Lebanon Protesters Defiant Despite Hezbollah, Amal Attack

Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon Protesters Defiant Despite Hezbollah, Amal Attack

Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Security forces cleared road blocks across Lebanon Monday, facing off against protesters who took to the streets from the early morning despite being attacked overnight by Hezbollah and Amal supporters.

Demonstrators demanding a complete government overhaul have stayed mobilized since protests began on October 17, but a bitterly divided political class has yet to find a way out of the crisis.

Frustrated by the stalemate, protesters had called for road blocks and a general strike on Monday, but an attack by Hezbollah and Amal supporters on Sunday night weakened the turnout.

Political parties "are trying to instill fear in us as a people, so we don't progress and stay at home," said Dany Ayyash, 21, who was blocking a key road in Beirut's Hamra district early Monday.

"This is what happened today. There was supposed to be a general strike and yet the people are still at home sleeping."

At around midnight on Sunday, Hezbollah and Amal supporters attacked protesters at a flyover near the capital's main protest camp. 

Brandishing party flags, they hurled stones at peaceful demonstrators and taunted them with insults as riot police deployed to contain the violence.

The attackers also ravaged a nearby encampment, tearing down tents and damaging storefronts in their most serious assault on the protesters so far.

At least 10 demonstrators were wounded, civil defense said, without specifying the extent of their injuries.

On Monday morning, scattered stones, shattered glass and the mangled remains of tents littered the ground in the main protest camp. 

Around the square, car windows had been smashed with rocks.

But the demonstrators said they would not cave in.

"The attack gave us all -- at least the ones here right now -- a sense of determination," Ayyash said.

Nearby, security forces deployed along the road after shoving aside demonstrators who had been sitting on the ground.

Salim Mourad, a 31-year-old protester, showed AFP his torn shirt collar, saying riot police dragged him by his shirt.

"We don't want violence," he said.

Security forces also deployed across main arteries in north and east Lebanon Monday, removing metal barricades and dirt barricades raised by demonstrators earlier.

The army said it arrested nine people north of Beirut at dawn after they tried to block roads using burning petrol and shattered glass.

It also arrested four others, releasing three shortly afterwards.

The security forces have come under fresh criticism following Sunday's attack, with protesters accusing them of being lax with Hezbollah and Amal supporters, most of whom were allowed to walk away.

"The thugs throw stones and insult security forces but they don't confront them," said Elie, 24, who was among the protesters attacked.

"They don't arrest them the way they arrest us."

Such criticism prompted Interior Minister Raya al-Hasan on Monday to respond by saying the army and police remain the only "guarantors of the country's stability".

Political leaders have failed to select a new government nearly one month since Prime Minister Saad Hariri's cabinet resigned, bowing to popular pressure.

President Michel Aoun, whose powers include initiating parliamentary consultations to appoint a new premier, said he was open to a government that would include technocrats and representatives of the popular movement -- both key demands of the protesters.

But demonstrators say they reject any government that would also include representatives of established parties.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.