Lebanon’s Govt Reverses Decision to Delay Daylight’s Savings

The landmark clock tower in front of the parliament building in Beirut's downtown district indicates the time on March 26, 2023, after Lebanon's government announced a decision to delay daylight savings. (AFP)
The landmark clock tower in front of the parliament building in Beirut's downtown district indicates the time on March 26, 2023, after Lebanon's government announced a decision to delay daylight savings. (AFP)
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Lebanon’s Govt Reverses Decision to Delay Daylight’s Savings

The landmark clock tower in front of the parliament building in Beirut's downtown district indicates the time on March 26, 2023, after Lebanon's government announced a decision to delay daylight savings. (AFP)
The landmark clock tower in front of the parliament building in Beirut's downtown district indicates the time on March 26, 2023, after Lebanon's government announced a decision to delay daylight savings. (AFP)

Lebanon's caretaker premier said the cabinet had voted to move clocks one hour ahead on Wednesday night, reversing his decision to postpone the move to daylight savings time by a month that had sparked uproar across the country.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday the decision had been taken after a "calm discussion" and that the state needed 48 hours to re-adjust their operations.

Mikati angered many Lebanese when he decided last Thursday not to start daylight savings time over the last weekend of March but instead to roll clocks forward an hour on April 20.

That decision came after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in which Berri asked him to postpone the time switch, according to footage of the meeting seen by Reuters.

It was seen as an attempt to score points among Muslims who are fasting until sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. Moving clocks forward means Muslims would have to fast an additional hour as sunset would be at a later time on the clock.

But the move was defied by Lebanon's top Christian authority as well as some schools, media outlets and businesses, which rolled their clocks forward on Saturday night.

Mikati even faced objections from within cabinet, including the justice minister who said Lebanon had more important challenges to focus on.

The country has been without a president for five months and a protracted financial crisis has brought most public institutions to a standstill.

Mikati referred to the crises in his comments on Monday.

"Let us be clear. The problem is not winter or summer time... Rather, the problem is the vacuum in the top post in the republic," he said.



Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected ISIS group members, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said "a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp" that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS, and Kurdish administration members.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria's largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.

Discussions involved "establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp", Ahmed said.

The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the national government.

The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.

No progress has yet been reported on the administration's integration into the new government.

In Damascus, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told reporters Al-Hol is "part of the agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.

He said the issue requires "a comprehensive societal solution for the families who are victims" of ISIS.

In February, the Kurdish administration said that in coordination with the United Nations, it aimed to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of extremists, by the end of the year.

Al-Hol includes a high-security section for families of foreign ISIS fighters.

Ahmed said the fate of those families "is linked to the countries that have nationals (in the camp), and to the international coalition", which supported Kurdish-led forces who fought ISIS, detaining its fighters and their relatives.

The Kurds have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed home only a trickle, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.

It is unclear who will administer prisons holding thousands of ISIS fighters in the northeast, with Abdi saying in February the new authorities wanted them under Damascus's control.