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SDF Arrest Senior IS Cell Leader in Syria's Eastern Deir Ezzor
This is Beirut 21/12 19:50 - Reading : less than a minute
Syrian Democratic Forces Syria Islamic State Group
The Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement on Sunday that their elite units arrested a senior Islamic State cell leader during a security operation in eastern Deir Ezzor province. The SDF said the suspect supplied weapons, ammunition, and explosive devices to Islamic State cells operating in the area, describing him as one of the group’s ...
Oliver Ojeil: London Fashion Film Festival Winner
Lea Mehanna 21/12 17:00 - Reading : less than a minute
Lebanon London United Kingdom Culture Arts Fashion Film
On this episode of This Is Arts, film director and fashion photographer Oliver Ojeil talks about winning Best Story at the London Fashion Film Festival, storytelling through fashion photography, his work as a colorist on major productions like The Chosen, and his upcoming project starring L’Oréal ambassador Luma Grothe and Iacopo Ricciotti ...
US Senator Accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of Rearming
This is Beirut 21/12 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Lindsey Graham Hamas Hezbollah Lebanon Israel United States
US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas and Hezbollah of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday and charged that the Palestinian Islamist group was also consolidating power in Gaza. After two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, a fragile ceasefire has held since October, despite both sides trading accusations ...
The IMF Sets an Example Through Lebanese Depositors: Unpacking One the Most Dangerous Laws in the Country’s History
This is Beirut 21/12 15:40 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Lebanon Banque du Liban International Monetary Fund economy banking system banks
What the government presented as the ‘Financial Gap Law’ is not merely a piece of financial legislation; it is a text that lays the foundations for the post-adoption economic order. It does not conceal its objective but states it calmly: ending a crisis that has lasted for years instead of resolving it, writing off deposits instead of ...
Gap Law: The Programmed Destruction of the Banking Sector
This is Beirut 21/12 15:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Economy Banks BDL Gap Law
Presented as a restructuring measure, the Gap Law organizes a methodical liquidation of the Lebanese banking sector. Behind complex technical mechanisms—loss hierarchy, balance-sheet cleanup, recapitalization—lies a clear political choice: to sacrifice banks to settle a public crisis that the state refuses to assume. This text does not reform ...
Israel's Security Cabinet Approves 19 New Settlements in West Bank
This is Beirut 21/12 13:16 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Israel West Bank Israeli Settlements Palestinians
Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country's far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. The decision brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, according to a ...
One Million Refugees Are Expected to Return to Syria in 2026
This is Beirut 21/12 12:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) predicted that around one million Syrian refugees will return to their country during 2026, given the gradual recovery that Syria is witnessing after the fall of the Assad regime. Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the UNHCR representative in Syria, stated, "Our estimates indicate that 2026 could see ...
Gap Law: A Legalized Expropriation of Deposits
This is Beirut 21/12 12:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Banks BDL Lebanon Economy Gap Law
Wrapped in the technical language of financial restructuring, the Gap Law is presented as a necessary step to correct the imbalance of Lebanon’s banking system. Behind this rhetoric lies a far more serious reality: the legalization of a massive expropriation of bank deposits, in blatant disregard of property rights, legal certainty, and the very ...
Christmas in South Lebanon: Villages Orphaned of Their Youth
Katia Kahil 21/12 11:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon South Lebanon USA Displacement
In the villages of South Lebanon, Christmas flickers like a fragile flame. Despite the ever-present fear and palpable tension, church bells toll and evening gatherings are held. In Alma al-Shaab, Yaroun, Deir Mimas, Khiam, and Marjayoun, garlands and nativity scenes timidly pierce the deserted streets. Once alive with laughter and reunion, these ...
The Law of Financial “Massacre”: When Nawaf Salam and “Kulluna Irada” Strip Depositors of Their Savings
Eleonore Stephan for Huna Lubnan 21/12 09:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
At one of the darkest moments in Lebanon’s national life, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is promoting a so-called “financial gap law” as a technical solution, while in reality it legalizes suffering and formalizes the confiscation of Lebanese citizens’ savings. The so-called “Kulluna Irada” law does not merely steal money; it also ...
Netanyahu Set to Present Iran Strike Options to Trump
This is Beirut 20/12 20:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Israel United States Benjamin Netanyahu Donald Trump Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to present plans for a potential strike on Iran to U.S. President Donald Trump during his forthcoming visit to the United States, NBC News reports, citing several unnamed officials. According to the report, Israel is increasingly alarmed that Iran is rebuilding, and possibly expanding, its ballistic ...
Israeli Military Says Detained Suspected IS Jihadist in Syria
This is Beirut 20/12 20:10 - Reading : less than a minute
Israel Syria Islamic State Group
The Israeli military said on Saturday its forces had arrested a suspected Islamic State group jihadist in Syria earlier this week and taken him back to Israel. In a statement, the military said that on Wednesday "soldiers completed an operation in the area of Rafid in southern Syria to apprehend a suspected terrorist affiliated with ISIS." "The ...
Gap Law: How the Lebanese State Erases Its Responsibility
This is Beirut 20/12 18:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Banks Lebanon Economy Gap Law IMF
Every financial crisis raises a central question: who should bear the losses? In a liberal economy grounded in responsibility, the answer is clear: those who decided, spent, borrowed, and ultimately failed. The Gap Law, however, offers a radically opposite answer. It methodically organizes the erasure of the Lebanese state’s responsibility and ...
Gap Law: Nawaf Salam and the IMF, Architects of a Legalized Spoliation
This is Beirut 20/12 16:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
By claiming on Monday a commitment to “deliver justice to depositors,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam did more than distort reality: with the active backing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he sealed one of the greatest financial and moral abdications in Lebanon’s history. The Gap Law, presented as a lifesaving legal framework, is in ...
Financial Gap Law: Farewell to a Lifetime’s Savings… Where Is Karim Souhaid?
This is Beirut 20/12 15:55 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Lebanon Banks Banque du Liban Gap Law
The draft Financial Gap Law, also known as the Financial Regularization Law, is set to be discussed at the Cabinet table on Monday. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has praised the project, presenting it as the first comprehensive legal framework to recover deposits and address the financial gap in a systematic and fair manner, within available means, ...
Syria Monitor Says US Strikes Killed at Least Five Islamic State Members
This is Beirut 20/12 14:32 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Islamic State Group United States US Army
A Syria monitor said Saturday that five Islamic State jihadist group members were killed in US strikes overnight as Jordan confirmed it participated in the raids after a deadly attack on American troops last weekend. US forces said they struck more than 70 IS targets in what President Donald Trump described as "very serious retaliation" ...
The Syndicate of Traders and Importers of Alcoholic Beverages Denounces the Gap Law
This is Beirut 20/12 14:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Banque du Liban economy Lebanon Banks Gap Law Traders
The Syndicate of Traders and Importers of Alcoholic Beverages issued a statement on Saturday denouncing the Gap Law, which they said shifts the state’s responsibilities onto traders and businesses. “While respecting the draft presented by the Prime Minister concerning financial restructuring and the recovery of deposits, the currently ...
+114% in 2025: Silver Breaks Free and Takes Center Stage
Liliane Mokbel 20/12 14:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Silver has delivered a historic performance in 2025. Since the beginning of the year, the white metal has surged by more than 114 percent, reaching an all-time high of 64 dollars per ounce. For the first time in years, silver is no longer following gold’s lead. Its rise has clearly outpaced gold, whose price has increased by around 60 percent, ...
Deposits at Risk: Gap Law Shifts Burden on Depositors and Banks; State Off the Hook
Antoine Saade 20/12 12:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Banks Lebanon Banque du Liban Gap Law economy
The fate of depositors’ funds lies at the heart of Lebanon’s financial crisis. It is not merely a matter of figures or balance sheets; it directly affects the lives of thousands of families and undermines the country’s overall economic stability. Amid the ongoing financial collapse and the sharp erosion of the national currency’s ...
Lebanon of Tomorrow: Raising Prayers for Peace This Christmas
Rayan Chami 20/12 00:18 - Reading : less than a minute
Lebanon of Tomorrow Christmas Gemmayzeh Prayers for Peace
For the fifth consecutive year, Lebanon of Tomorrow brings music, faith, and hope together in Gemmayzeh, raising prayers for peace as Lebanon marks the Christmas season amid ongoing challenges.
Rubio Urges Hamas Disarmament As Key To Gaza Peace
This is Beirut 19/12 23:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
United States Marco Rubio Hamas Israel
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday urged the disarmament of Hamas but voiced hope for headway on reaching the next stage of a Gaza ceasefire as regional officials met. Top officials of Qatar and Egypt – key mediators of the ceasefire – and regional power Turkey headed Friday to Miami to meet US envoys including Steve Witkoff, ...
Gap Law: When the State Organizes Its Disengagement at the Expense of Depositors
This is Beirut 19/12 22:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Under the guise of structural reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the “Gap Law” currently being prepared in Lebanon is raising growing concern. Presented as a technical tool designed to bridge the country’s massive financial shortfall, this law is now seen by many experts as a mechanism allowing the state to evade its ...
Syria Welcomes Lifting of US Sanctions
This is Beirut 19/12 21:56 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
USA Donald Trump US Congress Syria sanctions Caesar Act
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday welcomed the permanent lifting by the United States of the so-called Caesar sanctions, paving the way for the return of investments to the war-ravaged nation. The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended the sanctions imposed on Syria under Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December last year. The ...
A ‘Gap Law’ Built on Liquidation: Can Investors Still Trust the System?
LilianeMokbel 19/12 18:00 - Reading : less than a minute
The mindset behind the proposed “Gap Law” is one of liquidation. Targeting constitutionally protected assets will erode the country’s ability to attract investors.
Egyptian PM Pledges Full Support to Lebanon
This is Beirut 19/12 14:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Lebanon Lebanese Army Nawaf Salam Joseph Aoun Egypt Madbouly
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday, reaffirming Egypt’s steadfast support for Lebanon and stressing the need for stability, sovereignty, and full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. In his remarks, Madbouly said the visit aimed to “convey Egypt’s full support to ...
Israel and Lebanon Hold Second Direct Talks in Naqoura
This is Beirut 19/12 12:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Lebanon South Lebanon UNIFIL United States Israel Lebanese Army
Following talks held Friday in Naqoura, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the meeting addressed ways to advance economic initiatives with Lebanon, alongside ongoing security discussions. In a statement, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the meeting aimed to continue the security dialogue, ensure the disarmament of ...
Israel Reveals Details About Hezbollah's Secret Maritime Unit
This is Beirut 19/12 11:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Hezbollah Israel Lebanon Europe United States
Israel on Friday disclosed new details about its “Behind the Back” operation, a November 2, 2024 raid in northern Lebanon that led to the capture of Imad Amhaz, whom the Israeli army described as a senior figure in Hezbollah’s secret maritime apparatus and a member of the coastal missile unit (Unit 7900). Training and Expertise During his ...
Morocco, Kings of Arabia: a lob from outer space, VAR drama, and a hero out of nowhere
Makram Haddad 19/12 08:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Morocco Football Jordan FIFA Arab Cup
At Lusail, under rain lashing Doha on National Day, the Atlas Lions claimed the Arab Cup after a breathtaking final against Jordan (3–2 a.e.t.). A wonder strike from over 50 meters, an opponent who never gave up, and Hamdallah in savior mode: three days before the opening of “their” Africa Cup of Nations at home, Morocco have already lit the ...
Houthis Detain 10 More Yemeni UN Staffers
This is Beirut 18/12 20:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Hamas Israel Palestine United Nations
Several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory. The army acknowledged the breach in a statement, saying the group had been under constant observation and reiterating that entry into the area is ...
Egypt Says Israel Gas Deal 'Commercial', Not 'Political'
This is Beirut 18/12 18:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Egyptian authorities confirmed on Thursday a major deal to import natural gas from Israel, saying the agreement had nothing to do with politics and served a strategic interest for the country. "The deal is a purely commercial transaction concluded exclusively on the basis of economic and investment considerations, and does not involve any ...