Lebanese Dread End to Subsidies

Maya Ibrahimshah, the founder of Lebanese NGO Beit al-Braka (house of blessings) organizes food to be distributed to the needy. AFP
Maya Ibrahimshah, the founder of Lebanese NGO Beit al-Braka (house of blessings) organizes food to be distributed to the needy. AFP
TT
20

Lebanese Dread End to Subsidies

Maya Ibrahimshah, the founder of Lebanese NGO Beit al-Braka (house of blessings) organizes food to be distributed to the needy. AFP
Maya Ibrahimshah, the founder of Lebanese NGO Beit al-Braka (house of blessings) organizes food to be distributed to the needy. AFP

To feed her family, Lebanese mother Sandra al-Tawil sold her fridge and washing machine. Now she fears the cash-strapped state will scrap food subsidies, plunging them deeper into poverty.

Lebanon is locked in its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, with no end in sight.

The value of the Lebanese pound has plunged, driving up the price of crucial imports like food and fuel and triggering small but angry protests.

More than half of Lebanon's population is poverty stricken and relies on subsidies, but a central bank demand for "an immediate plan to ration subsidies" is looming.

"We're already tightening our belts. What will we eat if we can no longer buy rice or lentils?" 40-year-old Tawil said.

Tawil and her husband lived a comfortable life in Dubai before returning to their homeland to open a high-end hair salon in 2019.

But that dream turned to nightmare after the financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

"I had to sell my washing machine and fridge... just to get the minimum of daily bread and pay rent," said the mother of two young children.

Her husband found a job at the start of the year, and the Beit El Baraka charity is helping them out with food and school fees.

But Tawil is still worried, and furious with the political class she blames for the malaise.

"If I see people heading out to protest, I'll be the first to join them," AFP quoted her as saying.

In a country that imports 80 percent of its food, much of the six million population depends on subsidies to get by.

Even without them being lifted, many are already struggling, said Beit El Baraka founder Maya Ibrahimchah.

"There have been many more demands for help over the past four months," she said.

"Those we are helping today are all from the middle class."

The state has poured up to $437 million into subsidies a month, the World Bank estimates, to keep prices in check for bread, medicine, fuel and electricity, as well as around 300 other items since mid-2020.

To counter the pound's drastic devaluation, importers get access to dollars at a preferential rate to ensure they can afford to continue bringing in supplies.

For flour, fuel and medicine, for example, they offer dollars at the official exchange rate of 1,507 pounds to cover most of their cost.

But traders must resort to the black market to cover the difference, where Tuesday the rate hit a record low of 10,000 pounds to the dollar.

As a result, in less than a year the price of a large bag of subsidized bread has risen from 1,500 to 2,500 pounds.

Authorities have remained vague about how the subsidies will be reduced, though meetings are ongoing.

In early December, central bank governor Riad Salameh said it could only fund subsidies for another two months. Later that month, he said two billion dollars were available for them.

At the end of February, the central bank's website showed it had $17.9 billion in foreign currency reserves, yet $17.5 billion of that is the bank's required reserves.

The bank did not respond to AFP's repeated requests for comment.

The UN food agency has warned any subsidy reduction would have "major inflationary repercussions" and "put an unbearable strain on households".

The price of bread could increase by up to three times and fuel by 4.5 times, the World Food Program said, adding it was critical to immediately scale up assistance to the poorest.

Under the government's latest plan, subsidies could be gradually lifted, with financial aid to soften the blow over several years.

The state would first lift subsidies for bread, fuel and around 300 other items, under the plan seen by AFP, before later on reviewing spending in the electricity sector.

To compensate, up to 80 percent of the population would receive handouts -- 50 dollars a month for adults aged over 23 and half for anybody younger.

Those amounts, and the numbers of beneficiaries, would then progressively diminish.

Until then, the authorities have secured $246 million from the World Bank to help 786,000 Lebanese.

But Nasser Jomaa, 52, said he doubted the government would really provide any financial support.

"It's just empty words. We have zero faith in the state," said the driver, who lives with his unemployed 25-year-old son.

As the Lebanese pound has plunged on the black market, he has seen his monthly income drop in value from $1,000 to just $160.

He added that any lifting of subsidies would be "catastrophic".

Already, he said, "we no longer eat meat."



Turkish FM Says Sides Are Close to a Gaza Ceasefire Agreement

Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Hakan Fidan (R) shakes hands with Syrian Foreign Minister Minister Asaad al-Shaibani during a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 08 October 2025. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Hakan Fidan (R) shakes hands with Syrian Foreign Minister Minister Asaad al-Shaibani during a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 08 October 2025. (EPA)
TT
20

Turkish FM Says Sides Are Close to a Gaza Ceasefire Agreement

Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Hakan Fidan (R) shakes hands with Syrian Foreign Minister Minister Asaad al-Shaibani during a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 08 October 2025. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Minister Hakan Fidan (R) shakes hands with Syrian Foreign Minister Minister Asaad al-Shaibani during a joint press conference after their meeting in Ankara, Türkiye, 08 October 2025. (EPA)

Talks on bringing an end to the war in Gaza are on the verge of reaching a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday.

Turkish, Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators are working to realize an American plan that calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

“If an agreement is reached today, a ceasefire will be declared,” Fidan told a news conference in Ankara with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

Fidan earlier said that “a lot of progress has been achieved so far” in the negotiations. “What is good news is that the parties have showed great will for the release of the prisoners and the hostages,” he added.

All sides have expressed optimism for a deal to end the two-year war that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead and most of Gaza destroyed. But key parts of the peace plan still haven’t been agreed, including a requirement that Hamas disarm, the timing and extent of an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, and the creation of an international body to run the territory after Hamas steps down.

Fidan told reporters that technical details were “being discussed at the moment,” adding that “if the positive views are heard today, the necessary steps will be taken for the first part of the agreement.”

The two ministers also discussed security in Syria — an issue that neighboring Türkiye takes a keen interest in.

Al-Shaibani criticized the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, for delaying the implementation of an agreement made in March for them to integrate into Syria’s new military. The SDF has recently clashed with security forces around the northern city of Aleppo.

“The SDF has taken it very slowly in making the right steps,” he said. “Any delay in terms of implementing this agreement will only serve for further losses and we will have huge trouble in fighting terrorism.”

Both al-Shaibani and Fidan attacked Israel’s involvement in Syria, with the Syrian minister saying Israel’s “aggression still jeopardizes our safety and security.”

Tensions soared between Israel and Syria following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, when Israeli forces seized control of the UN-patrolled buffer zone in Syria set up under the 1974 agreement and carried out airstrikes. Al-Shaibani on Wednesday reiterated Syrian calls to return to the 1974 boundaries.

Israel stepped up its intervention when violence erupted in Syria’s Sweida province in July between Bedouin clans and government forces on one side and armed groups from the Druze minority on the other.


Report: Rubio to Attend Paris Meeting on Gaza Transition

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2025. (AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Report: Rubio to Attend Paris Meeting on Gaza Transition

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2025. (AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2025. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting to be held on Thursday in Paris with European, Arab and other states to discuss Gaza's post-war transition, three diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

The meeting, to be held in parallel with indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt on US President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza, is intended to discuss how the plan would be implemented and assess countries' collective commitments to the process.

According to a note sent to delegates, the meeting will follow up a conference on a "two-state solution" at the United Nations and is intended to agree on joint actions to make a contribution to the US plan for Gaza. The two-state solution would involve an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Countries attending on Thursday will include France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Türkiye and Canada.

The note had said Washington's participation would depend on advances in the negotiations in Egypt.

A European diplomatic source said it was vital to have the United States present. An Italian diplomatic source underlined the importance of supporting Trump's plan, which was "the only one possible".

A French diplomatic source said the United States and Israel had been kept up to date with plans for the meeting and the agenda would include humanitarian aid for Gaza and the enclave's reconstruction, disarmament of Hamas and support for the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian security forces.

The US Embassy in Paris was not immediately available for comment.


Israel’s Ben-Gvir Calls for ‘Gaza Victory’ at Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Old City of Jerusalem, in this screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters on October 8, 2025. (Jewish Power/Handout via Reuters) 
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Old City of Jerusalem, in this screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters on October 8, 2025. (Jewish Power/Handout via Reuters) 
TT
20

Israel’s Ben-Gvir Calls for ‘Gaza Victory’ at Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Old City of Jerusalem, in this screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters on October 8, 2025. (Jewish Power/Handout via Reuters) 
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in the Old City of Jerusalem, in this screengrab from a video obtained by Reuters on October 8, 2025. (Jewish Power/Handout via Reuters) 

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Wednesday and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue "complete victory" over Hamas in Gaza.

In a video on the edge of one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East, Ben-Gvir said that two years after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, Israel was "winning" at the Jerusalem compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

"Every house in Gaza has a picture of the Temple Mount, and today, two years later, we are winning on the Temple Mount. We are the owners of the Temple Mount," Ben-Gvir said in the video released by his Jewish Power party.

"I only pray that our prime minister will allow a complete victory in Gaza as well – to destroy Hamas, with God's help we will return the hostages, and we will win a complete victory," Ben-Gvir said.

His remarks were released as Israel and Palestinian group Hamas are deep in indirect negotiations in Egypt to release all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza and end the war there.

Ben-Gvir, known as a hardliner well before he helped Netanyahu form the most right-wing coalition government in Israel's history, heads the pro-settler, nationalist-religious Jewish Power party. He has previously threatened to quit Netanyahu's government unless Hamas is utterly destroyed.

The Al-Aqsa compound, in Jerusalem's walled Old City, is Islam's third holiest site and the most sacred in Judaism. Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.

Ben-Gvir has previously challenged those rules, prompting Netanyahu to issue statements saying Israel was committed to the status quo there.

Suggestions that Israel would alter rules at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked outrage in the Muslim world and ignited violence in the past.