This is Beirut - Lebanon

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

This is Beirut, 18:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Ceasefire Disarmament 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

This is Beirut, 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hezbollah Israel Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon negotiations

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

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

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

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)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Lebanese Army Tehran

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 ...

Trump’s Deal of the Century for Lebanon

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 09:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Lebanon Benjamin Netanyahu Banks EDL

Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas do not end wars; they only pause them. They make limited concessions to secure a ceasefire, only to exploit the fragile status quo to rearm and prepare for the next round. This is why they shun direct negotiations, whether between Lebanon and Israel or the U.S. and Iran, preferring instead to haggle over irrelevant ...

Funeral Gunfire Sparks Tensions Between Army and Hezbollah Supporters

This is Beirut, 03/05 17:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hezbollah LAF Lebanon Disarmament southern suburb Beirut

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 ...

'Angry Birds'-Style Video Caricaturing Hezbollah Draws Rebuke

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

Hezbollah Nawaf Salam Lebanon Bechara Rai Israel

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 ...

Syria Dismantles Lebanon-Linked Captagon Smuggling Network

This is Beirut, 02/05 22:35 - Reading : less than a minute

Lebanon

A major shipment of nearly one million Captagon pills originating from Lebanon was intercepted in Syria’s border region of Rankous, where authorities say they dismantled a cross-border smuggling network moving narcotics through Syria toward neighboring countries. According to a statement from the Syrian Ministry of Interior, the ...

MP Makhzoumi Backs State Sovereignty and Direct Talks with Israel

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

Israel Nawaf Salam Lebanon Hezbollah Lebanese Army

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

Amal Chmouny, 02/05 18:40 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Ceasefire Donald Trump Lebanese Army Benjamin Netanyahu

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 ...

Iran Military Official Says Renewed War with U.S. 'Likely'

This is Beirut, 02/05 11:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Lebanon Democrats Gulf Hezbollah

A senior Iranian military officer said on Saturday that renewed fighting between the US and Iran was "likely", hours after President Donald Trump said he was "not satisfied" with a new Iranian negotiating proposal. Iran delivered the draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, state media reported without detailing its ...

Lebanon Says 13 Killed in Israeli Strikes in South

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

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Middle East

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 ...