Despite a boycott by Lebanese Forces and Kataeb MPs, Lebanon’s parliament met Thursday morning and approved a World Bank loan intended to support reconstruction in the war-torn south.
Lebanon has been working with the World Bank on a roughly $250 million loan under the Lebanon Emergency Assistance Project aimed at supporting efforts to rebuild areas hit by last year’s Israel-Hezbollah war. The agreement between the World Bank and Finance Minister Yassine Jaber was signed in August 2025 and is a part of broader efforts to mobilize up to $1 billion in reconstruction funding. The World Bank estimates that $14 billion is needed to reconstruct the area.
The meeting was attended by 67 MPs, just barely making quorum. The LF’s leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday that any MP who attends the session would be signing a “blank check” for Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. The LF and its allies are protesting Berri's refusal to add the electoral law's proposed amendment on the agenda, which would allow expatriates to vote for all 128 MPs, and not just for six seats as the current law stipulates.
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