We have reached a step.. (number of voters..)

1 hour ago, MAF released on X that they have reached 101 355 requests. If you live abroad but you are not registered yet and you want to vote for the 2026 legislatives, hurry up, registrations close on November 20 ! Link to register : https://diasporavote.mfa.gov.lb
Post Author: /u/Warm_Temperature_167
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Poll: "No Politics Sunday", your opinion

As we all know, political posts tend to get toxic on our sub. They spark countless arguments, downvots and turn threads into battlegrounds.

We are considering introducing a "No Politics Sunday" concept: One day a week where no political posts are allowed on the sub, but political comments can be added to the General Mega thread if you feel like you still want to discuss a particular issue. The only exception to this rule would be a major and sudden event that directly affects people safety or daily lives.

The goal is not to silence important issues but to give everyone a weekly cooldown from political arguments and let our community breathe a bit.

We want to know what you think. So vote in the poll and feel free to elaborate in the comments or to suggest an alternative.

View Poll
Post Author: /u/TheBroken0ne
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Bsat: Saudi initiative to attend ‘Beirut One’ investment conference

LEBANON

Bsat: Saudi initiative to attend ‘Beirut One’ investment conference

L'Orient Today / 15 November 2025 03:39
Bsat: Saudi initiative to attend ‘Beirut One’ investment conference

The Minister of Economy and Trade, Amer Bsat, during a press conference on Monday, May 26, 2025. (Credit: Stephanie Bechara / L'Orient-Le Jour)

BEIRUT — The Minister of Economy Amer Bsat told local television channel LBCI on Saturday that "there is an initiative from the Saudis to attend an investment conference in Lebanon called ‘Beirut One’,” calling it the "beginning of a path and a very positive development.”

The Beirut One conference, scheduled for Nov. 18–19, will bring together the private sector, the diaspora, and international partners to secure investments and support. It coincides with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the United States on Nov. 18, where a joint U.S.-Saudi investment forum will also be held.

“The way we are thinking through the conference is to break the stagnation and disconnection, and to reconnect Lebanon economically with its Arab surroundings, its diaspora, and our Arab brothers. We want to create a new narrative about this country", the minister noted. “Through the ‘Beirut One’ Conference, we want to create a new narrative about Lebanon, that it is not just a country that begs and holds talks with donors, funds and the IMF, but a country with its own private sector and investments", the minister said.

Many observers caution that foreign investment will remain limited until Lebanon reaches an IMF agreement, which requires implementing financial reforms. Since the 2020 default, Lebanon has struggled to convince the Fund of its readiness to stabilize the financial system.

Bsat added that the conference is “an indication of success” and that Saudi participation is “very healthy.” “Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is organic and sentimental. Transformations, including tighter port control, show the right path has begun,” he said.

A senior Saudi official told Reuters tha...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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In Sour, World Bank pledges support to rebuild water stations destroyed by Israel

RECONSTRUCTION

In Sour, World Bank pledges support to rebuild water stations destroyed by Israel
L'Orient Today / By L'Orient Today staff, 9 November 2025 07:18

In Sour, World Bank pledges support to rebuild water stations destroyed by Israel

A man walks past damage caused by Israeli attacks in Tayr Debba (Sour), Nov.30, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour Archive photo)

SOUTH LEBANON — A World Bank (WB) delegation visited the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sour on Sunday to assess the damage caused by Israeli strikes, including a major hit on the local water station that has left more than 100,000 residents without reliable access to water. The international financial institution reaffirmed its commitment to help rehabilitate the critical infrastructure.

The delegation included 11 senior officials, among them Jean-Christophe Carret, director of the WB's Middle East division; Abdelaziz al-Mulla, the institution’s Middle East representative; and Enrique Armas, director of its Lebanon office.

"Despite ongoing Israeli aggression, the municipality of Sour, together with Civil Defense teams, the Islamic Mission Scouts Association [a rescue group affiliated with the Amal Movement] and first responders from the Disaster Management Unit of the Federation of Sour Municipalities, have ensured water distribution via tanker trucks until a temporary solution can be implemented after the war," said Sour Deputy Mayor Alouane Charafeddine. He noted the municipality is working with the South Lebanon Water Establishment, UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A temporary connection network with external water sources currently pumps about 5,000 cubic meters per day, compared with the destroyed station’s 14,000-cubic-meter capacity, Charafeddine said. The municipality also thanked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for funding $840,000 toward partial reconstruction of the station.

The World Bank delegation said it plans to support damaged water stations across southern L...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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Dating scene in Lebanon

Anyone else been struggling to find a good match? Also anyone else's cycle been getting engaged and married and have kids at early age? Im in my early 20sF and almost everyone around me is getting engaged or already married or have kids . And here i am struggling because i choose to be different than everyone . And it's the fact that i became an atheist which makes it very hard to find someone who could be on the same page without turning into the biggest hypocrite especially since im 99% surrounded by religious people irl (no offense to anyone it's just my choice) but yeah here i am thinking why it gotta be so hard especially because other people have expectations on how u should live your life (aka family) .
Post Author: /u/OliveObvious8951
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Cannabis farmers’ hopes dashed: 2025 season harvest to be confiscated and destroyed

The government's decision to destroy the 2025 cannabis harvest has created a significant rift with farmers in the Bekaa and the North, who feel betrayed by the Cannabis Regulatory Authority. The government has decided to prohibit the sale of the 2025 season's harvest, ordering its complete confiscation and destruction under an official plan. This comes despite promises made to the farmers by the Regulatory Authority.

The Authority, led by its president, had toured farms and met with growers before the harvest. It listened to their demands and concerns, and they reached a shared vision for the sector's future through legalization and regulation, benefiting both the state and the farmer. The Authority's head, Dani Fadel, went further. He assured farmers that this year's harvest would be sold, framing it as a crucial first step to build trust and encourage their participation under the new cannabis regulation law. The plan was for the crop to be laboratory tested, with any portion meeting international standards approved for sale.

The farmers co-operated with Mr Fadel, who, in a previous special interview with "Al-Modon", promised doubled profits for both growers and the state. Furthermore, Mr Fadel promised farmers the launch of an electronic platform. They would use this platform to register and declare their lands, cultivation, and, consequently, their harvests, as a preparatory step toward legalizing the cannabis promotion and sales process.

Those promises, however, masked disagreements within the Cannabis Regulatory Authority itself. Members were split into two camps. The first view, held by four members including the president, advocated for a pragmatic, temporary arrangement. This would allow the 2025 cannabis crop to be sold under state supervision, thereby avoiding economic and security losses and preparing the ground for implementing Law 178/2020, rather than destroying the crops and wasting the agricultural effort.

The second view, supported by three members, held that the 2025 season's crop is ill...
Post Author: /u/matinxxx243453
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American Disengagement: A Gain for the Iranian axis or Opening the Gates of Hell?

An atmosphere of caution dominates Lebanese politics. There is no indication that the Lebanese crisis is heading towards a solution. American, Western, and Arab pressure on Beirut is mounting to urge officials to take significant action.

The year 2025 is approaching its end. This year was pivotal: a new president was elected and a government was formed, tasked with implementing crucial economic and political changes. The end of the year seems as important as its beginning. This deadline is crucial: if the Lebanese state fails to act, Washington will leave the Lebanese situation to its fate.

After the victory of the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of the Syrian occupation army from Lebanon on April 26th, 2005, the Lebanese people believed political reality had been turned upside down. They thought the era of occupation had ended and the time for state-building had arrived. But these dreams evaporated. The first to warn of the coming danger was Walid Jumblatt. He pointed to the expansion of the "Axis of Resistance" and the emergence of the "Shia Crescent," an axis stretching from Iran to Iraq, through Syria, and into Lebanon.

The July War took place in 2006. Hezbollah exploited the situation, pivoted to the domestic front, and overturned all the dynamics established by the Cedar Revolution. Events unfolded, leading to the May 7th 2008, assault. The United States did not move its warships, allowing Lebanon to fall into the hands of the "Axis of Resistance". On March 15th, 2011, the Syrian revolution sparked in Deraa. President Barack Obama’s administration permitted Hezbollah and the Iranians to enter and support the Assad regime. Hezbollah won a new round, transforming into a regional force with bases in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

The same fears of a repeat of the post-Cedar Revolution events are returning. Hezbollah is betting on time and the state's sluggishness to regain its strength and standing. Amid widespread talk of Washington losing interest and abandoning the Lebanese situation, analyses circulate...
Post Author: /u/matinxxx243453
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Is South Beirut safe for foreigners ? (2025)

Hi everybody,

I'm a French independent reporter and will be visiting Beirut as part of a larger trip to Syria, in December. I wanted to travel to the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahieh), to gather images of the damage caused by Israeli bombings, and images of the mausoleum of Hassan Nasrallah. Would you advise against going there or is it generally considered safe ? (My government along with other European governments advise against all travel to South Beirut because of Hezbollah activity)

Thank you so much,

I look forward to visiting your country!
Post Author: /u/Winter-Leadership986
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Lebanon's historic pines are dying, one cone at a time | REUTERS

Description

Lebanon's historic pines are dying, one cone at a time | REUTERS

Reuters
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Nov 11
2025

News

Reuters

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Farmers in Bkassine, Lebanon, struggle as an invasive insect damages pine cones, risking livelihoods dependent on the Middle East's largest pine forest.

News #Reuters #Newsfeed #lebanon #pinecones #environment

Lebanon's historic pines are dying, one cone at a time

By Raghed Waked
November 11, 20253:55 AM MSTUpdated November 11, 2025

Summary
- Insects threaten Lebanon's prized pine nuts

• Forest and livelihoods at risk, prices rising

• Trees left vulnerable by ravages of climate change

BKASSINE FOREST, Lebanon, Nov 11 (Reuters) - In the heart of southern Lebanon, where pine trees once stood tall and abundant, a quiet crisis is unfolding. The cones are barren, the trees are drying and a forest that was a lifeline for entire communities is under siege.

Farmers in Bkassine forest have watched their pine yields dwindle for years. At first, they blamed seasonal weather changes. Then, in 2015, scientists confirmed what many feared: an invasive insect had taken hold, one that feeds on the cones that produce Lebanon's prized pine nuts.

"It's not just the nuts," said Dr. Nabil Nemer, a forest health expert at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK). "This insect attacks the cones over three years. It doesn't just reduce productivity, it wipes it out."

In some cases, up to 82% of a cone's seed pods are left as empty shells, according to Nemer. Trees weakened by the ravages of climate change are particularly vulnerable.

The insect, Leptoglossus occidentalis, is originally from North America and likely arrived in Lebanon via untreated wooden shipping pallets.

It has since spread across the Mediterranean to Turkey and other areas, according to his research.
Livelihoods are under threat in the Bkassine reserve, the Middle East's largest productive pine forest. The trees grow in other parts of Lebanon, but largely not commercially.

For decades, Miled Hareb's fa...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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Architectural Optimism Is Alive & Well in Lebanon. We Design Beirut showed off the country’s glamour & grit in the face of drones & air strikes

Architectural Optimism Is Alive and Well in Lebanon
We Design Beirut showed off the country’s glamour and grit in the face of drones and air strikes.

Text by
Jack Balderrama Morley
Published by
Dwell

This story is part of Fair Take, our reporting on global design events that looks up close at the newest ideas in fixtures, furnishings, and more.
I did not want to go to Beirut. I was tired from working on a book all summer, and I wanted to stay home and rest, not fly halfway around the world to go to a weeklong design fair that was putting me up in the Lebanese capital. Design press junkets can be the kind of thing where some PR person whisks you off to a very expensive building, and then you look at the building and nod and say, yes, this is a very nice building, and then they serve you a very expensive lunch, and you nod and say, yes, this, too, is very nice, and then you go home having learned what, exactly, you don’t know.

For a moment, I considered backing out of the trip, blaming it on the State Department’s Level Four travel warning: "Do NOT Travel to Lebanon due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, unexploded landmines, and the risk of armed conflict." Yes, sir! The news stories we see in the West about the country depict it almost exclusively as a place of explosions and war. That could be enough to stop many from going. But, thankfully, I try not to let the U.S. government direct my decisions, and the design fair, called We Design Beirut, was not only unlike any junket I’ve been on, it showed me how deeply American media and institutions have failed to understand the region and its design intelligence, to our loss.

One of the clichés about Lebanon is that it’s a land of contrasts—you can ski in the morning and lounge on a beach in the afternoon; you can be shopping at Hermès when the city’s power flickers out, as it often does—and this actually rang true on the trip. The fair’s organizers shuttled press and VIPs around a packed schedule of events, and the tonal contrasts among the de...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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IAF: To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Middle East Airlines, we decided to impose a strict no fly zone over lebanese airspace. Happy anniversary!

Mods please dont remove
Post Author: /u/fib1324
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MOT Charles Hage: Lebanon Launches Largest Fiber Rollout: 325,000+ Homes to Gain FTTH Access Across 25 Cities

Post Author: /u/Adventurous_Sea_6269
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MOT Charles Hage: Lebanon Launches Largest Fiber Rollout: 325,000+ Homes to Gain FTTH Access Across 25 Cities

Post Author: /u/Adventurous_Sea_6269
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Lebanon's farmers fight to survive amid Israel's lingering war

Lebanon's farmers fight to survive amid Israel's lingering war

MENA

5 min read
Sarah Khalil

10 November, 2025

Nearly a year after the ceasefire, Israel's continued attacks and occupation have left Lebanon's farmers displaced and their fields destroyed.

Israel's war and continued attacks have devastated farming in southern Lebanon [Getty]
Nearly a year after the November 2024 ceasefire was meant to halt Israel's war in Lebanon, farmers across the south of the country and the eastern Bekaa Valley are still trying to live amid destruction and ruin.

Farmland lies abandoned, livestock have perished, and families who once lived off their crops are now surviving on aid.

What should have marked the start of recovery instead exposes the long reach of Israel's devastation and its lasting grip on Lebanon's agricultural heartlands.

A new joint report by Action Against Hunger, Oxfam, and Insecurity Insight, titled "We Lost Everything: The Impact of Conflict on Farmers and Food Security in Lebanon", documents the severe economic and humanitarian consequences of Israel's continuing violations of the ceasefire agreement.

The findings build on the agencies' earlier report, entitled "When Bombs Turn the Taps Off", which detailed Israel's destruction of Lebanon's water infrastructure, leaving more than 150,000 people without clean water months after the ceasefire.

A system in collapse

The latest report found that almost 90 percent of farmers surveyed have seen their food production plummet since October 2023, when the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel started.

For many people in Khiam, Bodai, Saaideh, Baalbek, and Aitaroun, agriculture has stopped completely, cutting off entire communities from their main source of income.

"Some farmers have lost everything, and this will have devastating repercussions not just for them and their families, but the communities they help to feed," Christina Wille, director and a founding member of Insecurity Insight, told The New Arab.

"The majority of interviewed farmers told u...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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Hicham Bou Nassif: Hezbollah's Three Mechanisms of Ruin

Hezbollah has committed a long series of crimes against the Lebanese, but the most dangerous is dragging them into confrontations like the one that has raged for two years, regardless of whether they consent to the fight. The state of our exhausted country is catastrophic, and the horizon remains blocked. Who gave Hezbollah the mandate to drag us here?

By what right did Hassan Nasrallah launch his "war of support" that embroiled all of Lebanon, given that he has only ever been the leader of one of its factions? And in whose name does Naim Qassem follow his predecessor’s path, after all that has occurred?

These are obvious questions. Hezbollah, in my estimation, does not bother with them because the religious consciousness that drives it is unburdened by such concerns. Indeed, one cannot engage in any discussion with supporters of Hezbollah (or Hamas) on social media without the immediate argument that "divine laws" permit resistance, that Jews occupy Muslim lands, and that jihad is consequently a personal religious duty, and the like.

What about non-Muslims who do not think along these lines? What, too, of Muslims who understand Islam differently? What, finally, if both groups constitute the majority in Lebanon, and perhaps even in Palestine? The answer is always ready, repeated a thousand times: whoever dislikes what we are doing can leave.

The first mechanism is dispensing with the need for a popular mandate before embarking on adventures that embroil all of Lebanon, and not just its own rank and file. Its second mechanism is the use of incitement and the sowing of hatred in society to flatten public consciousness. Anyone following Hezbollah's mouthpieces recently will notice their rhetoric is mobilized more against domestic opponents, especially Christians, than against Israel. This is no coincidence. The bluster against Israel is now an empty threat. By extension, the more Shiite resentment is directed at the Christian community, the more the Shiite populace forgets to ask Hezbollah basic questions. ...
Post Author: /u/matinxxx243453
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What to do about sick stray cats if I’m only visiting

Hi, I’m only in Beirut for another week and everyone I’ve spoken to says the animal charities always have their hands full and no resources to help. Right now 2/3 kittens (pictured here) need eye drops and antibiotics. Another adult cat in the same area is probably almost blind and also only needs the same for one week.

I can take them to the vet but they ideally need to be indoors while taking this medicine. If not, someone needs to give it to them every day for a week. This is theoretically easy because they’re in the same place every day but the business owners who take care of them don’t have the time to give meds to them twice a day or only work one shift or care but just don’t know how to handle cats, which I understand.

So..does anyone know who I can reach out to? Because there is no point in me taking them to the vet if they can’t take their full course of antibiotics and eye drops.

sorry if this is in any way tone-deaf, I just work a lot with cats and don’t like to just walk away.
Post Author: /u/michaela_kohlhaas
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To the atheists of Lebanon, what made you wake up?

For me, there are so many strong arguments against the existence of a true God, from the everyday horrors of genocide, natural disasters, and disease, to the fact that humans have created countless religions over the millennia without ANY real evidence for any of them whatsoever. And on top of that, that religion consistently fuels hate, division, and bigotry, and I'd even argue it's the best source of those 3 traits. I can also can into the scientific aspect of it more, but I'm more curious about what made you wake up to this scam.
Post Author: /u/michaelis999
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Extremely disappointed with this government

Almost one whole year with this new government and yet we as a fucking nation have not made any and I mean any progress to fix this backward country. No disarmament of hizballah in fact now they are rearming, no investments from foreign countries to boost our economy, no banking sector, no water, no electricity, 80% of Lebanese live in poverty, no solution to the Syrian crisis, no disarmament to the Palestinian camps, robbery and murder at a all time high, and many more. We are a fucking joke of a country and an embarrassment to this world. We bitch and moan about change and yet we never do. We don’t even make it out of the first step of changing which is cutting corruption, or even the removal of militias. All I hear is promises of stuff we want to hear, and yet nothing happens. The thing is the government isn’t even the problem any more it’s us, we don’t wanna change, we just don’t, we don’t put enough pressure on these old fucking nut heads in the government to change, we are divided by everything in religion, in politics, in everything. We don’t work together, we work against each other. Shit man we bitch and moan about Syria and Syrians yet they are actually putting in effort to change, and we are here stuck in the stone ages. What Tom Barrak said yesterday wasn’t wrong at all, we are a failed state, we are a failed country, we are corrupted, and we are being taken advantage of by other countries, and are we going to change? By the looks of it no. Rome want built in a day, but it also wasn’t built in a 1000 years. Fuck man we are cooked.
Post Author: /u/OmarD1021
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Shark Tank Jury

Hey,

Who's your favorite shark?

Alain Bejjani (pic 1) – Former CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Holding.

Hassan Ezzelddine (pic 2) – Retail & distribution veteran in Lebanon (aka CEO spinneys)

Maroun Chammas (pic 3) – Serial investor in tech, energy, foods in Lebanon (Berytech, Medco)

Georges Karam (pic 4) – Lebanese expatriate with international telecom/investment

Christine Assouad (pic 5) – CEO in food & retail space in Lebanon (Dunkin)
Post Author: /u/jooneyJ
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Food Heroes detail | World Food Day | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Anthony Rahayel

“We are inventing more, exporting more. We are doing things we’ve never done before.”

Lebanon

On a recent sunny Tuesday, some 1 900m up a mountain in Northern Lebanon, Anthony Rahayel wound his way up a narrow road in search of cheese.

His destination was Btelaya, one of the last remaining villages that produce Jebneh Darfiyyeh, and home to a family that’s been making it for 140 years.

“I spent 24 hours with the shepherd, watching how the cheese is made from start to end,” Anthony says excitedly. “I even went to the cave they put the cheese in. It’s a one-month process of aging it, drying it.”

It was the first time the whole process had been documented on camera, he says.

It’s these moments he lives for, showing the cultural and culinary beauty of Lebanon to people around the world, including his compatriots. He loves to show locals new things about their own country, he says, and for the diaspora worldwide to take pride and interest in their heritage.

“It is the best cuisine in the world – no competition,” says Anthony, who credits the diversity of influences left by the Romans, the Ottomans and the French, and Lebanon’s key position along the old Silk Road.

“Our country also has many days of good weather, so we have the greatest veggies. Everything you eat here is natural and tastes amazing.”

Since 2012, the dentist-turned-food-blogger has built a loyal following showing that richness on his Youtube channel and website No Garlic No Onions. He also produces short features on Lebanese TV.

He’s keen to dispel Lebanon’s old image of a country marked by conflict and economic crises, he says. Still, crisis also shapes food culture, and not always negatively. Separated by Civil war, communities fostered unique food habits that reflect the religious and cultural roots of those who settled there, explains Anthony, especially in the villages.

The recent economic crisis, meanwhile, has given an unexpected jolt to Lebanon’s food industry.

“We are inventing more, exporting...
Post Author: /u/EreshkigalKish2
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