Tom Perry
Reuters Top News
Lebanon
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Past articles by Tom:
Syria's Assad boosted by return to Arab fold
President Bashar al-Assad always saw time as an ally in Syria's civil war, alongside the Russian and Iranian firepower he turned on his foes, sources familiar with his thinking say. → Read More
Analysis: Sudan risks long conflict as entrenched rivals struggle for control
Sudan's warring factions are locked in a conflict that two weeks of fighting shows neither can easily win, raising the spectre of a drawn-out war between an agile paramilitary force and the better-equipped army that could destabilise a fragile region. → Read More
Analysis: After allowing quake aid routes, Syria's Assad may expect reward
By allowing aid to enter rebel-held northwest Syria through more border crossings from Turkey, President Bashar al-Assad has given way to a demand of his foreign adversaries. The question now, say analysts, is what he may want in return. → Read More
Analysis: Earthquake in Syria offers leverage to isolated Assad
President Bashar al-Assad is seeking political advantage from an earthquake that has devastated large parts of Syria and Turkey, pressing for foreign aid to be delivered through his territory as he aims to chip away at his international isolation, analysts say. → Read More
Analysis: Lebanese elite bury blast probe, pushing fragile state closer to edge
In their move to bury an investigation into the Beirut port blast, Lebanon's ruling elite have driven another nail in the coffin of the collapsing state, stirring conflict in the judiciary as they try to avoid accountability at any cost. → Read More
Beirut 'neighbourhood watch' echoes troubled past
In the darkness of Beirut's unlit streets, men wielding batons and torches are taking security into their own hands in an initiative they hope will keep neighbourhoods safe but critics see as a worrying echo of Lebanon's troubled past. → Read More
Sunni cleric challenges Iran's leaders as protests rage
A prominent Sunni cleric who directed unprecedented criticism at Iran's supreme leader over a bloody crackdown in his hometown appeared unbowed this week by warnings from security forces, pressing his demands for more rights for his minority and voicing support for other groups in country-wide unrest. → Read More
EXCLUSIVE Lebanon will gradually phase in new official FX rate, PM says
Lebanon will roll out a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per dollar gradually, with initial exceptions to include banks' balance sheets and housing loan repayments to which the old rate will still apply, the prime minister said. → Read More
Exclusive: Lebanon to slash official exchange rate from Nov. 1, finance min says
Lebanon plans to slash its official exchange rate, replacing the 1,507 per dollar rate adopted 25 years ago with a rate of 15,000 in a step towards unifying numerous exchange rates, the finance minister told Reuters on Wednesday. → Read More
OBITUARY Sheikh Qaradawi, Islamist champion of Arab revolts, dies at 96
Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood who championed the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and unsettled rulers in Egypt and the Gulf with his Islamist preaching, died on Monday. He was 96. → Read More
Analysis: Crisis in Iraq tests its stability and Iran's sway
A power struggle in Iraq between the Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and rivals aligned with Iran is testing Tehran's ability to stave off a conflict that could further destabilize the country. → Read More
Analysis: For Riyadh, Hezbollah setback is rare good news from Lebanon
For Saudi Arabia, losses for Iran's allies in a Lebanese general election mark a rare piece of good news from a country where Tehran has long been ascendant, and could play to Riyadh's advantage in a regional tussle for influence. → Read More
Syria gas attack victim, awaiting justice, say impunity fuels war crimes
Abdel Hamid al-Youssef said 25 members of his family, including his wife and infant twins, were killed when poison gas was dropped on their town in Syria in 2017, in an attack a U.N.-backed inquiry concluded was launched by the Syrian state. → Read More
IMF, Lebanon reach draft funding deal, subject to reforms
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it had reached a draft funding agreement with Lebanon - but that Beirut needed to enact a batch of economic reforms first before its board decided whether to approve the deal. → Read More
Lebanon's Fransabank shuts all branches after judicial order
Lebanon's Fransabank closed all of its branches on Wednesday after a judicial order and said it would be unable to meet client demands, including paying public sector salaries. → Read More
U.S. says 'no wiggle room' on Lebanon holding May elections
Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary polls must be held on time, U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea told Reuters, amid widespread concern that powerful parties may seek to postpone the May vote that could see them lose some power in the legislature. → Read More
Analysis: Lebanon's savers to bear burden under new rescue plan
Two years into an economic meltdown the World Bank says is one of the worst recorded, Lebanon's rulers have proposed a way to plug a huge hole in the financial system they were blamed for making: savers will foot most of the bill, not banks or the state. → Read More
Lebanon plan sees 93% currency slide, turns bulk of FX deposits to pounds
A government plan for tackling Lebanon's financial crisis projects a 93% devaluation of the Lebanese pound and converts the bulk of hard currency deposits in the banking system to local currency, according to a blueprint seen by Reuters. → Read More
Analysis: Lebanon slips further into Iran's orbit as Hariri bows out
A decision by Sunni Muslim leader Saad al-Hariri to step away from Lebanese politics opens the way for Shi'ite Hezbollah to extend its already deep sway over the country, rendering it ever more a bastion of Iranian influence on the Mediterranean. → Read More
Lebanon's Hariri expected to announce election boycott, party members say
Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri is expected to announce on Monday he will not run in a May election that his movement may boycott, party members said, a potential political earthquake during a national financial collapse. → Read More