Gov’t Decision to Delay Daylight Savings Puts Lebanon in Two Time Zones

Beirut, Lebanon (AFP)
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP)
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Gov’t Decision to Delay Daylight Savings Puts Lebanon in Two Time Zones

Beirut, Lebanon (AFP)
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP)

Lebanon has woken up in two time zones amid an escalating dispute between political and religious authorities over the government’s decision to postpone winter clock changes till after Islam’s holy month of fasting, Ramadan, is over.

Rising tensions, which reflected fragile ties between Lebanon’s social components, had forced caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to cancel a cabinet session.

Mikati issued the decision on Thursday to delay entering daylight savings time till April 20, instead of rolling the clocks forward an hour on the last weekend of March.

Christian political forces rejected the government’s decision and circulated audio clips and data confirming that their regions across Lebanon will adhere to universal timing and not wait until after Ramadan.

The General Secretariat of the Kataeb Party, a Christian political party in Lebanon, released a statement demanding all workers in its central to attend work according to the universal time.

“All caucuses will be held on schedule, according to the universal daylight savings time,” said the Kataeb.

Businesses and media organizations, including two of Lebanon’s main news channels LBCI and MTV, announced they too would enter daylight savings on Saturday night as calls for disobedience gained steam.

On Saturday, the influential Maronite Church said it would disregard the decision and would set its clocks forward on Saturday night.

Mikati, for his part, refused to give any sectarian character to his decision and insisted that it was just an “administrative” measure.

“Some want to divert attention from their obstruction of the presidential election process by targeting the government,” claimed Mikati.

“We are witnessing an attempt to drag the country into a sectarian division to fuel conflicts, and to give a purely administrative procedure an abhorrent sectarian turn,” said Mikati in defense of his decision.



France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
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France Expels 12 Algerian Officials in Tit-for-Tat Move amid Diplomatic Tensions

Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)
Algerian flags fly at half-staff along the seaside walk in Algiers, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP)

France said Tuesday it was expelling 12 Algerian diplomatic officials a day after Algeria announced the expulsion of the same number of French officials in escalating tensions between the two countries.

Algeria said Monday that its expulsion of 12 French officials was over the arrest of an Algerian consular official by French authorities in a kidnapping case, but relations between the two sides have been deteriorating since last summer. That's when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara — a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algeria.

Tensions further peaked in November after Algeria arrested French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, who is an outspoken critic of the Algerian regime. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison — a verdict he subsequently appealed.

In addition to what French officials called the "symmetrically" calibrated expulsion of 12 Algerian officials, France's ambassador to Algiers also was being recalled home for consultations, a statement from the French presidential palace said Tuesday.

It said Algerian authorities were responsible for "a brutal deterioration in our bilateral relations."

French counterterrorism prosecutors said three Algerian nationals in total were arrested last week and handed preliminary charges of "kidnapping or arbitrary detention … in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

The group is allegedly involved in the April 2024 kidnapping of an Algerian influencer, Amir Boukhors, or Amir DZ, a known critic of the Algerian government with 1.1 million followers on TikTok.

The latest surge in acrimony followed a brief easing of tensions about two weeks ago when French President Emmanuel Macron called Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune. French officials said they had agreed to revive bilateral relations.