‘Soldiers of God’ Group Derails Drag Show in Lebanon

A photo circulating on social media depicting members of 'Soldiers of God' movement.
A photo circulating on social media depicting members of 'Soldiers of God' movement.
TT
20

‘Soldiers of God’ Group Derails Drag Show in Lebanon

A photo circulating on social media depicting members of 'Soldiers of God' movement.
A photo circulating on social media depicting members of 'Soldiers of God' movement.

A drag show in the Lebanese capital Beirut was cut short late on Wednesday by an angry crowd of conservative Christians screaming homophobic chants.

The show was hosted at a bar in the Beirut neighborhood of Mar Mikhael.

Footage posted online from outside the same venue on Wednesday showed men identifying themselves as the "Soldiers of God," an anti-LGBT Christian movement in Lebanon.

They said that the venue is known to be a safe space for LGPT individuals.

Videos of the event show members of the Soldiers of God trapping people inside the bar while shouting that they were "disgusted" at the event.

It was the latest episode showing rising hate speech against Lebanon's LGBT community, including from conservatives with various religious backgrounds.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of the armed group Hezbollah, has said homosexuality posed an "imminent danger" to Lebanon and should be "confronted".

“The Soldiers of God” movement is a Christian extremist group in Lebanon that started to surface recently. Its members wear black shirts and claim to be protectors of the Christian areas in Lebanon.

Outgoing Minister of Culture, Mohammad Wissam Mortada commented on the incident and said that the security forces should have taken the matter in their own hands instead of leaving it to irregular sides to handle.

“The security forces should have closed down the bar if it was proven that it was running a play encouraging anomaly” he said in remarks on X platform, previously Twitter.

Other MPs and politicians denounced the assault, rejecting any form of violence and hate speeches.



Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
TT
20

Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP

A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.

Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023, Reuters reported.

On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Türkiye's despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.

But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.

Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Türkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows.

On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details.

Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed.

Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement.

Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility.

They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen.

On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said.

It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Türkiye.

No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.