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Lebanon’s Justice Minister: We Will Not Turn in Salameh 

Lebanon's Central Bank chief Riad Salameh poses during a studio photo session in the capital Beirut, on December 20, 2021. (AFP)
Lebanon's Central Bank chief Riad Salameh poses during a studio photo session in the capital Beirut, on December 20, 2021. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Justice Minister: We Will Not Turn in Salameh 

Lebanon's Central Bank chief Riad Salameh poses during a studio photo session in the capital Beirut, on December 20, 2021. (AFP)
Lebanon's Central Bank chief Riad Salameh poses during a studio photo session in the capital Beirut, on December 20, 2021. (AFP)

Lebanon’s caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury reiterated on Tuesday his call on Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to resign.

Salameh, 72, is being investigated in Lebanon and at least five European countries for allegedly taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Lebanon's central bank to the detriment of the Lebanese state and laundering the funds abroad.

Germany informed Lebanon it has issued an arrest warrant for Salameh on corruption charges, including forgery, money laundering and embezzlement, a senior judicial source told Reuters on Tuesday.

A second source familiar with the matter confirmed the arrest warrant to Reuters. Salameh has denied any wrongdoing.

It is the second foreign arrest warrant reported to be issued for Salameh within a week. France issued a warrant for his arrest on May 16 after he failed to show up for a Paris court hearing.

On France's request, Interpol issued a Red Notice for Salameh, citing charges of money laundering, fraud and participation in a criminal association with a view to committing offenses punishable by 10 years of imprisonment.

Salameh said he would challenge the French arrest warrant.

Khoury told Asharq Al-Awsat that Salameh must resign given the charges against him. “It is not right for him to remain in his post,” he added.

At the same time, however, the minister said Lebanon will not turn in Salameh to Europe, citing Lebanese laws that bar the handing over of citizens to another country.

Salameh will therefore stand trial in Lebanon, he added.

Salameh was previously charged with corruption in two separate cases in Lebanon, which include formal accusations of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud.

He has denied those charges and said they are politically motivated.

The Munich public prosecutor’s office said it was involved in the case but declined to comment on the arrest warrant. “We never comment on arrest warrants,” a spokesperson for the office told Reuters.

Salameh, who has been central bank governor for 30 years, is facing growing calls to resign ahead of his latest term ending in July, though Lebanon's caretaker Cabinet took no decision on the matter during a Monday meeting that discussed his case.

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Arab World

US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after opposition factions ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month.

The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.

The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government.

The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance,” a Treasury Department statement reads.

Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new de facto authorities have said that the new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.

The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. The US and UN have long designated HTS as a terrorist organization.

HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.

Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.

Syria’s infrastructure has been battered, with power cuts rampant in the country and some 90% of its population living in poverty. About half the population won’t know where its next meal will come from, as inflation surges.

The pressure to lift sanctions has mounted in recent years as aid agencies continue to cut programs due to donor fatigue and a massive 2023 earthquake that rocked Syria and Türkiye. The tremor killed over 59,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure that couldn’t be fixed due to sanctions and overcompliance, despite the US announcing some humanitarian exemptions.