On Thursday, Lebanon's government announced that it was changing the clock to daylight saving time on April 21 instead of the last weekend in March.
The government's decision has outwardly not been justified, but is reportedly taken into account those who fast during the Muslim holiday of Ramanda, which runs until April 20, the AP news agency reports.
Religious schism
The issue of the transition to summer time is hotly debated in the country. Christian politicians and institutions, including the country's largest church, the Maronite Church, have rejected the time move. Many private actors, including TV channels, schools and businesses, have also chosen to ignore government decisions and switched to daylight saving time.
Public institutions, on the other hand, are bound to abide by the government's decision and the country's two mobile phone networks have urged people to manually change back the time on their phones to wait for the postponed summer time.
Even Muslims have protested the change, pointing out that Lent is tied to dawn and sunset, not time zone.