This is Beirut

Lebanon on Edge as Israel Raises the Stakes

Bassam Abou Zeid, 12/12 20:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Israel Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Hezbollah

The run-up to the mechanism meeting scheduled for December 19 is shaping up to be particularly tense—and for good reason. Israel has been gathering extensive data on Hezbollah’s efforts to rebuild its military capabilities. Israeli representative Yury Reisnick is expected to present these findings to the head of the Lebanese delegation, former ...

At Least 13 Dead In Gaza As Winter Storm Byron Batters Displaced Population

This is Beirut, 12/12 19:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Gaza Israel Storm

Gaza's civil defense agency on Friday said at least 13 people had died in the last 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm batters the territory. Heavy rain from Storm Byron has flooded tents and temporary shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the suffering of the ...

Gaza: International Force Could Deploy Next Month

This is Beirut, 12/12 18:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Gaza Israel

International troops could be deployed in the Gaza Strip as early as next month to form a U.N.-authorized stabilization force, part of the second phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, two U.S. officials told Reuters. According to the sources, the International Stabilization Force (ISF) will not be tasked with fighting Hamas. A U.S. ...

Paris to Host Meeting on Lebanon Next Week

This is Beirut, 12/12 15:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel ceasefire France

A meeting on Lebanon will be held in Paris next week with the commander of the Lebanese army and U.S. officials, as France and the United States push Beirut to speed up Hezbollah’s disarmament process, four sources familiar with the matter told AFP. “Rodolphe Haykal is expected on Wednesday,” one of the sources said. U.S. Middle East envoy ...

FM Warns of Imminent Israeli Offensive, Slams Hezbollah and Iran

This is Beirut, 12/12 13:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Palestine

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi told Al Jazeera on Friday that Lebanon has received warnings from various Arab and international sources indicating that Israel may be preparing a large-scale military operation against the country. Raggi said the Lebanese government is intensifying diplomatic contacts to prevent any potential Israeli strikes on the ...

Israeli Army Strikes Hezbollah Training Compounds in Southern Lebanon

This is Beirut, 12/12 11:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah South Lebanon Baalbeck Israel

A new wave of Israeli airstrikes hit multiple areas in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley on Friday morning, targeting a training camp and Hezbollah positions in the region. The strikes reportedly focused on the villages of Jarmak, Mahmoudiyeh, Jabal Rafih (Jezzine), Jabal Safi (Nabatieh), the outskirts of Soujoud in Iqlim al-Tuffah, and the ...

Israel says Hamas 'Will be Disarmed' After Group Proposes Weapons Freeze

This is Beirut, 11/12 13:37 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine

Israel said on Thursday Hamas "will be disarmed" as part of the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza, after a top leader from the Palestinian Islamist movement suggested a weapons freeze. The ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it remains fragile ...

Amnesty Accuses Hamas of Crimes Against Humanity on Oct 7 and Afterwards

This is Beirut, 11/12 10:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hamas International Criminal Court Israel Palestine Amnesty International

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the first time of crimes against humanity, including extermination, during and after the October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. "Palestinian armed groups committed violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and crimes against ...

Hamas Proposes Weapons 'Freeze' in Return for Long-Term Truce

This is Beirut, 10/12 23:46 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Israel Hamas Gaza Khaled Meshaal

A top Hamas leader told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the militant group is open to a weapons "freeze" but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza. "The idea of total disarmament is unacceptable to the resistance (Hamas). What is being proposed is a freeze, or ...

Israel’s Power Vacuum Dilemma

Seth J. Frantzman , 10/12 17:10 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Israel Benjamin Netanyahu USA Lebanon Syria Gaza

On December 2 Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israel Defense Forces soldiers wounded in recent fighting in southern Syria. Their injuries followed a November 26 IDF raid on the village of Beit Jinn in southern Syria, an operation that left several Syrians dead and wounded a number of Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu had a ...

Barrack's Glaring Error on Syria and Lebanon

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 10/12 16:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Israel Palestine Syria Tom Barrack

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack keeps warning that Lebanon will be “reabsorbed” into Syria unless Hezbollah is disarmed, a historically unfounded threat from someone who derides the Sykes-Picot boundaries as colonial nonsense yet treats Syria’s borders as sacrosanct. His selective anti-colonialism spares Syria, disregards Kurdish and Druze ...

Al-Qard al-Hassan’s Gold: Hezbollah’s New Financial Scheme

Natasha Metni Torbey, 10/12 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Hezbollah Israel Lebanon Al Qard Al Hassan Hezbollah financing

After introducing ATMs, easy-access loans, and clandestine counters scattered throughout the alleys of Beirut’s southern suburbs, al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH), Hezbollah’s financial arm, has taken its operations a step further: direct gold trading. Gold bars, coins, and jewelry are reportedly now being offered to the Shiite community, turning gold ...

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