Time in Lebanon

Global map of Lebanon, marked in green

Time in Lebanon is given by Eastern European Time (EET) (UTC+02:00) or Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) (UTC+03:00) during the summer.[1]

Postponed time change in 2023

On 23 March 2023, two days before the scheduled switch to Eastern European Summer Time (EEST), Lebanon's government postponed the change from 25 March to 20 April.[2] (This came within days of a DST postponement also being announced in Palestine.[3][4]) No official explanation was given, but local media suggested the change was made to avoid disruption during the month of Ramadan,[5][6] during which some Muslims fast from sunrise till sunset. Due to the lateness of the announcement, smart devices with "automatic time" enabled changed the time on the originally scheduled date of 25 March, and some major media outlets, including MTV, LBCI and OTV, announced that they will not abide by the decision.[7] Different religious communities in Lebanon observed the shift independently.[8] As a result, some places or regions in Lebanon temporarily used different time zones, causing mass confusion.^[citation needed] On 27 March, Lebanon's prime minister Najib Mikati announced that EEST would be used starting at midnight of 29 March.[9]

References

1. "Time Zone & Clock Changes in Beirut, Lebanon". www.timeanddate.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
2. "Lebanon Postpones Daylight Saving Time Adoption". MTV Lebanon. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
3. "Palestine postpones DST until after Ramadan". Time.is. 2023-03-22. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
4. Abdulrahim, Raja (27 March 2023). "A Battle Over Daylight Saving Time Raises Tensions in Lebanon". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
5. Alberti, Mia (2023-03-25). "Daylight Saving row leaves Lebanon on brink of two timezones". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
6. Turak, Natasha (2023-03-27). "Lebanon wakes up in two simultaneous time zones as government can't agree on daylight saving change". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
7. "Several media outlets, other sectors will not abide by decision to postpone daylight savings shift". L'Orient Today. 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
8. Astier, Henri (2023-03-26). "Lebanon wakes up in two rival time zones". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
9. "Lebanon changes unpopular move to delay daylight saving time". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-03-27.