Beirut Bank Hostage Crisis Resolved

This week brought some shocking scenes to the streets of Beirut, the otherwise beautiful and peaceful capital city of Lebanon referred to in the past as the Paris of the Middle East. Crowds cheering on a hostage taker holed up in a bank are, however, very far from what we associate with the French city of love.For those of us old enough to remember the 80s, Beirut was synonymous with urban warfare, bullethole-ridden hotels and apartment blocks, kidnappings, and every negative association you can imagine with this beleaguered region of the world.

In earlier times, however, Beirut was a garden city that was the cultural, artistic, and intellectual center of the region. In recent years the city was reclaiming its status as a city to visit and enjoy like any other sunny, coastal Mediterranean beauty spot. Of late, however, things have not been going well for the country and the events of this week are symptomatic of the struggles that citizens are enduring as wave after wave of geo-political events wash over the small nation.

Economic hardship

The scene played out at the Federal bank in the Hamra district of Beirut. The area is a major commercial district with fashionable shops, cafes, restaurants, and hotels. This is not a deprived area associated with crime and violence. After the police were called the Lebanese national guard was called in to secure the area. The busy shopping and entertainment area was flooded with soldiers in full uniform carrying assault weapons and getting ready to lay siege to the bank branch in question.

Let's not forget that it is almost exactly two years ago that the Port of Beirut suffered a dramatic explosion that was so powerful it was felt throughout the nation and as far afield as Syria, Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, and Israel. On that tragic day, the 4th of August 2020, 218 people lost their lives, over 7000 were injured and as many as 300,000 were left homeless. This was in a country already suffering the dire economic effects of lockdown and struggling to accommodate the largest refugee community per head of population of any country in the world.

Hostage taker or hero

For one man in particular, Mr. Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, the consequences of the economic meltdown couldn't have come at a worse time. Struggling to pay his family's medical bills he found himself, like millions of Lebanese citizens, without full access to his personal savings. Bank withdrawals have been limited in the country since 2019 and there is no sign of recovery either locally or in the global economy. This is every depositor’s worst nightmare and has made banks extremely unpopular in the Levantine nation. Mr. Hussein entered the bank shortly before midday on Thursday 11th and requested to withdraw funds from his account of approximately $210,000. The bank official refused his request and this is when he is reported to have produced a firearm and threatened staff, shouting that he needed the cash for family medical bills.

In the event, most customers fled the bank leaving only 10 people in total as hostages. One of these was released due to his age by Mr. Hussein. Of the remaining 9 people, 5 of these were bank employees. At least two shots were fired during the incident and somehow the news agency Reuters managed to open a line of communication with the bank manager Mr. Hassan Halawi. In a telephone conversation during the crisis, Mr. Halawi described Hussein's behavior as erratic and unpredictable. In the streets outside many spectators gathered and chanted their support of Mr. Hussein and their dislike of the banks, reflecting the unpopularity of financial institutions in Lebanon during the current economic environment. He proceeded to fire warning shots, prompting a scramble among customers to evacuate the building. He then threatened to douse himself in gasoline and set himself alight if the bank would not release all of his money so that he could pay for his elderly father's medical bills.

Situation resolved

Hostage negotiators from the police force as well as Mr. Hussein’s sister were able to secure the release of the hostages together with the release of $30,000 of the funds in his account. Mr. Hussein was then arrested and taken into custody. When questioned after the incident bank officials claimed that although their curtailing of access to people's own funds is not illegal, they stand by it and make exceptions for humanitarian reasons on a case-by-case basis. 

Bank drops all charges

Since the event occurred Mr. Hussein has been released as of August 16th and the bank has dropped all charges. Despite his threat to immolate himself and take human life, the bank was still not willing to return this man the balance of his life savings to take care of his father. Public opinion, however, appeared to be on the side of Mr. Hussein perhaps prompting the bank to at last consider the humanitarian aspect of this case and allow their customer at least a portion of his own money.