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BEIRUT, Oct. 24-- The massive protests that swept through Lebanon in the past week were triggered by domestic problems rather than foreign intervention, Lebanese analysts said. "This protests started genuinely by people in Lebanon because the current political class has committed a lot of mistakes in the past years without being held accountable for its false practices and failing policies," Pierre Khoury, a Lebanese economist and political researcher, told Xinhua. Khoury, editor-in-chief of the Strategic File news website, noted that the big number of people from different religions and sects who participated in the protests shows that they were not organized. He explained that the fires that broke out in several areas of Lebanon due to the rise in temperature earlier this month and the government's failure to properly deal with the problem as well as the recent cabinet's decision to impose taxes sparked the protests. Large swathes of forests were destroyed in more than 103 massive fires in several towns and villages in Lebanon while the government failed to respond promptly because of poor maintenance of three firefighting helicopters purchased by the country in 2009. Lebanon asked for help from Cyprus and Greece which sent their jets to help Lebanese firefighters put out the fires. Then the Lebanese cabinet approved last Thursday a fee of six U.S. dollars per month on the users of WhatsApp and other Internet calling applications, in addition to imposing taxes on fuel and other basic commodities and services. | 
