Category: Lebanon

Categories
Lebanon Nature

Deir Al Qamar Surrounded by Fires

I just turned on the TV to find that Deir Al Qamar is currently surrounded by fires!

They are showing images on LBCI of burned trees and burning forests! apparently the village is surrounded and the firefighters are not managing to control the fires due to the lack of waters and vehicules, the army helicopter won’t help because of the wind. The fire started to reach some homes (they showed 2 burned cars and said 4 homes were damaged), the only help they got is from the Damour fiirefighters but they just asked for more help on TV!

Apparently 32 fires are currently burning in Lebanon (mainly the north and the mountains) because of the weather so this might explain why they can’t send other firefighters to help, but something has to be done! if the fire did so much damage in one night what will happen if it continues? Deir Al Qamar is one of the few remaining regions with forests in it, They can’t let it burn like this!

UPDATE : They just called a reporter in Rechmaya (that’s on the other side of the mountain!) the fire is spread in all the Chouf and is destroying everything! Trees in the hills around Rechmaya just started to grow back after a huge fire some years ago! I hope the fire didn’t destroy everything

UPDATE 2 : Lebanon is burning!! it is not confined to the Chouf Aley region, he just said the names of the villages that have fires and it’s everywhere!!!

They are asking people with Water Trucks to head to the nearest firefighters station to offer help and are making international calls to get help.

Here’s a list of villages with fires around them (Those are not the only ones, those are just the ones I managed to write down) :

  • Choueir
  • A3kour A friend living there told us there is no fire at her village!
  • Beit Mery
  • Rechmaya
  • Deir Al Qamar
  • Kbayat
  • 3azn2it (Big Fire)
  • Kfarzayna
  • Sir
  • Forza
  • B2arssouna
  • Rachaya
Categories
Computers Internet Lebanon

Review: PC and Parts

Logo of PCandParts.comPC and Parts is a Lebanese online PC store. On the web-site they claim to be the first Lebanese online store but I can’t verify that.

I am going to review the site first and then the customer service.

The website is organized and easy to browse, it is updated regularly with new products and price changes, the only problem with it is that it looks like a 1990s website on some pages.

One feature the website is missing is a search box, since it is organized you don’t spend too much time looking for the product you want but a search box will make life much easier for the visitors.

I bought 5 products from the site, you have the option to call or email them, I always emailed them. I never ordered in the first email but asked question about the products, they always answered my questions, sometimes even guiding me to a better product. When you finaly place your order you get an email asking you to confirm everything, they also ask you for your address. Aramex delivers the packages and takes the money, this is good, but the only problem is that the delivery time is between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM so you can’t make plans for half a day because you don’t know when your order will arrive.

The products are good and the prices are usually better then the ones you can find at normal stores. The Items priced at over 20$ come with a one year warranty, but I once got a USB PCI card for 7$ that didn’t work correctly (worked OK during the first 10 days, after that whenever I plugged anything to it, it would work for 10 minutes then fail) so I recommend you only get the products that are covered by a warranty from them.

My final score will be a 4/5.

Categories
Lebanon People

Light a Candle for Charles Chikhani

Tonight on Kalem L Neiss Marcel Ghanem read a Fax sent from the Chikhani Family inviting people to gather on Wednesday, the 3rd of october at 8 PM in front of Biel, to march with candles to the “Place de L’Etoile” in memory of Charles Chikhani. I’ll try to go and invite everyone to join the family of Charles on that day.

Before starting the show they showed a report about the victims of the explosion, during the report Charle’s Brother spoke about Lebanon, the Lebanese and the politicians, and I have to say I completely agree with him!

Charles Chikhni

EDIT :

Added by Lea Chikhani:

La marche de Charles Chikhani

C’est l’appel d’un peuple blessé
Refusant l’absence du fils
Refusant la souffrance de la mère
S’exprimant en silence
Tous de blanc vêtus
Une bougie à la main
Le mercredi 3 octobre a 20h
Du BIEL à la Place de l’Etoile
Participez à la Marche de Charles Chikhani
Ou éclairez vos fenêtres d’une bougie

The rally of Charles Chikhani

Is a wounded people’s call
Crying out in silence
Refusing the loss of a son
Refusing the suffering of a mother
Inviting us to light a candle
All dressed in white
On Wednesday October 3rd at 8 p.m.
From BIEL to Parliament Square
Come and join the walk of Charles Chikhani
Or light a candle at your window

مسيرة شارل شيخاني

 

مسيرة شعب مجروح
قرر يعبّر بصمت
يرفض غياب الإبن
يرفض عذاب الام
مشّي نضوّي شمعة بالقميص البيضا
يوم الاربعاء ٣ تشرين الأول الساعة الثامنة مسا
إلى ساحة النجمة BIEL من ال
شارك معنا بمسيرة شارل شيخاني
أو ضوّي شمعة عالشباك

Categories
Funny Lebanon Videos

A “missed call” during the civil war.

Usually when you go to pick someone up from his house you “missed call” him to come down, During the civil war the mobile phone wasn’t available yet so people used another method, check it out.

Categories
Lebanon Weird

A new police tool: Luck

Naharnet is reporting today that police caught an Israeli with a German Passport by “simple luck”, I hope luck helps them find who did all the assassinations and bombing too…

…or they could try better investigations, I guess they work too.

Categories
Lebanon

A Martyr’s Funeral

A Funeral in Lebanon

We watched so many funerals since 2005, they all look the same, A coffin with a flag over it carried by men taking the martyr to his final destination. Women throw rice on the convoy, patriotic music is played and if the martyr is young people try to make the funeral look like a wedding.

At every funeral we also feel the same thing, we are angered by the death and we promise the martyr to continue his path and rebuild the country yet we still haven’t build anything.

I am tired of all this! We all want to live in peace! More then 1500 person died in Lebanon since 2005! We lived 2 years of death and destruction it’s time we build a country!!

Categories
Lebanon People

RIP Charles Chikhani

Charles Chikhani

I don’t know anymore how many explosions happened in Lebanon, I lost count! but I do know that with every explosion many people loose their lives or if they are lucky only get wounded or loose a property.

One of the people who died in the Antoine Ghanem assassination is Charles Chikhani, I do not know him and just heard about him on LBCI. He is a young man who studied outside Lebanon but decided to return and work here so he became a Director in GlobalCom (a Lebanese communication company) before someone decided to remind every Lebanese that we cannot live in peace and killed him and 5 other people.

Picture from the facebook group dedicated to his memory.

Categories
Lebanon Politics

Let’s Redo some Math

On Monday Roger Khoury wrote an article in Annahar counting the number of votes each party has in the presidential election, Now that MP Antoine Ghanem died those numbers changed, so here are the old numbers and the new numbers:

1- March 14

  • FM and Allies 36 MP
  • PSP and Allies 16 MP
  • LF 5 MP
  • Kataeb 1 MP (After Ghanem Died 0)
  • Democratic Renewal Movement 1 MP
  • Independents (Former Kornt Chehwan) 6 MP

TOTAL : 65 MPs (64 MPs after Ghanem died)

2- March 8 + FPM

  • FPM 23 MP
  • Amal 16 MP
  • Hexbollah 14 MP
  • Baath 1 MP
  • SSNP 2 MP
  • Independents 3 MP

TOTAL : 59 MPs

Now I am sure you heard rumors about the Takatol L Traboulsi voting with March 8 if it gets some benefits in return (Mohamad L Safadi could become prime minister), so let’s say the Takatol will vote with March 8 and update the numbers

March 8 : 63
March 14 : 64

So as you see the difference between the two groups is only 1 MP, March 8 could close this gap easily. I am sure they could make a 14 March member change his mind, many Syrian started to become Lebanese after 1559, they did this back then because they felt this was the only way to survive politically and March 14 has a lot of those people in its ranks. The gap could also be closed if an MP dies soon (Guess how!). Finally the gap can be closed if the partial elections to replace Antoine Ghanem happen before the presidential election because we all know that a Hezbollah + FPM coalition has a big chance of wining the elections in the Baabda Aley region.

Categories
Lebanon Politics

Who killed Antoine Ghanem and why?

Antoine GhanemToday Antoine Ghanem and 8 other people were killed, 2 Minutes after the explosion people started “analyzing” the motives of the murder. There is no single analysis of the event, it depends on the political background of the person analyzing it, here’s a brief summary of the different opinions out there.

1. 14 March opinion:

The “person” behind the murder is Syria or its Lebanese allies (March 8). They concluded its Syria based on statements by Syrian officials saying Lebanon will not live in peace. Syria (or the allies) also murdered Ghanem to scare the Lebanese MPs forcing them not to participate in the presidential election, this also decreases the number of MPs the majority has and since Ghanem is a Aley MP (a difficult area for both sides) the opposition will try to take the seat away from the majority in the election that will take place to replace Ghanem.

2. 8 March:

The “person” behind the murder is the USA, Israel or there Lebanese allies (March 14). They concluded its them based on a statement by Walid Joumblat hinting that explosions will happen soon. USA (or the allies) also murdered Ghanem to force the Lebanese MPs that didn’t want to participate in the election to change their mind and participate, This murder also target the initiative of Nabih Berry and creates more problem between the Lebanese (This last point is also sometimes used by March 14 and some independents).

One thing is certain Analyzes are all we are going to have. The killer will never be caught and apparently more people are going to die while Lebanese fight over who is going to control the country (or what’s left of it).

Categories
Lebanon Politics

Explosion in Horch Tabet

EDIT: It is confirmed Antoine Ghanem was targeted he was killed by the explosion.
RIP Antoine Ghanem

LBCI reporting that there is a car with a deputy’s number plate on the scene with a body inside.

4 dead – 20 wounded.

Reports that the explosion killed a Deputy running for presidency.

EDIT: The explosion targeted Antoine Ghanem, A Kataeb Deputy I think.

EDIT: According to OTV Antoine Ghanem is wounded and not killed and that 6 others were killed.