Lebanon caretaker premier pleads for aid as crisis worsens

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister appealed on Tuesday on the international community to save his country from “death and demise” as multiple crises push it dangerously close to total collapse.

Hassan Diab's plea came as he spoke to diplomats in Lebanon, where politicians have failed to agree on forming a new government, nearly a year after Diab’s Cabinet resigned. His government has been acting in caretaker capacity since August 2020, when he stepped down following a massive explosion at the Beirut Port that only compounded the country’s crises.

Diab urged friendly nations to extend assistance despite the lack of a new government, saying that linking aid to reform of a deeply corrupt system has become a “threat to the lives of Lebanese” and to the country’s stability.

Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis has unfolded since late 2019, spiraling out of control in this country of over 6 million, including more than a million Syrian refugees. A foreign currency shortage has crippled the import-dependent nation, leaving residents struggling to find fuel, medicines and basic supplies. Daily power outages last for hours, threatening hospitals and food stores, and leaving entire neighborhoods in darkness.

The World Bank called it one of the worst crises since 1850s and described Lebanon’s economic contraction as brutal. The national currency lost nearly 95% of its value, plunging the once middle-income country into poverty. Inflation and unemployment soared and waves of professionals have migrated abroad, seeking a better life.

The political crisis is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by a post-civil war political class that has accumulated debt and done little to encourage local industries. Banks, once the country’s booming sector, have...