Why you should care about Lebanon
An in-depth look at the crisis in Lebanon
A worsening economic crisis, reignited border conflicts, and the COVID19 pandemic have all taken a toll on the small country in the Middle East. Here we break it all down for you to understand what’s going on in Lebanon.
On June 22nd, 2020, dozens of Lebanese protesters held a rally in Beirut, demanding freedom of speech on social media. The protesters gathered outside the Palace of Justice in the capital, holding Lebanese flags and chanting “Revolution, Revolution.”
The protests were sparked by a set of regressive tax proposals made on October 17th, 2019 — notably the quickly rescinded tax on internet-based calling services such as WhatsApp, which are widely used in Lebanon because regular phone service is often too expensive.
The proposal came at a time when many citizens were fearful of an impending currency crisis and fed up with a political system based on nepotism and sectarian identity that had failed to provide even the most basic of services. The country suffers from long-running shortages in government-provided electricity and water. Four years ago, failure to resolve a waste collection crisis left mountains of waste materials in the streets of Beirut.
Then, in the week leading up to the protests, the government turned out to be woefully unprepared for the massive forest fires that erupted around the country. Civil defense volunteers lacked basic equipment, and a trio of firefighting helicopters that had been donated to the country in 2009 were out of commission due to lack of maintenance.
The slogan of the protests has been “all of them means all of them,” showing that demonstrators blame political leaders of all parties, regardless of sect.
Under Lebanon’s current system, leadership posts are apportioned based on religion. The president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of Parliament a Shiite Muslim. Parliamentary seats are also apportioned via a sect-based quota system.
President Michel Aoun was selected in October 2016, breaking a two-year deadlock between the two main parties in government at the time: the March 8 coalition, which Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement party is a part of, includes the Shiite militant group, political party Hezbollah and is aligned with the Syrian regime; the opposing March 14 coalition, led by Hariri’s Future Movement. The speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, of the Hezbollah aligned Amal Movement, has held his position since 1992, with the length of his tenure becoming a running joke in the country.
Although he holds no official government position, the other figure who looms large in Lebanese politics is Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah.
In a recent speech, Nasrallah expressed sympathy for the movement’s socioeconomic grievances but also said that he opposed Hariri’s resignation and called for the swift formation of a new government. As well, he mentioned that outside forces had been trying to hijack the protests to create divisions within Lebanon, cause political and economic collapse, and target Hezbollah.
Parliamentary elections were held in May 2018 for the first time in nine years. In the lead-up to the elections, activists hoped they could bring in fresh faces independent of the traditional political parties, but in the end, only one so-called civil society candidate, Paula Yacoubian, was elected.
The Lebanese central bank, led by Gov. Riad Salame, has been under fire over accusations that measures have been taken to protect the banks’ bottom line rather than citizens’ well-being. Salame, who has headed the central bank since 1993, has been scrutinized for ongoing financial engineering that initially was meant to be a temporary measure to prevent hyperinflation following the end of the civil war in 1990.
Among those measures is the Lebanese pound’s peg to the U.S. dollar. Officially at 1,507 pounds to the dollar, but with a large debt load and stagnant growth, the country has struggled to maintain the peg. Banks have been hoarding dollars due to a shortage in recent months.
The immediate end of the peg would spell disaster for many, with citizens already struggling to withdraw U.S. dollars and facing a rising black market exchange rate. Prior to the protests, the unofficial exchange rate on the street had crept up to around 1,650 pounds to the dollar. With banks closed since the beginning of the uprising, the black-market exchange rate rose to 1,800 pounds to the dollar or more.
The immediate end of the peg would spell disaster for many.
The official exchange rate remained unchanged when banks reopened Friday, with some withdrawal limits and other controls put in place to avoid a collapse. The long-term fate of the currency remains uncertain.
Mirvat Mezher, a 45-year-old mother of three in the coastal city of Sidon, told Foreign Policy that — like many other Lebanese people who joined the protests — she was already fed up with the tax proposal.
Her husband has cancer and the family has fallen into debt with education expenses for their three children. Mezher has been looking for work without success. Consequently, her oldest daughter had to drop out of university to work. If her children do graduate from university, she expects they will have to go abroad to find good jobs.
“Our situation in Lebanon is really miserable”she said, laying the blame at the feet of the country’s entrenched political leadership. “We no longer have anything to lose.”
Underlying frustration with the government and the political elite has been accumulating for years. Public anger has escalated in recent years over electricity and water shortages, as well as the government’s failure to manage the country’s waste and economic crises.
Despite government attempts to placate the protesters with announced reforms, demonstrations continued in Beirut, Tripoli, Zouk, Jal el Dib, Saida, Nabatieh, Sour and Zahle. On December 18th, the 13th day of the protests, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation.
The protesters have main targets:
An end to government corruption
An end to the sectarian political system
The recovery of stolen funds and holding the corrupt accountable
Fair tax and financial procedures
In an attempt to break up gatherings of anti-government protesters attempting to reach Martyr’s Square on 18 January 2020, dozens of people were injured when security forces used water cannons and tear gas to dissipate the protesters. Furthermore, demonstrators were spotted at Martyr’s Square throwing rocks, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at security forces, as well as shining lasers at them to interrupt series of tear gas rounds, CNN reported. In the evening, President Aoun summoned armed forces to the streets to safeguard private property, as well as peaceful protesters, according to ABC News. About thirty people were said to have been detained due to Saturday’s unrest, though the detainees were later released, as stated by the state-run National News Agency. More than sixty wounded people are believed to have received treatment, with at least forty rushed to the hospitals, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. In total, Reuters reported that more than 370 people had been injured in the day’s protests.
On January 19th, 2020, an American freelance journalist Nicholas Frakes was arrested on the allegation of sending footage of anti-government protests to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, according to The Washington Post. However, Haaretz Newspaper has rejected any connection to Nicholas Frakes, arguing that the live video feed of the anti-government protest uploaded on their Facebook account was from Reuters, the Jerusalem Post added. The committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) claimed that since January 14th, 2020, journalists reporting anti-government protests in Beirut have been arrested, attacked, or harassed by police officers, reported the International Business Times. According to France 24, the expected participation of Lebanon’s outgoing foreign minister Gebran Bassil in the World Economic Forum triggered a strong public protest, demanding the cancellation of his invitation. However, Bassil maintains that the protesters who chanted against him do not make up many Lebanese people and that he is not leaving until voters drive him out in elections, the Washington Post stated.
As of January 21st, 2020, there has been an increase in the number of people injured in the Lebanese protests, with numbers surpassing 540, according to The Times of Israel.
On 21 January, Prime Minister Diab announced the formation of a new cabinet of twenty ministers, bringing an end to several months of impasse that has left the country in a deepening economic crisis. According to CNN, during an interview with Lebanon’s state news agency, Diab portrayed the newly appointed ministers as “technocrats” whom he believes would operate without loyalties to political parties. Even before the new cabinet was unveiled, several groups of protesters had gathered in the streets of Beirut, obstructing a main street in the center of the capital, according to France 24. The Times of Israel added that the protesters tried to take down barbed wire near the parliament building and throw rocks at security forces, who in return used tear gas and water cannons.
On 27 January, the Lebanon Parliament passed a 2020 budget, amid the debilitating financial crisis. The state budget came as the protests outside the Parliament in Beirut were held back by the security forces. Four people had been injured and taken to the hospitals in Beirut, with eight other people sustaining minor injuries, the Lebanese Red Cross announced. The state-run National News Agency stated that only seventy out of the 128 members of parliament attended Monday’s vote, with forty-nine lawmakers in favor of passing the budget, thirteen against and eight forgoing. According to Al Jazeera, analysts argue that the endorsed 2020 budget barely attempts to resolve Lebanon’s financial and economic crisis.
Across Lebanon, protesters blocked main roads as part of their peaceful protest. The right of peaceful protesters to demonstrate on and block public roads has consistently been upheld by international human rights bodies which view urban spaces as a legitimate space for protest. The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association has stated that “the free flow of traffic should not automatically take precedence over freedom of peaceful assembly.” Lynn Maalouf from Amnesty International says:
Protesters are making their voices heard in a peaceful manner — the authorities have an obligation to protect this right.
Since the beginning of the protests, military, and security forces have arrested hundreds of peaceful protesters across Lebanon, including Sour, Jal el Dib, Zouk, Beirut, and Beddawi. Amnesty International has documented several violations, including arrests without warrant, severe beatings, insults and humiliation, blindfolding, and forced confessions. Four people in Beddawi were unlawfully detained for six days by the military before being released. Their whereabouts were unknown, and they were denied access to their lawyers and family, amounting to possible enforced disappearance under international law. Two people told the organization that they had been subjected to mock executions. In the rare cases where a minority of protesters were involved in vandalism, security forces responded disproportionately, by arresting several peaceful protesters.
The Lawyers’ Committee to Defend Protesters in Lebanon estimates that security forces arrested as many as 100 people across the country, including five children on January 14th and 15th 2020 during various protests, a few of which included some clashes between the police and protesters.
Amnesty International has documented how on several occasions Lebanese security forces failed to effectively intervene to protect protesters when they came under attack by supporters of the ruling parties Hezbollah and Amal.
On October 18th in the southern city of Sour, eyewitnesses said army officers allowed visibly armed supporters of the Amal movement to assault peaceful protesters. In the southern city of Nabatiyyeh on 23 October, dozens of men armed with sticks and batons stormed a sit in, beating protesters and causing them to disperse.
Later, on 29th October, Lebanese security forces failed to intervene when Amal and Hezbollah supporters beat and chased demonstrators and set fire to their tents at the Ring Highway in Beirut.
Members of the armed forces have a duty to ensure that the right to peaceful protest is upheld and that includes protecting peaceful demonstrators from coming under attack from rival protesters. Fatima, a teacher from Nabatiyeh says:
They began to beat protesters with sticks and push us, they tried to beat me… there were security forces there, but they stood on the sidelines
On 18 October in downtown Beirut, shortly after the speech of Prime Minister Hariri, security forces used excessive force to disperse protesters firing huge amounts of tear gas into crowds and chasing protesters down streets and alleys at gunpoint and beating them.
I saw him aiming at me while I threw stones and said don’t shoot! I’ll stop throwing the stones… but he shot me four times in the stomach
says Mohammed al-Abdallah, protester shot in the stomach in Beddawi.
In the most violent episode since the protests began, the army opened fire against dozens of protesters staging a sit-in the Beddawi area of Tripoli in north Lebanon on 26 October. Soldiers attempting to clear a road began to beat the protesters who responded by throwing stones at them. The soldiers then opened fire using live ammunition seriously wounding at least two protesters.
But how will this crisis end? Will another new government be formed? Will Lebanon change its regime? Are there risks of civil war, like in neighboring Syria?
The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Lebanon on February 21st. The pandemic’s arrival put even more strain on the socio-economic crisis. However, this did not stop the protests. People came out in hundreds on March 5th to protest against regulations stopping them from withdrawing their funds from the bank. A lockdown was issued on 15 March to prevent the spread of the virus, but protests continued throughout April, June and into July. On July 10, several Lebanese protesters alongside supporters of the Hezbollah group came out to protest American involvement in Lebanon. On the same day, The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet sounded the alarm over Lebanon’s socio-economic crisis, calling for an urgent and unified response. She estimated 75% of Lebanon’s population are in need of aid, including 250,000 migrant workers who have lost their jobs. It is clear the Lebanese government needs to urgently enact reforms, work on containing the virus, and prioritize essentials such as electricity, food, health, and education. But as of now, it is unclear when, or if, this will happen.
