Libanon

Lebanon's parliament voted on Tuesday to hold legislative elections on March 27, giving Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government only a few months to try to secure an IMF recovery plan amid a deepening economic meltdown.

Clashes on 14 October over a judicial investigation into the 2020 Beirut port blast evoked the sectarian divisions of Lebanon’s civil war and threatened what's left of the rule of law. Hizbollah must allow the investigation to proceed or risk further weakening of the state.

The UN and humanitarian partners on Friday announced a $383 million Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for Lebanon to provide critical life-saving assistance and protection to some 1.1 million citizens and migrants over the next 12 months. 

Lebanese presidency announces government formation, ending a 13-month deadlock that worsened the country’s economic situation.

Poverty in Lebanon has drastically increased over the past year and now affects about 74% of the population, warned the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Friday. 

Reliable fuel and electricity supply are urgently needed in Lebanon to avert a potential “humanitarian catastrophe”, the top UN aid official in the country warned on Tuesday. 

Analysts say, despite recent tensions, all-out war is unlikely 15 years after the 2006 conflict as Hezbollah enjoys unprecedented military power. But the Lebanese group is under pressure at home.

In direct contact with the parties, Major General Stefano Del Col, Head of the UN Interform Force (UNIFIL), called on both sides to immediately stand down and desist from any further agression. 

… Israel fired more than 100 shells into Lebanon, according to Israeli media reports. It also carried out its first acknowleged airstrikes over the border in eight years, targeting the sites from where the rockets were fired, the military said early Thursday.

A year after the devastating explosions in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, a staggering 98 per cent of families are still in need, according to a survey published on Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.