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Salam, Macron Discuss Lebanese Sovereignty, Security and Reforms in Paris

On Friday evening, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss Lebanon’s internal reforms and consolidation of state control.  Salam reiterated that the Lebanese state is committed to its goal of confiscating all non-state weapons on Lebanese territory. Macron stated that France will ...

U.S. to Sanction Iran’s Shadow Fleet as Details of Protest Crackdown Surface

On Friday, the U.S. announced that it had imposed sanctions on nine vessels and eight entities that are part of Iran’s shadow fleet, according to a press statement from State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott. The imposition of sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet vessels is a move of U.S. escalation against the Iranian ...

Salam Says Lebanon to Expand State Control as International Confidence Grows

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday that Lebanon has full operational control over southern Lebanon and will expand operations north of the Litani river as international engagement with Lebanon increases.  Salam outlined a two-part policy driving the Lebanese state’s governance goals: institutional and ...

Yoav Gallant: Lebanon at a Crossroads

Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant wrote an article titled “Written in Ink, Signed in Fire,” in which he offers a description of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, arguing that agreements alone do not produce lasting peace unless they are backed by military superiority that imposes facts on the ground. In the article, ...

Israel Strikes Northern Bekaa as South Sees Escalation

Israel struck the northern Bekaa Valley on Friday, causing material damage but no reported casualties. The first strike hit the public road linking Majdaloun and Baalbek with two missiles, while the second targeted a site near Dar Al-Amal Hospital in Baalbek. Local reports said the Baalbek strikes were aimed at a military official affiliated with ...

Netanyahu Joins Gaza Board of Peace Despite Misgivings

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to take part in the U.S.-led Board of Peace overseeing postwar Gaza, despite mounting unease within Israel’s leadership over the structure and membership of the body, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Thursday. The decision, the official said, reflects the reality of Israel’s ...

U.S. Weighs Full Military Withdrawal From Syria

The United States is considering a full military withdrawal from Syria, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which said Washington is reassessing its presence amid rapidly changing conditions on the ground. The newspaper reported that internal discussions within the Trump administration are exploring multiple scenarios to reduce, or ...

Trump Says U.S. Still Watching Iran, Fleet Sailing to Region

President Donald Trump said Thursday a US naval "armada" was heading toward the Gulf, maintaining pressure on Iran, although he has recently downplayed the prospect of imminent military action. Last week, Trump pulled back from a threat to strike Iran over its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests after the White House said Tehran had ...

Kurdish SDF Fighters Leave North Syria Prison Under Govt Deal: State Media

Syria said early Friday that government forces had begun transferring Kurdish fighters from a prison in the north where they had been holding Islamic State group detainees, as part of a weekend agreement. An AFP correspondent in Raqa saw buses and cars heading away from the Al-Aqtan prison on the city's outskirts overnight, escorted by ...

Iraq Says to Start Legal Proceedings against IS Detainees Moved from Syria

Iraq's judiciary said Thursday it would launch legal proceedings against Islamic State group detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq as part of a US operation. "The Iraqi judiciary will begin standard legal proceedings against the defendants who are received and placed in the relevant correctional institutions," the Supreme Judicial Council ...

Tens of Thousands Rally against Surging Arab-Israeli Crime

Tens of thousands of people gathered in northern Israel on Thursday to protest what they said was the police's inaction on curbing soaring violent crime in Arab-Israeli communities. The march in the city of Sakhnin coincided with a general strike in Arab cities and towns across the country, calling for action on the same issue. Under a grey sky ...

Trump Open to Dialogue with Iran as Aftermath of Protests Comes into Focus

President Donald Trump signaled a willingness to engage in dialogue with Iran in remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, while reiterating his opposition to Iran’s nuclear program. These comments came as Trump was speaking about the Gaza ‘Board of Peace,’ as he highlighted the U.S. strikes against ...

Erbil Set to Host New Syria-Kurdish Talks as Ceasefire Strains in the North

A new round of negotiations between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is set to take place in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, according to Kurdish sources cited by Al Arabiya, as efforts intensify to salvage a ceasefire and revive talks over the future of northeastern Syria. The planned meetings come just days after ...

Hamas Signals Readiness to Disarm

Hamas has reportedly agreed to surrender its weapons and hand over detailed maps of its tunnel network in Gaza as part of a U.S.-mediated arrangement, according to a Palestinian source cited by Sky News Arabia, a development that would mark a major turning point in the aftermath of the war. The report surfaced after President Donald Trump issued ...

Trump at Davos: Hezbollah is “a Small Remnant”

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Hezbollah in Lebanon has been significantly weakened, describing the group as “a small remnant compared to what it used to be.” In his remarks during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Trump stressed that action is still required against the ...

PM Salam: Arms Consolidation Plan Covers All Lebanese Territory

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reiterated on Thursday that the Lebanese Army’s (LAF) plan to consolidate all arms under state authority applies to the entirety of Lebanon, not only areas south of the Litani River, underscoring the government’s commitment to restoring the state’s exclusive control over weapons. In an interview with ...

Lebanon and Syria Seek Rapprochement Amid Lingering Distrust

Since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, Lebanon and Syria have been in the process of rebuilding trust and repairing relations. The challenging endeavor, supported by Saudi Arabia with Washington’s backing, follows decades of recriminations and Lebanon’s former subjugation under Syria’s Baathist rule. Syria did not ...

U.S. Urges Syria to Support Jihadist Transfer to Iraq

The commander of US forces in the Middle East has called on Syria's president to support the transfer of thousands of jihadist prisoners from Syria to Iraq, the US military said. In a phone call on Wednesday, Admiral Brad Cooper urged Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to "avoid any actions that could interfere" with the process. The United States ...

Trump Launches 'Board of Peace' at Davos

US President Donald Trump kicked off his new "Board of Peace" at Davos on Thursday, with a signing ceremony for a body with a $1 billion membership fee and a controversial list of invitees. A group of leaders and senior officials from 19 countries, including Trump allies from Argentina and Hungary, gathered on stage with Trump to put their names ...

The Unraveling of Hezbollah’s Strategic Myth

Since its inception, Hezbollah has sought to transform Shia identity in Lebanon from a national one into an ideological one, anchored in Iran’s Wilayat al-Faqih doctrine of absolute loyalty to its supreme leader. Yet its attempts to tighten control over the Shia community through Tehran’s political ideology met significant obstacles, pushing ...

Israel Says Struck Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings Used by Hezbollah

The Israeli military said it struck four crossings along the Syria-Lebanon border on Wednesday that were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, after earlier launching fresh strikes on the militant group in Lebanon. "A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to smuggle ...

Trump Warns of “Overwhelming Force” if Iran Carries Out Assassination Threats

President Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran on Wednesday, vowing to respond with crippling force in the event that assassination attempts are carried out against him or other U.S. officials. Speaking to the press, Trump stated that “if anything happens, the whole country is going to blow up. I will hit them so hard, and I have given ...

Israel Strikes Buildings in South Lebanon Towns

On Wednesday, following earlier strikes in Zahrani, additional Israeli airstrikes targeted buildings in the south Lebanon towns of Jarjouaa, Qenarrit, and Kfour. The Israeli army carried out the attacks aiming to impair alleged Hezbollah military infrastructure. Prior to the strikes, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee released an ...

Syria Says 7 Soldiers Killed, Accuses Kurdish Force of Truce Breach as Army Enters IS-linked Camp

Syria on Wednesday accused Kurdish-led forces of breaching a ceasefire after seven soldiers were killed in a strike, while authorities entered a camp holding suspected relatives of Islamic State jihadists. The government announced a new truce with the Kurds on Tuesday after taking swathes of north and east Syria that had long been under the ...

Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strike Kills Three Journalists

Gaza's civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the center of the territory on Wednesday killed three journalists, including a freelancer who regularly contributed for AFP, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, ...

Amid U.S. Military Build-Up, What Comes Next for Iran and the Region?

Washington is signaling it may take action against Iran amid its increasingly deadly crackdown on nationwide protests that began on December 28. This is Beirut spoke with analysts about the dramatic events unfolding in Iran and their ripple effects on the region, after reports show a significant U.S. military buildup is underway in the Middle ...

As Border Threats Evolve, Israel Turns to New Technologies

Even though Israel may have militarily weakened Hamas and Hezbollah, it must still contend with increasingly complex and non-traditional security threats along every front, underscoring that today’s borders and battlefields are interconnected in ways that were once unimaginable. On January 7, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced that it ...

Two dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday, authorities said, as Israel said it targeted operatives from militant group Hezbollah. Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite the November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting members of the ...