This is Beirut

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

This is Beirut, 11:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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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

Marwan El Amine, 11:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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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 ...

Israel Expands Air Power with F-35I and F-15IA Deal Following Lessons from Iran Conflict

This is Beirut, 03/05 23:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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Israel has approved the acquisition of two additional fighter jet squadrons from the United States. The deal includes a fourth squadron of F-35I stealth fighters and a second squadron of F-15IA strike aircraft, both supplied by U.S. defense manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The announcement, made by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, ...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “We Are Strangling the Regime”

This is Beirut, 03/05 19:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Sunday that Washington has intensified its crackdown on all entities attempting to financially support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He stressed that the United States is “strangling the Iranian regime” economically, claiming that Tehran is now struggling to pay its ...

Arab Christians in Israel Invite Lebanese to Holy Sites, Call for Peace

Selena Ryan, 03/05 18:10 - Reading : less than a minute

Israel

Across Haifa, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, Christians describe unrestricted worship, extend invitations to Lebanese visitors, and voice hopes for lasting peace between the two countries.

Netanyahu Warns Israel Can Strike Anywhere in Iranian Airspace

This is Beirut, 03/05 15:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in a recorded speech that Israel is capable of striking “anywhere in Iranian airspace" in a renewed warning to Tehran as indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States continue through Pakistani mediation. Netanyahu emphasized that Israeli pilots are “ready” to ...

'Angry Birds'-Style Video Caricaturing Hezbollah Draws Rebuke

This is Beirut, 03/05 05:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

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A video published by a Lebanese TV outlet caricaturing Hezbollah's leaders and fighters as characters from the "Angry Birds" mobile phone games drew a rebuke from the group, which called the clip "offensive" on Saturday. On social media, Hezbollah's supporters condemned what they considered the ridiculing of leader ...

MP Makhzoumi Backs State Sovereignty and Direct Talks with Israel

This is Beirut, 02/05 19:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

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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 ...

Iran Executes Two Men Convicted of Spying for Israel: Judiciary

This is Beirut, 02/05 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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Iran hanged two men on Saturday convicted of spying for Israel, the judiciary said, the latest in a string of executions in recent weeks. "Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh were hanged for the crime of intelligence cooperation and espionage in favour of the Zionist regime," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said. It was not ...

Lebanon Says 13 Killed in Israeli Strikes in South

This is Beirut, 02/05 04:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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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

This is Beirut, 01/05 18:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

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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 ...

Iran Offers New Proposal Amid Stalled U.S. Peace Talks

This is Beirut, 01/05 17:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

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According to Iranian state media reporting on Friday, Iran delivered a new proposal for peace talks with the U.S. via mediator Pakistan, with negotiations between the two sides frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire. The text of the proposal was handed to Islamabad on Thursday evening, the IRNA news agency reported. The war, launched by the ...