TUESDAY November 1, 2022: 'ON THE BRINK' by DPA photo-journalist Marwan Naamani: Michel Aoun, the 89 year old president who presided over Lebanon's cataclysmic financial meltdown and deadly Beirut port blast, stepped down, leaving a void at the top of a failing state. Lebanon's financial collapse, one of the worst in modern history has forced three-quarters of the population into poverty. Banks are withholding people's access to their money, leading locals to rob banks or protest. The Lebanese Pound has lost 96 percent of its value. Israel and Lebanon approved an agreement laying out a maritime boundary for the first time. The countries have formally been at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Beirut sees the border demarcation as an opportunity to lift the country out of its spiraling economic crisis. Welcome to 'ON THE BRINK'
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #861: TUESDAY November 1, 2022: 'ON THE BRINK' by DPA photo-journalist Marwan Naamani: Michel Aoun, the 89 year old president who presided over Lebanon's cataclysmic financial meltdown and deadly Beirut port blast, stepped down, leaving a void at the top of a failing state. Lebanon's financial collapse, one of the worst in modern history has forced three-quarters of the population into poverty. Banks are withholding people's access to their money, leading locals to rob banks or protest. The Lebanese Pound has lost 96 percent of its value. Israel and Lebanon approved an agreement laying out a maritime boundary for the first time. The countries have formally been at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Beirut sees the border demarcation as an opportunity to lift the country out of its spiraling economic crisis. Welcome to 'ON THE BRINK'

ALI holds a picture of a relative as he sits in front of a black smoke wall billowing from burning tire blocking a highway in Beirut's southern suburb. The protestors demand the release of people who were arrested a year ago during violent clashes between militants of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group and its opponents. The violence erupted in the aftermath of protests against a judge investigating the Beirut seaport massive blast. No one has been held accountable for the deadly port blast.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Mourners carry the body of four-year-old Taline al-Hamoui during a funeral procession at the neighborhood of Bab al-Tibaneh. Taline drowned along with 6 others, after a boat loaded with migrants capsized near the coast of the northern city of Tripoli.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Lebanese man who lost five of his friends in an illegal immigrant boat that capsized off the coast of Lebanon's port city of Tripoli confronts soldiers at the entrance of the seaport. The Lebanese military announced that 48 people were rescued and some bodies were recovered from the sea.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

United Nations Peacekeeping (UNIFIL) navy ship secures an area off the coast of the southern village of Naqoura, where Lebanese and Israeli delegations will meet. Israel and Lebanon have signed a deal on a common maritime border which involves undersea gas exploitation, following a decades-long conflict for control of the border. The countries have formally been at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Beirut sees the border demarcation as an opportunity to lift the country out of its spiraling economic crisis.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Lebanese school student aims an RPG launcher at the Lebanese army military school in the area of Fayadieh, south-east of Beirut, during the final day of a military exercise organized by the army to train some 130 students between the age of 15-17. The drill is the first of its kind and comes in a bid to encourage young people to get more involved in the army life amid acute economic hardships and fear of a social breakdown.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Lebanese and Italian soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping troops contingent in south Lebanon secure an area in the village of Naqoura just outside the place where Israeli, and Lebanese will exchange the maritime agreement, a deal brokered by the US. Israel and Lebanon approved a maritime boundary for the first time. The countries have formally been at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Beirut sees the border demarcation as an opportunity to lift the country out of its spiraling economic crisis.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Outgoing Lebanese President MICHEL AOUN waves to his supporters during a ceremony before departing the Baabda Presidential Palace. Crisis-beleaguered Lebanon is heading into the unknown as President Aoun left the presidential palace a day before his six-year term is set to end without having a successor in place.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

VERENA AL-AMIL, 26, Lebanon's youngest parliamentary candidate sits at an outdoor cafe and works with friends on her campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections. Verena became a familiar face during the uprising, participating in various anti-regime protests and speaking on various matters such as the shortages of medication and the need for economic reforms.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Children swim in a pool inflated in the middle of a street at the predominantly Sunni Muslim area of Tarik al Jadidah, a hotbed for supporters of former prime minister Saad Hariri, whose picture hangs above the pool. The pool was put in place by supporters of Hariri as a symbol of boycotting the parliamentary election.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Syrian mother pulls her son from playing in contaminated water conduit near their tent at a refugee camp in the northern Lebanese village of Bebnin. Syrian refugees in displacement camps are falling victim to a cholera outbreak.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A nurse prepares to give serum to a Syrian child, victim of the current cholera outbreak, at a field hospital in the northern Lebanese village of Bebnin. Syrian refugees in displacement camps are falling victim to a cholera outbreak in Lebanon, already suffering from an economic meltdown that has slashed access to clean water and strained hospitals.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Lebanese army soldiers guard the premises of Lebanon central bank during a protest against the current economic situation of the country. Lebanon’s financial collapse, one of the worst economic crises in modern history, is in its third year, and has forced three-quarters of the population into poverty.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Lebanese activists gather outside the Palace of Justice during a protest demanding the release of two people who were detained after storming a local bank with a hand gun to help a depositor collect her savings. Lebanese banks have locked most people out of their savings due to the country's economic collapse.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Lebanese police officer enters a local bank through a shattered window, after it was stormed by angry depositors who fled with thousands of US dollars from their locked accounts. Many residents have forced entry to banks in Beirut to collect their trapped money, as Lebanese financial institutions have locked most people out of their savings due to the country's economic collapse.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Lebanese lawmaker CYNTHIA ZARAZIR (C) and her lawyer (L) speak to the press from behind a glass door inside a branch of the Byblos Bank, where Zarazir is holed up to demand some of her deposits be freed up so she can pay for surgery needed by the end of the week. Banks in Lebanon have applied strict withdrawal limits on foreign currency assets since 2019, amid a historic economic crisis.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

An armed depositor BASSAM AL-SHEIKH HUSSEIN is seen behind the iron bars of a local Bank in Beirut after he stormed the branch and held employees and customers as hostages.Hussein entered the bank carrying a machine gun and gasoline, and demanded to be handed over part of his deposited money, With mounting debts and medical bills for his ailing father, Hussein needed access to the USD209,000 he kept in a savings account in Lebanon's Federal Bank. His funds have been frozen for more than two years, with monthly withdrawals capped at the equivalent of USD400.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Lebanese soldier stands in front of a destroyed ATM machine as he waits to collect his salary, outside a fortified local bank in Beirut. Banks across Lebanon have partially reopened allowing customers to only withdraw and deposit money through ATM machines following a week of closure after depositors stormed several branches withdrawing their own money by force.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Supporters of Lebanese president Michel Aoun chant slogans as they stand facing riot police separating them from families of victims of the deadly Beirut port blast, during a protest outside Beirut's judiciary palace. The higher Judicial council met to discuss appointing a second judge to a stalled investigation into the explosion that left more than 200 people dead.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Arab League Secretary General AHMED ABOUL GHEIT attends a meeting for Arab foreign ministers and delegates in Beirut in preparation for the Arab Summit, which is to be held in Algeria. Secretary-General Gheit called on Lebanese politicians to reach a consensus on electing a new president.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

A Syrian refugee waves as he sits on top of a truck loaded with belongings where he and hundreds of Syrian refugees gather to leave the Lebanese village of Arsal in eastern Bekaa valley. At least 750 Syrian refugees returned home voluntarily, the first since 2019.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Packed in a truck with their belongings, a Syrian refugee family waits to leave the Lebanese village of Arsal in eastern Bekaa valley. Hundreds of Syrian refugees returned home from Lebanon, the first day of repatriations organized by Beirut. Lugging suitcases, power generators, fridges and even chickens over 700 Syrians who had agreed to cross over gathered from early morning in the northeastern border area.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Syrian refugee children are seen through a broken windshield of a truck as they to leave the Lebanese village of Ersal in eastern Bekaa valley. At least 750 Syrian refugees returned home to their war torn country voluntarily, the first since 2019.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Lebanese activist and presidential candidate, MILED BOU MALHAB, walks near Lebanese army soldiers as he arrives to attend a parliament session to elect a new president. Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the session after deputies failed for the second time to elect a new head of state.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press

Russian nationals, living in Lebanon, hold Russian flags during a rally to support their leader Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
© Marwan Naamani/dpa via ZUMA Press