Protestors have broken into one of the barriers blocking the streets leading to the Nejme Sq (ie parliament). Midway through the video you can see a tip of the rifle attempting to shoot point blank at protestors.
PM @Hassan_B_Diab set to speak in 45 minutes. Anything short of resigning should and will be met with more fury given protestors were attacked and shot at with live ammo today.
Protestors reporting heavy fire shot from the vicinity of the parliament. Security forces protecting the parliament are mostly members of the Shia-Amal party headed by the speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri.
Proof of live ammo being shot at protestors in #Beirut. I think this is where #US taxpayers money is being squandered, given reports confirm that the @LebarmyOfficial is the one firing. @statedeptspox
Video shows Khandaq al Ghameeq’s militiamen (pro-Hezbollah) firing live rounds, presumably to scare of protestors in downtown #Beirut. Area is few meters away from Martyr’s square.
Traces of buckshot in the stomach and chest of #Lebanon’s protestors in downtown #Beirut.
Lebanon’s bureaucracy is so technologically retarded it’s folders remain in print rather than being computerized. After freeing Ministey of Economy & Environment, protestors are seen throwing documents from the windows. #LebanonExplosion
Footage from outside the Ministry of Economy & Environment.
Seems like the dynamics of confrontation between protestors and the security forces (@LebISF & @LebarmyOfficial) are shifting. With nothing to lose following August 4’s nuclear-like explosion that wiped part of the city, protestors are bolder & full of rage.
It’s being reported that protestors have stormed the Associatio of Banks HQ in downtown #Beirut. #Lebanon
Footage from inside the Associatons of Banks as protestors seize the building too. The association has played a major role in lobbying politicians & blocking legislating capital controls or forensic audit following #Lebanon’s default on debt amid the financial crisis.
Protestors FREE Ministry of Energy moments ago. This is the 3rd ministry they seize today. MoE has been controlled by the president’s party and his son in law for over a decade now and is considered the most corrupt & responsible for half the public debt. #LebanonExplosion
#Hezbollah’s Al Manar tv calls protestors “criminals” while reporting on the death of a riot policeman in today’s confrontations.
Much to “media objectivity and being the voice of the people.”
Wait, who am I kidding?
From inside the Ministry if Energy, protestors taking down portrait of @LBpresidency. This has become a ritual almost in every government related building seized.
Seems like al Manar tv was quoting the statement put out by the @LebISF. Imagine forces funded & equipped by the Western world, calls protestors “criminals”. I wonder if the French and American taxpayers money is funneled into the right place?
Preliminary investigations suggest that the @LebISF member that died today was shot by the Parliament’s security forces, which are mostly thugs belonging to the Shia-Amal party headed by the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri.
Whatever is left of @LBpresidency’s photos are being removed around town. This photo covers one side of a building in Badaro area.
According to Lebanese protestors, Aoun has no legitimacy anymore. He needs to step down.
#Iraq's fiscal break-even oil price will be above $90/bl in 2024. Here's why per the @IMFNews who concluded last weekend its 2024 Article IV consultation with #Iraq authorities:
-Economic growth is projected to continue amid fiscal expansion... #oott
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-but medium-term vulnerabilities to oil price volatility have increased significantly
-significant fiscal adjustment required, through controlling public wage bill, to ensure fiscal sustainability & reduction of oil dependence
-Int'l reserves increased to $112bn.
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-while expansionary budget was under-executed in 2023, fiscal balance declined from surplus of 10.8pc of GDP in 2022 to a deficit of 1.3pc in 2023, due to lower oil revenues and an increase in expenditure (mostly a result of salaries and pensions).
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Fun fact about #Lebanon's newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs:
A battle over the Lebanese embassy in DC took place in 1989, when Abdallah BouHabib was the ambassador. The Taif Agreement had gone into effect and Elias Hraoui was elected President in December of that year.
Hraoui, immediately fired Michel Aoun from all his self-proclaimed posts, removed #Lebanon’s veteran ambassador to Washington, Bouhabib himself, and handed control of the embassy to the No. 2 diplomat at the time, Sleiman Rassi.
Yet Aoun - who was holding out with 20,000 troops at the presidential palace in Baabda refusing to recognize the Hraoui gov't - sent Bouhabib a telegram ordering him to stay put.
BouHabib, a staunch Aoun supporter, continued to occupy the ambassador’s office and residence.
Many fallacies are often perpetuated in media [esp. Arab] about alliances & geopolitics in the MENA region, mainly for propaganda purposes. For instance, since penning the normalization deal with #Israel, state-sponsored media in the #UAE insists that #Iran & #Turkey inch closer.
However, here’s a microcosm of how intricate the relation of the two is:
🇹🇷 & 🇮🇷 are at the opposing ends in: 🇮🇶, 🇸🇾 & now Azerbaijan/#Armenia; they overlap in #Libya & on Palestine. One could argue that if Ankara was to invest more in #Lebanon, it’ll be at odds with Tehran.
#Iran has remained largely silent on the dispute between Turkey & others in the East Med.
With Syria in mind, developments in Armenia [which I predict will be contained] could lead to another front of Russian-Iranian alignment in face of Turkey.
Mustafa Adib is not the hero some people are portraying him to be. But Adib, banking on French support & the suffocating situation on the ground, had a stronger hand in negotiating his government formation process - unlike his predecessors. The PM-designate though that:
•parties will cave-in following the Aug 4 explosion & Int’l pressure, resulting in them facilitating the formation of a gov’t that can enact certain reforms and tap into some $$s.
However, reality hit hard. #Lebanon, as usual, is just another piece of the regional chessboard.
Hence why, regional patrons of the sectarian ruling mafia decided to “freeze” the situation until November 3rd. When the Iranians [Hezbollah] and the Saudis [economic support: CEDRE/IMF] figure out who will occupy the Oval Office next, concessions & compromise become possible.