The Lebanese government ends the dispute and retracts the extension of winter time, and this is the date for the start of summer time in Lebanon

Weather of Arabia - The Lebanese government announced, on Monday, the reversal of its decision to delay work in summer time, after it sparked widespread division and controversy.

This came after the Lebanese woke up last Sunday at two different times, amid a dispute between the political and religious authorities over the date of the transition to daylight saving time after the decision of interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati to extend work in winter time until the end of Ramadan, allowing Muslims to break the fast daily earlier.

The date for the start of daylight saving time in Lebanon

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the government decided to adopt daylight saving time, starting from midnight on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

Lebanon adheres annually to the universal daylight saving time, which began this year at midnight on Saturday, but caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati decided Thursday to extend the winter time “exceptionally” until the night of April 20-21.

However, the Christian authorities said that daylight saving time will be adopted on the last Sunday of March, as is the custom every year, and many companies followed suit, until the government decided to stop the dispute and move to summer time this week.

Also read: What is Daylight Savings Time and how did it start in the world? What countries operate in daylight saving time?

The reason for the dispute in Lebanon is the postponement of daylight saving time

The dispute over summer and winter time in Lebanon reflects deep divisions in a country where Christian and Muslim factions fought a civil war in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Miqati decided to keep the winter time, so that Muslims could break the fast an hour earlier, that is, around 18:00 pm instead of 19:00 in the event that the summer time was adopted, but the influential Maronite Christian Church in Lebanon announced its disregard for the decision and described it as " sudden.”

Several major Lebanese institutions also decided to ignore Mikati's decision, and several television channels and companies adopted daylight savings time from Sunday.

For its part, Lebanese Airlines, the Middle East Airlines, decided to adopt a compromise. She said that her watches and devices will remain on winter time, but she will adjust her flight times to be in line with international times.

The confusion at the time level also affected users of mobile phones and electronic devices, some of which automatically switched to daylight saving time, as many operators were not notified of the change in the level of postponing daylight saving time.