Lebanon under siege http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb offers up-to-date information on relief efforts and diplomatic initiatives. The site lists locations of shelter and Aid distribution, along with a tally of damage, casualties and official statements. Significantly, the site is available in three languages. This site is the official Lebanese government source of information.
1-General situation.
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reiterated Monday that his government would not cover any expenses related to illegal construction in the capital or elsewhere in Lebanon. Addressing reporters following extraordinary Cabinet session on Monday, the Premier said that the military judiciary was investigating clashes that occurred on Friday between residents and members of the Internal Security Forces who were dismantling unlicensed residential structures in Beirut's southern suburbs. "We cannot accept covering any construction violation; Cabinet's decision in this regard is unanimous and strict," the Premier said.
During a security meeting held following the Cabinet session, the ministers discussed Friday's clash in a meeting attended by the ISF's director general, Major General Ashraf Rifi. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said afterward that a unanimous agreement had been reached to complete an investigation into the incident and to hold the relevant officials accountable.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that Lebanon is in dire need of Saudi Arabia's political support in the face of the challenges awaiting the country, the National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday. "Lebanon now is in urgent need of the assistance and political support that Saudi Arabia never relinquished prior, during and after the Taef accord, in view of the challenges awaiting the country," Berri said. Berri's statement came after returning to Beirut from a visit to the Kingdom, where he met with His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose country is the leading contributor to the expanding UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, is to arrive in Beirut today in preparation for talks with Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora. Prime Minister Prodi is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday, an official at the Italian Embassy said on Monday. Italy is contributing 2,500 troops, more than any other nation, to the UN's expanded peacekeeping force now in place in Southern Lebanon.
The UNIFIL Acting Force Commander Brig.-General J.P. Nehra met with senior officers from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The situation around Gadjar was discussed with a view of ensuring a speedy withdrawal of IDF from the area. "The meeting was productive and the main focus was to finalize the IDF withdrawal," said Brig.-General J.P. Nehra. During the meeting, the IDF provided UNIFIL the maps of minefields in South Lebanon as of June 2000 after their withdrawal. UNIFIL handed over these maps to the UN Mine Action Coordination Center and to the LAF for review, UNIFIL reported.
Meanwhile, A Turkish Navy frigate will leave for Lebanon on Friday to serve in UN peacekeeping operations and will soon be followed by a unit of engineers, Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters on Monday. He added that Turkey would deploy some 700 soldiers in Lebanon, including those stationed on navy vessels. Similarly, the Bulgarian Parliament gave final approval Friday for a 160-crew frigate to join the UN mission off Lebanon. The naval contingent will work in Lebanese and international waters to prevent the illegal import of arms into Lebanon.
The Russian field camp in Zahrani (eight kilometers from Saida port) was opened in a ceremony on Sunday after the completion of the dispatch of special equipment and property. The Russian and Lebanese flags were hoisted and the national anthems of the two states played. Commander of the South Lebanon military district Ilyas Zaaroub who was present at the ceremony welcomed the arrival of the Russian military and expressed confidence that the "bridges of friendship" build by the Russian military builders "will strengthen not only bilateral cooperation, but also deep sympathy of the two countries' people towards each other." After the meeting the sides held a symbolic military parade of a company of Russian and Lebanese soldiers. The ceremony was crowned with a march of Navy men from the Pytlivy patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that escorted the Yuri Arshenevsky dry cargo vessel to the South Lebanese port of El-Jiya. The ship delivered to Lebanon heavy construction equipment and dump trucks.
Lebanon's economy is expected to contract 3.2 per cent this year after the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and the country's public finances are in need of urgent reform, the IMF said. But foreign investor confidence in Lebanon is holding up, the banking system is sound and there is little risk of financial crisis despite large current account gap and debts equal to 175 per cent of gross domestic product, a senior International Monetary Fund official said.
The start of school this year was not an ordinary one for the children of the South. While most private-school students resumed classes Monday, plenty of students have had their summer vacations prolonged, mainly because their schools were destroyed during the war with Israel. The head of the Southern educational district, Jamal Baghdadi, said that classes would resume on October 16 at all public schools. Baghdadi added that only two schools, in Srifa and Ansaryeh, would not welcome students because they have been damaged.
Qatar has distributed compensation to the residents of Khiam, Bint Jbeil, Ainata and Aita al-Shaab as part of the Gulf country's initiative to rebuild and restore South Lebanese villages following the war with Israel. In a statement on Monday, the Qatari
Bureau for the Reconstruction of Lebanon said that it would start paying checks for partial and total damages following Eid al-Fitr. The announcement added that Qatar, in collaboration with the Council of the South, concerned municipalities, and MPs from the region, has also started restoration works on damaged schools.
The first international tour group to visit Lebanon since the August 14 cease-fire arrived in Beirut on Saturday in a solidarity mission aimed at reviving the country's war-ravaged global image - and hopefully the fortunes of its struggling hospitality sector. The first step in repairing some of the damage to the tourism industry - which accounts for 9 percent of GDP - is for foreign governments to remove Lebanon from their travel advisory lists so tour operators can feature the destination on their rosters again, according to TLB Destinations, the company that organized this weekend's trip. "We encouraged them to come to break the negative image of Lebanon the media perpetuates abroad," said TLB representative Riad Abdullah.
The Palestine Democratic Union (PDU) urged the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Monday to assume its responsibilities in alleviating the problems facing Palestinian students at Lebanese universities. In a statement, PDU president Youssef Ahmed said after a news conference at the Press Federation that "the education of around 3,000 Palestinian students is threatened because they will be forced to leave universities for not being able to pay the fees." On behalf of the PDU, Ahmed called on Arab and Islamic countries to support the Palestinian students' cause.
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