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BEIRUT — Lebanon's parliament, besieged by angry protesters Tuesday, for a second time postponed a session to discuss draft laws which critics charge would let corrupt politicians off the hook.

After a morning of noisy demonstrations outside the chamber, and after several political parties had said they would boycott the session, parliament official Adnane Daher appeared before TV cameras.

"The session has been postponed to a date to be determined later," he said, citing "exceptional ... security conditions".

"This is a new achievement for the revolution," cheered Mohamed Ataya, a 28-year-old demonstrator, vowing that no session would be held "as long as the people control the street".

From early morning, riot police had faced off with hundreds of noisy demonstrators and sporadic scuffles broke out outside the assembly, where activists tried to block MPs' convoys.

Warning shots were heard as one convoy passed through the crowd, a broadcast on private LBC television showed. Demonstrators blamed an MP's bodyguard for firing them.

"Revolution, revolution," chanted the protesters, punching the air with their fists and waving Lebanese flags, in the latest rally in over a month of street protests.

"This parliament is ours," one woman shouted through a megaphone as others banged pots and pans.

'Ready to meet' 

Lebanon has since October 17 been rocked by an unprecedented wave of popular street revolt that have cut across sectarian lines.

What started with protests against a plan to tax online phone calls made through WhatsApp and other applications has turned into a broader popular revolt against the perceived ineptitude and corruption of the entire ruling class.

Amid the crisis the prime minister, Saad Hariri, bowed to street pressure and resigned on October 29, but the parliamentary consultations needed to form a new government have yet to start.

A former finance minister, Mohamad Safadi, who had been considered to replace Hariri, has withdrawn his bid for the post after more protests.

President Michel Aoun — whose powers include initiating parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister — said he was open to a government that would include representatives of the popular movement.

“The new government will be political and will include technocrats and representatives of the popular movement,” he was quoted saying on the presidency’s Twitter account, during a meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis.

“I am ready to meet with the movement’s representatives and inform them of my efforts to respond to their requests.”

Tuesday’s plans for a parliamentary session, which had already postponed by a week, had further stoked anger as MPs were scheduled to discuss a bill to grant amnesty to thousands convicted of a range of offences.

The demonstrators see the draft law as a way to clear powerful figures charged with or convicted of crimes ranging from tax evasion to breaches of environmental regulations.

“They want an amnesty to escape [charges] of tax evasion and to release criminals onto the streets,” said one activist who gave her name as Tracy, 24, and who criticised the “illegitimate” parliament.

The non-government group Legal Agenda labelled the proposed law “a great danger”.

The parliamentarians had also been due to consider a bill to create a court specialising in financial crimes and the mismanagement of public funds. 

Its judges would be appointed by the legislature, raising further fears of conflicts of interest among protesters.

Lebanon’s street protests, including widespread roadblocks with burning car tyres, have at times brought the country close to a standstill, and sent the already struggling economy deeper into crisis. 

Amid the turmoil, banks stayed shut for weeks and restricted withdrawals, foreign currency transactions and access to dollars, often causing clients’ tempers to flare.

In rare good news for Lebanese citizens, banks reopened on Tuesday.

The Federation of Syndicates of Banks Employees in Lebanon had on Monday announced the end of a strike, saying new security measures had been agreed with authorities to protect banks.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi protesters Tuesday brushed off new government promises of reform, sceptical that political leaders, and a parliament session later in the day, would deliver the sweeping change they demand.

Lawmakers were scheduled to meet in the evening to discuss a Cabinet reshuffle, a draft new electoral law and other changes, but activists in Baghdad's Tahrir (Liberation) Square gave them little credence.

"The trust between the people and the political class has eroded," said Khayriya, a woman in her sixties with an Iraqi tricolour wrapped around her neck. 

"Even if they offer every Iraqi a house of gold, that would not help their case," she told AFP. "Politicians are doing the reforms for themselves, not for us."

Protests demanding an overhaul of a political system deemed by many as inefficient and corrupt have rocked Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south since October 1.

The movement continues to gain momentum despite government pledges of reform and a violent crackdown that has left more than 330 people dead.

Late Monday, President Barham Saleh met with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, leaders from the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary network and former premiers.

The gathering, which did not include embattled Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, proposed a raft of reforms and new legislation including the revamped electoral law, according to a summary seen by AFP.

If the reforms were not complete within 45 days, the top leaders pledged to call for early parliamentary elections or withdraw legitimacy from government, or both.

The priority for most political parties has been amending the country’s electoral law, but protesters have snubbed the suggestions. 

“Whether they amend it or not, the same figures will still return,” said Haydar, 25, at Tahrir Square.

“It is a game of chess — they will just move the pieces around,” he told AFP.

In a rare move, Abdel Mahdi was due to take part in the parliamentary session, to deliver a fresh list of candidates to head ministries that will be affected by reforms, his office said.

But, after weeks of unrest, crowds again hit the streets, and schools and government offices remained shut, in Iraq’s southern hotspots of Kut, Najaf, Diwaniyah, Hilla and Nasiriyah.

Protesters also burnt car tyres and blocked roads leading to oil fields south of the port city of Basra.

In Baghdad, they gathered in Tahrir and on the nearby Al Sinek and Al Ahrar (Free Men) bridges, parts of which were reoccupied by demonstrators this week.

“The young generation does not believe in amendments, or reform,” said Abu Haydar, a man in his seventies. 

“They believe in only one thing: The complete overhaul of government and parliament.”

TAL TAMR, Syria — Since fleeing her hometown in northeastern Syria, Suad Simon prays every day for the safety of her husband, who stayed behind with other fighters to defend their majority-Assyrian village.

Assyrian Christians like Simon, who escaped the town’s occupation by the Islamic State group in 2015 and did not choose to emigrate, now anxiously watch the advance of Turkish forces towards their villages in the south of Hasakeh province.

Ankara is still trying to gain ground despite two ceasefire agreements reached last month to put an end to its offensive against the Kurdish-dominated region.

Simon, 56, fled her village of Tal Kefji that is not far from areas still hit by sporadic fighting and sought refuge with a relative in Tal Tamr to the south.

“We women left because we were afraid of the bombings,” said Simon, sitting in the corner of an earthen house where she had lit candles for her husband.

“We just want peace,” she said. “I left behind so many memories... my husband, my house, my family and neighbours.”

Her husband had joined the Khabur Guards, a small Christian militia that took up the defence of more than thirty Assyrian villages in 2015 with the help of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Ankara launched a cross-border invasion of the Kurdish-controlled region on October 9 to push back the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, the backbone of the SDF, which it deems a “terrorist” group.

‘Long-time enemies’ 

The operation has seen the Turkish army occupy a strip spanning some 120 kilometres of the border.

Around 150 civilians have been killed in the fighting and a further 300,000 displaced, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Despite two ceasefires, Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies have taken control of dozens of towns, including some Assyrian-majority villages, the Britain-based monitor said.

“There are Turkish threats to attack our villages and many are fleeing,” 48-year-old Assyrian Aisho Nissan told AFP in Tal Tamr.

“The fate of the region remains uncertain, we are afraid for our children and our families.”

In Tal Tamr, cars and buses loaded with people and their belongings can be seen heading south, most towards the city of Hasakeh, where hundreds of families fleeing the violence have taken shelter.

“It’s the second time we have faced an offensive, the first by Daesh and this time by the Turks,” he said, using another name for IS.

The fertile region of Khabur was taken in February 2015 by Daesh, who kidnapped at least 220 Christian Assyrians before later releasing them in exchange for ransom.

Daesh was pushed from its last stronghold in the area by Kurdish-led forces early this year.

‘Exile’ 

Approximately 20,000 people lived in the 35 Assyrian villages in Khabur before the Daesh invasion, but only about 1,000 now remain, said Warde.

Of those who left, many have emigrated to the United States, Australia and Canada.

Before the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Assyrians made up around 30,000 of the 1.2 million Christians in Syria.

In his village of Tal Nasri, 50-year-old Sarkoun Selio, who is one of the few Assyrians still living there, stood in a church destroyed by Daesh in 2015, accompanied by two militiamen.

Only the stone skeleton of the building still stands, while its large iron cross lies in a corner of the courtyard.

One of the militiamen picked up a torn page of gospel written in Assyrian.

“In 2015, we were attacked by the terrorists of Daesh,” said Nasri, voicing worry over what more violence will mean for the community.

“We fear that the last of our Assyrian people will be pushed into exile.”

ONG JMAL, Tunisia — Bass rhythms boom out across the Tunisian Sahara toward a herd of camels, lasers splash colours across the dunes and VIPs sip vodka in what was once a “Star Wars” movie set.

The Dunes Electronique music festival, launched in 2014, was revived last weekend on the set where US director George Lucas created the desert planet of Tatooine.

The festival marked a joyous and noisy comeback after a three-year silence following several deadly extremist attacks in the north African country which also badly hit its tourism sector.

In a sign of the growing appeal of the remote Saharan region and its other-worldly landscapes, more than 20 international and local DJs and thousands of revellers converged on the desert site of Ong Jmal in southwest Tunisia for the two-day extravaganza.

“We had already visited Tunis, but this time we came all the way here for the festival,” said Leopold Poignant, a 22-year-old student from Paris who planned to also visit the nearby oasis town of Tozeur after the party.

He said they were drawn by DJs like Adam Port and Konstantin Sibold, “but we’ve also come for the experience. This is a Star Wars setting, and partying in the dunes is really something”.

The event was held around the circular constructions built 20 years ago as settings for the Star Wars space-opera.

Ong Jmal is the best known of several sites in Tunisia where Lucas shot scenes of the youth of his hero Luke Skywalker. Each year, tens of thousands of tourists walk through the sand-swept set taking selfies.

Nomadic tents, campfires 

As music played non-stop for 30 hours, those not dancing were huddled in nomadic tents set up as “chill zones” or, given the very real night-time desert chill, around camp fires.

Most of the 5,000 revellers were Tunisians, some of whom had never visited the area before.

“I’m a city girl, I don’t like these traditional areas, but now there are many events in the south so I ended up coming,” said Zoubeida.

Army and police were deployed around the party site, located less than 40 kilometres from the Algerian border.

The 2011 revolution which toppled longtime autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the extremist attacks that killed dozens of tourists in 2015 dealt a heavy blow to Tunisia’s vital tourism sector.

Although the south was not directly targeted in the attacks, visits to the region have dwindled to mostly one-night outings from coastal resorts.

“The biggest number of tourists now are Russians, and they only buy water on their way to the desert,” said Nagga Ramzi, a shopkeeper with kohl-lined eyes.

“It’s hard. There’s nothing here but dates... and tourism.”

Tourism revival 

Years after the attacks, large-scale tourism has returned to Tunisia and the south hosts a growing number of events.

A Saharan ultra-marathon, the Tozeur International Film Festival and a Sufi music festival called Rouhaniyet have all been launched.

Hotels are more often fully booked, and tourists are starting to stay a little longer.

Visitor numbers have grown continuously over the past three years, according to Tozeur’s tourism commissioner, Yasser Souf.

For January 1-October 30, the number has grown by 27 per cent, compared to the same period of 2019.

Some hotels are reopening, smaller guest houses have multiplied and Thai luxury hotel group Anantara is launching a five-star palace at the end of December.

Salah Akkoun, a horse carriage driver, hopes tourists will patronise local businesses and learn to “take their time” in the desert.

BAGHDAD — Reports on Monday on a trove of leaked Iranian intelligence documents drove home the depth of its influence in Iraq, where anti-government protesters have accused Tehran of meddling and overreach.

The New York Times and online publication The Intercept reported that the hundreds of documents from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security painted a rich picture of Iran's clout in Iraq.

Among the revelations, they said, was how Iran had recruited former CIA informants after the United States pulled out its troops in 2011, leaving the assets "jobless and destitute" and ready to share their knowledge.

And in one meeting between military intelligence officers from both countries, the Iraqi side had reportedly signalled to Iran: "All of the Iraqi Army's intelligence — consider it yours."

Iraq has had close but complex ties with its large eastern neighbour, whose sway among Iraqi political and military actors grew vastly after the US-led invasion of 2003.

The new reports served to confirm the sentiment of protesters across Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south who oppose the current government and its backers in Iran.

"Iran is intervening in our country," one demonstrator told AFP. "But we, the people, are the decision makers."

The demonstrator, a veiled Iraqi woman in her sixties, also greeted the fact that Iran had been hit by its own wave of protests since Friday, triggered by a sharp rise in petrol prices.

"The spark that started in Iraq has reached Iran," she said.

'Special relationship' 

The New York Times and The Intercept said they had verified around 700 pages of reports written mainly in 2014 and 2015, received from an anonymous source.

The source had said they wanted to "let the world know what Iran is doing in my country Iraq".

The media outlets said the leaked documents “offer a detailed portrait of just how aggressively Tehran has worked to embed itself into Iraqi affairs, and of the unique role of General [Qasem] Soleimani”.

Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, is Tehran’s point man on Iraq and travels there frequently during times of political turmoil.

As Iraq faces its largest and deadliest protests in decades, Soleimani has chaired meetings in Iraq in recent weeks.

As a result of those talks, sources have told AFP, Iraq’s rival political parties have agreed to close rank around their embattled prime minister. 

In one of the Iranian leaks, Adel Abdel Mahdi is described as having had a “special relationship” with Tehran when he was Iraq’s oil minister in 2014. 

The prime minister’s office told AFP it had “no comment” for the time being on the report. 

Iran and Iraq fought a devastating war from 1980 to 1988 and were ferocious foes under Saddam Hussein.

Many Iraqi dissidents under the Saddam regime sheltered in Iran but returned to political life in Baghdad following the brutal ruler’s ouster in 2003.

Iran has therefore enjoyed close ties with the new generation of Iraqi politicians and has helped train military actors including in the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary network.

It is also a major trading partner, selling crucial electricity and natural gas to supplement Iraq’s gutted power sector as well as goods ranging from fruit to carpets and cars.

Iran has used wide-ranging intelligence operations to maintain that deep influence, the NYT and The Intercept reported.

Its major goals were to “keep Iraq from falling apart and prevent the emergence of an independent Kurdistan, among other strategic aims”.

The “greater focus”, the NYT report said, was “on maintaining Iraq as a client state of Iran and making sure that political factions loyal to Tehran remain in power”.

Protests, road blocks 

Iran’s outsized influence has come under fire from protesters who accuse it of propping up a corrupt and inefficient system they want to bring down.

Crowds again hit the streets, and schools and government offices remained shut, in Iraq’s southern hotspots of Kut, Najaf, Diwaniyah and Nasiriyah on Monday. 

Protesters also burnt car tyres and blocked roads leading to oil fields south of the port city of Basra.

In Baghdad, crowds again swelled in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, and on the nearby Al Sinek and Al Ahrar (Free Men) bridges, said an AFP correspondent.

Security forces set up cement barriers around the central bank building, several kilometres away, to protect it from attacks, said a police source.

Across Tahrir, demonstrators expressed solidarity with what they saw as a new sister protest movement in Iran.

“Today, the Iranian people are just like the Iraqis,” 55-year-old protester Abdulhadi told AFP.

“Both are demanding their stolen rights and [mobilising] against the rule of our neighbour and against corrupt leaders.”