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U.S.-Iran Truce Hangs in Balance as War Flares in Lebanon

The fragile two-week truce between Iran and the United States was hanging in the balance on Wednesday, with Tehran threatening to resume hostilities as Israel launched a major bombardment of Lebanon. Washington and Tehran both claimed victory after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and negotiations aimed at ending a war that has killed thousands ...

Blurring the Lines: How Hezbollah Obscures Civilian and Combatant Deaths

Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 1,268 dead in Israeli strikes as of March 31, but offers no breakdown between civilians and Hezbollah fighters, leaving the real human toll shrouded in uncertainty. Dr. Joseph Helou, head of the Medical Care Directorate at the Ministry of Public ...

New Strikes Reported in Lebanon After 6 Killed in South of Country

Lebanese state media reported a series of new Israeli strikes in the country's south on Saturday night, after attacks earlier in the day killed six people despite a recently extended ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah The new attacks followed orders from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to "forcefully ...

Oil Extends Gains, Stocks Sink as Peace talk Hopes Fade

Oil prices extended gains Friday, and stocks struggled as investors worried about a lack of progress in ending the Middle East crisis, with Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the US maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports. A week that started with hopes the two sides would eventually hold peace talks was set to end on a negative note, ...

No Date Set for Next Round of Iran-U.S. Talks: Iran Deputy FM

No date has been set for the next round of Iran–U.S. peace talks brokered by Pakistan following the failure of an initial round, Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday. "Until we agree on the framework, we cannot set a date," Saeed Khatibzadeh told journalists on the sidelines of an annual diplomatic forum in Turkey's southern Antalya ...

Panic in Lebanon as Israel Carries Out Most Violent Strikes on Capital

Israeli strikes on Lebanon Wednesday killed 182 people and wounded 890, according to an initial toll from authorities, with the capital Beirut hit by the most violent bombardment since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel announced Wednesday it did not consider Lebanon covered by the Iran-US truce announced ...

Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem Rejects Direct Talks, Vows to Maintain Armed Resistance

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on Monday rejected direct negotiations with Israel, reaffirmed the group’s commitment to armed resistance, and sharply criticized the Lebanese government’s recent political course in a statement addressing the latest developments in the country. In a written statement, Qassem said Hezbollah ...

Leaders Signal Next Phase for Lebanon

A tentative shift began to take shape today as Presidents Donald Trump, Joseph Aoun, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed their visions for what comes next in Lebanon following the announcement of a ceasefire and the launch of direct talks. While the pause in fighting has created space for diplomacy, each leader made clear that the ...

New Strikes in Tehran as Deadline Looms for Trump Threat to Infrastructure

New strikes rocked Tehran on Tuesday, with Iran showing no sign of backing down as a U.S. deadline loomed for it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its civilian infrastructure "decimated," according to President Donald Trump. The U.S. leader has warned that unless Tehran allows free passage through the strategic oil chokepoint by midnight ...

Lebanon Army Says Israeli Strike in South Kills Two Including Soldier

Lebanon's army said Wednesday that one of its soldiers was among two people killed in an Israeli strike in the country's south, the latest deadly raid despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war. "A soldier and his brother were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted them in the town of Khirbet Selm in Bint Jbeil (district) while they were ...

UN Peacekeeper Killed in Southern Lebanon Attack, France Points to Hezbollah

France on Saturday accused Hezbollah of being behind a deadly attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon after a French soldier was killed and three others wounded in what the UN described as a “deliberate attack.” French President Emmanuel Macron said that “everything points to Hezbollah being responsible,” ...

President Aoun Says He Seeks Washington Visit

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday expressed hope of traveling to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump as Beirut intensifies diplomatic efforts to extend the fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel and launch formal negotiations to end hostilities with Israel. The statement came at the close of a Lebanese cabinet session ...

Israel Says Exposed Iranian “Covert Terror Network” Targeting Officials and Strategic Sites

The Israeli government released a statement Monday announcing that its intelligence services have uncovered a secret Iranian-operated network responsible for planning attacks against Israeli officials and strategic infrastructure worldwide. According to a post on X by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has for the first ...

Lebanon Reclaims its Diplomacy from Hezbollah

The April 14 diplomatic meeting between Lebanon and Israel in Washington signals, however partially, a reassertion of Lebanese state authority over its own decision-making, while challenging Iranian influence in the country. Most significant is the fact that the meeting took place at all, a historic step given the ongoing war between Hezbollah and ...

Displacement Fuels Fears of Hezbollah Infiltration Across Lebanon

From Beirut’s suburbs to the Beqaa valley, to Druze strongholds in the eastern Chouf and Aley, and north across the Christian belt from the mountain resorts to the coast, fears are rising that Hezbollah operatives may be among the growing numbers of displaced Shia families. Israeli assassination strikes in historically-neutral parts of ...

Stocks Rally, Oil Dives as Trump Says War to End 'Very Soon'

Equities rallied and oil tumbled Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the Middle East war would be over in up to three weeks and his Iranian counterpart said Tehran had "the necessary will" to bring it to an end. The remarks came as the economic impact of the conflict worsens, with average US gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon for the ...

Amid Hezbollah’s War, Lebanon Faces a Test of Sovereignty

Hezbollah plunging Lebanon into yet another war with Israel came as no surprise. For years, Lebanese officials and international partners have warned that Hezbollah’s unchecked militarization in the south was an invitation to catastrophe. Those warnings have become reality as Israel deepens its ground invasion to neutralize what it sees as an ...

How the Iran War Can Help Reorient Shia Identity

As the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran nears the limits of its original target bank, the contours of a new phase are beginning to emerge, one defined by the search for a political exit from the war. Discussions are no longer confined to closed-door deliberations but are now unfolding in public. Fundamental questions are emerging about ...

On the Streets of Tehran: Teenagers Armed With Machine Guns

In the security crackdown ordered by Iranian authorities since the start of the war, an unsettling new sight on the streets of Tehran has put residents on edge: teenagers armed with machine guns. During the first weeks of the war against the United States and Israel, checkpoints sprang up around the capital, often comprising police or military ...

Iran Sacrifices Lebanon on the Altar of Its Own Interests

The U.S. and Israel have entered a two-week ceasefire, an arrangement that paves the way for negotiations aimed at resolving a wide range of complex and contentious issues. Yet Lebanon, despite Iran’s rhetoric, appears to remain a marginal concern in the talks for Tehran, which has shown little care for the suffering of Lebanese Shia. Despite ...

Lebanese President: Lebanon Waiting for U.S. to Set Date for Negotiations

Lebanon is waiting for the United States to set a start date for delegation-level direct negotiations with Israel, according to remarks by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday. Speaking before a gathering of economic bodies, the President discussed ongoing progress toward ending the war, reiterating the sovereignty and unity of the ...

Why Lebanon–Israel Diplomacy Remains Frozen

As the U.S. signals readiness for a negotiated settlement to the regional war with Iran, a key question is resurfacing: could a broader diplomatic reset in the region revive the prospect of talks between Lebanon and Israel? Since Hezbollah plunged Lebanon into war with Israel on March 2, Beirut has reiterated its willingness to enter direct talks ...

Will Lebanon Finally Break Its Cycle of Inaction?

As Lebanon and Israel prepare to deepen diplomatic contact amid a 10-day truce, attention is shifting to what comes next, including the fate of Hezbollah’s weapons and whether the ceasefire marks a temporary pause or a strategic shift. During the war, both President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam navigated a perilous political ...

U.S. Vice President JD Vance: ‘We Were Unable to Reach an Agreement’ With Iran

On Sunday morning, U.S. Vice President JD Vance held a press conference following 21 hours of negotiations with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, announcing that “we were unable to reach an agreement.” He emphasized that “Iran decided not to accept our terms” as U.S. negotiators sought to adhere to the agenda and demands it set ...

Berri Navigates Lebanon’s Ceasefire Opening

A fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire has opened a narrow political window for Lebanon, with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s stance on the talks evolving amid diplomatic contacts with Saudi Arabia. The latest came in a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud hours before a second round of talks with Israel on ...

Hezbollah's Fallback Strategy as the Resistance Axis Unravels

Hezbollah is coming under immense pressure on all fronts. Its regional backer Iran stands on the threshold of a new political phase that points to a retreat from its regional strategy, with profound implications for Hezbollah in Lebanon. There, Israel is escalating its military efforts against Hezbollah, with the campaign likely to intensify ...

Israeli Army Issues New Evacuations, Destroys Hezbollah Tunnels

The Israeli Defense Forces issued new evacuation orders Tuesday on sixteen towns northwest of the Israeli forward defense zone, saying Hezbollah violations had necessitated “forceful” action. Later, following alerts to northern Israeli towns, the IDF destroyed two underground tunnels in Qantara, southern Lebanon, detonating over 450 ...

Israel FM Calls on Lebanon to 'Work Together' with Israel Against Hezbollah

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday urged Beirut to make joint efforts with Israel to counter Hezbollah on the eve of talks between the two countries set to resume in Washington. It will be the second preparatory meeting paving the way for direct negotiations. "Tomorrow the direct talks between Israel and Lebanon will resume in Washington, DC. ...