Haloren Mellendorf

Editor @lorienttoday @AUB_Lebanon Graduate, Center for Arab & Middle Eastern Studies

[Haloren Mellendorf @HalorenM]

Avaatara is the Arab world’s only 9a sport climb. It hasn’t been climbed in more than 7 years… until last weekend.

My latest for @lorienttoday:

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

Lebanon's hardest rock climbing route is Baatara Gorge, a waterfall with a more than 200-meter drop into a deep sinkhole.

This weekend, French teenager Victor Guillermin became the only living climber in the world to conquer it. @HalorenM reports: https://t.co/ustzin42Q1

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

SpaceFest, one of MENA’s few rock climbing festivals, ascended to new heights earlier this month at Tannourine al-Tahta, where L’Orient Today’s @HalorenM met with Lebanon’s growing community of climbers:
https://t.co/UDl9AfLmcw

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

As Lebanon's first major wildfire of the season rages in Akkar, we return to @MEdwardsJO reportage on the volunteer heroes fighting the flames.

https://t.co/OVUVmbsakI

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

Avaatara, situated above a deep sinkhole, is Lebanon's most difficult rock climbing route.

This past weekend, a French teenager became the second person ever to complete it.
@HalorenM reports:

https://t.co/ustzin42Q1

[Madeline Edwards @MEdwardsJO]

Stop what you're doing and read this riveting bit of sports journalism by @HalorenM now:

[Madeline Edwards @MEdwardsJO]

Baalbeck's famed Palmyra Hotel once buzzed with royalty and pop stars.

Those days are long past. Now there are state power cuts and a historic economic crisis.

The hotel has one potential life raft: solar energy. My latest, with 📸by @joaosousa: https://t.co/DJwJ4xJbsD

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

Bouldering is a style of rock climbing that doesn’t use a rope.

@HalorenM spoke to Sit Start, a local organization that is working to popularize the sport in Lebanon while simultaneously ensuring climber safety and protecting the natural ecosystem.

https://t.co/g1RLcwZNoH

[Mohamad El Chamaa @MohamdEch]

Read @HalorenM's wonderful feature on Lebanon's growing rock climbing community with some really cool maps of climbing locations made by @rjsalame
https://t.co/GwhhFh8fhE

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

With the go-ahead from the land's religious owners and an eye to wildlife wellbeing and human safety, Jad El Khoury and Patrick Habib turn a wild bouldering field into a destination for climbers.

@HalorenM meets them on the job:

https://t.co/g1RLcwZNoH

[Madeline Edwards @MEdwardsJO]

Videos circulating on social media of unseen men shooting heavily at migratory birds flying over Bebnine, Akkar governorate, yesterday in a residential area. Bebnine mukhtar tells me one man was wounded by stray bullets but has confirmed w/ the family that he is fine today

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

🚨 UPDATE: Retired military pensioners have scaled the wall surrounding BDL headquarters in Beirut. Hundreds gathered Thursday morning demanding higher pensions.

📸 @Moe_Yassn

[Haloren Mellendorf @HalorenM]

A fun one I wrote for @lorienttoday

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

It's a Beirut nightlife legend, at times both celebrated and feared by denizens of local pubs: the doudou shot.

But who invented this iconic Beiruti drink?

@HalorenM dives into the city's watering holes to find out: https://t.co/XdRsyx3gRz

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

It's a Beirut nightlife legend, at times both celebrated and feared by denizens of local pubs: the doudou shot.

But who invented this iconic Beiruti drink?

@HalorenM dives into the city's watering holes to find out: https://t.co/XdRsyx3gRz

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

BREAKING: A UK court has issued a verdict holding chemical trading company Savaro ltd. liable toward the victims of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast, the Beirut Bar Association said in a statement Thursday.

It is the first such verdict after the blast: https://t.co/VrRN4Jvv9z

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

In Lebanon’s neglected, blustery Akkar governorate, some people are turning to an energy source they say is more reliable than the state: wind. Can micro-wind turbines catch on?

@MEdwardsJO reports from Akkar:
https://t.co/Qe1jB0QN5V

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

People set fire to several banks on Thursday in Beirut's Badaro neighborhood as the Lebanese lira rate surpassed a new record low of LL80,000 to the dollar: https://t.co/fKQDLOcAWN

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

The epicenter of the 4.3 magnitude quake was located in the region of Aarsal, in northeastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border.

https://t.co/5Wv7TtBit9

[Mohamad El Chamaa @MohamdEch]

For many, including myself, having to go through the quake and not know if an explosion was on the other end of it was an unsavory experience.

I spoke to @JEK_Psych about why we drew parallels b/w the Beirut blast and the earthquake and how we can heal.
https://t.co/7WVgu8wIdG

[L'Orient Today @lorienttoday]

For many people living in Beirut, this week’s earthquake brought back painful memories of the port blast.

@MohamdEch talked to @JEK_Psych about why our brains might draw parallels between the two traumatic events.

https://t.co/7UW3lGmdrU

[Richard Salame @rjsalame]

This account is quickly approaching 1 million followers, mostly from our region. Scientists agree there is no scientific method for earthquake prediction. Please don’t let him take advantage of people’s very real fears