Lebanese Army

Lebanon Faces Defining Moment in Talks with Israel

President Joseph Aoun’s decision to engage in direct negotiations with Israel marks a strategic turning point. For the first time in years, the Lebanese state is attempting to reclaim its diplomatic sovereignty after long being subordinated to regional calculations, foremost among them Iran’s influence. The direct negotiations represent the ...

Can the Lebanese Army Move Against Hezbollah Before Washington Loses Patience?

In the windowless corridors of the Rayburn House Office Building and the high-stakes briefing rooms of Foggy Bottom, Washington’s long-standing consensus on Lebanon is fracturing. For years, U.S. policy toward the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) was treated as a "sacred cow," a low-cost investment to keep a fragile state from collapse. But as of ...

CENTCOM Pushes Lebanese Army Support as Hezbollah Supply Routes Collapse

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing held today, Chairman Roger Wicker questioned Admiral Brad Cooper on Iran’s continued support for regional proxy groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, amid ongoing U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Wicker stressed that Iran’s influence extends beyond its nuclear ...

Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Says Any Deal With Lebanon Depends on Hezbollah Disarmament

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter issued a series of statements on Thursday ahead of the expected third round of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, signaling that any broader political or security arrangement would be conditioned on the dismantling of Hezbollah and stronger Lebanese state action on the ground. In ...

Hezbollah’s Disarmament Takes Center Stage Ahead of Lebanon-Israel Talks

With the U.S. set to mediate a third round of Lebanon-Israel talks on May 14 and 15, Washington has made clear that Hezbollah’s disarmament will be central to efforts to reach a broader security and peace arrangement between the two countries. “Comprehensive peace is contingent on the full restoration of Lebanese state authority and the ...

Lebanese Army Arrests Iraqi Man for Impersonating a Security Official

The Lebanese army said on Sunday that it had arrested an Iraqi national for impersonating an Iraqi security official in Lebanon, the second alleged high-level imposter caught in recent months. A military source told AFP that the man had managed to network with Lebanese security and intelligence officials, telling them he worked at Iraq's ...

How Hezbollah's Coordination Unit Continues to Influence Lebanese Security

The Lebanese Armed Forces’ (LAF) recent raids in a southern suburb of Beirut to apprehend gunmen were coordinated with Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit, a security source told This Is Beirut, highlighting the unit’s continuing influence over security measures in Lebanon. In a tense standoff Sunday, Hezbollah supporters blocked ...

Israeli FM: Israel Seeks Normalization with Lebanon

At a joint press conference on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel intends to pursue a diplomatic track with Beirut, stating, “We will work with the Lebanese government toward a path of peace and normalization.” He also underscored Israel’s security priorities in the north, stating, “We are ...

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 ...

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 Ceasefire Opens a Diplomatic Window, Now Comes the Hard Part

When the ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel met at the White House on April 23, it was the kind of image that would have seemed unthinkable just months earlier. Their joint appearance alongside President Donald Trump — to announce a three-week extension of the cessation of hostilities — was a shift from decades of indirect, back-channel ...