🌳 Tax Hikes and Army Prep

TOP STORIES

Lebanon's Tax Hike Sparks Backlash—and a Legal Challenge

• Lebanon's cabinet has raised the VAT to 12% and hiked the gasoline tax by 300,000 lira, triggering an immediate wave of economic and labor opposition from unions, MPs, and political parties.
• The Free Patriotic Movement has formally backed a legal challenge filed by the bus and public transport owners' union before the State Council, demanding the government reverse what it's calling an arbitrary and inflationary decision.
• The head of the General Labor Union, Bishara al-Asmar, called the move "unacceptable," arguing the government should first study non-tax revenue sources and implement a civil service reform plan already drafted—one that could restore salaries to 77% of their 2019 value over five years.
• Separately, the Economy Committee's chair MP Farid al-Bustani proposed using Lebanon's gold reserves to bring the exchange rate down to 60,000 lira to the dollar—which, he argued, would boost purchasing power by 30% without raising a single tax.

Why it matters: With elections approaching and every constituency feeling the squeeze, the government's tax gamble is handing opposition parties a populist gift—and a legal weapon—at exactly the wrong moment.

The Election That Might Not Happen: Bou Berri vs. Everyone

• A non-binding opinion from Lebanon's Legislation and Consultations Board ruled that the 144,406 diaspora voters who registered abroad should be allowed to vote for all 128 MPs—not just the six diaspora-designated seats—upending Speaker Nabih Berri's long-standing position.
• Berri is reportedly accusing PM Nawaf Salam and the Justice Ministry of "steering" the board's conclusion by framing the Interior Ministry's consultation request in a loaded way—a charge that has now become open political warfare between the two presidencies.
• President Joseph Aoun and PM Salam have both publicly deferred to parliament to resolve the dispute, while Berri insists it's the government's responsibility—leaving the legal and political hot potato spinning in midair days before key deadlines.

The backstory: Lebanon's 2017 electoral law created a "16th constituency" for diaspora voters to elect six dedicated MPs, but the implementing decrees were never issued. Now a legal opinion says diaspora voters can still vote—for all 128 seats—without those decrees, which Berri argues is unconstitutional overreach.

What to watch: Whether parliament convenes in the coming days to legislatively resolve the impasse—or lets the clock run out, effectively postponing elections again under a bureaucratic fog.

Army Support Conference Takes Shape—Cairo First, Then Paris

• Army Commander General Rudolf Heikal received the ambassadors of the Quint—the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and France—at his office in Yarze on Thursday to coordinate preparations for a major military support conference set for Paris on March 5.
• A preparatory meeting will be held in Cairo on February 24, with all five Quint nations represented, as international backers align on exactly what package of military capacity-building support they plan to bring to the Paris conference.
• President Aoun separately met with Heikal at Baabda Palace, receiving a briefing on the army chief's recent visit to Saudi Arabia and his participation in the Munich Security Conference—a signal that Lebanon's military diplomacy is operating on multiple tracks simultaneously.

Zooming out: The Paris conference reflects a broader international bet that a strengthened Lebanese army is the most viable mechanism for consolidating stability in the south—and keeping Lebanon off the front pages for the wrong reasons.

QUICK HITS

• Trash Crisis, Fast Forward: Waste collector Ramco suspended all garbage pickup across Metn and Kesrouan on February 18 after the Jdeideh landfill stopped accepting waste—but a meeting between Finance Minister Yassine Jaber and the CDR chief patched things up within hours, with the landfill set to reopen the next morning. Lebanon's garbage crises: still speedrunnable.
• FPM Mulls No-Confidence Vote: MP Gebran Bassil has sent a formal letter to parliament threatening a vote of no-confidence in Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, accusing him of refusing to sign a joint Interior-Foreign Ministry technical report that offered four executable options for distributing the six diaspora seats—a report that was never put on the cabinet agenda.
• General Security Fee Hike: Lebanon's General Security directorate has officially updated its service fees under Budget Law No. 40, enacted on February 10, 2026—meaning passports, residency permits, and other paperwork will now cost more. Budget season: the gift that keeps on taking.
• $15K Gone in Under 24 Hours: Internal Security Forces arrested a Syrian national in Aramoun within 24 hours of a burglary in which he broke into two apartments and stole $15,000 in cash plus copper cables, an AC unit, gas canisters, and watches—a remarkably fast collar by any standard.
• Don't Pick Up That Call: A new phone scam is spreading across Lebanon—callers pose as charity workers or foreign doctors distributing aid, then pivot to offering fake driving jobs with high daily pay, before eventually demanding an upfront payment—then blocking victims and disappearing entirely.

INTERNATIONAL

UN Security Council Warns of West Bank's 'De Facto Annexation'

• UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on Wednesday that the situation in the occupied West Bank is "deteriorating rapidly," warning of widespread raids, mass detentions, movement restrictions, and repeated displacement of Palestinian families, particularly in the north.
• DiCarlo said the world is witnessing "the gradual de facto annexation of the West Bank," a framing echoed by representatives from 85 UN member states who issued a joint statement the day before condemning Israel's expanding control of the territory.
• UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who chaired the session, said the international community must "prevent the destabilization of the West Bank and preserve the viability of a Palestinian state," while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the council as "infected with an anti-Israeli obsession."
• The Council session also addressed Gaza, where DiCarlo said the territory is "still not at peace" despite the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, calling for collective efforts to consolidate the truce and alleviate civilian suffering.

The bigger picture: With 85 nations signing a joint condemnation and the Security Council openly using the language of annexation, the diplomatic pressure on Israel over its West Bank policies is reaching a new intensity—even as Gaza's ceasefire remains fragile.

ICC Judges Describe Life Under Trump Sanctions: Cancelled Cards, Frozen Accounts, Family Caught in the Net

• To date, 11 International Criminal Court officials—including the chief prosecutor and 8 judges—have been placed under US sanctions by the Trump administration, which accused the court of "illegitimate and baseless actions" targeting America and Israel, according to The Guardian.
• Canadian judge Kimberly Prost described the sanctions as "a direct and flagrant attack" on the court's independence, saying her credit cards, Amazon, and Google accounts were all cancelled—making routine tasks like booking an Uber or a hotel room impossible.
• Peruvian judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said the sanctions also hit her daughter—cancelling her US visa and Google accounts—despite her having no connection to the ICC, with European banks over-complying out of fear of their exposure to the US financial system.

What to watch: The ICC is now taking preventative measures against the possibility that Washington escalates from sanctioning individuals to targeting the court as an institution—a move that officials fear could effectively shut it down entirely.

North Korea Unveils Nuclear-Capable 600mm Rocket Launchers as Party Congress Nears

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony to unveil a new 600mm multiple rocket launcher system capable of firing nuclear warheads, with state media KCNA reporting Kim described it as "appropriate for a special attack" and a "strategic mission"—standard North Korean language for nuclear use.
• Kim framed the weapon as a deterrent, saying "when this weapon is used actually, no force would be able to expect God's protection," without naming South Korea or the United States as the intended adversaries—though Seoul sits less than 50 kilometers from the border.
• The unveiling was timed to coincide with the approaching Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers' Party, to which the weapon system is being formally gifted, with the landmark gathering expected to set Kim's economic and military priorities for the next 5 years.

Zooming out: North Korea's accelerating weapons development—combining nuclear warhead miniaturization with precision delivery systems—reflects a long-term strategy analysts say is designed to lock in deterrence before any future diplomatic pressure can be applied.

GHER HEK

• AUB's Decade of Defiance: Fadlo Khouri marks 10 years as AUB president this year—a tenure that survived a financial collapse, a pandemic, a port explosion, and a war, while still launching AUB Mediterraneo in Cyprus, a new AI and Data Science faculty, and a fundraising campaign that raised over $805 million. Lebanon's oldest university, still standing tall.
• Tomba la Bomba Is Back: Italian skiing legend Alberto Tomba, 59, lit the Olympic cauldron at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Games and is back in the global spotlight—gracing GQ Italia's cover, signing posters for adoring fans in Cortina, and apparently maintaining a cellar of 2,500 wine bottles near Bologna. The '90s called—they want their icon back.
• Gaudí Gets a New Address: Historians have confirmed that the Xalet del Catllaràs, an elegant 1905 mountain chalet built 80 miles north of Barcelona, is an authentic Antoni Gaudí work—a discovery timed perfectly to the centenary of his death, adding yet another gem to one of architecture's greatest legacies.
• Markets in the Green: Gold climbed 1.19% to $5,035 an ounce, Bitcoin rose 1.05% to $67,860, and the S&P 500 nudged up 0.27% to close at 6,861.89—a quietly good Friday for anyone with a portfolio and the nerve to check it.

Have a restful weekend—see you Monday.