It's a complete farce that set the country back a ton economically. You see, for 2 years, Lebanon couldn't elect a president and the whole country was in political limbo. Then, a little over a year ago, they finally had presidential elections, a new government was formed, and political life finally resumed. Throughout that year, Lebanon knew its most stable period in years. Tourism was back, the economy was somewhat on the rise (it was still bad but that's a major accomplishment in Lebanon), and the government cracked down on any potential terrorist cells.
Then, in a shocking move, the Lebanese PM resigned, and was more or less held hostage by the Saudis (his huge allies and backers. But, in truth, his "masters" if you will). The move was a huge gamble by the Saudi crown prince in a desperate attempt to exercise some pressure on Iran and Hezbollah. Honestly, it's hard to comprehend what a dumb political move that was unless you lived here, because that scheme had no shot in hell of working.
Of course, now the PM is back and has "put his resignation on hold," but not before the company took a huge economic hit. Both my parents are bankers and they both told me it was absolute chaos. The currency took a devastating blow, everyone was transferring their money to Switzerland, it was panic all around.
So as it often is, the company took a step forward only to take 10 steps back.
