Hezbollah

Prime Minister Salam: No Retreat on State Authority as Lebanon Moves to Enforce Weapons Monopoly in Beirut

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared on Monday in a joint press conference with the Lebanese Interior Minister that the government will move forward with enforcing full state control over Beirut, stressing that there will be “no retreat” from the decision to restrict weapons to state institutions. Speaking after a meeting of ...

Hezbollah Signals Openness to Indirect Talks with Israel

In a notable shift in tone, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Naim Qassem signaled for the first time openness to indirect negotiations with Israel, framing diplomacy as a viable path—while firmly rejecting any form of direct talks. “We support diplomacy that stops the aggression and enforces agreements,” Qassem said in a statement on Monday, ...

U.S. Ambassador Issa: Aoun–Trump Meeting Would Not Be a Concession

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa said Monday that a potential meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not be viewed as a loss or concession for Lebanon. Speaking in a live address, Issa stressed that such a meeting would provide an opportunity for ...

Why Iran’s Influence in Lebanon Persists Despite Hezbollah’s Losses

Israel’s military blows to Hezbollah and its seizure of a strip of territory in southern Lebanon have not changed Tehran’s strategic calculus. The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to regard its influence in Lebanon as a strategic priority, despite the scale of casualties among Lebanon’s Shia population, the waves of displacement, and the ...

Funeral Gunfire Sparks Tensions Between Army and Hezbollah Supporters

Tensions flared in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday as units of the Lebanese Armed Forces deployed during a funeral procession for four individuals killed in recent violence, sparking friction with supporters of Hezbollah and highlighting the limits of state authority in the area. According to eyewitnesses and local media, the situation ...

MP Makhzoumi Backs State Sovereignty and Direct Talks with Israel

Parliamentarian and founder of the National Dialogue Party Fouad Makhzoumi on Saturday stressed the primacy of state sovereignty and endorsed direct negotiations with Israel as key to ending the country’s current crisis, saying “the exclusive right of the state to decide on war and peace” must be upheld.  Speaking at a ...

Lebanon Says 13 Killed in Israeli Strikes in South

Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes in the south, including in a town where Israel's army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire. The strikes in Habboush killed eight people, including a child and two women, and wounded 21 others, the ministry said, raising an earlier toll. Other strikes ...

Hezbollah Says Reinforced Fighters in South Lebanon Despite Disarmament

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has brought reinforcements and weapons to the south of the country since the start of the war with Israel on March 2, the organization's director of media relations said on Friday. The Lebanese army said in January it had finished disarming the group near the Israeli border in southern Lebanon, the scene of ...

Bound to Tehran: How Hezbollah Is Unraveling Lebanon's Ceasefire

The ceasefire in Lebanon remains fragile amid the state’s inability to fully assert control on the ground. Hezbollah is continuing its military operations, while Israeli retaliation for the group’s attacks keeps Lebanon caught in a cycle of escalation with no clear end in sight. The Lebanon-Israel truce announced by the U.S. on April ...