BEIRUT // Tensions in Lebanon surrounding the investigation into the assassination of the former prime minster Rafiq Hariri escalated last week, prompting foreign leaders to enter the fray.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, defended the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon, charged with finding those behind the 2005 lorry-bomb deaths of Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.
It "represents to the world that the era of political assassination with impunity in Lebanon must end", she said while in Bahrain on Friday for a conference on security.
In Paris on Wednesday, during a state visit by the current Lebanese prime minister, Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated leader, the French foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said: "This tribunal was endorsed by the [UN] Security Council and no one can touch it".
Meanwhile, on Iran's Arabic-language television Al Alam, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, called the tribunal "a conspiracy and an Israeli plot to sow discord and divisions to prepare the ground for an aggression".Such polarised comments expressed by world leaders come as Lebanon enters its fourth week of political paralysis over the tribunal. The country's cabinet has not met since November 10.
Since rumours emerged months ago that the tribunal would indict high-ranking Hizbollah officials, the Islamist group, together with its opposition coalition allies in government, has sought to discredit the tribunal.
The government majority coalition, headed by Saad Hariri, is refusing to cave in to demands to reject the tribunal's findings before it issues indictments. Last week, Lebanese politicians entered "shuttle diplomacy" mode in an effort to stimulate a detente and restart dialogue. Mr Hariri visited France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, one of his coalition's key patrons. Representatives for Hizbollah and its allied Shiite party, Amal, travelled to their major patron, Syria. In Lebanon, President Michel Suleiman shuttled between meeting with 19 leaders and politicians from across the country's political spectrum in a bid to resolve the impasse. All the journeys and meetings led to no substantial accomplishments.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported on Wednesday that Hizbollah said it had completed its preparations for the next war with Israel. Sectarian rhetoric in Sunni circles in Lebanon called on Sunnis to assert their power and remain vigilant of ascending Shiite power in Lebanon. On Thursday, a letter from Salem bin Abdullah Qaraawi, the leader of the Abdullah Azzam brigades, an al Qa'eda-inspired Sunni militant group, called on Lebanon's Sunnis to "take back their rights by force".
Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said: "Rhetoric is increasing, and Hizbollah appears to be involved in the politics of intimidation. They give the impression that if Prime Minister Hariri doesn't denounce the tribunal, all hell will break loose, but I don't think they will do anything."
Walid Sukkarieh, an MP allied with Hizbollah, echoed the party's sentiment that the tribunal is a US-Israeli ploy to weaken Hizbollah's resistance against Israel and reorganise power in the region against Iran.
"They want a conflict between Sunni and Shia in Lebanon," he said. "Hizbollah is Shia and a friend of Iran. A conflict between Shia and Sunni in Lebanon is the beginning of conflict between Arab Sunnis across the Middle East and Shia Iran."
The stakes are very high for both sides of Lebanon's political divide. Denouncing the tribunal would amount to political suicide for Mr Hariri and his pro-western coalition. Such a move would also create major problems between Mr Hariri's coalition and its patron states such as France, the US and Saudi Arabia.
On the other side, Hizbollah's doomsday rhetoric has put it in a corner. If Mr Hariri and his allies refuse to denounce the tribunal and Hizbollah members are indicted, Hizbollah will then feel pressured to follow through with its promises to "cut off the hands" of anyone who attempts to arrest any of its members.
This is a prospect Hizbollah can ill afford if it wishes to continue along the path of mainstream political participation it has pursued since it first ran in elections in 1992.
In a brief civil conflict in May 2008, Hizbollah fighters took over parts of west Beirut, a move that estranged many moderate Lebanese whom Hizbollah won over during its war with Israel in 2006. Such moderate constituents are key to the future development of Hizbollah's democratic political programme in Lebanon, should it remain committed to democratic politics.
For now, most of the Lebanese political stakeholders are putting their faith in an ill-defined "Saudi-Syrian initiative" to reach consensus and restore dialogue to the Lebanese political stage. Saudi Arabia is a major backer of Mr Harari's majority coalition while Syria is a key patron of the Hizbollah-led opposition.
No concrete proposals have been announced from either Riyadh or Damascus about the ongoing discussions between these countries regarding the Lebanese situation.
In the meantime, the clock is ticking. The tribunal is expected to hand down indictments in the coming weeks.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
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if you go
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Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
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Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
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Install an air filter in your home.
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The specs: 2018 Opel Mokka X
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
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'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
The specs: 2018 Infiniti QX80
Price: base / as tested: Dh335,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.1L / 100km
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Book%20Details
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Don't get fined
The UAE FTA requires following to be kept:
- Records of all supplies and imports of goods and services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents related to receiving goods or services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents issued
- Records of goods and services that have been disposed of or used for matters not related to business
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
