniversary
  • Lebanon marks anniversary of Beirut Port blast amid calls for justice

Lebanon faces 'biggest danger', needs elections, says patriarch

Several MPs submitted their resignations over the port explosion but not in the number needed to dissolve parliament

Reuters
17 August, 2020, 09:40 am
Last modified: 17 August, 2020, 09:46 am
Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai speaks after meeting with Lebanon's President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon July 15, 2020. Photo:Reuters
Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai speaks after meeting with Lebanon's President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon July 15, 2020. Photo:Reuters

Lebanon's top Christian cleric called on Sunday for early parliamentary elections and a government formed to rescue the country rather than the ruling "political class" after the vast explosion in Beirut's port threw the nation into turmoil.

The now-caretaker cabinet resigned amid protests over the Aug. 4 blast that killed more than 172 people, injured 6,000, left 300,000 homeless and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean city, compounding a deep financial crisis.

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, who holds sway in Lebanon as head of the Maronite church from which the head of state must be drawn under sectarian power-sharing, warned that Lebanon was today facing "its biggest danger".

"We will not allow for Lebanon to become a compromise card between nations that want to rebuild ties amongst themselves," Al-Rai said in a Sunday sermon, without naming any countries.

"We must start immediately with change and quickly hold early parliamentary elections without the distraction of discussing a new election law and to form a new government."

US calls for credible probe into Beirut blast

Several MPs submitted their resignations over the port explosion but not in the number needed to dissolve parliament.

Under the constitution, President Michel Aoun is required to designate a candidate for prime minister with the most support from parliamentary blocs. The presidency has yet to say when consultations will take place.

There has been a flurry of Western and regional diplomacy after the blast, which fuelled public anger at politicians already accused of corruption and mismanagement. A financial meltdown has ravaged the currency and froze depositors out of their savings.

Senior French and US officials have linked any foreign financial aid with implementation of long-demanded reforms, including state control over the port and Lebanese borders.

Iran, seen as a major player in Lebanon through backing the powerful Shi'ite movement Hezbollah that helped form the outgoing cabinet, has said the international community should not take advantage of Lebanon's pain to exert its will.

Al-Rai said Lebanese want a government that would reverse "national, moral and material" corruption, enact reforms and "rescue Lebanon, not the leadership and political class".

EXPLOSION 'MYSTERY'
Aoun has said the investigation is looking into whether negligence, an accident or "external interference" caused the detonation of more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate warehoused for years without safety measures.

Aoun's influential son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who heads the largest Christian political bloc, said probing negligence should be quick as it was "known and documented", but that the blast itself "is a mystery that requires deep investigation".

Bassil, whose party is allied with Hezbollah, also said in a televised speech on Sunday that threats of further Western sanctions would "drown Lebanon in chaos and discord".

His party would not "betray or backstab a Lebanese or act with those abroad against domestic interests", he said.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Hezbollah, which it classifies as a terrorist group. US officials have said those sanctions could be extended beyond direct affiliates of the heavily armed movement to its allies.

During a visit to Beirut after the blast, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the prospect of sanctions as a last resort to spur Lebanese action on reform.

Top News

Lebanon blast

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh RMG adds more value to products
    Bangladesh RMG adds more value to products
  • HSC examinees shine on short syllabus
    HSC examinees shine on short syllabus
  • Indian data centre major Yotta to invest Tk2,000cr in Bangladesh
    Indian data centre major Yotta to invest Tk2,000cr in Bangladesh

MOST VIEWED

  • Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meet outside Number 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
    Britain steps up military backing for Ukraine as Zelenskiy visits London
  • Gautam Adani. Photo: Bloomberg
    Adani's London connection under scrutiny as UK watchdog launches probe: Report
  • Damaged buildings and rescue operations are seen in the aftermath of the earthquake, in Aleppo, Syria February 7, 2023, in this screen grab taken from a social media video. White Helmets/Handout via REUTERS
    Nearly 300,000 displaced by Syria quake - state media
  • FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) via phone line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 25, 2023. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
    Ukraine's Zelenskiy: will keep pushing to get planes from allies
  • FILE PHOTO-Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov in Ufa, Russia January 13, 2023. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS
    Putin approved supply of missiles that shot down MH17 in 2014, investigators say
  • FILE PHOTO: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, faces the altar during a service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain November 24, 2015. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
    Church of England explores gender neutral God

Related News

  • Lebanon's ordeal: from civil strife to economic collapse
  • At least one killed, 7 injured in explosion near Lebanon's Sidon
  • Lebanon judge investigating port blast kept on case by judiciary
  • Lebanese demand justice on port blast anniversary
  • Lebanon marks anniversary of Beirut Port blast amid calls for justice

Features

Illustration: TBS

Planning to study abroad? Explore these four underrated scholarships

13h | Pursuit
Representational image. Photo: Collected.

The understated perks of journaling

12h | Pursuit
Photo: Reuters

A tragedy that will also shake up the region's geopolitics

1d | Panorama
Nimah designed by Compass Architects- Wooden tiles. Photo: Junaid Hasan Pranto

Trendy flooring designs to upgrade any space

1d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Unknown facts about Sid-Kiara wedding

Unknown facts about Sid-Kiara wedding

7h | TBS Entertainment
Rescuers dig through rubble as death toll passes 9,000

Rescuers dig through rubble as death toll passes 9,000

7h | TBS World
30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

30% companies see double-digit growth even in hard times

1d | TBS Insight
Challenging time waiting for RMG

Challenging time waiting for RMG

1d | TBS Round Table

Most Read

1
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

From 'Made in Bangladesh' to 'Designed in Bangladesh'

2
Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making
Districts

Master plan for futuristic Chattogram city in the making

3
Photo: Collected
Crime

Prime Distribution MD Mamun arrested in fraud case

4
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

5
Photo: Collected
Startups

ShopUp secures $30m debt financing to boost expansion, supply chain

6
ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
Banking

ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]