The Lebanese currency has hit an all-time low, as US sanctions and widespread corruption have worsened the economic meltdown, which caused the lira to lose 97% of its value.
The Lebanese pound (or lira) registered 63 thousand liras against the US dollar on Thursday after it hit the 60,000 threshold for the first time earlier in the day; a record that has led to unstable and skyrocketing prices and set off immense anger among the Lebanese people.
The Lebanese lira was pegged to the dollar and appeared to be stable for well over two decades.
However, Lebanese commentators say that US meddling in Lebanon and corruption in the ruling class and politicians, majorly reinforced by the US, are the two causes of the deteriorating economic and social situation and the lira's freefall.
Lebanese lawyer and political activist Tamam Nouredine told Press TV website that the Central Bank chief Riad Salameh and some of his colleagues have been carrying out the task assigned to them in "pushing Lebanon towards collapse" according to the plan of the US State Department as announced by Assistant Secretary Barbara Leaf.
The lawyer, who said that a lot of the decisions made by the Central Bank go against the law, assured that it is a tool used to serve US interventionism in Lebanon.
Sanctions against Hezbollah and Syria have been imposed for decades for resisting the US’s top ally, Israel and defying US policies in the region. But the Trump administration took sanctions to new heights through its maximum pressure campaign in 2018, which targeted all the components of the axis of resistance, including Lebanon.
The political activist pointed out that “at the time the US administration continues to sanction Lebanon and Lebanese entities, it also threatens politicians in Lebanon, especially those who have assets abroad that they will suffer sanctions themselves if they do not help implement US policies and diktats.”
“Washington has threatened businessmen and politicians from doing business with US rivals such as China and Russia, which in fact is something that could save the Lebanese economy, and this is something well-known in Lebanon,” the activist said.
The political activist also said she believed that the US has been continuously sanctioning Lebanese entities with the help of the country's Central Bank, the latest of which was Lebanese currency exchange house CTEX and its owner Hassan Moukaled on Thursday.
“All this economic pressure comes within the policy of sanctioning what Washington call individuals and companies facilitating the Lebanese popular resistance group Hezbollah's financial and weapon procurement affairs; a pretext the US uses to further meddle in the region.”
Since its establishment in 1982, Hezbollah has been engaged in a determined struggle aimed at protecting Lebanon against plots hatched by the United States and the Israeli regime, which the resistance group considers to be behind almost all instances of instability and deadly violence in the region.
Last week, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the United States is pursuing the policy of maximum pressure and economic sanctions against the countries and nations that are part of the Axis of Resistance, like the Islamic Republic of Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
“These nations’ financial problems are due to the fact that they do not want to surrender to Washington’s diktats,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed a ceremony in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Thursday evening.
Sayyed Nasrallah noted that Washington has been behind the decades-long economic woes in Lebanon, adding that the US obstructs financial aids to the country in one way or another, and does not allow any state to offer assistance to Beirut to help it meet its basic needs.
He added, “It is regrettable that some people in Lebanon deny the existence of an economic siege. They believe that the blockade of Lebanon would happen only if a battleship is moored off the coast of the country. This is while the policies and actions of US administrations vis-à-vis our country are a testimony to such a fact.”
On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Loyalty t the Resistance Bloc affirmed that the continuous collapse of the national currency and what happened in the past few days is a deliberate attempt to raise the price of the dollar, which is outside any economic context, and is part of the political pressure exerted on the Lebanese to impose choices on them that do not suit their interests.
Also on Wednesday, protesters burned tires and held up handfuls of local currency bills at the entrance of the Lebanese central bank in Beirut, furious over the spiraling devaluation of the lira.
The Lebanese people have been facing long "insulting" queues to buy bread and fill their cars with gas during the past two years. Many medicines, including cancer medication, are either scarce or not found in the Lebanese market.
According to the UN, poverty in Lebanon affects 74% of the population, and the middle class has almost vanished and are even forced to cut back on food.
Some experts say it is possible the dollar will double in value against the lira by the end of the year if the status quo continues.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Unit says Iran will consider the Israeli regime’s shelters “legitimate targets” if residential areas in the country come under attack.
In a post published on social media platform X on Tuesday, the IRGC said that any strikes on residential areas in Iran would give Iran’s armed forces the right to attack Israeli shelters in the occupied lands.
The IRGC stated that it has intelligence on the blueprints and the exact locations of these shelters.
Iran began its Operation True Promise 4 after the US and Israel launched their joint military aggression against the Islamic Republic in late February by assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and several senior Iranian officials.
In its latest wave of attacks, the IRGC said it rained down missiles on the Israeli regime’s “secure” intelligence facilities in Tel Aviv.
Iranian armed forces have also pounded American military bases and ...
In a fresh wave of retaliatory strikes, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the Israeli regime’s “secure” intelligence facilities in Tel Aviv.
The IRGC’s Public Relations Department said in a statement on Tuesday that it had carried out the 79th wave of its ongoing retaliatory Operation True Promise 4 against the Israeli and American targets.
Deploying powerful Kheybar Shekan, Emad, and Sejjil missiles alongside IRGC Aerospace Force kamikaze drones, the operation successfully breached the regime's multi-layered air defense systems, the statement said.
The missiles, it stated, targeted Israel’s intelligence facilities in northern and central Tel Aviv, as well as military commercial and support centers in Ramat Gan and the Negev.
The missiles also hit Israel’s southern military logistics and command headquarters in Beersheba.
The missile strikes triggered widespread panic across Israel and forced the suspension of a Knesset (parliament) session on Tuesday.
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announces staging the 78th wave of its underway retaliatory Operation True Promise 4, targeting such highly sensitive Israeli targets as Dimona, Tel Aviv, and Eilat as well as several US military bases in the region.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IRGC described the latest phase of the operation as a significant development featuring missiles raining down on enemy targets as the nation was leveling momentous support behind the Islamic Republic by attending millions-strong rallies with "clenched fists."
'A distinct record'
The latest phase, it noted, "has set a distinct record in the timeline of the war."
According to the statement, targets in the occupied port of Eilat, Dimona, a heavily fortified city that hosts the Israeli regime's notorious nuclear reactor in its vicinity, and northern Tel Aviv were struck using Emad and multi-warhead Qadr missile systems along with attack drones.
This was the second time the Corps was hitting Dimona, ...
