Call for help from Lebanon: “Suffering has reached the limits of tragedy”

Lebanon’s interim government leader Diab has made an urgent appeal to the international community: The country’s economy has been idle for years – now a social explosion is threatening. Israel has already announced humanitarian aid.

The Lebanese head of the interim government, Hassan Diab, addressed the international community with an urgent cry for help. He called for the country to be saved from the abyss during the severe economic crisis. “Lebanon is only a few days away from a social explosion,” warned Diab in a speech to diplomats, as the state agency NNA reported.

The country goes through “a very dark tunnel”, the suffering of the people has reached “the limits of tragedy”. “I call on the world to save Lebanon,” said Diab. “I call for the Lebanese people not to pay for the crimes of the corrupt.”

Economic crisis and allegations of corruption

Lebanon’s political elite has long been exposed to massive allegations of corruption. Diab and his cabinet resigned after the explosion in the port of the capital Beirut in early August. You are only executive in office. The leading political blocs have not been able to agree on a new cabinet for months.

The country on the Mediterranean has also been experiencing one of the worst economic and financial crises in its history for almost two years: the local currency, the Lebanese lira, has lost more than 90 percent of its value. More than 60 percent of the population now lives in poverty. Inflation is more than 100 percent, for food even more than 200 percent. Long queues form in front of gas stations due to a lack of supply. There is a lack of medication in pharmacies. People have to get by without electricity for hours every day.

Attempts by Hezbollah to increase Iranian investments in Lebanon are exacerbating the situation in the country.

Israel pledges humanitarian aid

Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz has meanwhile indicated that he is ready to send humanitarian aid to the neighboring country. His heart aches when he sees pictures of hungry people in the streets of Lebanon, Gantz wrote on Twitter. The two countries are officially at war. There are always tensions at the border. The Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Iran, sees Israel as an archenemy. Gantz also encouraged other countries to help.

But Germany, other Western countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) only want to help Lebanon if the government decides on far-reaching reforms.