Middle East Experience

French President Emmanuel Macron toured Beirut's shattered streets on Thursday, two days after a giant explosion, with crowds demanding the end to a “regime” of politicians they blame for corruption and dragging Lebanon into disaster.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“I see the emotion on your face, the sadness, the pain. This is why I’m here,” he told one group, shaking their hands-on roads strewn with rubble and flanked by shops with windows blown out after Tuesday's blast that killed 145 and injured 5,000.Macron, wearing a black tie in mourning and flanked by security guards, promised to send more medical and other aid to Lebanon, while those around him chanted “Revolution” and “The people want the fall of the regime.”“But what is also needed here is political change. This explosion should be the start of a new era,” Macron said, making the tour shortly after arriving on the first visit to Lebanon by a foreign leader since the blast.The president has said he would deliver “home truths” to a government that France and other Western donors have said must reform the country's politics and the economy.One man told Macron: “We hope this aid will go to the Lebanese people not the corrupt leaders.”Before the Beirut port blast, whose explosive force was registered hundreds of miles (kilometers) away, Lebanon was grappling with an imploding economy - its banks in crisis,currency in freefall and mountain of debts climbing.“Mr. President, you're on General Gouraud Street, he freed us from the Ottomans. Free us from the current authorities,” said one person among the crowd who gathered around him, appealingfor help from Lebanon's former colonial power.Some of the crowd, who were filmed by a pool report in a predominantly Christian district of the capital, shouted: “Mr. Macron, free us from Hezbollah,” referring to the Iran-backed Shia Muslim group, a powerful player in a nation where political loyalties often run along sectarian lines.After visiting a pharmacy damaged by the explosion, Macron told the crowd: “I understand your anger. I am not here to write a blank cheque ... to the regime.”Read more:Missing port worker found alive in sea 30 hours after Lebanon blastClosest footage yet of Beirut blasts from apartment balcony opposite portCost of damages to exceed $5 billion, Beirut governor reveals as Lebanon grieves
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion: Crowd on street urges Macron to help oust Lebanon’s leadership

Developments in southern Idlib suggest that a five-month truce could soon come to an end with a fresh regime offensive to capture Syria’s last rebel stronghold.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Full-fledged military escalation looms large in Idlib

As Ethiopia continues to fill the reservoir of its controversial dam on the Nile River, Egypt is churning out ideas and projects to conserve water.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt promotes local projects to mitigate GERD effects

A tax official in Egypt has recently raised controversy when stating that the government is imposing an income tax on all drug traffickers, prostitutes and arms traders who are arrested.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Row in Egypt after official says government imposes income tax on arrested drug dealers, prostitutes

The Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality has unveiled an ambitious plan to meet the challenges of climate change, a first for Israeli cities.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Tel Aviv outlines plan to face climate crisis

Not all Israelis were pleased with Tel Aviv's gesture of solidarity with Lebanon, with quite a few saying that lighting the city hall up like the Lebanese flag went too far.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel struggles to reach out to Lebanon after blast

The US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook is stepping down from his post, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday."Brian Hook has decided to step down from his role," Pompeo said in a statement, after Hook revealed his plans to the New York Times.Hook will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, the State Department's Special Representative for Venezuela.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“Sometimes it’s the journey and sometimes it’s the destination,’’ Hook told NYT. “In the case of our Iran strategy, it’s both. We would like a new deal with the regime. But in the meantime, our pressure has collapsed their finances," he said.Hook leaves his post after being appointed in 2017.Read more: Iran hurt Lebanon’s people using Hezbollah: US official Brian Hook“By almost every metric, the [Iranian] regime and its terrorist proxies are weaker than three and a half years ago,” Hook said.“Deal or no deal, we have been very successful.”Pompeo commended Hook for achieving "historic results countering the Iranian regime."
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook stepping down: Pompeo

The 25-year-old was among the first fatalities to be named, and was honoured with a public funeral which took place at her hometown of Qaa on Thursday..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Hero Lebanese firefighter Sahar Fares buried after fatal Beirut blast

Book Club: Alaa Al Aswany explains dictatorship as a disease whose causes and symptoms must be thoroughly studied if we wish to eradicate it..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: The Dictatorship Syndrome by Alaa Al Aswany

American Jews encouraged to buy fast.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Coronavirus crashes Israel's real estate market