This is Beirut - Lebanon

Funeral Gunfire Sparks Tensions Between Army and Hezbollah Supporters

This is Beirut, 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, 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)

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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)

Lebanon Hezbollah South Lebanon Israel Ukraine

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

Samar El-Kadi, 01/05 12:15 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Ceasefire UN Security Council AUB Hezbollah

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 ...

Iran Activates Air Defenses as Trump Faces Congressional Deadline

This is Beirut, 01/05 07:55 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

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Tehran's air defences were activated to counter small aircraft and drones late Thursday, as the White House signalled that it will not be reined in by a congressional deadline on the Iran war. The Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that air defence systems, heard in some parts of the Iranian capital, were activated "to counter small aircraft ...

UAE Announces Travel Ban on Nationals to Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq

This is Beirut, 01/05 00:30 - Reading : less than a minute

United Arab Emirates Lebanon Gulf Middle East

The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry on Thursday announced a travel ban on Emirati nationals going to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, citing regional developments including the Middle East war. Iran has targeted the Gulf nation throughout the Middle East conflict sparked by a U.S.-Israeli attack before a fragile ceasefire was announced, including ...

U.S. Urges Meeting Between Lebanese President, Israeli PM

This is Beirut, 01/05 00:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon Hezbollah Israel

The U.S. embassy in Lebanon on Thursday urged a meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leaders as the health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country's south killed at least 15 people despite an ongoing ceasefire. Israeli and Lebanese representatives this month have met twice in Washington -- the first such meetings in decades -- after ...