This is Beirut - Nawaf Salam

Israeli Raid on Toul Kills Two, Including Hezbollah Member

This is Beirut, 2025-10-24 15:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Baalbeck Hezbollah Nabatieh Tyr South Lebanon

Two people were killed on Friday in an Israeli air raid on the Toul region in the Nabatieh caza, southern Lebanon. The victims were identified as Hussein al-Abd Hamdan, a Hezbollah member who had survived last year’s Pager explosion, and Abbas Hassan Karaki, who was driving a Honda CR-V at the time of the strike. Karaki’s brother, Radwan ...

Sheikh Naim’s Clash with the Formal Economy

Johnny Kortbawi, 2025-10-24 15:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Banks Banque du Liban Hezbollah Naim Qassem Cash

One of Hezbollah’s most pressing challenges, beyond its ongoing military decline and Israel’s persistent targeting of its depots and stockpiles, is its financial crisis. The depletion of resources has left the group unable to engage with its population as it once did to sustain its alternative economy. A clear example is Sheikh Naim ...

Block 8: Lebanon’s Energy Strategy Faces a Credibility Test

Mario Chartouni, 2025-10-24 14:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Europe United Kingdom USA

On Thursday at the Baabda Presidential Palace, Lebanon’s Council of Ministers took two decisive steps in the country’s energy policy by approving the oil exploration agreement for Block 8 and ratifying the maritime border with Cyprus. These decisions reflect the government’s determination to revive a strategic sector long stalled by ...

Rubio says More Countries Ready to Recognise Israel

This is Beirut, 2025-10-24 14:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Benjamin Netanyahu US Secretary of State USA Gaza Marco Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that more countries are ready to normalize relations with Israel, but the decision would await a broader regional agreement. Rubio, who was touring a US-led multinational center in Israel aimed at coordinating a ceasefire in Gaza, said that a sustained end to the war would encourage more countries to ...

Gaza Security: Potential Players in the New Peacekeeping Effort

This is Beirut, 2025-10-24 10:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Hamas Palestine Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu

As the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s proposed plan moves forward, discussions are intensifying over the possible deployment of an international security force in Gaza, intended to take over from Hamas. The initiative’s first step involves disarming the Islamist movement, a highly sensitive task amid a fragile ceasefire and mutual ...

Trump’s Gaza Plan: Is Erdogan the Other Big Winner?

Marie de La Roche Saint-André, 2025-10-24 09:45 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan Gaza Donald Trump

Long sidelined by the United States on Gaza and in wider regional affairs, Turkey is staging a forceful comeback, driven both by the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Gaza agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump. Ankara has played a pivotal role as intermediary between Hamas and Washington, helping to persuade the ...

Cabinet Approves Key Appointments and Oil Exploration Deal

This is Beirut, 2025-10-23 19:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Central Bank of Lebanon Joseph Aoun Nawaf Salam Cabinet

The Council of Ministers convened on Thursday at Baabda presidential palace, approving a series of administrative, economic and financial decisions. The cabinet, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, reviewed 44 items on its agenda, focused on appointments, energy agreements and the banking and education sectors. Among the key decisions, the Cabinet ...

Arab and Muslim Countries Condemn Israel's West Bank Annexation Bills

This is Beirut, 2025-10-23 19:00 - Reading : less than a minute

Nawaf Salam West Bank Saudi Arabia Turkey

More than a dozen Muslim and Arab states condemned on Thursday a pair of Israeli bills calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, in a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency. The 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, as well as the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said they ...

In Interview with Time, Trump Says Would Pull US Support if Israel Annexes West Bank

This is Beirut, 2025-10-23 17:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Donald Trump USA West Bank

President Donald Trump said Israel would lose its crucial backing from the United States if it annexes the West Bank, in a Time magazine interview published Thursday. Trump's comments, which Time said were made by telephone on October 15, were published as both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against any ...

Vance Rejects any West Bank Annexation as Rubio Heads to Israel

This is Beirut, 2025-10-23 16:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam West Bank Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Rubio

US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Israel would not move to annex West Bank, after Washington warned that such a step could jeopardise a fragile US-brokered truce in Gaza. Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday advanced two bills paving the way for West Bank annexation, days after President Donald Trump secured a ceasefire deal aimed at ending ...

Violent Airstrikes Rock Beqaa and Hermel

This is Beirut, 2025-10-23 13:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Hezbollah Airstrikes

A series of Israeli airstrikes shook the Beqaa and Hermel regions on Thursday. Loud explosions were heard in the areas of Janta, Shmistar and the heights of Hermel. The Israeli army announced that it carried out a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in the Beqaa and northern Lebanon. According to a statement from the Israeli army, ...

Cyprus Border Deal Reaffirms Mikati’s 2011 Decision

Bassam Abou Zeid, 2025-10-23 13:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam United Nations Cyprus Najib Mikati

The Cabinet is set to approve the Lebanon-Cyprus maritime border agreement, despite claims that Lebanon forfeited around 5,000 square kilometers along the median line of the two countries’ exclusive economic zones. Lebanese negotiators assert that these claims have no basis in international law, and studies indicate that disputing them would ...

Nawaf Salam