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L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Lebanese Army sends helicopters to Limassol to help extinguish fires
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced Friday that two military helicopters flew to the neighboring island of Cyprus to help extinguish fires that broke out Wednesday near Limassol (south), which have already left two dead. Early in the afternoon, Cypriot authorities announced the fires had been contained. "Two helicopters from the Lebanese Air Force took off this morning from Beirut Air Base to take part in extinguishing the fires in Cyprus, at the initiative of the Lebanese authorities and in coordination between the army command and the Cypriot authorities," the Army said on its website. At the beginning of July, Army helicopters had already taken part in putting out forest fires in the Latakia region on Syria's coastal area for nearly a week. The forest fires on the outskirts of Limassol, Cyprus's second-largest city, have been fanned by strong winds and high temperatures. Cypriot police said two burned bodies were found inside a charred car engulfed by the fire that broke out Wednesday in parts of the southern coastal region of the island. According to fire brigade spokesman Andreas Kettis, the fire, which started in the village of Malia in the hills above Limassol, destroyed 100 square kilometers. More than 250 firefighters, 75 vehicles, and helicopters are involved in operations to fight the blaze. The government had called on several countries to send planes to assist them. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was in Cyprus at the start of the month and discussed with his counterpart Nikos Christodoulides the "means of strengthening cooperation between the two countries in various fields."
L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
One dead in Israeli drone strike in Braasheet, Bint Jbeil district
SOUTH LEBANON — An Israeli army drone targeted a vehicle with two missiles on the outskirts of Braasheet in the Bint Jbeil district early Friday afternoon, killing one and critically injuring another, according to our correspondent in South Lebanon. The victim was named Ali Koussan, a native of Aitaroun, a village neighboring the site of the strike, and was a member of Hezbollah, according to an announcement from the party. The Israeli army has so far not commented on the strike. Several hours earlier, a man identified as a member of the municipal council of Dhaira, in the Sour district, was wounded by Israeli machine gun fire in that village. The man was hospitalized. Elsewhere, during the night from Thursday to Friday, Israeli artillery fired flares over Kouroum al-Mrah, on the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district). Tensions had already escalated on Thursday, with the Israeli air force carrying out a series of bombings in several regions of South Lebanon, while a drone strike killed a man in Aita al-Shaab, who was identified as a Hezbollah fighter by the party. In Aita al-Shaab, residents appeal to the government In this village in the Bint Jbeil district, residents urged the Lebanese authorities to take "serious" measures to protect people in the region from Israeli attacks. Despite the cease-fire agreement that took effect Nov. 27 after more than 13 months of devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel, Israeli strikes continue almost daily in South Lebanon and, to a lesser extent, in the Bekaa. Since the truce, these attacks have killed at least 282 people, according to a count by the U.N. and L'Orient Today. "Not a day goes by without a youth from our village being a direct target of the Israeli enemy. The most recent is the martyr Moustapha Harissi, killed in blatant violation of all international conventions and charters, amid an official silence that borders on complicity by negligence," residents of the area said in a statement relayed by the state-run National News Agency. Aita al-Shaab is adjacent to the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel. The Lebanese Army is intensifying its efforts to dismantle Hezbollah's arsenal in South Lebanon, as set out in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which underpins the current truce. Residents of the village, where Hezbollah remains highly influential, also addressed the president, the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, and the Army command: "We hold the state responsible for the consequences of this chronic abandonment." They even threatened to "take measures in the future to protect ourselves, defend our land, our dignity, our security, and our right to life."
L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Bank Audi estimates 5% Lebanese economic growth in 2025
"The first half of 2025 marked a clear reversal of the trend" in Lebanon, says Bank Audi in its latest quarterly economic report. This is "driven by a political breakthrough at the national level following a promising presidential election, the formation of a qualified cabinet, key administrative appointments and some reform initiatives," it continues. According to Bank Audi, this turnaround is evident thanks to several economic indicators, notably the increase in eurobond prices to nearly 18 cents on the dollar, compared to less than 6 cents on the dollar last September. This shows that "institutional investors are betting that the political breakthrough would lead to the long-awaited economic reforms and a debt restructuring," the authors of the report mention. Balance of payments surplus Next, Bank Audi highlights a 16 percent year-over-year increase in imports during the first five months of the year, while exports increased by 21 percent over the same period. "Taking into account 6.7 percent imported inflation from the countries of origin, the real increase in imports is estimated at 9.3 percent, reflecting an increase in real demand for consumer and investment goods in Lebanon, which supports our forecast of real GDP growth of 5 percent for 2025," the report adds. At the same time, the bank notes the $1.9 billion surplus recorded over the first five months of the year in the balance of payments. Although the balance of payments shows "a nominal surplus of $8.1 billion, about $6.3 billion of that is linked to the rise in gold prices," resulting in "a real surplus of $1.9 billion for the period," it details. As for the domestic level, Bank Audi mentions the stability of the Lebanese pound, mainly supported by "a near-balance in public finances and the balance of payments," while the absence of a public deficit in the past two years equates to no monetary creation in Lebanese pounds. "That being said, although the pound has recently maintained its stability ... it has, however, not regained its fundamental economic functions [means of exchange, unit of account, store of value, standard of deferred payment], which indicates that it remains an almost inactive currency," the authors of the report qualify. "The monetary challenge of the new era would be for the Lebanese pound to regain its four fundamental functions lost during the crisis gradually," they add. Optimism, challenges Still, in terms of levers for monetary stability, the authors note that Banque du Liban's (BDL) foreign currency reserves increased by $1.191 billion in six months, from $10.135 billion at the end of December 2024 to $11.326 billion at the end of June 2025. At the same time, the bank notes that BDL's gold reserves were valued at $30.277 billion as of the end of June 2025, compared to $24.102 billion at the end of December 2024. This increase is solely due to the global rise in gold prices. In this context, the authors of the report point out "that Lebanon currently has the highest ratio of gold reserves to GDP in the world, close to 100% percent, compared to a global average of about 4 percent." Regarding the banking sector, the latest figures show that fresh deposits in foreign currency in Lebanese banks, as opposed to those that have been blocked since the start of the crisis, have risen from approximately $3.2 billion at the beginning of the year to more than $4 billion today. Finally, despite this renewed optimism, Bank Audi maintains that Lebanon still faces numerous challenges, the most pressing of which are centered on three key areas. First, it is the need to restore confidence that requires upholding the cease-fire, restoring the sovereign role of the state and the army with a total monopoly over arms in the country, and working toward the establishment of a just and lasting peace. The second would be implementing banking restructuring and the mechanism for distributing financial losses. Third is concluding a final agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as "Lebanon is urgently in need of international assistance, which could be provided directly and indirectly by an IMF program," the report concludes. Bank Audi table sur une croissance de 5 % de l'économie libanaise en 2025
