Lebanon

Beirut Port Explosion Investigation Concludes

Judge Tarek Bitar, the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion case, has concluded his investigations and referred the entire file to Deputy Public Prosecutor General Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar for review, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on Monday. The refered defendants, all of whom have been questioned since early 2025, ...

Israel’s New Manual for Fighting Terrorist Militias

From the ruins of Gaza to the depopulated villages south of Lebanon’s Litani River, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is testing a new doctrine that breaks with decades of conventional wisdom on combating terrorist actors. Rather than applying military pressure to bend governments or populations to its political will, Israel is now waging a war ...

Israel Approves 2026 Budget with Increased Defense Spending

Israel's parliament approved the 2026 budget early Monday, providing for a significant increase in military spending as the country remains engaged in wars on multiple fronts. Lawmakers passed the budget with 62 votes in favour and 55 against. The vote averted an automatic government collapse and snap election that would have followed failure to ...

Assassination Sparks Clashes in Ain al-Hilweh Camp

Clashes erupted Sunday in the southern Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp following the assassination of a man known as “Imad al-Sarii.” He was a bodyguard for the brother of senior Fatah figure Munir al-Maqdah and was reportedly killed by an Islamist militant, a military source told This is Beirut. The assailant is suspected to be linked to Islamist ...

Iran's Ambassador Won't Leave Lebanon Despite Expulsion: Diplomatic Source

Iran's ambassador will not leave Lebanon despite being declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country by Sunday, an Iranian diplomatic source told AFP. "The ambassador will not leave Lebanon, in accordance with the wishes of the speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and of Hezbollah," the source said, speaking on condition ...

Iran Claims Aluminium Plant Attacks in Gulf as Houthis Join War

Iran claimed on Sunday attacks on two major aluminium plants in the Gulf, further raising the economic stakes of the Middle East war after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis joined the conflict. The war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran has mushroomed throughout the region, sending world energy markets into a tailspin and ...

Hundreds of Israelis Protest Against War, Clash with Police

Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv and some other Israeli cities on Saturday to protest the war in the Middle East, in unauthorised demonstrations that security forces sought to disperse. Weekly protests against the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran on February 28 have been taking place in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, initially ...

Israel Hits Southern Lebanon as Tensions Mount

Lebanon saw a sharp escalation in the south on Saturday, with multiple deadly incidents reported throughout the day. An Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle carrying a media team on the Jezzine road, killing Al-Manar journalist Ali Choueib, Al-Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni, and two others. In response, Israeli army Arabic spokesperson ...

Israel Military Says Journalist Killed in Lebanon Member of Elite Hezbollah Unit

The Israeli military said it had killed on Saturday a member of an elite unit of Hezbollah who worked as a journalist for Al Manar television network. The military targeted and eliminated Ali Shoeib, a "terrorist in the intelligence unit of Hezbollah's Radwan Force," it said in a statement. Shoeib, it said, "operated within ...

IDF Uncovers Hezbollah Tunnel Near Church, Weapons Stockpile in School

The Israeli military said troops from the Givati Brigade operating under the 91st Division uncovered an active underground tunnel network allegedly used by Hezbollah near a church in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam. The army said soldiers discovered a tunnel shaft and an underground route built near the religious site while conducting ...