The newspaper "Al-Sharq" wrote: The pace of internal incidents is accelerating frighteningly, warning of the worst that everyone agrees upon and fears its catastrophic repercussions, except for those directly involved in the rescue process, who have failed to perform their constitutional duty towards the people and the homeland, in favor of imaginary battles where they dig up grudges, incite sedition, and target what remains of national positions striving locally and externally to save the country from a promised hell that is now just a stone's throw away.
From the formation of the government to the Bkirki initiative and the street's anger, the events have quickly evolved, raising the level of concern over schemes using the third party to strike at the second and undermine the patriarchal proposal, which lacks national consensus. A consensus that the Lebanese have never been asked about when Lebanon was plunged into wars that cost thousands of martyrs and injured, in addition to billions of dollars. A consensus that was never achieved even for the moment to divert Lebanon from its flourishing Arab axis to the collapsing Persian one; consensus that never materialized for involvement in the wars of Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, isolating Lebanon and throwing it from the umbrella of support and strength into the guillotine of collapse and misery. There is no longer a consensus to ask about in the fractured, plundered country except for securing a livelihood while waiting for liberation from the dominance of factions to rise again, and everything else does not matter. This is where the rescue project begins… boiling and stagnation!
The street, which ignited the day before yesterday in protest of the deteriorating living, economic, and financial conditions as the dollar exceeded the 10,000 Lira barrier and with rising prices of fuel, bread, medicine, and everything else, did not change the political-governmental stagnation; rather, the rift between Baabda and the House of the Center remains unchanged.
**Aoun and Salameh**
Yesterday, while movements to block roads continued on the ground, shifting from one area to another from north to south passing through the Bekaa, the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, tried to ride the street's wave by asking the Governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh, during his reception at Baabda Palace, to know the reasons that led to the rise in the dollar price to these levels, as well as inquiring about the course of the forensic audit.
**Hariri**
Yesterday, President-designate Saad Hariri left Beirut for the United Arab Emirates.
**The Maronite Bishops**
On the other hand, the Maronite bishops raised their voices again, calling on the officials to wake up, adopting the rescue initiative launched by Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi last Saturday for Lebanon's neutrality to preserve its complete sovereignty and to distance it from regional and international conflicts and wars, and to hold an international conference for Lebanon under the auspices of the United Nations to save it from the state of political, economic, and financial collapse. They noted in a statement that "the protests that took place last night, due to the continuous rise in the dollar exchange rate and the alarming collapse of the Lebanese currency value, again indicate the depth of the chasm that the Lebanese people have fallen into economically and financially, and the complete failure of political authority in addressing this situation due to its unjust refusal to form a 'mission' government of specialists and non-partisans."
The bishops also joined the families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion and the affected, sharing their just and rightful demands. They called for the expedited judicial investigation free from political interference and to consider the case of the detainees and release those proven innocent. They also called for cooperation with international judiciary.
**The Banks**
In contrast, the Association of Banks responded to the accusations of causing the rise in the dollar exchange rate. In a detailed statement, it categorically denied everything circulated in recent days about the banks' role in the rise of the dollar exchange rate in the black market.
**Al-Hajjar: Foundations of Justice are Shaken**
MP Mohammed al-Hajjar tweeted via his Twitter account: "The silence of those concerned about what is happening in the military judiciary, which is practically standing on 'a drop and a point,' is suspicious, amidst the repeating urgent indictment against Major General Imad Othman and the old-new intimidation and treason campaign against Judge Hani Halmi al-Hajjar. The foundations of justice are shaking, so be warned before they collapse."
