A Trump Tower in Damascus? Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa wants one

That's according to @jonsbass, who sat down with Sharaa April 30 and is part of 11th-hour efforts to broker a meeting with Trump.

Idea is to jump-start ties and cool Israel tensions.

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reuters.com/world/middle-e… Syria's leader has pointed to a personal connection between him and U.S. President Trump that he thinks will help them get along:

Both have been shot at, narrowly surviving attempts on their life, @jonsbass said Sharaa told him.

I spent a month looking at how Syria’s economy — and power — is being reorganized after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took over, traveling to Idlib, Hassia and Damascus to speak with key business leaders and officials.

It’s a tale of two Syrias 🧵


Top line:

Idlib-based traders & HTS-linked entities are ascendant in the new import-driven economy, while traditional Damascus/Homs based traders & industrialists are losing out.

That's leading to resentment and concerns over a new form of favoritism.

reuters.com/world/middle-e…

NEW - Elders in Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite hometown Qardaha say they will work with Sunni rebels to build new Syria & remove all signs public of Assad dynasty rule

Stunning turn of events

Assad claimed rebels would massacre Alawites if he fell

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READ: reuters.com/world/middle-e… How rebels treat the sizeable Alawite population, who widely backed Assad and from whom he drew his personal presidential guards, is seen in Syria as a lithmus test of whether the takeover of Damascus on Sunday leads to violent revenge against former loyalists.

🧵 New mass displacement in Lebanon is reviving old fears of sectarian strife

Most of the 1.2 million displaced people have been welcomed.

But as the war drags on and Israel repeatedly targets those hosting them, tensions are rising.
reuters.com/world/middle-e… An example:

Christian-majority Marjayoun initially hosted many who fled Israeli bombardment.

Two incidents changed that
- two locals killed in Israeli strike apparently targeting outsiders
- Displaced man fires gun, makes threats

Bishop politely said enough was enough:

🧵One year ago, Hezbollah made the fateful decision to open a second front against Israel "to support" Gaza.

Israel has since killed its leadership
Destroyed much of south Leb/Beirut
Killed 2,000+
Wounded 10,000
Displaced 1m +

And it seems this is just the end of the beginning. Emboldened by killing Hezbollah's founders including the leader whose name promised victory from God, Israel's war machine is revving up

Lebanese TV anchors now ask politicians if Israeli tanks will reach Beirut. They have no words of assurance.

Diplomacy looks dead, war lives.

Famous for hosting champagne-fueled parties attended by the Beirut jet set, Skybar club on the city's waterfront has taken in a new crowd:

Lebanon's war displaced

People danced till dawn here less than two weeks ago.

It’s now a much-needed temporary home.

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More than 300 people who fled expanded Israeli war live here now.

With more than 1.2 million displaced and many still living on the streets, each new place counts.

Staff register residents on their guest-list clipboards and hand out food and clothes instead of vodka-Red Bulls.

Maya Gharib, 23, was getting married next month

But an Israeli strike killed Gharib, her two sisters & their parents on Monday

The father was a Lebanese army veteran

Her fiancée was in the army too

They are part of the huge toll of Israel’s attack

🧵
reuters.com/world/middle-e… Maya’s brother Reda, the only remaining family member, couldn’t get back to Lebanon in time for a rushed funeral due to cancelled flights.

Few others came due to the danger of ongoing attacks.

“The bride was martyred” reads a message sent by a relative to the wedding dress shop

#Lebanon FINAL election results.

(Will be updated as they come in from the interior ministry) Mount Lebanon 1 - Baabda (6)

Ali Ammar (Hezbollah)
Fadi Alameh (Amal)
Alain Aoun (FPM)
Pierre Bou Assi (LF)
Hadi Boul Hosn (PSP)
Camille Chamoun (LF-backed)

EXCLUSIVE For more than a decade, Lebanon's central bank charged commercial banks commissions without saying they went to a company controlled by the central bank governor’s brother, according to documents seen by @Reuters

With @samianakhoul
Thread 1/12
reuters.com/markets/europe… These commissions came to light when Swiss requested cooperation from Lebanon for a probe into “aggravated money laundering” & embezzlement at the central bank.

The figure involved? More than $300 million allegedly taken by governor Riad Salameh’s brother, Raja, from 2002-15

2/

#Breaking: #Lebanon PM Najib Mikati officially heads new 24-member govt.

Main ministries headed by insiders + a couple reformist faces on 2nd/3rd tier, giving this cabinet the appearance of one that aims to preserve main establishment interests & reform around the edges

Names: Foreign: Abdallah Bouhabib, fmr ambassador to Washington & fmr World Bank official.

Finance: Youssef Khalil, senior CB official, architect of financial engineering.

Interior: Fmr Judge Bassam al-Mawlawi, close to Hariri's Future Movement.

After the #BeirutBlast, reconstruction was largely left to volunteers/NGOs amid heartwarming community spirit.

But the near-absence of state coordination has led to a fragmented response that in some areas has deepened inequalities & created tensions

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news.trust.org/item/202108040… Syrian refugee Waad Hariri was happy to have found a community in Beirut after fleeing Syria's Daraa in 2011.

Soon after the blast, her landlord in Beirut's Karantina accused her of taking aid & pushed her to leave.

"We've lost the community we lived in for 10 years," she said

EXCLUSIVE: #Lebanon banks have swallowed at least $250 million in UN humanitarian aid for Syrian & Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese since 2019 via bad exchange rates negotiated with UN agencies, a @TRF_Stories investigation finds

news.trust.org/item/202106170…
Thread (1/12) Most losses stem from a joint WFP/UNHCR/UNICEF program worth $400 million in 2020 for Syrian refugees.

Losses of a third to half were also recorded in:
-WFP assistance for 105,000 poor Lebanese
-UNRWA assistance for Palestinian refugees - even amid a severe funding crisis.

2/12

"We have to say it as it is: what we found here was a second Beirut bomb."

That's from the director of the German company tasked with removing *1000 tons* of explosive chemicals dumped in 52 containers at Beirut's port for decades.
n-tv.de/panorama/Beiru… This means we now know of almost 4,000 tons of hazardous, explosive materials being stored at Beirut's port over extended periods of time. In the heart of the city. What an absolute criminal disaster.

One year ago, George Zreik self-immolated over his daughter’s school fees.

“The day before he died, Zreik drove his taxi to the school where his daughter was enrolled, walked onto the grass of its courtyard, poured fuel on his body & set himself ablaze”
dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-N… Full text thread.

#Hezbollah leader Nasrallah begins speech on the killings of #Qassem_Suleimani and #AbuMahdialMuhandis.

Says Jan 2nd 2020 (day of the assasination) is the beginning of a new phase in the entire region. Nasrallah says Soleimani got what he sought on that night: Martyrdom.