Fayetteville, Arkansas: The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse civil society demonstrators on Thursday as throngs tried to enter Beirut’s Nijmeh Square where parliament is located. According to the Red Cross, 35 people were taken to hospitals after they suffered suffocation injuries, while scores were arrested. These latest clashes, the most violent to date, pitted “#YouStink” and other groups against the ISF over the country’s ongoing garbage crisis that is about to enter its fourth month.

Meanwhile, and in a surprise revelation in various media sources that was still awaiting an official confirmation, Defence Minister Samir Moqbel apparently settled on Colonel Maroun Al Qobayati to become the new commander of the army’s Commando (Maghawir) Regiment. If confirmed, this appointment would mean that Brigadier-General Chamel Roukoz, the incumbent and a son-in-law of Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader, General Michel Aoun, would retire on October 15 as scheduled. That route essentially terminated his chances of becoming army commander.

Foreign Minister and FPM chief Jebran Bassil, another Aoun son-in-law, was livid at this news and insisted that military and security appointments must occur “under the law”, which meant decreed by the entire cabinet in the absence of a president. Bassil criticised Moqbel and the current Army Commander, General Jean Qahwaji, over alleged “violations”, although Moqbel’s decree, if accurate, would be within his legal prerogatives.

Using particularly offensive language, Bassil lambasted Qahwaji during an interview on the LBCI television network, blaming the commander for taking “unjust decisions against some army brigadier generals”. He slammed Moqbel for “committing violations in the file of appointments” and “usurping the role of the cabinet”, though it was clear that no accord could be reached at the National Dialogue session nor earlier, in the cabinet. In fact, Bassil’s theatrical assaults on Prime Minister Tammam Salam in early July 2015 seemed to have backfired, although press reports hinted that the FPM was out-manoeuvred by several parties, including the ministerial bloc loyal to former president Michel Sulaiman, for the deadlock on military promotions. Sulaiman never forgave Aoun for paralysing the country after his term of office ended on May 24, 2014, and concluded that the FPM will have to be defeated along constitutional lines, which is what he seems to have done.

The Qobayati appointment, if confirmed, would mean that the Lebanese Armed Forces would be spared political mud. Within the parameters of military advancements, the Colonel earned his promotion, which was a confirmation that the army was relatively intact. In fact, Qobayati was a veteran of the Abra battles near Sidon in June 2013 and was wounded in the Nahr Al Bared confrontations in August 2007. He ranked above Roukoz and was not the subject of any favouritism.

Defeated, Bassil vowed to resort to the street yet again, as he touted the FPM’s October 11 massive rally outside the presidential palace in Baabda as an answer to detractors. The Minister of Foreign Affairs noted that the FPM aimed at “reviving the scene of the struggle movement that we were raised on,” although few of the protestors on Thursday near Downtown Beirut hailed him or the FPM. On the contrary, many carried posters denigrating his performance when he presided over the Ministry of Energy and Water as Lebanon continued to suffer from massive electricity shortages despite the billions spent to upgrade power plants. Many were adamant that the ruling elite was oblivious to what people needed, with a few carrying signs that read: “Remove the garbage that has been accumulating outside our homes.”

Protesters demanded that Beirut quickly release necessary funds to municipalities, so that most can activate the waste sorting plants in various regions. Dejected, environmentalists feared that the procrastination would soon degenerate to the point where garbage as well as sewage will simply overflow into the sea from riverbeds as winter rains return. Many lamented that Lebanon’s chronically divided political class was incapable of reaching any kind of agreement over mundane concerns, as most were preoccupied with settling scores, pushing skewed agendas, seeking military promotions, and arguing over the identity of the next head-of-state, while the country slumbered into decay.