French Court Orders Lebanese Bank to Pay $2.8 Mln to Locked-Out Depositorhttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3357421/french-court-orders-lebanese-bank-pay-28-mln-locked-out-depositor
French Court Orders Lebanese Bank to Pay $2.8 Mln to Locked-Out Depositor
Mask-clad clients queue outside a bank in the Zalka suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AFP file photo)
A French court has ordered a Lebanese bank to pay $2.8 million to a client residing in France, in the first-known international ruling against informal capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks since 2019.
The Nov. 19 ruling, not yet published but seen by Reuters, orders Lebanon's Saradar Bank to pay the Syrian claimant all the funds she had deposited in two accounts at the bank in 2014.
Saradar Bank will appeal the judgment, "which results from a misapplication of the Lebanese law," the bank said in a written statement to Reuters.
Lebanon's financial system collapsed in 2019 after years of unsustainable financial policies, and banks imposed tight controls on accounts, including a de facto ban on withdrawals of dollar-denominated deposits and limits on withdrawals in the local currency.
These controls were never formalized with legislation and have been challenged in local and international courts by savers who have sought to gain back their money promptly in hard currency, rather than in the Lebanese pound which has lost more than 90% of its value in two years.
Attempts to formalize capital controls have repeatedly failed, including last week by a parliamentary committee amid opposition from groups representing depositors' rights, who said the draft legislation would immunize banks from prosecution while failing to secure people access to their money.
"This ruling means that Lebanese depositors clearly have recourse in international courts, and while every case is different from the other, it is an encouraging step for a number of claims spanning from Europe to the Gulf and US," lawyers for the depositor Nada Abdel Sater and Jacques-Alexandre Genet said in joint written remarks to Reuters.
They asked that the claimant's name be withheld over privacy concerns. Abdel Sater is representing several clients in similar cases spanning three continents and said British courts recently accepted three cases put forward by depositors against Lebanese banks.
Saradar had argued that the case brought in France should be reviewed by a Lebanese court, but the French court said it was competent because the claimant had been approached by employees of the bank and signed contracts in Paris and was a long-time resident of France.
Saradar had terminated her accounts and deposited the funds in cheques with a Beirut notary. The French ruling said that the unilateral move by the bank, opposed by the claimant, meant the bank had not fulfilled its obligations.
Due to the informal controls in Lebanon, cheques cannot be cashed out in dollars and are instead sold on the market at a discount of about three-quarters of the total price, meaning the claimant would have lost much of her money, had she accepted.
"As a result, the bank will be deemed to have failed to fulfill its obligation of restitution (of funds) incumbent upon it," and is ordered to make the payout, the ruling said.
A woman tosses sweets to displaced children at a makeshift camp for displaced people at Beirut's waterfront during Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, in Beirut, Lebanon, 27 May 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
War and Displacement Rob Beirut of Eid al-Adha Joy
A woman tosses sweets to displaced children at a makeshift camp for displaced people at Beirut's waterfront during Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, in Beirut, Lebanon, 27 May 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
The shape of Eid al-Adha has changed for many Lebanese as the war continues, along with the escalation, warnings, and daily anxiety accompanying it. Security developments resulting from the conflict have disrupted family gatherings that have become increasingly limited, while fear and anxiety continue to deepen despite attempts to preserve what remains of Eid traditions.
Lebanese speak of what resembles a slow “psychological death” caused by the ongoing developments, a feeling not limited to those displaced from the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs, but extending to Lebanese across different regions.
Relentless Fear
Ramia Salman says last Eid al-Adha and this year’s holiday no longer carry the same meanings of joy for many Lebanese, as the atmosphere has become more associated with fear than with the happiness that once accompanied such occasions.
She adds: “Last Eid al-Adha, as with this year’s Eid, the scene felt completely different from what we had known for many years. Holidays were always associated with preparing for family visits, buying Eid necessities, welcoming relatives, and even the small details that gave people a different feeling about the occasion. But what is happening today has greatly changed that feeling.”
She told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Two days before Eid, especially with the escalation witnessed in the western Bekaa, we felt deep fear from the very idea of Eid itself. Instead of waiting for the occasion with joy, we found ourselves simply hoping these days would pass safely. The concern is no longer how we will spend Eid or celebrate it, but how we will get through this phase safely.”
She believes even the traditions of Eid eve have changed noticeably, saying: “Eid night was always a space for joy, movement in the markets, family gatherings, and the feeling that there was an occasion everyone was waiting for. Today the scene has changed dramatically. Gatherings have shifted from meetings tied to joy into gatherings dominated by anxiety, fear, and questions.”
She adds: “Sometimes we feel as though the Israeli army is constantly manipulating our nervous system. The issue is not only related to airstrikes or direct attacks, but to the permanent state of anticipation imposed on people.”
She continues: “Fear and panic are no longer temporary feelings tied to a specific moment. They have become part of daily life. Sometimes we feel we are not just living in fear of a particular event, but enduring a form of continuous internal exhaustion, as if something inside a person is gradually fading away.”
People visit the graves of their loved ones at a local cemetery on Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, in Beirut, Lebanon, 27 May 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
The Meaning of Eid
For her part, Zeinab Tahmaz says holidays had already begun losing part of their traditions in recent years, but the war accelerated that transformation even further.
She told Asharq Al-Awsat that “since last Eid al-Adha, the atmosphere has been almost nonexistent.” Recalling scenes from last year, she says: “At the time, warnings were issued and we saw how many areas, especially in the southern suburbs, were evacuated. That was proof that people no longer had the desire to go out or even visit their villages.”
She continues: “We had the scent of Eid, the village, our grandfather’s house, and family gatherings. These were things we once took for granted. But this year, even those things have been taken away from us.”
She says: “Sometimes I feel the war is not only taking away our sense of safety or the atmosphere itself, but also our ability to feel things the same way. The things we once waited for with excitement are no longer awaited in the same way.”
Fear Changed Eid Plans
Ali Al-Husseini says the escalation has not only changed the atmosphere of Eid, but also altered personal and family decisions that once seemed settled.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “I had planned to spend Eid with my family in the Bekaa, and the idea was tied to returning, even briefly, to the atmosphere we used to know.” He noted that “the escalation in the days leading up to Eid had the exact opposite psychological effect. Instead of making us think about Eid, it created feelings of fear and anxiety.”
He says: “I decided to remain with my children in our place of displacement in Mount Lebanon out of fear of any new escalation or warnings, and concern that developments could spiral in a way that would prevent me from returning to Beirut for medical treatment.”
A Slow Death
Saeed Shehab believes the war has not only stripped people of the details of Eid, but also forced them to reconsider even the things that once seemed self-evident.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Under these circumstances, Eid itself feels absent, whether there is a warning or not,” adding: “People have started clinging to the simplest things and saying thank God they still have a house they can sit in, a house that has not been destroyed and where they are still able to remain.”
He continues: “Beyond the feeling that you have already been deprived of many things, you hear reports about the possibility that the area where you are staying could be targeted, and you feel that even the last sense of safety you cling to could be taken away from you.”
He says: “You can lose your hometown, lose people and details that once meant something to you, and then feel that even the house giving you some reassurance could also become threatened.”
He adds: “The problem is not only what is happening outside, but what remains inside a person. A person does not only lose a house or a place, but sometimes feels they are losing part of themselves as well. There is sorrow that remains inside them, and psychological exhaustion that accumulates, as though over time you are living through a kind of slow death of the feelings and things that once gave you hope or a sense of life.”
Lebanese Army Says One Soldier Killed in Israeli Strike in Bekaahttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5277798-lebanese-army-says-one-soldier-killed-israeli-strike-bekaa
Lebanese Army Says One Soldier Killed in Israeli Strike in Bekaa
Lebanese soldiers stand guard outside the Justice Palace in Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
The Lebanese army said on Wednesday that a soldier had been killed in an Israeli air strike near his post in Bekaa and that it had retrieved his body, Reuters reported.
It said the retrieval was delayed from the previous day due to the security situation in the area.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in a town north of the Litani river on Wednesday, a day after Israel's military said it was expanding its ground operations.
Israel intensified the scope of its strikes on south and east Lebanon on Tuesday despite a ceasefire, killing at least 31 people, Lebanese authorities said, as Hezbollah also kept up its attacks.
In a statement Wednesday, Hezbollah said its fighters "clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank range" with light and medium weapons in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, on the edge of an Israeli-declared "yellow line" in south Lebanon where its troops have been operating.
Since early Tuesday, the group had said its fighters had faced Israeli troops entering the town, which holds strategic importance due to its proximity to the major southern city of Nabatieh, just six kilometres (four miles) away.
Israel's army on Wednesday renewed an evacuation warning for Nabatieh city after issuing a similar order a day earlier, saying it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah which it accuses of violating the ceasefire.
The Israeli troop advance towards Zawtar al-Sharqiyah comes after an Israeli military official said Tuesday that soldiers had begun operating beyond the "yellow line", which runs around 10 kilometres deep inside Lebanese territory and where residents have been warned not to return.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said on Tuesday that his country was intensifying operations in Lebanon.
"The (Israeli army) is operating with substantial forces on the ground and securing strategically dominant positions. We are reinforcing the security buffer zone in order to protect the communities of northern Israel," he said.
Hezbollah Says Clashed with Israeli Troops North of Litani Riverhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5277702-hezbollah-says-clashed-israeli-troops-north-litani-river
Hezbollah Says Clashed with Israeli Troops North of Litani River
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in a town north of the Litani river on Wednesday, a day after Israel's military said it was expanding its ground operations in the country's south.
In a statement, the group said its fighters "clashed with the enemy forces at point-blank range" in the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, located at the edge of an Israeli-declared "yellow line" in south Lebanon where its soldiers have been operating.
Israeli strikes killed 31 people on Tuesday, four of them children, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed to "crush" Hezbollah.
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