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Report: Lebanese Cabinet to Meet Next Week after Three-Month Gap

A garbage bin placed by taxi drivers blocks a road during a protest against spiraling petrol prices and worsening economic conditions, in Sidon, Lebanon January 13, 2022. (Reuters)
A garbage bin placed by taxi drivers blocks a road during a protest against spiraling petrol prices and worsening economic conditions, in Sidon, Lebanon January 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Report: Lebanese Cabinet to Meet Next Week after Three-Month Gap

A garbage bin placed by taxi drivers blocks a road during a protest against spiraling petrol prices and worsening economic conditions, in Sidon, Lebanon January 13, 2022. (Reuters)
A garbage bin placed by taxi drivers blocks a road during a protest against spiraling petrol prices and worsening economic conditions, in Sidon, Lebanon January 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Lebanon's cabinet will hold its first meeting in three months on Jan. 24, a Lebanese television channel reported on Monday, after a gap in which the country's economic crisis has deepened and efforts to revive talks with the IMF have stalled.

Economy Minister Amin Salam said work on the 2022 budget would be at the top of the agenda when ministers gather next week, Al Jadeed TV reported, after the Hezbollah party and Amal movement ended a boycott that had prevented cabinet sessions.

The cabinet, formed in September, had promised to start work on resolving a deep economic crisis and on reviving talks with the International Monetary Fund. But it has not met since Oct. 12.

The Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Amal had been boycotting the cabinet in a dispute over the conduct of an investigation into a huge explosion at Beirut port in 2020. They announced an end to the boycott on Saturday.

They have sought the removal of a judge who has been overseeing the blast probe.

Lebanon's economy has been in crisis since 2019 when it finally collapsed under a mountain of debt. Its currency has been in tailspin, plunging to a new low last week, and swathes of the nation have been driven into poverty.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said his government would seek to sign a preliminary agreement for an IMF support program in February.

An IMF spokesperson told Reuters that virtual talks would be held with Lebanese authorities in the last week of January.

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New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
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New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)

Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing "revolution" flags as Syria saw in the new year with hope following 13 years of civil war.

Gunshots rang out from Mount Qasioun overlooking the capital where hundreds of people gazed up at fireworks, an AFP reporter at the square saw.

It was the first new year's celebration without an Assad in power for more than 50 years after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.

"Long live Syria, Assad has fallen," shouted some children.

"We did not expect such a miracle to happen, today the Syrians have found their smile again," Layane el Hijazi, a 22-year-old agricultural engineering student, told AFP from Umayyad Square.

"We were able to obtain our rights, we can now talk. I am letting off steam these last three weeks and tonight by bringing out everything I had buried," she said.

Despite the revelry, soldiers patrolled the streets of Damascus less than a month after Assad's rapid demise.

The green, white and black revolution flag with its three red stars flies all over the capital.

Such a sight -- the symbol of the Syrian people's uprising against the Assad dynasty's iron-fisted rule -- was unthinkable a month ago.

The fall of Assad brought an end to more than half a century of unchallenged rule by his family's clan over Syria, where dissent was repressed and public freedoms were heavily curtailed.

"Whatever happens, it will be better than before," said Imane Zeidane, 46, a cartoonist, who came to Umayyad Square with her husband and their daughter.

"I am starting the new year with serenity and optimism," she said, adding that she has "confidence" in the new government under de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

She also remembers that new year's celebrations in previous years were "not like this".

"The joy is double now -- you come down to celebrate the new year with your heart, and celebrate the hope it carries," Zeidane said.

- 'Fears have dissipated' -

The revolutionary song "Lift your head, you are a free Syrian" by Syrian singer Assala Nasri rang out loud on Umayyad Square.

"Every year, we aged suddenly by 10 years," taxi driver Qassem al-Qassem, 34, told AFP in reference to the tough living conditions in a country whose economy collapsed under Assad.

"But with the fall of regime, all our fears have dissipated," he said.

"Now I have a lot of hope. But all we want now is peace."

More than half a million people died in the 13-year civil war as the country split into different regions controlled by various warring parties.

Many families are still waiting for news of loved ones who went missing under Assad's rule, during which time tens of thousands of prisoners disappeared.

"I hope that Syria in 2025 will be non-denominational, pluralist, for everyone, without exception," said Havan Mohammad, a Kurdish student from the northeast studying pharmacy in the capital.