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.



Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, he described it as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities.

His comments came as Palestinian officials at hospitals inside Gaza said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war against Hamas began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.