Title: More Than Bassam Sheikh Hussein in the Upcoming Phase

In a scene that is not new in Lebanon, public opinion was occupied yesterday by the incident involving a depositor, Bassam Sheikh Hussein, who held employees of a bank in Beirut hostage, demanding the return of his frozen funds and threatening to set himself on fire and kill the employees. Nizar Ghanem, one of the founders of the Depositors' Defense Association and an economic researcher, held both the political and judicial authorities responsible for what is happening, predicting that we will witness similar incidents in the upcoming phase in the absence of any solutions to return money to its owners. Ghanem recalled the incident of depositor Abdullah Al-Sa'i, who managed to retrieve his funds amounting to 50,000 US dollars after threatening bank employees in Jebb Jenin in Baalbek. He told "Asharq Al-Awsat": "Today we see the same scene because the problem is widespread and there is no legal mechanism in place to help depositors recover their funds." On the contrary, he noted that the political authority is attempting to enact laws similar to capital control and banking secrecy that absolve banks and the central bank of responsibility, asking: "If the banks are bankrupt, why not liquidate their assets to pay back depositors?" Ghanem emphasized that according to a World Bank report, Lebanon's crisis is fabricated, and a solution is possible, but the influential figures in Lebanon are obstructing it.